Opinion: The Left Needs to Handle Its Antisemitism Problem--NOW

[RandySF]

In recent days, we have witnessed chaos on and around the Columbia University campus, as threats against Jewish students have created an intolerable and combustible atmosphere.

A woman attempting to hide her identity held up a sign with an arrow pointing toward pro-Israel students that read “Al-Qasam’s Next Target,” a reference to Hamas’ military wing. Other protesters told students, “Go back to Europe. Go back to Poland.”

Another protester shouted, “The 7th of October is going to be every day for you,” in reference to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Others sang a chant, which included the words, “We support Hamas’ fight!” and “Hamas we love you. We support your rockets too!” An Arab-Israeli journalist was allegedly assaulted by agitators. These are just a few of the alleged threats and assaults that have been documented on or near this campus.

While protests of all kinds are often marred by fringe actors—doing and saying terrible things that don’t represent the views of the larger group—it’s difficult to watch the videos and not conclude that there is blatant antisemitism at play among at least some of these pro-Palestinian protesters. Even if they’re a minority of the larger movement, what we’re seeing on and around the campus of one of the most hallowed institutions of higher education in America are not merely peaceful calls for a ceasefire or more humanitarian aid into Gaza.......

If you are a prominent progressive influencer, pundit, or elected official (looking at you, Squad members), this is the time for you to go on the record and say that the antisemitic “fringe” of this movement—ostensibly in support of Palestinian rights and an end to the war in Gaza—does not speak for the larger group.





https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-left-needs-to-handle-its-antisemitism-problemnow?ref=wrap

[ripcord]

1. This blatant antisemitism will hurt us more in November than anything else

[RandiFan1290]

6. Keep dreaming

Last edited Sat Apr 27, 2024, 10:34 AM - Edit history (2)

President Biden will win again.


ETA:
Just make sure you are here for the celebrations.
Don't disappear like Nov 2020

[ripcord]

8. His isn't the only race

[murielm99]

3. The same can be said for the U.S.

[rubbersole]

4. Well, that bird has flown...

[babylonsister]

5. So only the left has an antisemitism problem? Matt

Lewis, well-known rethug conservative wrote this, so maybe consider that, too.

[doublethink]

7. Thank you for adding that context. n.t.

[Kid Berwyn]

11. OK to judge that book by its cover.

A Note from Author Matt K. Lewis

Did you know that more than 50% of Congress are millionaires? How about the fact that the median net worth of a member of Congress is about twelve times greater than the net worth of the median American household?

My name is Matt Lewis. For the last two-and-a-half years, I've been obsessed with something: How the rich get elected and the elected get rich.

As a Reagan conservative, I've dedicated my life to conserving our Founding Fathers' vision for America. Unfortunately, many good Americans are losing faith in this great experiment that has brought unparalleled peace and prosperity.

For this great republic to endure, average citizens must retain faith in the system. I'm not into class warfare, victimhood, or doom-and-gloom. That's why FILTHY RICH POLITICIANS doesn’t just diagnose the problem, it proposes serious, commonsense reforms that will demand transparency and accountability—and restore faith in the American system.

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Filthy-Rich-Politicians-Creatures-Ruling-Class/dp/1546004416

Little guy sounds like the rare RWNJ who can spell.

[electric_blue68]

20. I guess in my perception a RW'r is more likely to harbor various forms of bigotry, so that it's more of a given than a

left of center person in the fact of liberals, etc being more open minded.

[Cha]

21. Almost exactly my thought. Of Course the RW is

Anti Semitic.

That was prominent during the TSF years and when I started aligning Even More with Jewish People.

[B.See]

38. Well, since you mention it, can't recall seeing leftist Nazis protesting outside Disneyland and

through the streets of America,

nor a leftist president calling them 'very fine people. '

[returnee]

39. Jewish space lasers, e.g. (no text)

[msfiddlestix]

25. Your post just got rec'd 16 times, including mine for good reason.

[Ping Tung]

9. A Night Different From Others as Campus Protests Break for Seder

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/22/us/campus-protest-seders.html

Pro-Palestinian protesters, many of whom are Jewish, prepared Seder dinners at college protest encampments, even as other Jewish students sought community in more traditional settings.

