We didn’t need the New York Times quoting Saeb Erekat to tell us how racist Mitt Romney’s “gaffe” in Jerusalem on Monday was. He said, basically, that Palestinians are poor because they’re lazy, while the State of Israel is rich because it’s run by people who are industrious (and chosen). Talking about the “dramatically stark difference in economic vitality” between Israel and the PA, Romney said:
…culture makes all the difference. Culture makes all the difference. And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things. One, I recognize the hand of providence in selecting this place…There’s also something very unusual about the people of this place. [In Start-Up Nation, Dan Senor] described why it is Israel is the leading nation for start-ups in the world. And why businesses one after the other tend to start up in this place. And he goes through some of the cultural elements that have led Israel to become a nation that has begun so many businesses and so many enterprises and that is becomes so successful.
No mention of 64 years of occupation, dispossession, home demolitions, land theft, closures, and “administrative detention.” Since Romney made these remarks two days ago, a well-deserved critique of his racism has made the rounds from this blog to the paper of record.**
What hasn’t been pointed out much is the anti-Semitism of Romney’s statement: Israel’s such a smashing success because Jews are good with money. That’s just our culture. Seriously?
These comments might have been a bad PR move for Romney, but to call them a gaffe is to undersell the moment. It’s an excellent illumination of how tightly bound up anti-Jewish sentiment is with racism against Palestinians.
That Romney should say something anti-Jewish while supporting Israel is no surprise. Zionism itself is ambivalent about Jews. Since its emergence in Europe in the late 19th century, political Zionism has been about reinventing European Jews (and ignoring or oppressing other Jews, especially Arab Jews). It’s been about suppressing the embarrassing stereotype of the Yiddish-speaking, effeminate, near-sighted scholar hunched over a book in favor of the New Jew: a Hebrew-speaking, broad-shouldered, hyper-masculine soldier. For Theodor Herzl, Zionism was partially about solving Europe’s Jewish problem, getting rid of its pesky Jews so that liberal democracy could thrive in racially homogenous nation-states. That’s Zionism as anti-Semitism.
The racism of Romney’s take on the Palestinian economy and the anti-Semitism of his take on the Israeli economy are two heads of the same beast. Zionism needs both of these to exist. In the racial logic of Zionism, Jews are exceptional, canny, and unable to live among others, while Palestinians are lazy, irrelevant, and violent. Nobody wins here except Boeing and the Christian Right.
This is not to say that Jews should support Palestinian freedom and self-determination because 64 years of the Israeli occupation is bad for Jews. But we should. And it is.
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**The critical response seems to be missing an analysis of Romney’s comparison of Israel/Palestine to U.S./Mexico — there, too, a lack of cultural vigor is apparently the reason for the gross inequity of resource distribution in North America. Some things Mexico and Palestine do have in common, of course, are a shared experience of neoliberal exploitation and intensive border policing funded by the U.S, as well as strong traditions of political resistance.
Christian Zionists when they hear the cultural argument seem to think they have the same cultural superiority as the Jews vis-a-vis how much money is made. The facts speak otherwise. From this chart the “superior” cultures are not Jews and Evangelical Christians and Mormons but Jews and Hindus.
link to awesome.good.is
The difference between Hindus and Jews is Hindus have a more robust middle class in addition to having a greater percentage of wealthier individuals. Both communities have a tendency to be insular. Where they differ is the Jews are the hedge fund managers while the Hindus tend to be small business owners.
Mormons are pretty average. Evangelical Christians and Muslims are below average. African American Christians are well below average.
The graph I showed above was mentioned in the following story in The Economist. If you want a good handle on conservative British economic thought this is the place to go. This shows that Romney has lost the entire political spectrum in Britain.
link to economist.com
The income disparity in Israel/Palestine puts our own income disparity in sharper relief. Thanks Mitt for helping bring up this topic and reminding us why we shouldn’t be ruled by the 1% who were born on third base and think they hit a triple.
I guess I am too used to reading statements of jewish supremacy, on this site and others, to get too upset.
I would say there is just as much anti-semitism in the attitudes of some folks here, who make excuse after excuse for Israeli’s or American’s simply because they are jewish – Phil, his rabbi and the soda-stream maker, Phil and Beinart and so on. Phil talks about “rehabilitating his community” all the time, as if Jews are inherently at a deficit when it comes to their understanding of right and wrong and so on. THAT is anti-semitic, and, in my opinion, pretty offensive.
“Phil talks about “rehabilitating his community” all the time, as if Jews are inherently at a deficit when it comes to their understanding of right and wrong and so on. THAT is anti-semitic, and, in my opinion, pretty offensive.”…Dan
No it’s not.
It’s obvious that zionism has a hold on some Jews.
It’s also anti- reality to think zionism in the US or Israel is going end well for Jews or anyone else.
So yes, there are Jews and groups within the Jewish community that do need to be brought to their senses.
No more anti semitic to say than I would be anti- American for saying 90% of our US congress needs to be reformed (or preferably deep sixed).
“Phil talks about “rehabilitating his community” all the time, as if Jews are inherently at a deficit when it comes to their understanding of right and wrong and so on”
Any large group of people can be indoctrinated. After 64 years of twaddlespiel, rehabilitation is probably the correct word.
‘Phil, his rabbi and the soda-stream maker, Phil and Beinart and so on.’
What does this mean?
With respect to Phil, who makes this conversation possible, Dan is right here.
