I saw a great movie last night, the documentary Defamation, by Yoav Shamir, an Israeli filmmaker. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and it is about the consecration of anti-Semitism as the central mode of Jewish identity and the raison-d'etre of Jewish nationalism--it sustains Israel. The group of Israeli kids traveling to Majdanek carries the Israeli flag into the ruined gas chambers, and they all wear sweatshirts with the star of David and the word Israel on the back. The point of the film, stated by one of the sour concentration-camp tour-guides near the end, is that this is a miserable basis for Jewish existence, a cult of death and fear and mistrust.
The Israeli kids are so indoctrinated they think that the Poles are
out to kill them now, and they don't go out of their hotel room.
The film is great journalism for Shamir's tenacity at insiniuating himself into the emotional life of events, and for his portraits: of Abraham Foxman, Charles Jacobs, John Mearsheimer, Uri Avnery, and Norman Finkelstein.
The Foxman portrait is the core of the film and at once devastating and sympathetic. We see him manipulating the Holocaust in a number of situations. The scenes of ADL staff coming up with anti-Semitic incidents in the US to keep the ball rolling are strictly farcical. There is even farcical music, as they tell you of threats that aren’t threats. Foxman is shown pressing Ukrainian president Viktor Yuschenko in a conference room over Holocaust remembrance/guilt. Later, in Rome, enroute to meet the Pope, Foxman tells Shamir that there's a "very thin line" between the perceptions of Jewish power by anti-Semites and the actual power that Jews have in the world. "Jews are not as powerful... as our enemies think we are." But we're not going to try and convince them otherwise, he says. Yes: the man is going to meet the Pope. Of course Jews have power, and Foxman has no awareness of this.
The portrait becomes transcendent at Babi Yar. Foxman gathers the board of the ADL at the Ukrainian massacre site and all the old Jews are talking about how Israel must be maintained because it may be necessary for all Jews in the world to go there, and then Foxman says a Hebrew prayer and his voice trembles and he is in tears. The scene gave me tremendous sympathy for Foxman. He is locked in his childhood of suffering. It makes perfect sense that he has projected his childhood demons on to the world, but they are just demons. The same point is made with an old Israeli journalist who has blue numbers tattooed on his arm and writes about anti-Semitism night and day. Well he has a fine reason, Shamir is saying.
The real blows to Foxman come from a couple of rabbis. A Rabbi Hecht in Brooklyn says, "I'm nervous about his reports... Are they accurate? He has to create a problem because he needs a job." A Rabbi Dov Bleich in Kiev, who is Orthodox, says that anti-Semitism is not a problem, and that if these people only had a religious practice they wouldn’t need the church of anti-Semitism.
Shamir follows Foxman devoting an entire three-day conference in Israel to discussing Walt and Mearsheimer’s book. Charles Jacobs, then of the David Project, is there and comes off as a crazy man. He says, we always thought that antisemites were skinheads saying Kike, little did we know they would turn out to be softspoken college professors. David Hirsch, a sociologist from England, gets up to say, bravely, that not one word has been said about the occupation and the humiliation of the Palestinians, and this is the true context for much of the criticism of Israel. There is dead silence, and then people attack him. When Shamir says to Jacobs that this is sensible, Jacobs goes off on him. He says you are like the beaten wife who goes to the police station and blames herself and never blames the husband. You have accepted the world’s evil view of you, this is the problem with the left. Islamists think you are evil and you have accepted it.
It is too bad more journalism was not done of Jacobs when he was leading the assault on Columbia professors. He is so wildeyed and removed from reality he demolishes his own case.
Really it is terrible that so little journalism has been done about any of these people. How much journalism have we seen of John Mearsheimer and Norman Finkelstein. There are two scenes of Finkelstein, the first at DePaul before he has been cracked in the jaws of the Israel lobby, the second when he is tan and on the Boardwalk in Brooklyn and in his humble apartment. Now Finkelstein is as possessed by the Holocaust as Foxman—and the film is unkind to Finkelstein at the end, as a way of seeking to preserve its surface balance, making him out to be mad after he compares Foxman to Hitler--but Finkelstein is eloquent and fierce when talking about the Israelis' use of suffering to justify the affliction of the Palestinians. The suffering is a package deal; it is "suffering wrapped in a club." The suffering is cited as Palestinians are humiliated, degraded and tortured.
