Scott McConnell in The American Conservative's books issue reviews George Gilder's new book about loving Israel and offers a provocative (and spiritual-psychological) theory about the American establishment's support for Israel thru thick and thin, post war:
After thumbing through The Israel Test, blogger Matthew Yglesias speculated that Gilder may be a kind of WASP who “likes Israel in part because he wishes American Jews would leave him alone and go live there instead.” This interpretation strikes me as insufficient. Perhaps a better one can be derived from Gilder’s final chapter, in which he paints a portrait of his artistically and financially successful ancestors and the upper-class WASP world in which he was raised. The focal point is an incident that occurred when he was about 17. While trying to impress an older girl, his summer tutor in Greek, he blurted out something mildly anti-Semitic. The young woman dryly replied that she was in fact “a New York Jew.” Gilder was mortified. He relates that he has never quite gotten over the episode. It is the kind of thing a sensitive person might long remember. Variations on this pattern are not uncommon in affluent WASP circles to this day: guilt or embarrassment at some stupid but essentially trivial episode of social anti-Semitism serve as a spur for fervent embrace of Likud-style Zionism. Atonement. It would not be surprising if a similar process helped to shape George W. Bush’s mentality. This sequence might be amusing if the real-life consequences were less sinister. It is now often acknowledged—if not widely regretted—that Palestinians have had to pay the price for Nazism and the Holocaust. It is they, after all, not the Germans, who are now stateless. But Gilder’s confession, and the book it animates, establishes a corollary to this truism: Palestinians are now required to pay not only for the crimes of the Nazis but for the genteel anti-Semitism of America’s fallen WASP elite. Seems to me, his theory offers light at the end of the tunnel. Cause anti-Semitism is a nonfactor in American public life today, which means, the atonement can come to an end. I think it has, actually, in the bosoms of young non-Jews.
Yay, a post on non-Jewish American bias against Palestinians. More, please.
Jewish Zionists spend a lot of time in creating organizations or shills to demonize Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims:
1. [STEINBERG] Küntzel zum Experten befördert
2. [ANTIWAR] Pro-Israel Group’s Money Trail Veers Hard Right
3. Relentless Anti-Westernism vs. Relentless Anti-Islamism.
“Palestinians are now required to pay not only for the crimes of the Nazis but for the genteel anti-Semitism of America’s fallen WASP elite.”
I think this is largely true. WASP liberals especially are afraid of being perceived as antisemitic and run screaming away from anything that could even sound remotely like it might have been said by an antisemite, which means you have to walk on eggshells when criticizing Israel, and you are prone to swallow it when someone draws artificial lines (You can criticize Israel after 1967, but not for what happened in 1948).
A liberal white friend of mine was once horrified that a relative of his had said we support Israel because of the Lobby. This was several years ago, when such language was automatically grounds for suspecting KKK membership, at least in his eyes. He went on to correct his relative, saying that we supported Israel because they are a democracy just like us. (Probably close to the truth, but not in the way he meant.)
Not that there aren’t good historical reasons for WASPs to feel this way, but all the same, it leads to dishonest discussions of the I/P conflict.
The psychological hypothesis is too facile.
In [wvns] Money Power’s War on Islam I argue:
Spreading around money helps a lot: [CBS11TV] Perry’s Secret Jerusalem Trip Raises Questions.
Liberal White Boy puts it very succintly.
I don’t see the point in overanalyzing cowardice. WASP gentility kept Jews out of their country clubs but let them take over the media, so I have no sympathy for the marginalized WASP who now cowers in fear of same. Too bad the rest of us had no choice in the matter.
For the realism of claims and allusions to “anti-Semitism” in current politics, this film is a must-see: “Defamation”.
link to english.aljazeera.net