Using Rep. Johnson’s innocent comment to stain his reputation was the real crime

Its always the same story. Normal people make a statement with no intended malice. If they were on the “right” (correct) side of the Israeli/Palestinian divide and used the same word or phrase it would pass by unnoticed. But if your politics is not to the liking of a small group of Jewish American that serve as gatekeepers on any critical discussion of Israel, they will turn your innocuous statement into an excerpt of Mein Kampf.

A few days ago in Philadelphia, a  member of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga.) gave his impression of his recent trip to the occupied territories.

“There has been a steady [stream]– almost like termites can get into a residence and eat before you know that you’ve been eaten up and you fall in on yourself– there has been settlement activity that has marched forward with impunity and at an ever increasing rate to the point where it has become alarming,”

“It has come to the point that occupation, with highways that cut through Palestinian land, with walls that go up, with the inability or the restriction, with the illegality of Palestinians being able to travel on those roads and those roads cutting off Palestinian neighborhoods from each other,.. And then with the building of walls and the building of check points that restrict movement of Palestinians. We’ve gotten to the point where the thought of a Palestinian homeland gets further and further removed from reality.”

To state the obvious, the word “termites” was used as a description of the settlements encroaching on Palestinian  territory and is clearly not referring to human beings.

Lets check in on  the ADL in the midst of its “Imagine the world without hate campaign.”

The ADL’s response to the description by Rep. Hank Johnson of what’s been happening on the ground in the “occupied territories,” was this:

and this:

And without Jonathan Greenblatt, the new CEO of the ADL, who replaced the greatest enemy of hatred ever, Abe Foxman, who would even know that that the seemingly-sincere apology made by Rep Johnson wouldn’t be enough to  atone for  the magnitude of  the crime?

Then:

Perhaps the reality of the situation might be dawning on Rep. Hank Johnson at this point. And he realizes that saying settlement activity undermines the two state solution might even be more “antisemitic” to  Jonathan Greenblatt than using the word “termites” in describing settlement activity. Because if the high and mighty Jonathan Greenblatt talks down to Presidential candidate  Sen Bernie Sanders like he did when Senator Sanders committed a “blood libel” by being confused about the number of Palestinians killed by Israel during the last Gaza war, how would Mr. Greenblatt treat  a lowly congressman from Georgia?

Best to tell him exactly what he wants to hear:

But the ADL is just the ADL. Rep. Johnson’s work is not done. The shakedown continues.

Here is Rabbi David Wolpe writing for Time Magazine online. It is worth quoting the Rabbi at length:

On Monday a Democratic U.S. congressman said that Jewish settlers in Israel were “like termites.” Now, you might be tempted to not take Rep. Hank Johnson from Georgia seriously if I explain that this is the same congressman who expressed a fear in 2010 that the island of Guam might capsize if it were overpopulated. But he is on the House Armed Services committee. And a penchant for foolish statements does not excuse an anti-Semitic smear.

Apparently he apologized. Or did he? This was his tweet: “@ADL_NationalPoor choice of words – apologies for offense. Point is settlement activity continues slowly undermine 2-state solution.” The Anti-Defamation League tweeted back that they “appreciate” his clarification. That would have been far more convincing had the congressman apologized, but he did not. To apologize for “offense” is to say you are sorry that someone else feels the way they do. That is not an apology. “I am sorry I said something stupid and anti-Semitic”—that would have been a fitting apology.

These are not trivial issues. We are a half century away from millions of human beings who were designated as “vermin” and killed. When people say the Nazis “exterminated” Jews they unwittingly appropriate this insect metaphor. To call Jews “termites” is base and vile…

You don’t know a good person by the fact that they never say anything objectionable. Everyone in the public eye, used to speaking rivers of words, will choose badly at times. While it is true that not everyone will make a racist, sexist or anti-Semitic remark, we can try to be generous and allow some leeway. But a good person will be horrified when they realize what they have said. They will not apologize for someone else’s taking offense, but for their own insensitivity and cruelty.

That is what the congressman should have done. That is what he, pointedly, did not do.

Draw your own conclusion.

Yes, let’s take Rabbi Wolpe’s advice and draw our own conclusions. My conclusion is that the first mistake Rep Johnson or anyone else in his spot can make is to apologize. Because as he and everyone else should know by now, it’s not ultimately about the “termites”. His tormentors aren’t looking for an apology. The “crime” for these people  is that a congressman from Georgia is too sympathetic to Palestinians, and too critical of Israel. Once found “guilty” of that, you have to be very fortunate not at some point to accidentally walk into one of their “tropes” or “canards” and they will be waiting for you.