Earlier in the film, an Israeli girl on the Holocaust tour makes Finkelstein's point. She says that when she sees the Jewish suffering at Auschwitz she doesn’t think that the Arabs have really suffered at all. Avraham Burg has also made this point: that Israelis too quickly forgave the Germans, for the money, and put the hatred on to the Arabs.
Back to Finkelstein. Shamir compares Finkelstein to the biblical prophets. He looks like a
prophet, with his long face and large forehead and level blue eyes. He says that the Holocaust is used to prevent any criticism of Israel. He opens the radio (a quaint old expression) and “I hear nonstop about Sudan, I hear nonstop about Tibet, I hear nonstop about Darfur. The only place I hear excuses made for is Israel.”
As for Mearsheimer, he comes off as puckish, which he can be, and wise. It is a very affectionate portrait, Mearsheimer in his booklined Chicago office merely raising an eyebrow when Shamir asks him if he doesn't have anti-Semitism deep inside him. "I'm not anti-Semitic, and I never had any doubt that I'm not anti-Semitic... My arguments are not in any way hostile to the Jews or the state of Israel." He isn't going to talk about how many of his friends are Jewish because that--a puckish smile--will only hurt his point.
The news in the film involves Mearsheimer. I blogged about that earlier today, Teddy Katz's statement that Mearsheimer and Walt are blessings to Israel. Finkelstein echoes the point about the lobby. Holocaust education is not intended to enlighten; it is being used by “war mongers from Martha’s Vineyard, and war mongers from the Hamptons, and war-mongers from Beverly Hills and... Miami.” It’s a disaster for Israel, he says. A curse.
Many people speak of the occupation in the film. It goes unseen. In the Q-and-A that followed the premiere last night at the Tribeca Film Festival, Yoav Shamir also spoke hintingly of it, that as Jews we started out being walled and now we have put a wall about us in Israel. A delicate reference to the wall.
He never showed it, he did show Auschwitz. The Palestinians are off stage. He can’t show the occupation, can't show the wall. He wants to open as a feature in the U.S. and to be on television. Good luck to him. And oh how wise not to show us the occupation. It is enough for now that Americans heard from Finkelstein and Mearsheimer.
(P.S. The film is working. A Jewish woman in the audience said, "We have the situation in Israel that has lasted all these years-- and we need a shift." Jewish identity is changing.)
Seems the official agency jews are merely copying Goebbels. Ironic in the sense that Goebbels thought he was merely copying the Jews (& so too Streicher, hung especially painfully at Nuremberg for free speech).
Seems strange to me that an admirer of Finkelstein would be so pleased with
Shamir’s film. Finkelstein (one of the very few bold voices critical of the occupation in the US) appears like an unbalanced fool in it. Far from the sharp mind you often describe on these pages.
That was your article Phil.
It was disappointing. You sound too predictable.
The holocaust remains significant, and it is important for Jewish kids to see the remnants of primary historical event that has imprinted deeply into their family's and their lives.
Its an insult to diminish witness and education of that.
BOTH Foxman and Finkelstein over-express themselves, and ignore and/or insult the "other" in asserting the relevance of the "other" in principle.
I remember personal conversations with you in which we both described our fears of going to the south in 1969/70 (believe it or not, I do remember that). (I had already hitch-hiked through the south.)
People learn. It takes experience and intentional reflection to learn that the "other" is not a threat.
The author should NOT have included the wall in the movie, but probably should have included Palestinians at home, in their communities, welcoming guests, celebrating marriages, routinely burying their dead.
Images that would NOT invoke the fear of retaliation, but the respect for their humanity.
How can one see the film, not in New York?
The Defamation homepage lists screenings at several other festivals. Hopefully the page will be updated as the film gets more circulation.
Witty, what is your point? You always manage to say a whole lot of nothing.
The Holocaust was a horrible epic atrocity. How much do we need to stress that? Til the end of time? There are people suffering RIGHT NOW.