At Yale University, just before 6 p.m., hundreds of students gathered on Cross Campus, the main university quad, to sit around a sheet painted to symbolize a Seder table. The action was organized by groups including Jews for Ceasefire, a Yale group, and the New Haven chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.

There, the Seder marked the end of a day that began with the early-morning arrests of 47 students at a tent encampment on Beinecke Plaza. Then, for nine hours, students had occupied a local intersection, calling for Yale to divest from weapons manufacturers.
Surrounding the Seder, students held banners that read, “Our Seder plates are empty stop starving Gaza” and “Another Jew for a free Palestine.” References to suffering in Gaza and pro-Palestinian student activism were woven into the ritual.

“Tonight, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, not in spite of our Judaism, but because of it,” Miriam Levine, a 22-year-old Yale student who helped organize the Seder, told the crowd through a microphone. “Tonight we proclaim that our liberation is intertwined.”


Just sayin'

[WarGamer]

10. Like an old professor told his students...

Political ideology is like a belt around your waist.

The true middle is the belt buckle, the right is above one pocket and the left is above the other pocket...

As you head to the back of the belt, behind the back...

Ideologies start to converge and you end up with C-Ville "Jews will not replace us" co-mingling with the "Oct 7 wasn't a bad thing" folks.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

18. I don't need to come to a liberal website

for people to use the old "the far left is as bad as the far right" nonsense. We're better than this. Following through on your "professor" story, are you telling me that this prof felt that anarchy is the same as fascism? Because that's what the far right and far left are. Sounds like someone who doesn't understand political systems.

[WarGamer]

36. I didn't say they're the same... just they comingle.

And actually... yes. Far right authoritarians and Far Left authoritarians are both bad.

https://news.emory.edu/stories/2021/09/esc_left_wing_authoritarians_psychology/campus.html

People with extreme political views that favor authoritarianism — whether they are on the far left or the far right — have surprisingly similar behaviors and psychological characteristics, a new study finds.

The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology published the research by psychologists at Emory University — the first comprehensive look at left-wing authoritarianism.

“We took the long history of research into right-wing authoritarianism and used insights from that to develop a conceptional framework and measures to test for authoritarianism in the political left,” says Thomas Costello, an Emory PhD student of psychology and first author of the study. “We found that in terms of their psychological characteristics and their actual behaviors, left-wing authoritarians are extremely similar to authoritarians on the right.”

[progressoid]

12. But don't worry about the right's anti-semitism.

[RandySF]

13. I don't think anyone is saying that.

[progressoid]

15. Fair enough.

I'll be honest, I was responding mostly to the dramatic headline. So I read the whole thing while I ate my leftover pizza for lunch.

To his credit, he does address what happened to his party (Steve King, Donald Trump, Charlottesville etc). But his assumption that what's happening today will somehow overtake the Democratic Party the way Trump and his ilk did to the Republican party is just a wee bit misguided. These are fringe protests. They are happening primarily outside of the party and will stay that way. Our President has decried the events at Columbia and on other campuses. Unlike his predecessor, he doesn't feel the need to say something as asinine as "there are very fine people on both sides."

[Behind the Aegis]

23. But that is the ONLY type of anti-Semitism some seem to give a shit about.

Is all racism the KKK? Of course, not and NOT a single person on the left would ever make such a STUPID claim, but want to talk about anti-Semitism on the left? Well, that doesn't exist?! Transphobia? Only the bullshit laws and actions being taken? NOPE! As a matter of fact, it had got so bad here, the owner actually spoke out against it in a standalone thread!

Too many on the left DEMAND people "unpack their invisible backpack" for any number of minorities, but when it comes to Jews....nope!

[AZSkiffyGeek]

30. Watch out bringing up the KKK

Some don’t like them being compared to antisemites because apparently bigotry is a contest or something.

[Hekate]

22. Not saying that at all

[EllieBC]

29. You can worry about both. You don't have to pretend it doesn't exist on the left.

Antisemitism is where far left and far right meet.

[progressoid]

42. I'm not pretending it doesn't exist on the left.

It does. Although I'm not sure I would say it is where the far left and far right meet - there is antisemitism in the middle too, they just aren't as vocal.

My brief comment was meant to mock the Republican author of this piece. Because ya know, when you live in a glass house etc. It's a little disingenuous for someone from the party of "there are very fine people on both sides" to be dolling out advice.

