Last week Jeffrey Goldberg wrote that "pro-Palestinian extremists have sought the head of Ethan Bronner." This is not true. Among those who have pushed for Bronner to be reassigned (not fired) are NYT public editor Clark Hoyt, Alison Weir, Ali Abunimah, and, I believe, MJ Rosenberg and Richard Silverstein. None of them is an extremist
Goldberg’s characterization is a strategic one. He is trying to marginalize a political current that, yes, wants Palestinians to at last have the right of political self-determination. This current has gained power because of his and other establishment reporters’ support for the disastrous Iraq war, and for the Gaza sequel.
"The strategy," Naomi Klein said, with her usual insight, last night in New York at a fundraiser for Jewish Voice for Peace, is "to shame, to embarrass, and to extremize us when we say perfectly reasonable things." Extremize: to force outside the main stream. And Klein tied this silencing strategy into the far-more-threatening Israeli strategy: arresting and detaining Mohammed Othman and Jamal Juma’ and other Palestinian human-rights activists merely for speaking out in Europe.
Well it is no longer working. As Klein pointed out, the work of JVP and the 75 people in that NY apartment last night is to find one another, to build a community, so that we understand that we are not alone, and we are not extremists. "This is a group that cannot be intimidated."
(PS, re Bronner. Myself I want the Times to assign a reporter of Palestinian background to the Jerusalem bureau. It’s an issue of balance. Weir makes the point, here, that there are just too many reporters in Israel with intimate connections to that state.)
Good for Klein. “extremist” is a demonizing term, a dismissive term.
This Israeli intransigence is having an effect on non-Jewish Americans. I’m hearing the whispers. No one will say anything for fear of being labeled anti-semitic. [They dont know about mondoweiss. ;-) ] I dont like it but American Jews are being lumped in with Israelis.
I’ve notice over the past year or so that more and more people are calling in with a better grasp of the history of the neocons and the I-P conflict whenever a guest on Washington Journal is addressing subjects such as US security, foreign policy in the Middle East, 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc; the US military giant and its budget in the context of deprived domestic needs, etc–today it happened again–the subject was what to do about
Iran’s alleged nuclear gambit. As such calls have increased, often including internet references, lately there has been an increase in callers who counter by basically
hurling really simple charges such as Why are you blaming Israel? Israel haters, etc.
Over the past few years none of the callers has ever mentioned Mondoweiss.
“Over the past few years none of the callers has ever mentioned Mondoweiss.”
Well, Citizen, it looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you, making sure they know about Mondoweiss!
The reason Jews are blamed for Israel’s ethnic cleansing and occupation is because it is declared to be done on behalf of Judaism. When did you hear from the government of Israel or from Israel’s US apologists that this particular crime is being carried out for the benefit of Zionism? If American Jews are tired of Israel’s crimes being blamed on Jews, the first thing to do is speak up.
RE: “The reason Jews are blamed for Israel’s ethnic cleansing and occupation is because it is declared to be done on behalf of Judaism.” Les
SEE: The Nation Of Israel? Wait And See., By Bernard Avishai, TPM Cafe, 02/28/10
(EXCERPTS) …On Wednesday, the High Court will announce a new decision in this case. Veteran analyst and peace activist, Uri Avneri, sent around a commentary on the case. Here are some excerpts:
The Israeli Interior Ministry recognizes 126 nations, but not the Israeli nation. An Israeli citizen can be registered as belonging to the Assyrian, the Tatar or the Circassian nation. But the Israeli nation? Sorry, no such thing.
According to the official doctrine, the State of Israel cannot recognize an “Israeli” nation because it is the state of the “Jewish” nation. In other words, it belongs to the Jews of Brooklyn, Budapest and Buenos Aires, even though these consider themselves as belonging to the American, Hungarian or Argentine nations. Messy? Indeed….
…BUT THE white lie of Herzl had results he did not dream of, as did the compromises of Ben-Gurion. Religion did not wither away in Israel, but on the contrary: it is gaining control of the state. The government of Israel does not speak of the nation-state of the Israelis who live here, but of the “nation-state of the Jews” – a state that belongs to the Jews all over the world, most of whom belong to other nations.
The religious schools are eating up the general education system and are going to overpower it, if we don’t become aware of the danger and assert our Israeli essence. Voting rights are about to be accorded to Israelis residing abroad, and this is a step towards giving the vote to all Jews around the world. And, most important: the ugly weeds growing in the national-religious field – the fanatical settlers – are pushing the state in a direction that may lead to its destruction.
TO SAFEGUARD the future of Israel one has to start by removing the scaffolding from the building. In other words: burying the “white lie” of religion-equals-nation. The Israeli nation has to be recognized as the basis of the state….
ENTIRETY – link to tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com
Israel claims to do what it do in defense of Jews as a people, not of Judaism. Rabin’s wife Leah said she would rather have her children be Arabs than Orthodox Jews. Why should Israel’s crimes be blamed on Jews as a whole? Less than half of the world’s Jews are Israeli and the vast majority of American Jews have no real connection to Israel.
MRW says: “I dont like it but American Jews are being lumped in with Israelis.”