The point of talking about the exploitation of the Holocaust is because… IT IS BEING EXPLOITED.
It's being used as a political weapon. A blackmail weapon. And the Zionists around the world use it to justify their behavior.
Instead of acknowledging the Holocaust's usage and contemporary politics in the West, then there is no hope for you.
It's funny, you read Phil's post and the message you took away from it is that people are saying the Holocaust is unimportant.
You straw man or maybe this is just your narrow-minded tribalism coming out.
Harman-gate again …
Philip Giraldi at American Conservative Magazine @TAC Some Things to Think About
" My spook friends are speculating wildly but the theory that seems to make the most sense is that the White House is extremely angry about the Netanyahu government’s trashing of the peace process and also by his appointing of former Mossad spies Naor Gilon and Uzi Arad to senior positions, as both were involved in the Larry Franklin/AIPAC case."
I think that the Demjanjuk case is a microcosm of the Holocaust Industry. An 89-year-old Ukranian is being sent to be tried by Germans. One can find no serious discussion online of what the evidence is (now that we know he isn't Ivan the Terrible). It's a small example, but telling, and beyond perverse, in my opinion.
link to csmonitor.com
Confusion reigns in small village
The original Demjanjuk house burned down after the war, explains Marusya's current neighbor, Nikolai Grigorivich, whose house now stands on the site.
Asked his opinion of Demjanjuk, Mr. Grigorivich says, "he might have been a bad man, but he did not do me any harm, so I don't have strong feelings. And what's the point of putting such an old man on trial?"
One thing in particular rankles the villagers.
"What I don't understand," asks Grigorivich, "is how can it be right that the Germans are trying a Ukrainian for murdering Jews, and not the other way round?"
No jews on trial for the Nakba? Just 90 year old gentiles, for what they did as kids during a chaotic era?
The USA does this?
Agh.
If I were a professor in Middle East Studies, I would make this site required required course reading.
Thak you Richard Weiss.
Mohammad, although I agree with half of what you said you are forgetting that Ahmadinejad has for an adviser a true anti-semite. His name is Mohammad Ali Ramin and they are very close.
Search for his name in this article: link to newyorker.com
BTW, does mohammad have a blog? His posts are interesting.
Mohammad Ali Ramin is half german btw, and he has lived quite a bit of his life in Germany. Go figure…
I can't wait for your review of the Palestinian film playing at Tribeca FF next week, "Salt of This Sea"… it stars the popular Palestinian-American poet Suheir Hammad and opened at Cannes last year. This is its first big US screening, other than some smaller showings.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Holocaust has been used for political purposes. Whenever Israel has done something particularly heinous we are treated to a documentary of the Holocaust. Just one example: After the Sabra Shatila massacres we were treated to Holocaust specials. By the way, the US and France had guaranteed the safety of the women and children left behind by the Palestinian fighters. Israel screwed us again.
Yes, until the end of time. Or when antisemites like you are gone from the face of the earth. Which ever comes first.
According to that reliable source, Wikipedia, "Mohammad Ali Ramin has no responsibilities or influence in the Islamic Republic of Iran but is famous for his extreme views in recent years against Jews, especially after a Financial Times interview with him. Before that, he was unknown."
I think you can sleep soundly tonight, John.
David Hirsch is a slightly more sane version of Foxman.
Yes, that's not a great compliment.
He plays the good cop role by expressing platitudes about the occupation and how it isn't great. Meanwhile the meat of his contributions at Guardian is same-old Israel apologism, and rants against the BDS calls of his fellow UK academics.
Staff Director Kenneth Marcus of the US Commission on Civil Rights shared a podium with Jacobs at ZOA: Civil Rights for Some Americans.
In addition I have a long list of entries covering Jacobs.
He is apparently in plotting mode: "Hello again," from Charles Jacobs.
OSI and Demjanjuk.
The CS Monitor article is impressively diffident about explaining why the villagers feel that Jews should be tried for murdering Ukrainians.
It also does not explain that the Holodomor was a targeted famine. Overall it decimated the population, but in many areas the mortality was far higher than 10% while the cities did not suffer at all.
