I’ve long thought that the key to overcoming the charge of anti-Semitism for criticizing Israel is, Stop caring what people call you. At some level Walt and Mearsheimer knew they’d be smeared, they decided to go ahead. Me too. The damage is that an important category, anti-Semitism, has been completely destroyed by pro-Israel fanatics. Sharmine Narwani, of Oxford University, gets the point, on Huffpo:
I for one get pretty irritated hearing false cries of anti-Semitism against anyone who criticizes Israel, its human rights crimes, its crazy settler movement, its unique brand of crypto-racism against non-Jews living within the state and its occupied territories….
I hate being treated like an idiot. We can see for ourselves the carnage caused by Israeli troops in Gaza and Lebanon, the daily acts of collective punishment and brutality against Palestinians in the territories. So when supporters of Israel pull out the anti-Semitism card no matter how ridiculous the claim, it does Jews everywhere a disservice by severely diluting the impact of the word, and therefore lessening the gravity of real and harmful prejudice against Jews.
Like the boy who cried wolf, the cries become meaningless when invoked for political gain – or simply when all other arguments fail to convince a weary world that yet another Israeli atrocity was justified to protect Jews.
To the woman accusing pro-Palestinian protestors on TV of anti-Semitism, I too wearily say, frankly my dear, I just don’t give a damn.
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Does the USofA have an Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Iranianism in the US and internationally?
I think it would be effective to keep a list of comments dispared as “anti-Semitic”, including remarks by Israeli government officials, to illustrate the growing absurdity.
Good idea. Her point about crying wolf is the best analogy for this case.
The more I read about Sand’s new book the more sense it makes that Zionism’s roots, influenced by the folk character of German nationalism, imitated & desired an ancient history of greatness, thus inventing a retrospective history of people that are somehow tied-to & deserving of an ancient land on the Mediterranean, where a civilization already exists, is a rich tale.
Even if they wanted this history to be true, what gives them the right to claim this land? I think it’s why Israel will always be illegitimate in the eyes of many who know the story. Other civilizations have used this logic before, but we’re the ones who have to hear it again and again, this all powerful & gripping narrative about democracy and a Jewish state!
Why is there a constant barrage of slander characterizing everything from soup to nuts as “anti-semitic”? One “for sure” reason is to prevent “normalization” of public and private discussion of the facts about American Jewish complicity in Israel’s outrages. The goal of the slander is to cast open discussion by non-Jews of things Jewish and/or Israeli as “suspect”. Non-Jews are taught not only to fear false accusation. They are taught to be morally conflicted from the deliberate ambiguity assigned the phrase “anti-semitic” (remember the infamous “anti-semitic-in-effect”), which is often used in the context of “historical Jewish suffering”. This moral conflict is the calculated and deliberate object of the slander. People of humane principle are conditioned to be unsure of whether or not their natural urge to condemn the obvious sins of Israel (and American Jewish complicity in its outrages) is some sort of latent “anti-semitic” urge. Conflicted themselves, and unsure of the how (non-Jew) others may resolve the ambiguity, they simply choose to be one of Amira Haas’ odious “silent bystanders”. Score one for the bad guys.
Americans must learn it’s OK, it’s normal, it’s not perverse, to talk openly about the phenonema of Jewish identity politics in the US, and yes, to openly acknowledge and sympathize with Palestinian victimization and suffering. It’s OK to condemn Jewish and Israel politics which reject universal human values of justice and life liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the helpless people of the West Bankand Gaza. Jewish politics about Israel and its role as a hateful and oppressive military occupier, is part of the American political landscape because Jews here want it that way. Talking politics about Jews and Israel should be a respectable norm, like talking about Cuban-Americans and Cuba. Until then, the bad guys get a free pass in our media, in our government, in our universities, and so they can continue to, yes………………….. kill and oppress real live Palestinians.
Time for a new version of Gone With The Wind?
I suggest Clint to direct.
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