[jaxexpat]

14. It is prudent to consider the motivations of one's trench mates while fighting a war with static fronts.

It is, also, an opportunity to rethink one's attitude against those who stand against them. But for certainty, there's always the old "raise your head above the verge of your safe place and see if there's anybody shooting". I suggest that there is an American (and Russian, too) faction which hopes and plans to benefit from any and all efforts to create generic Progressive division, or at least the appearance thereof. I don't think such a faction is made up of American Palestinians or American Jews, though.

If this leads one to imagine Netanyahu is, somehow, in league with Putin, let us remember how, prior to WWII, Mussolini thought Hitler a secondary and subservient figure in their binary axis. Fascists, not being very good at objective or critical thinking, make terrible bedfellows. They will fail in November 2024 if we keep our heads clear and under cover of our common trench walls.

[Elessar Zappa]

16. Who says these people are even traditional left wingers?

I know well there’s an anti-semitism problem on the far left but these protesters haven’t given their opinion on anything except supporting Hamas and hating Israel. And of course right wing anti-semites are much more prevalent in our society, imo.

[LexVegas]

17. The far right and far left bend and meet at antisemitism. nt

[617Blue]

19. Oh fuck off with this shit - the GOP coalition contains literal Nazis

Yet the treat is from college students being supported by right wing gaslighters (this is fact)?

How do we even know if these people are on "the left?"

[moondust]

24. Remember Jeremy Corbyn?

~
After asserting that the scale of antisemitism within the party had been overstated for political reasons, Corbyn was suspended from Labour Party membership in October 2020.
~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Corbyn

I didn't follow it closely and don't know the truth but the similar accusations of antisemitism on the left make me wonder if somebody is stirring up trouble for the "left" globally. Perhaps similar to Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum, etc.?

[Think. Again.]

31. That's been my suspicion all along...

...the spark of anti-semitism in these protests is probably from rightwing agitators in the crowd.

It's the way the media and so many others seem so willing to pick up the torch and run with it, and to endlessly amplify it, that makes me wonder who's who?

[moondust]

34. Posted yesterday...

Link to tweet

I have no clue about its credibility.

[Think. Again.]

35. Wow, that would need to be verified of course...

...but wow. And to do it so blatantly.

[msfiddlestix]

26. Abortion is on the ballot, civil and human rights vs Fascism is on the ballot, the ME is not on the ballot.

[B.See]

41. I'd argue the ME and a whole lot more are also on the ballot. BUT

let's not get it twisted by forgetting which party OPENLY endorses, embraces, associates with fascist, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis, who, according to Donnie, are all 'very fine people. '

[msfiddlestix]

44. Totally agree.

[elleng]

27. Has been true for a LONG time, for MANY, and won't ever be simple.

[Diraven]

28. What even makes these people "the left"?

All people who protest war aren't automatically leftists.

[Think. Again.]

32. You won't see many rightwingers protesting against war...

...but I agree that the anti-semites are probably not there to stop any human suffering.

[Raven123]

33. I thought the left spoke out well in voting for aid to Israel

Wasn’t it the right that held it up in the House for so long due to its obsession with the southern border?

The protestors that get the most attention are those with the loudest signs from both extremes.

It seems to me the incidents on Oct 7th ignited a tinder box. Hamas should be eliminated. Netanyahu failed to prevent it, failed to respond swiftly (if I am understanding the news correctly) and his strategy to free the hostages has failed.

Personally, I support the elimination of Hamas and the ousting of Netanyahu.

[mvd]

43. Me too

Hamas started this war, but there is a major crisis in Gaza that can’t be ignored. Both sides have contributed to ill will over the years. I support a cease fire and 2 state solution but some protestors do go into the hateful.

[Chainfire]

37. Lets just bury our heads in the sand and pretend that civilians are not dying by the thousands.

[B.See]

40. The right can and HAVE run literal fascists, bigots, and Nazis for office

Last edited Tue Apr 23, 2024, 11:56 PM - Edit history (1)

including their sympathizers and associates (and yes, 'very fine people' Donnie too) yet it's the left that has an antisemite problem? Because the pro Gaza protesters are presumably leftists? Wtf?

Have I missed something here?