How did Holocaust movies take away blame from the lebanese Arabs who murdered every single one of the Arab palestinian victims of the massacre at Sabra Shatila?
Why did the US and France allow the Lebanese to commit these murders, after your claim of their guarantee?
Please explain what you mean.
Me:
"The use of the Shoah
to blunt a fair and balanced treatment of the I-P situation is slowly killing the USA, and also Israel. If you were born today, it would be easy to see by the time you each maturity. Too bad all the suffering in the mean time."
Witty replied:
"Citizen,
The question isn't whether living in a state of war constantly devours Israel, but whether the state of war is constructed by Israel.
If Israel is internationally recognized valid state, and Iran exerts military and other pressure on Israel with the goal of it not existing, then Iran is aggressor in that equation.
It USES the Palestinians needs to advance its own theological and state's interests, in a neo-colonial (new colonial) effort.
Palestinians now are encouraged to fantasize about a "world without Zionism", which is a dismissal of reality. Its like talking about a world without autos. Autos are not a minimum necessity, and one could theoretically do without them, but they are a reality."
Gee, I thought the issue I was addressing was "the use of the Shoah
to blunt a fair and balanced treatment of the I-P situation." Instead Witty gives me a list of his favorite one-sided conceits regarding white hat Israel and black hat
Iran.
At least Chris Berel is honest: "But it doesn't blunt fair treatment. Balanced? How should it be balanced? Why should it be balanced?"
Neither you will notice voices the slightest concern for US interests.
I would have thought it is in the interests of an informed citizens to get both sides of any issue in a democracy. Foreign
policy and foreign aid are of some importance to us all, no?
My comment was obscure because typepad stripped out the hyperlinks.
It should have been the following.
Staff Director Kenneth Marcus of the US Commission on Civil Rights shared a podium with Jacobs at ZOA: Civil Rights for Some Americans.
In addition I have a long list of entries covering Jacobs.
He is apparently in plotting mode: "Hello again," from Charles Jacobs.
Jacobs has far more access at the national level than he merits.
Should the Staff Director of the USCCR really be a featured speaker at a ZOA gathering?
The whole Columbia Unbecoming imbroglio shows the power of Corrupt Jewish Social Networking.
I have covered it in my blog, but if I put too many hyperlinks into this entry it will vanish into a dark whole.
Jacobs & friends created false accusations against Massad and other Columbia professors. Columbia brought Floyd Abrams onto the ad hoc committee to address the charges. Abrams is an old friend and associate of Daniel Pipes, who has long networked with Jacobs. In fact, when the ISB sued Jacobs et al. for slander, Jacobs and friends chose Abrams to become lead attorney to plead the anti-slander case.
In truth I would have argued that the criminal conspiracy against rights violation was more serious, but it was impossible to get the United States Attorney interested in the case. Need I even mention that many members of his staff were in fact David Project supporters?
My comment was obscure because typepad stripped out the hyperlinks.
It should have been the following.
—–
Staff Director Kenneth Marcus of the US Commission on Civil Rights shared a podium with Jacobs at ZOA: Civil Rights for Some Americans.
In addition I have a long list of entries covering Jacobs.
He is apparently in plotting mode: "Hello again," from Charles Jacobs.
——
Jacobs has far more access at the national level than he merits.
Should the Staff Director of the USCCR really be a featured speaker at a ZOA gathering?
The whole Columbia Unbecoming imbroglio shows the power of Corrupt Jewish Social Networking.
I have covered it in my blog, but if I put too many hyperlinks into this entry it will vanish into a dark whole.
Jacobs & friends created false accusations against Massad and other Columbia professors. Columbia brought Floyd Abrams onto the ad hoc committee to address the charges. Abrams is an old friend and associate of Daniel Pipes, who has long networked with Jacobs. In fact, when the ISB sued Jacobs et al. for slander, Jacobs and friends chose Abrams to become lead attorney to plead the anti-slander case.
In truth I would have argued that the criminal conspiracy against rights violation was more serious, but it was impossible to get the United States Attorney interested in the case. Need I even mention that many members of his staff were in fact David Project supporters?
