Antisemitism: a footnote - II

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Continuing from a previous post it important to underline that murderous, antisemitism still exists. The charming youngster in the photo on the right is a German neo-Nazi. Antisemites still exist and they hate Jews... all Jews, just as they always have. They would hate Tony Judt as much as the ADL or AIPAC apparently do... Not because of his political stand, but because he is Jewish, they don't consider him a "self-hating Jew". They don't need any Jewish help to hate Jews. They would hate Amira Hass or Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappe, or even Sandy Koufax if it came to that, simply because these people all are Jewish. It is not acceptable that people who make a reasonable criticism of Israel and its relationship with the United States, as former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter has, be hysterically smeared or that two well qualified and respected academics such as Mearsheimer and Walt be classed with the skinhead in our picture. This really can't continue. At this moment it is absolutely imperative for Americans to define the terms, "antisemite", "antisemitism" and "antisemitic", with great precision. Why? Because the United States is in the process of suffering (it is only beginning) the greatest humiliation of its entire history in Iraq. The origins of this war of choice are obscure and as its story unfolds and as the disaster and sense of humiliation deepens, Americans will want to get to the bottom of who was responsible. It appears at this point that the Israeli right wing have their fingerprints all over it. Their relation to the neocons and to AIPAC is going to be studied under a microscope. This is inevitable. With today's viral technology if the debate is suppressed, even the result of a "who killed Kennedy?" treatment of this subject would be devastating for US/Israeli relations. It is absolutely essential to distinguish the individuals and the specific organizations responsible and to avoid at all cost a "vee vas stabbed in der back," antisemitic surge, because that would literally tear the American social fabric apart as it did Spain's and Germany's before. It is absolutely essential that a natural surge of anti-Israeli feeling; natural, because it appears that a foreign country has led the USA into a great disaster, that these feelings not be turned against America's Jewish community, a community which is an essential, fundamental, part of the United States of America, warp and woof. Accusations of "double loyalty" should not be bandied about frivolously, the question of "double loyalty" has always existed in the USA, a country of immigrants. I'll give a personal example: as a boy I have been at parties with Irish-Americans, where the hat was passed for the IRA and it was soon filled up. The IRA is a terrorist organization and also a symbol of Irish independence and the US government has always frowned upon it, to say the least. The accusation of double loyalty never came up, because the USA has no strategic interest in Ireland or Britain's relation with Ireland. For the USA the "troubles" are a domestic issue for courting the Irish vote. Israel and American Jewish support of Israel has been more or less an element of US domestic politics (this is horribly unfair to the Palestinians) till now. That has changed forever. Israel's fatal mistake was to draw the USA into a military adventure which is tearing American power and prestige to shreds. This is going to cost Israel dearly, but there is no reason it should cost America's Jewish community. The only way it could is if this hysterical attacking of anyone who states the obvious as an antisemite, making them out to be like the fellow in the photo, continues unabated. Nobody likes to be insulted, not just Jewish people. DS

PS. Phil Weiss (who is Jewish and thus also hated by antisemites) has a "must read" post over at New York Observer, the subject is, "Jimmy Carter Can't Say What Jewish Critics of Israel Are Free to Say". He proceeds to cite Israel's famous UN Abba Eban, chapter and verse on the subject of Jewish pressure and influence in US politics.