Indeed, the fact that so many are resistant to his obvious point (that Phil and other Jewish progressives make excuses for their own people’s selfish amorality) is simply further evidence that the masses have been indoctrinated in lies.
Listen. Would we tolerate Afrikaner’s making excuses for white South Africans circa 1980? No. Would we excuse white Southerner’s pleading for time to change the hearts of their kin in the 50′s? No.
For Palestinians, these are the relevant analogies. It’s not good enough. We are dealing with an oppressive ethnic elite that needs not just to change its collective minds but be systematically *dethroned*.
No comment other than that if Jews are so talented why can so few chosen people in Israel under 45 afford their own apartment ?
Oh please– there is no anti-Semitism here. Romney is as philo-Semitic as anyone could be. I’m sure he would agree with the chief rabininate in Israel that us gentiles are here just to serve you, Jews, as well as serving the Mormons, since it is well known that the Mormons think of themselves as one of the lost tribe of the Jews.
Please get off your high horse about anti-Semitism– most Israelis love Romney’s kind of philo-Semitism– the kind that maintains that they are the smartest ubermen on the planet, since they are arrogant and self-righteous and think the entire world belongs to them.
Stop with the identity politics– this is about Romney’s contempt for the poor, the dispossessed, those groups that history has left behind, and the Palestinians embody all of that, as do they people in places like West Virginia and Appalachia and Detroit and Mississippi– and besides Detroit, liberals like yourselves usually despise these type of Americans. I can’t really believe what I am reading when I read this crap about Romney being anti-semitic– calling Romney anti-semitic is about like calling Josef Goebels anti-German. It’s ridiculous.
Madrid -
You make a good point about Romney, but I’m not so sure he’s as much an actual philo-Semite as he is a philo-Mittite. He’s willing to play the Israel card with total recklessness if it’ll help him win the WH — and damn the consequences.
Romney visited the Middle East, and he found that Israeli Jews are a lot wealthier than the impoverished Palestinians. Romney never entertained the thought that the wealth of Israeli Jews was made possible (in part) by the poverty of the Palestinians. There is a vast literature about the sacrifices made by the early Zionist pioneers, but it was the Palestinians who made the biggest sacrifice. And it was not voluntary.
Why does Romney not realize that in the Middle East, one nation is benefiting at the expense of another nation?
It’s probably the same reason that he doesn’t realize that, in the US, the ruling class is benefiting at the expense of everybody else. He’s just too busy counting his money in the Cayman Islands to worry about such things…
Re: apostrophe
At the risk of being branded a pedant, I would recommend this site for those unsure about its (not it’s!!) proper use:
link to grammarbook.com
Some tidbits:
From Vanity Fair:
Godlike Productions reports:
On CNN’s political ticker blog, after the Romney blunders:
Whoa, wait. The story about the Honey Baked Ham and the pyramids is a hoax. It’s from Andy Borowitz at The New Yorker:
Is that where Bibi handed Mitt the letter demanding Pollard’s release?
link to algemeiner.com
I wonder how the “Chosen” state would have turned out without American tax dollars and Congress/WH-sponsored diplomatic immunity.
RE: “Since its emergence in Europe in the late 19th century, political Zionism has been about reinventing European Jews… It’s been about suppressing the embarrassing stereotype of the Yiddish-speaking, effeminate, near-sighted scholar hunched over a book in favor of the New Jew: a Hebrew-speaking, broad-shouldered, hyper-masculine soldier.” ~ Nava EtShalom
AN INTERESTING FILM: The Believer, 2001, R, 99 minutes
Danny Balint (Ryan Gosling), a young Jewish man from New York City, is struggling with the conflict between his beliefs and his heritage and eventually joins a neo-Nazi organization, rising up the ranks to become a leader in the white supremacy movement. Director Henry Bean’s gripping drama, which won the 2001 Jury Prize at Sundance, is a psychological examination into the forces of intolerance, both on the individual and society as a whole.
Director: Henry Bean
Netflix Format: DVD
• Netfix Listing – link to dvd.netflix.com
• Internet Movie Database – link to imdb.com
• The Believer – Trailer (2001) [VIDEO, 02:14] – link to youtube.com
• The Believer (2001) – FULL MOVIE IN ENGLISH [VIDEO, 1:39:01] – link to youtube.com
RE: “The critical response seems to be missing an analysis of Romney’s comparison of Israel/Palestine to U.S./Mexico — there, too, a lack of cultural vigor is apparently the reason for the gross inequity of resource distribution in North America.” ~ Nava EtShalom
SEE: The difference between a racist and a fu**ing racist, Tue 31 Mar 2009, by abagond
SOURCE – link to abagond.wordpress.com
P.S. FROM John R. MacArthur, 12/17/10:
SOURCE – link to harpers.org
I am still waiting for the New York Times, NPR, et. al., to name at least one person who supports Israel’s occupation and ethnic cleansing who is not a racist.
Fifty years back Romney’s comments about Jews ability to make money would have earned him the charge of antisemite. I was raised in an extended family that was about one third left wing socialist and two thirds traditional peasant mentality European anti-Semites. The lefties (my side of the family) had many Jews among their comrades who really resented the accusation of some special Jewish trait in making money. The real anti-Semites did in those days focus on the many successful Jewish business people (if my memory is correct mostly people with modest retails businesses) and how there was something wrong with that.
Now everything has changed. Being a successful Jewish hedge fund manager is now presented as proof of the the superiority of Judaic and Israeli culture. What is now called antisemitism is criticizing Israel and their billionaire backers.