My comment was obscure because typepad stripped out the hyperlinks.
It should have been the following.
In addition I have a long list of entries covering Jacobs.
He is apparently in plotting mode: "Hello again," from Charles Jacobs.
Jacobs has far more access at the national level than he merits.
Should the Staff Director of the USCCR really be a featured speaker at a ZOA gathering?
The whole Columbia Unbecoming imbroglio shows the power of Corrupt Jewish Social Networking.
I have covered it in my blog, but if I put too many hyperlinks into this entry it will vanish into a dark whole.
Jacobs & friends created false accusations against Massad and other Columbia professors. Columbia brought Floyd Abrams onto the ad hoc committee to address the charges. Abrams is an old friend and associate of Daniel Pipes, who has long networked with Jacobs. In fact, when the ISB sued Jacobs et al. for slander, Jacobs and friends chose Abrams to become lead attorney to plead the anti-slander case.
In truth I would have argued that the criminal conspiracy against rights violation was more serious, but it was impossible to get the United States Attorney interested in the case. Need I even mention that many members of his staff were in fact David Project supporters?
My comment was obscure because typepad stripped out the hyperlinks.
Jacobs has far more access at the national level than he merits.
Should the Staff Director of the USCCR really be a featured speaker at a ZOA gathering?
The whole Columbia Unbecoming imbroglio shows the power of Corrupt Jewish Social Networking.
I have covered it in my blog, but if I put too many hyperlinks into this entry it will vanish into a dark whole.
Jacobs & friends created false accusations against Massad and other Columbia professors. Columbia brought Floyd Abrams onto the ad hoc committee to address the charges. Abrams is an old friend and associate of Daniel Pipes, who has long networked with Jacobs. In fact, when the ISB sued Jacobs et al. for slander, Jacobs and friends chose Abrams to become lead attorney to plead the anti-slander case.
In truth I would have argued that the criminal conspiracy against rights violation was more serious, but it was impossible to get the United States Attorney interested in the case. Need I even mention that many members of his staff were in fact David Project supporters?
My comment was obscure because typepad stripped out the hyperlinks.
It should have been the following.
In addition I have a long list of entries covering Jacobs.
He is apparently in plotting mode: "Hello again," from Charles Jacobs.
Jacobs has far more access at the national level than he merits.
Should the Staff Director of the USCCR really be a featured speaker at a ZOA gathering?
The whole Columbia Unbecoming imbroglio shows the power of Corrupt Jewish Social Networking.
I have covered it in my blog, but if I put too many hyperlinks into this entry it will vanish into a dark whole.
Jacobs & friends created false accusations against Massad and other Columbia professors. Columbia brought Floyd Abrams onto the ad hoc committee to address the charges. Abrams is an old friend and associate of Daniel Pipes, who has long networked with Jacobs. In fact, when the ISB sued Jacobs et al. for slander, Jacobs and friends chose Abrams to become lead attorney to plead the anti-slander case.
In truth I would have argued that the criminal conspiracy against rights violation was more serious, but it was impossible to get the United States Attorney interested in the case. Need I even mention that many members of his staff were in fact David Project supporters?
My comment was obscure because typepad stripped out the hyperlinks.
It should have been the following.
In addition I have a long list of entries covering Jacobs.
He is apparently in plotting mode: "Hello again," from Charles Jacobs.
Jacobs has far more access at the national level than he merits.
Should the Staff Director of the USCCR really be a featured speaker at a ZOA gathering?
The whole Columbia Unbecoming imbroglio shows the power of Corrupt Jewish Social Networking.
I have covered it in my blog, but if I put too many hyperlinks into this entry it will vanish into a dark whole.
Jacobs & friends created false accusations against Massad and other Columbia professors. Columbia brought Floyd Abrams onto the ad hoc committee to address the charges. Abrams is an old friend and associate of Daniel Pipes, who has long networked with Jacobs. In fact, when the ISB sued Jacobs et al. for slander, Jacobs and friends chose Abrams to become lead attorney to plead the anti-slander case.
In truth I would have argued that the criminal conspiracy against rights violation was more serious, but it was impossible to get the United States Attorney interested in the case. Need I even mention that many members of his staff were in fact David Project supporters?