Think about how all this came about. One ethically challenged Journalist, named Adam Kredo, decided to create a “blood libel” against a congressman. Why? Most likely because he doesn’t like the Congressman position on Israel/ Palestine, and because why not? Maybe he was bored. His values wouldn’t have stopped him. 

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He has seen people like Jeffrey Goldberg win all sorts of ADL awards. No journalist ethics are expected when working on behalf of the Jewish people. In fact  your unscrupulous, tendentious, and defamatory skills will be roundly celebrated.

https://twitter.com/ellencarmichael/status/757720567244029952

 

And I have yet to see even one of them show any remorse for the lives and reputations they have successfully and unsuccessfully tried to  ruin. But most importantly there has never been a price to pay for the defamation and poison and hate  these people contribute to the world.

A shocking and scandalous irony is that these days Jews are very well protected from ancient blood libels, that their loudest and most aggressive “defenders” are always clamoring about. It is their enemies that need protection from them. Rep Hank Johnson will never be able to remove this horrible stain on his name. (See below for examples of this travesty.) It is hard to overstate the Twilight Zone-like reality he now finds himself in.

Let’s see the great “intellectual” journal Commentary’s take on all of this.  The ADL is a sell out to the Goyim! Of things like this it is said, “truth is stranger than fiction.”

You have to read the whole article to fully appreciate the alternative reality these Jewish “intellectuals” live in.

Let me try to put it in a different way how surreal  this whole thing is. Say Mr. Johnson upon entering his car after the “termite” roundtable discussion fell asleep from exhaustion, and the good Congressman then dreamt that an angel was telling him that in reward for all his life’s good he would be granted anything he wished, but only under one condition.

And that condition is he had to predict what it was he had said earlier in the discussion about Israel/Palestine that would set off a furor in the next few days. I am a betting man and I would bet Rep. Johnson would not have a clue what the answer to that question is. So what exactly is this man guilty of? On every other “sensitivity” but their own, these Jewish intellectuals show utter condescending contempt.

Oh but if someone says the word “termites” in relation even to “Jewish structures,” to “Jewish settlements.” It’s a crime against humanity and that person’s life ought to be ruined. This is the actual political correctness run amok in our culture, which all are afraid to contradict.

How can such outrages against good  people like Rep. Jackson continue to go on and on? I believe Rabbi Wolpe himself supplies us with the answer.

These are not trivial issues. We are a half century away from millions of human beings who were designated as “vermin” and killed.

These issues are indeed not trivial. As soon as some Jewish “authority” waves around the Holocaust card, the rest of the world is intimidated into silence, even at the expense  of a totally innocent Congressman. Who in their right mind wants these people as enemies? But there still must be quiet outrage about these people’s behavior. And  while many may be intimidated into silence they don’t turn their brains off. They know what Rep Johnson said in that room about settlements has zero to do with the Holocaust. And they see how the Holocaust is obscenely used for political gain; Hank Johnson’s position on Israel/Palestine now has an asterisk attached. “He thinks Jews are vermin.”

And everyone with eyes in their head sees that the quickest and the loudest to accuse the innocent of cheapening the “Holocaust” and “antisemitism” are the biggest cheapeners themselves. This is the world we live in.

Maybe someone like Peter Beinart will want to take this issue up. I know he is very concerned about Donald Trump, but there are a thousand journalists, as one, mocking and ridiculing and judging Donald Trump.  There are no journalists, however, as far as i can tell, who have influence in the Jewish community who are coming to the defense of this innocent man.  So no indeed Rabbi Wolpe: these aren’t trivial issues.

I guess one can say in Rabbi Wolpe’s defense that he finally forgave Rep. Johnson, which in this witch hunt environment makes Rabbi Wolpe seem almost open minded.

As an American Jew, if i didn’t know any better I might be concerned that this type of  relentless public unjust defamation of good men by Jews with Jewish agendas, and Jewish organizations with Jewish agendas, and Jewish magazines with Jewish agendas, might create some resentment of Jews. So it’s a great relief to me to know, that nothing Jews do or don’t do causes anti-semitism, and in fact to even consider that anti-semitism is a possible reaction to Jewish behavior is in itself a sign of anti-Semitism. Oops!

