We missed this, but lots of folks are talking about it. A week ago, two days after the Brussels Jewish museum killings on May 24, Jeffrey Goldberg wrote with singularly bad judgment on twitter:
At what point do the Jews of America and the Jews of Israel tell the Jews of Europe that it might be time to get out?
— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) May 26, 2014
This was days before anyone had any firm idea of who had committed the horrific murders, five days before the news that a French man who had become radicalized by serving in the Syrian rebellion was arrested.
The tweet is a reminder of Goldberg’s visceral understanding that Jews are unsafe in the west. “The fear of anti-Semitism is the forge on which” he built his identity as a young Jew, he wrote in his memoir, Prisoners. “I believed a red river of anti-Semitism ran under the surface of America.” Jews led “the dog’s life of the Diaspora. We were a whipped and boneless people.” The cure then was that Goldberg moved to Israel.
Max Blumenthal has responded to Goldberg:
Anti-Semites and Zionists like @jeffreygoldberg have something in common: They want Jews to leave Europe. https://t.co/nqtcTc3D6M — Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) June 2, 2014
The American Jewish Committee’s David Harris in Haaretz surely agrees in part with Blumenthal. He chides Goldberg:
Such reactions are not helpful. They take complex issues and reduce them to the level of simplistic slogans.
Should we be outraged by violent attacks on Jews? Absolutely.
Should we be concerned about the electoral success of extremist parties peddling anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and racism? Certainly.
The pugnacious Goldberg seems proud of his tweet.
More on Brussels, from the Telegraph report on the arrest of a French man who had reportedly served with jihadists in Syria for the murders:
Our message “to these jihadists is that we will fight them, we will fight them and we will fight them”, [French President Francois Hollande] said.
France announced new policies in April to stop its citizens joining the Syrian civil war, aiming to prevent young French Muslims becoming radicalised and posing a threat to their home country.
This is a growing worry in a country that is home to Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish communities.
Nearly 800 French nationals have travelled to Syria to fight alongside jihadists in the war-torn Arab state.
When Goldberg urges Jews to leave for Israel or the U.S., it raises the question, How safe are Jews in Israel? Everyone is worried about violence there for good reason; the Israelis are holding millions of people in occupation. And, the inevitable question: what is the contribution of Israel’s actions to fostering anti-Semitism?
I’m not seeing where Phil concluded that Goldberg “wants” Jews to leave Europe. He just thinks that it might not be safe for them any longer. The evidence supporting such a viewpoint has been compiling for quite some time now.
But I get it: Goldberg is a Zionist and therefore must be attacked at every opportunity.
I also notice Phil didn’t bother to point out Marwan Bishara’s reaction to Goldberg, namely that he “gives Jews a bad name” and that “Some Jewish humility is good for you.” Let me guess: more “legitimate criticism” of his point of view?
Ahh yes because obviously the French and Belgians are so “anti-semitic” that they not only never allowed a Jewish museum to operate on their soil, they didn’t even bother investigating the killings. Despicable! And all those European laws on Equality and Non-Discrimination, well we all know every single one contains the clause “except for the Joos!”
I wonder if the ADL would like to follow up their (cooked) survey on European “anti-semitism” with one on Jewish “anti-Europeanism?”
what is the contribution of Israel’s actions to fostering anti-Semitism?
Exactly! Instead of telling Jews to leave Europe, Goldberg should tell Israel to stop committing crimes in the name of the Jews.
However, it’s not solely Israel’s fault. The national Jewish organisations, such as the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) and the Central Council of Jews in Germany, bear part of the blame. They keep defending Israel’s crimes and lead non-Jews to believe that all French/German Jews are Zionists.
The national mainstream media are responsible, too. By ignoring the existence of anti-Zionist Jews, they contribute to the false impression that all Jews are Zionists.
So, non-Jewish Europeans are not just misled by Israel but also by the main Jewish organisations and the MSM.
By the way, very good response by Max.
Goldberg should urge Israeli Jews to move to the US.
That’s what he did, after all.
In the 1950’s, Ben-Gurion urged American Jews to move to Israel. It didn’t happen on any large scale. Most American Jews never visit Israel, not even once.
RE: “When Goldberg urges Jews to leave for Israel or the U.S., it raises the question, How safe are Jews in Israel?” ~ Weiss
APPARENT ANSWER: Not very.*
* AVNER GOLOV & URI SADOT (an Israeli Air Force veteran and a protege of Elliott Abrams):
SOURCE – https://mondoweiss.mystagingwebsite.com/2014/05/national-interest-exceptionalist.html