TypePadMy comment was obscure because typepad stripped out the hyperlinks.
It should have been the following.
Staff Director Kenneth Marcus of the US Commission on Civil Rights shared a podium with Jacobs at ZOA: Civil Rights for Some Americans.
In addition I have a long list of entries covering Jacobs.
He is apparently in plotting mode: "Hello again," from Charles Jacobs.
Jacobs has far more access at the national level than he merits.
Should the Staff Director of the USCCR really be a featured speaker at a ZOA gathering?
The whole Columbia Unbecoming imbroglio shows the power of Corrupt Jewish Social Networking.
I have covered it in my blog, but if I put too many hyperlinks into this entry it will vanish into a dark whole.
Jacobs & friends created false accusations against Massad and other Columbia professors. Columbia brought Floyd Abrams onto the ad hoc committee to address the charges. Abrams is an old friend and associate of Daniel Pipes, who has long networked with Jacobs. In fact, when the ISB sued Jacobs et al. for slander, Jacobs and friends chose Abrams to become lead attorney to plead the anti-slander case.
In truth I would have argued that the criminal conspiracy against rights violation was more serious, but it was impossible to get the United States Attorney interested in the case. Need I even mention that many members of his staff were in fact David Project supporters?
The hyperlinks were lost.
Typepad is not permitting me to explain the meaning of the comment.
Joachim, the US Attorney told me that he wouldn't touch anything from your antisemitic hand. I was given a memo about you. Trust me, it's not flattering.
I wonder if people know how often and long Jews spend screaming at the rest of us as if they are the only people who ever suffered.
I am reading a terrible book right now called Crimes and Mercies by James Bacque that outlines the atrocities against German civilians after WW11.
Double the number of women and children died as the claimed 6 million jews.
Yet it is never mentioned, hardly any books are written, the Germans never whine on and on about it, the US, UK, France and Russia haven't paid any reparations or given homes back.
Why not?
It seems genocide is fine when we do it.
And what real suffering did Foxman do being raised in secret as a Polish Catholic then moving to America? Or Shimon Peres who was in Palestine for the entire war? Tragedy is not felt by osmosis. I must surely have had hundreds of German and English relatives who died in two world wars, but I don't know them from Adam or Jack so what does it matter?
Foxman was 5 at the end of the war, what did he really suffer?
I find it objectionable that the Polish jews in Israel like Livni, Peres, Barak and co are the most vicious of them all and they don't understand it.
Sorry about the multiple comments. Typepad seems to have some flaky behaviors.
What real intelligence do you possess? True, you can read and write, but you seem incapable of learning much beyond that. Really, what did you gain from your kindergarden education?
I find it objectionable that you are a racist without a cause.
As the claimed 6 million? Is the German number claimed?
Yes, people know how often. They know that it is next to never. Your claim is an invention of your pissant antisemitic little brain.
But Citz, you didn't mention US interests. Are we expected to read your diseased mind?
Chris Berel said in reply to Marilyn;
“Your claim is an invention of your pissant antisemitic little brain.”
“What real intelligence do you possess? True, you can read and write, but you seem incapable of learning much beyond that. Really, what did you gain from your kindergarden (sp) education?”
From the new comment policy at 'Mondoweiss':
“3. No personal attacks. We encourage spirited, passionate debate, but if you have to resort to vicious personal attack, you're not advancing the discussion. Stay on the issues. “
So, why is Chris Berel still posting here?
Marilyn, when I started looking seriously into 20th century European history, I was also horrified to discover how commonplace the mass-murder of civilians was. The ones that are remembered are the ones that have politically useful "lessons."
The Jewish Holocaust was politically useful for the radical left as a distraction from Communist atrocities, and smearing their enemies on the right as fascists who "failed to learn the lessons of the Holocaust."
Likewise, as Israel became more important as part of our sphere of influence in the Middle East, it was useful for justifying our support.
Most of all, Jewish organizations and leaders like Foxman find it indespensible as a tool to frighten ordinary Jews and make them feel dependent on and obligated to support Jewish institutions and Israel.
