Deborah Lipstadt’s double standard on white nationalism and Jewish nationalism

On National Public Radio yesterday the Holocaust scholar Deborah E. Lipstadt said that “the so-called alt-right” is a euphemism for white nationalism, which is itself a euphemism for white supremacy; and the media should cut through the pretense and say “white supremacism.”

LIPSTADT: I would say white supremacism. I think white nationalism is just like Holocaust deniers calling themselves, you know, revisionists. To properly understand the danger, we should call them by what they really are, white supremacists..

I think it’s incumbent upon the media to understand who these people are and the kind of arguments they’re making and not to treat them as a benign point of view.

Deborah E. Lipstadt
Deborah E. Lipstadt

Meantime, in the Forward, Lipstadt has an article that while critical of rightwing Jewish groups for normalizing Trump’s racism, reserves its main blast for the left. “Didn’t Slam Anti-Semitism On the Left? Don’t Expect Credibility When You Slam It On the Right.” In this article, Lipstadt equates anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.

For the past few decades, we have witnessed the rise of anti-Semitism from the left. From Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in the United Kingdom to college campuses across America, the phenomenon is real, and it is dangerous. Yet, all too often, some Jews — both individuals and organizations — who inhabit the liberal or left end of the spectrum have tried to explain it away with the classic “yes/but” rationalization: “Yes, it’s wrong, but if only Israel would… then the anti-Semitism would disappear.” Maybe their fear of losing their left-wing bona fides blinded them to the fact that the only proper response to prejudice of any kind — anti-Semitism included — is unambiguous condemnation.

Lipstadt is advocating a double standard. If she is going to criticize white nationalism as a white supremacist ideology, then what about Jewish nationalism? Palestinians routinely describe the Zionist regime in Israel Palestine as Jewish supremacy; and there is plenty of evidence to support the victims’ view of the matter. As the illustration above makes plain, any Jew can move to Israel tomorrow; but a Palestinian who was born there and made a refugee by the Jewish state is not allowed to return to his or her own village. There are over 1.5 million Palestinians and registered descendants living in refugee camps right now. Many laws in Israel discriminate against Palestinians in favor of Jews, including many involving land ownership and zoning that are reminiscent of the Jim Crow South. And if you are a Palestinian living in the occupied West Bank, you can’t vote for the government that rules your life; but a Jewish settler living alongside you in an illegal colony can vote. That would seem to be the definition of supremacy.

So: Lipstadt is slamming white nationalism while extolling Jewish nationalism. The left is consistent in condemning both.

This debate is no longer confined to ideologues of Zionism and anti-Zionism. It has become an urgent American discussion because the Trump victory has pushed liberals and leftwingers into the same political space, of Trump resistance. Some of these anti-Trump activists are Zionists, some are anti-Zionists; and the contradiction is no longer sustainable: the lib-left must support equal rights for all people if it is to have ideological integrity and force in opposing Trump. I would argue that Hillary Clinton’s Zionism contributed to her defeat; and that once Jewish nationalism is exposed for its actual accomplishments in Israel and Palestine, Zionists are sure to lose this debate among freedom-loving Americans.

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… So: Lipstadt is slamming white nationalism while extolling Jewish nationalism. …

Zionism is about Jewish supremacism in/and a religion-supremacist “Jewish State” in as much as possible of Palestine.

To condemn other forms of supremacism while advocating, justifying, defending and supporting Jewish supremacism is to be a hypocrite – in other words, a Zio-supremacist.

Referring to Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state” doesn’t change that.

UCSB historian Albert Lindemann addresses the problem of fake historians like Dawidowicz, Sachar, and Goldhagen, who have found a home in Jewish and Holocaust studies.

https://books.google.com/books?id=NagdhSUgB9oC&pg=PA509&lpg=PA509&dq=%22esau%27s+tears%22+lindemann+%22Lucy+Dawidowicz%22+509&source=bl&ots=BPPZMZNFLE&sig=eY-2jzDWFLDA53sNGKHED0CWfDw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi_0OO9gszQAhUH_IMKHYNRB7UQ6AEIIzAB#v=onepage&q=%22esau's%20tears%22%20lindemann%20%22Lucy%20Dawidowicz%22%20509&f=false

Lipstadt overlooks completely how Zionism has become an intrinsic component of US white racist ideology for many if not most US white racists.

Without defending Lipstadt’s overall wordview, I have to ask, where in the excerpt is she defending Jewish nationalism? It sounds like she is simply criticizing the (alleged) leftist tolerance of anti-Semitism. It would be a sign of hypocrisy if, for example, she failed to criticize perceived anti-white bias by black activists, as that would be the analogy to anti-Jewish bias by Palestine activists. However, I don’t see any of the quotations suggesting that. She is slamming white supremacy and also slamming the (alleged) left-wing anti-Semitism. It may very well be that she is wrongly conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism (the Corbyn and college campus references would suggest so) but she doesn’t come out and say what she considers anti-Semitism to be. So I don’t think it’s necessarily hypocritical of her. That being said I’ve always considered her to be somewhat of a huckster whose primary fame comes from being sued by a neo-Nazi. A very bizarre affair.

“From Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in the United Kingdom to college campuses across America, the phenomenon is real ”

Not the first time there has been an invalid suggestion that “Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party” is overtly anti-Semitic. However, I’m surprised it is being made in the U.S. One has to presume that it is due to the fact that Jeremy Corbyn openly backs BDS and has consistently been pro-Palestinian. Moreover, next year marks a couple of important anniversaries in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Perhaps, Lipstadt should read the following statement from the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee on Antisemitism in the UK Tenth Report of Session 2016–17:

“120. Despite significant press and public attention on the Labour Party, and a number of revelations regarding inappropriate social media content, there exists no reliable, empirical evidence to support the notion that there is a higher prevalence of antisemitic attitudes within the Labour Party than any other political party.”

Surely, an esteemed academic should do their research before spewing spurious charges. Where are the standards.

PHIL- “It has become an urgent American discussion because the Trump victory has pushed liberals and leftwingers into the same political space, of Trump resistance.”

Trump didn’t create the conditions which underlied his victory. These conditions are the consequence primarily of neoliberal globalization, something which so-called liberal Democratic administrations have championed since Bill Clinton was elected. Protesting Trump the man while ignoring these policies is a typical liberal diversion from reality. You need to focus on policy, not personality. Besides, the Deep State still rules, albeit with some relatively minor realignment of priorities. I suspect that the Trump administration will de-emphasize war and try to get that latest disastrous tax cut for the rich and corporations passed into law. The final grand theft prior to a restructuring of the global financial system.

I might add, that once you begin thinking of Trump and his supporters as the enemy while ignoring the corporations and financial system, you are contributing to the division of society along a sort of manufactured sectarian basis. You are playing into the Deep State’s hands as you assist them in their efforts to divide and rule.