A Special Place in Hell

[aranthus]

By Bradley Burston in Ha'aretz.


http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/the-new-self-hating-jew-1.351626


This is no time for this. This is a war. Palestinian rockets are slamming into major Israeli cities. Israeli aircraft and armor are firing on Gaza. A bombing rocks Jerusalem. All over the south, people are taking cover and praying.

This is no time for the ruling coalition and the Knesset to squander its time in driving a wedge between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel. This is no time for Israel to alienate its supporters abroad, by holding Knesset hearings alleging that thousands of American Jews who openly call themselves supporters of Israel, really aren't.

[Jefferson23]

1. He certainly is fired up, isn't he?

Incitement: Take an Israeli patriot like Naomi Chazan, take out expensive billboards and newspaper ads showing her as a cartoon villain, Hulk green with a grotesque horn thrusting from the center of her forehead, and hang all of Israel's problems – from accusations of disproportionate military force to charges of rampant discrimination – squarely on that horn.

Boycott: Take the fastest growing pro-Israel organization in North American Jewish communities and on U.S. campuses, the dovish J Street, and have Israel's ambassador shun it even as he attacks it.

Then, despite the threat of imminent war and the specter of renewed terrorism, have a Knesset committee devote an entire session to "investigating" J Street's claims to being Zionist and pro-Israel.

De-legitimization: If a lifelong, ardent Zionist like Theodore Bikel announces that he backs an artist's boycott specifically against settlements, insist that any boycott against the settlements must be considered an attack against all of Israel. Then decide that groups that take positions similar to Bikel's must be denied membership in the wider Jewish community.



** Good for him.

[LeftishBrit]

2. Excellent article

Like most on the Right (and some on the Left) everywhere, the current Israeli Right defines 'support' so narrowly and dogmatically, that it risks alienating many of Israel's natural friends and supporters:

If you are Israeli and disagree with hawkish approaches to the conflict, then you are a traitor; undermining your country; and the fact that you are a lifelong citizen, work and pay taxes for your country, and probably risked your life by serving in the army, is irrelevant!

If you are a Diaspora Jew and do not agree with everything that Israel currently does, then you hate Israel and are a supporter of terrorism.

You cannot be left-wing and be a supporter of Israel. 'Leftist' is a term of abuse - even though most of the original Zionists were left of centre and many were far-left. (An attitude that plays into the hands of those left-wing factionalists and mirror-image-ists who do stereotype all Israelis and pro-Israelis as right-wing.)

All antisemitism in Europe is caused by Muslim immigrants and liberals who pander to them. This is of course TOTALLY consistent with our simultaneously attacking Europe for its antisemitic record over long periods in the past when there were no Muslim immigrants! A minority of (in most countries) less than 5% and (in several of the most antisemitic countries) less than 2% is taking over Europe and turning it into Eurabia. And therefore it is perfectly justified to support people like Geert Wilders, organizations like the English Defence League, and other xenophobic anti-all-immigrant 'culture warriors' - who could of course have absolutely NOTHING in common with their xenophobic Europaean ancestors who rejected and too often murdered Jews for being different and about to 'take over Europe'!

If you support any of a long list of human rights organizations disliked by the Israeli Right, then you are anti-Israel *even if you support them for campaigns that have absolutely nothing to do with Israel*. Implication: If you want to support e.g. Amnesty International's campaigns against oppression in Burma or Iran, then sorry mate, we don't want your support; you've GOT to hate Israel!

We will attack those who demonize Jews while making an exception for the 'good Jews' who agree with them - while we see no contradiction in demonizing those Jews who disagree with us. Israelis and other Jews who oppose the Occupation or hawkish government policies are suffering from the 'Jew flu'; Peace Now is a 'virus' - and somehow equating groups of Jews with pathogens is perfectly OK when *we* do it!

Anyone who is not with us is against us: the Peace-Now supporter is in exactly the same category as the hardline Hamas member or David-Duke-loving antisemite.

And if after a long campaign of showing Israeli and Diaspora Jews that they are unwelcome unless they agree with EVERY policy supported by the Right, we find that we're not getting the same level of support from them - it MUST be simply because they are culturally 'lost' and being influenced by antisemites. Our attitude couldn't possibly be alienating them!



(This is not specific to the Israeli Right, but applies to the Right, especially the xenophobic-isolationist Right of many groups and countries!)