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NY ads depicting Palestinian dispossession are termed anti-Semitic by ‘Jewish community’

Maps
Maps

The graphic above, long distributed on postcards at Palestinian solidarity events, is a work of genius; it explains the history of Israel and Palestine better than any other quick summary. Andrew Sullivan published it last year. My wife saw the postcard once and was soon citing it at dinner parties. “Have you seen the maps? Well I have!”

Now this graphic has made the bigtime. It’s part of an ad on train platforms aimed at the elite in the New York suburbs. Here’s reporting by Bob Ryser in the Journal News in the Hudson Valley. (A photo at the link shows how the graphic is used in a larger ad). Note the conflation of the “Jewish community” with Zionism, and the claim that ad-buyer Henry Clifford has “little following.” 

“This is anti-Semitic because when people think of Jews they think of the Jewish state,” said Dovid Efune, editor of the Manhattan-based Jewish newspaper, The Algemeiner. “Jews have seen this happen so many times. It always starts with messaging that says Jews are committing a crime.”

The ads, which show a succession of shrinking Palestinian territory in four maps and contain a headline stating that 4.7 million Palestinians are classified as refugees by the United Nations, were paid for by an 84-year-old ex-Wall Street financier who lives in Connecticut.

“If the facts are inflammatory then they are inflammatory,” said Henry Clifford, the chairman of a 10-member group called the Committee for Peace in Israel/Palestine. “All of the Middle East is infected with the virus of the Arab-Israeli conflict. People need to know the truth of the matter.”…

“As far as we know, this is the work of individuals with little following who don’t deserve additional airtime, particularly because they present a distorted and skewed view of a complicated conflict,” said Rabbi Joshua Davidson, the Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester, a Reform congregation. “Obviously for all of us who love Israel and yearn for peace in the Middle East, it is incumbent upon us to recount the history and portray the conflict honestly and in its full context.”…

“The message has to be delivered to people succinctly,” said Clifford, who has carried out similar ad campaigns in Connecticut.

Leaders in the Jewish community could not object more.

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How visionary of them! They are reducing the term “anti-semitic” to become so meaningless that when they are confronted by real anti-semitism, they will no longer have an effective term for it. That makes them anti-semites.

“It always starts with messaging that says Jews are committing a crime”

This is why Zionism is such a Jewish tragedy. It is a criminal enterprise run by Jews with the noble goal of saving Judaism , and no ethical boundaries whatsoever. Sadly it does look as though Judaism now has to be rescued from Zionism.

There seems to be some kind glitch or typo in the headline. The words “Jewish community” are enclosed in single quotes, as if there was some question about what it is or something. Everybody knows what the “Jewish community” is. And there’s a word for those who don’t!

Ha ha, because they can’t argue with the simple facts, all they can do is resort to name-calling and the old, threadbare, and completely false, ‘anything against Israel is anti-semitic’ line. I guess facts are ‘anti-semitic’, so we can’t let the public have them.

“particularly because they present a distorted and skewed view of a complicated conflict,” said Rabbi Joshua Davidson, the Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester, a Reform congregation. “Obviously for all of us who love Israel and yearn for peace in the Middle East, it is incumbent upon us to recount the history and portray the conflict honestly and in its full context.”

Yeah there’s been such a concerted effort to make sure Americans hear both sides–that’s why Congress gave dozens of ovations to that idiot Netanyahu last summer, because of the great success of people like Rabbi Davidson in conveying the conflict honestly and in its full context. It’s why the Congressional representatives that come from Westchester County are so scrupulously fair in their depiction of the conflict–

note the statements about Goldstone and the Gaza flotilla by Nita Lowey

Elliot Engel praising Netanyahu’s speech

“This accuses Israel of being land grabbers and imperialistic and insensitive to its neighbors, and anybody who knows anything about history knows it is more complicated than that,” says the editor Efune. “The greatest enemy is ignorance and these ads are taking advantage of people.”

Sure. Israel has grabbed a lot of land and has been imperialistic, but one thing you can say about this conflict is that nobody has shown the slightest trace of insensitivity on either side. Well, maybe the Palestinians have been insensitive when they commit atrocities, but Israelis shoot and cry, shoot and cry, to the point where all the weeping keeps their neighbors from getting any sleep.

“This is anti-Semitic because when people think of Jews they think of the Jewish state,”

I didn’t think one could pack that many non-sequiturs into such a small space–it almost violates the Bekenstein bound