And I have this to say to Rabbi Wolpe. I have learnt from your Torah musings.

Maybe you can learn from mine. As I read your Time article about Rep. Johnson and got to the part on Guam, I recalled something I learnt  in yeshiva when i was much younger. Baba Mezia is the first tractate most Yeshiva boys start with. Maybe it was so long ago that Rabbi Wolpe forgets its lesson, how serious it is to embarrass someone in public. So let me be helpful and remind you.

The Talmud (Baba Metzia 59a) tells us that it would be better for a person to allow himself to be tossed into a furnace than to willingly embarrass another person. (This is derived from Tamar, who was willing to be burned rather than shame Yehuda in Genesis chapter 38.)

On the previous page (58b), the Talmud says that one who shames another in public, causing the blood to drain from his face, is comparable to a murderer.

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Johnson was clearly describing creeping annexation. Ayeled Shaked, Israeli member of Parliament, referred to Palestinian children as young snakes. I wonder if the critics of Johnson, who did not refer to Jews as termites, were outraged by Shaked’s comments.

RE: “Using Rep. Johnson’s innocent comment to stain his reputation was the real crime”

■ Georgia GOP [entirely controlled by the Christian fundamentalists ~ J.L.D. ] calls for Hank Johnson to resign after he likens Israel’s settlement policy to ‘termites’ – http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/07/26/georgia-gop-calls-for-hank-johnson-to-resign-after-he-likens-israels-settlement-policy-to-termites/

TAKE ACTION – Jewish Voice for Peace: Please Thank Rep. Hank Johnson – http://www.care2.com/news/member/312733850/3971696

The whole argument put forth by ADL is a simple duck for cover. A move to avoid being exposed. Is it petty…most certainly but like any guilty party they grab at any deflection to avoid the covers being raised on their dirty little secret. It is becoming impossible for Israeli Jews to hide their dirty little secret and if they want to avoid being compared to insect life that devours forests and crops etc then all they have to do is cease and desist from such abhorrent behaviour. What they are doing is defending the indefensible. If they were not engaging in unacceptable behaviour,illegitimate behaviour, wrongful and immoral behaviour then they would not come under attack. Some might say or use another analogy…If you cannot stand the heat then get out of the kitchen. ADL forgets that the World stood in absolute disgust when the truth of the Nazi extermination program of Jews became known in WW2. Many anologies of a distasteful kind were made about Germans and some would argue it was justly deserved. That their behaviour toward Jews justified such distasteful remarks. Is ADL saying that the World should simply accept similar behaviour by Israeli Jews toward Palestinians? That their distasteful actions should not draw distasteful anologies? Or maybe we should just turn a blind eye to Israeli murderous actions? Or maybe we should applaud them for Israeli innovation in removing a whole ethnic group from the land? ADL is an adult organisation and conducts adult business. It has choices in life. It can behave in an acceptable manner or face the consequences for supporting and acting complicitly with its parent nation. Fact is their is no need for Americans to listen to Israeli Foreign Agents like ADL or AIPAC at all and it is high time Americans showed them the door. That a country like Israel is not welcome in their fold…that peaceful human beings do not conduct themselves like Israeli’s do. Israeli’s have no right to criticise,comment or pass judgement on anyone until they stop behaving like their former abusers. And if they choose to continue then life for them will become increasingly uncomfortable because good people are not going to go quietly into the night to suit them.

It is sickening that one of the greatest crimes of the 20th century,
(there were several)
has been so cheapened by Zionists/Zionism.

“termites” benign creatures,
compared to cruel criminal Zionism,

daily
destroying, maiming, murdering.

No apology needed Rep. Hank Johnson;
some in the USA who love Israel above all
do not appreciate your voice,
Some do, and history will vindicate you.

Also please note all of Jon66 comments on the other thread about Congressman Johnson. Looking at the comments in the article, it’s not hard to see where Jon66 gets his inspiration from.

The vilification of this man is unbelievable, but its only just begun. They won’t be satisfied until they’ve murdered him (politically).

I don’t recall any condemnation of the israeli penchant for calling Palestinians everything but children of God. Wild beasts, animals, snakes, filth, etc., and not a peep.

And the conflation of settlements with people? So we are at the point now where condemning a structure or comparing the structure to the structures of termites is enough to invoke the holocaust?