How interesting that your only complaint is aganst someone denouncing an antisemitic nazi sympathizer? Marylin made personal racist attacks on Peres, Foxman, Livni and Barak and you found no cause for complaint. Is your obvious bigotry reason for your removal? Why are you here at all?
Again Phil, lovely petri dish you're running here.
Citizen,
It's been 60 years. Most of the Jews involved are in their 80s today. In another decade they'll be in their 90s and then we'll see if you say "for what they did as kides during a chaotic era".
Fortunately, you're not!
"…but I don't know them from Adam or Jack so what does it matter…"
I guess that's just your weakness. Even Yemenite Jews feel that the Holocaust happened to them.
BTW, in another decade when most of those who actually remember the nakba are dead and gone, I guess we could make the same argument about the Palestinians.
You're kidding, right?
It shouldn't be too much longer before the Atlantic Ocean parts. Hopefully.
~ Ramses
"…Rabbi Dov Bleich in Kiev…says that anti-Semitism is not a problem, and that if these people only had a religious practice they wouldn’t need the church of anti-Semitism." This is another way to say what I've said many times before, Judaism has become a cult of and to ethnicity and ethnic conflict.
Nu-nu. It's not so strange that the filmmaker, who proclaimed his previous piece of half-truth (Checkpoints) to be "his part in the struggle against the occupation", will produce another dubious gift to humanity, attempting to explain that really, there's no antisemitism, only justified rage against Israeli atrocities. I am truly not surprised that you are urinating honey after viewing it – after all, it corroborates your own beliefs. Still, your credibility will get up just a little bit, if you would label your previous post about the movie with some adherence to reality. "Israeli film in Tribeca Festival says Walt and Mearsheimer's work is 'blessed'"? How about "Israeli documentary quotes a renown liar WHO SAYS W&M's work" et cetera? Why you Israel-haters always have to back your claims with easily-proven lies? Why your new favorite victim of Zionist persecution William I. Robinson can't make a coherent argument without using an Internet hoax? Good to have you where you are, fellas – here, in this tiny, crowded place that is Israel, I could step into you from time to time, and how unpleasant could it be for all involved…
If I'm not mistaken Defamation was Shamirs' own reaction to the criticism received from his previous films. If someone could label him an anti-semite, and he is an Israeli Jew, then anti-semitism is an absurdly false claim. Talk about an agenda. Brilliant editing with the ADL. But where was the current state of University campuses? Where was Ahmandinejab? Mombai? Where was France? And where was the Internet Jew hating sites that my web surfing children now get to witness? I think I can agree with the premise that, as a Jew in Canada, I, like Shamir, was rarely assaulted by anti-semitism. Bruised, maybe. I am 54 years old and Shamir doesn't get that I was born into a blessed fairy world ( so he was born into a fairy world Jewish state) where the expression of antisemitism was absolutely non- existant. But ask my parents' generation about Canadian Jewish quotas, restricted neighbourhoods and country clubs of the pre -war era. It was alive then, well and yes, it was incorporated into their world view. It was into the post- Holocaust 1950's into which I and the generation of Jewish boomers was born. Too close to the Holocaust to hear anti Semitism openly expressed. Too many survivors suffering in our midst to remind us what hate speech can lead to. In Israel, Shamir's birth was into a similar fairy world in that antisemitism had no impact on his life. That is why he(and I) are having such trouble witt the recent reports worldwide. . Both our worlds have evolved from innocence to a new stage. He and I cannot comprehend the new reality. In Israel, he must reckon with his uncomfortable role as unwilling occupier. In Canada, I experience overt anti-semitism dramatically reappearing with the freedom of the internet, backlash of Holocaust reparations, Islamic extremism and fears of global depression. But the re-emergence is completely real, palpable and extremely worrisome to me. I feel the dialogue he wants to promote in Defamation undermines the sorry truth that we both must now face.
Today's shooting at the Holocaust Museum–one more illustration of the sorry truth. As was the shooting at the Seattle Jewish Federation a couple of years ago. DEFAMATION doesn't do its research, even as the ADL opened itself to Shamir's camera, and undermines its own purpose with its superficiality.