Lumping is supposed to happen. (Zionism is a response to and justified by anti-Semitism, and one should not be surprised when Israel deliberately manufacture more of it.) That’s why Israel and its ‘amen corner’ in USA make such a point of saying [1] that there IS a (single) Jewish “people” and [2] that Israel is the country of that single (and, I submit, illusory) people. American Jews are then forced either to circle the wagons with the pro-Israelis or to make a clean and clear separation, something with potential to wreck friendships and family stuff and careers just as if they really WERE anti-Semites. Any Jew who loudly makes separation (sort of the reverse of making aliyah?) forces other Jews to confront the problem and, again, people do not like being confronted with difficult choices.
One reason I am so annoyed with J-Street is that it also makes central its claim of loving Israel (and between that unconditioned love and other positions of J-Street I see no help from them for anything INCLUDING ameliorating the “being lumped with Israelis” problem.
Americans Jews who want to protest Israel’s behavior need their own lobby, their own PAC, and their own flag (so to speak) as a standard to ride into battle with. We must make ourselves known and must make it very clear to other Jews and to everyone else (you know, the “existing non-Jewish communities”) that we do not ride into battle with J-Street.
EXTREMIZE US !!
Well is that just me or does she not realize it is ALL the positions throughout the state and villages and all forms of government that have weaseled into the most of important areas like the P.A. man whom waited 30 hour to get an abulance which was two minutes from the location…he died. That is in USA where all positions which are in control in one form or another decide whom gets covered and whom does not, to the agencies which allowed crooks to go free and still be in business to ruin others in the mortgage scams which are still going unheeded by Chicago’s agencies. Then there are the police whom try and say there is no such liscense plate when it came to protecting one of their own from the terrorizing they did with no consequences. Then you could go to all the slave trades in the sex industry among others (drugs) which have gone unprosecuted and not protected. So naomi yes if the shoes fit and are yours you could say indeed your extremized and yes having a little girl write on bombs”this is for the children of gaza to the very fact a foriegn entity as aipac and j street to the duel citizens they are, have done NOTHING good for anyone..unless you are the “choosen ones” . Yes it would seem either all whom wouldn’t like to be included would opt for a difference in positions for elections as well as the state & Federal entities which allowed the mortgage crisis to happen, yes your extremized by all your very own doings. Now do you realize what happens next is all in the very hands of the extremized, who are illegally stealing properties and removing the occupants from their own homes to say it is israels. Well even if there was proof of such 3000 years ago, does not allow or give a green light to your criminal government. It is your beds naomi….you have all made them so sleep in them too. Hopefully the rest of the world will realize it is too late for change of good, as your kind at heart has none. This site which gives a squak box to them to feel better, to the very few, whom obviously are concerned with the outcome of the future generations. Look at the solar industry now it is cornnered by selective “choosen few” too. This is not extremized just the facts naomi..it is up to you and others to change it for better or worst. Look around at all that has been limited for ordinary people to achieve with the restrictions on whom can and cannot be allowed to do good for the world, there are so many cases of these we could write volumes on each of the issues. The shear evil that exist in these must be dismantled and would be quicker to do so by your own hands which allowed then in the first place. Assimulated into all areas of cultures around the world in the top political positions you will find a “choosen one” and unfortunately it is not because they are qualified.
I hope Naomi considers that she, and MANY other activists do that as well.
But not you, huh, Witty? Not good ol’ November 4th denying, Goldstone slandering, military action against civilian population endorsing you, huh.
Chaos,
I was clear that I felt that Israel should take the Goldstone report seriously, not as authority, but as information and conduct a thorough internal investigation to restore the confidence in their military and policy on the basis of substance.
November 4 remains only a cause celebre, but not an unequivocal violation.
I hope that you acknowledge that you have called my comments “extremist”.
And that, my friends, is how a Jew fast tracks himself to being a shoah denier (so long as the shoah is being done by Jews instead of to them. Witty is damn certain Hamas was building a tunnel to kidnap soldiers but Israel invading Gaza and murdering Palestinians? Does it matter? Not to him.
Witty, you are an extremist. You hate Palestinians, or at best you can’t consider them to be human beings and equals under the law.
I’m nowhere near an extremist.
I’m NOT damn certain. It would be wonderful if you read my comments and represented them, rather than misrepresented them.
It is UNKOWN is the point. I don’t know and you don’t know.
If you don’t know, then you don’t speak with certainty, you speak with qualification as I do.
Speaking with certainty would be a vanity.
“I’m nowhere near an extremist.”
No extremist believes he is.
The Truth has a way to assert itself despite all attempts to obscure it.
An activist is less guilty than a militant, who is less guilty than an extremist, who is less guilty than a terrorist. All are of course guilty of the crime of resisting ethnic cleansing and occupation.
Phil,
Just for reference, Alison Weir and Ali Abunimeh are “extremists” in that they advocate for some revolutionary change, rather than reforms.
I doubt that Clark Hoyt holds the same viewpoint as Alison Weir and Ali Abunimeh or Richard Silverstein on the relevance of Ethan Bronner’s role.
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