There may initially have been a good reason to start an offensive against Hezbollah. Israel is a country surrounded by nations that to a large extent wish to wipe it and its people off the map.
But killing innocent Lebanese never entered into the equation.
We left-wing Jews find ourselves in an increasingly poisonous position. We know that we don’t have to self-identify with the Jews in the Knesset or the IDF, or in Jewish communities the world over, who support the disproportionate actions now going on, but we know that every day the war continues, Israel incites more anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic sentiment the world over.
Nobody’s the winner here, except perhaps Hezbollah.
Do many Jews see criticism of Israel as inherently anti-Semitic? From what I’ve heard, a lot of Jews (at least in Britain) see Israeli government policies as an embarrassment, and dissociate themselves publicly from them. There was a piece in the Guardian about that recently.
The “criticism of Israel == anti-Semitism” meme seems to be more the province of gung-ho American Zionists, at least half of whom aren’t Jewish (though many of whom pepper their blog posts with the word “G-d”, in solidarity with their adopted ideology; they seem to be like a more warlike version of the anime fans who laboriously work Japanese words into their conversation).
I would say that, really, the majority of the Jewish community, although much more nuanced than just a big bloc of sameness, nevertheless tend to nervously wonder whether criticism of Israel is masked (or open) anti-Semitism. Part of this is because not infrequently it is… even (or especially) from those on the Left who see Palestine as inviolably in the right, and Israel (being an oppressive colonial force) as in the wrong.
So I’d say that even plenty of left-wing Jews like myself have to wonder, when they hear unsubtle, untempered criticism of Israel, whether they are themselves being held accountable for the actions of its government and/or army. Anti-Israel sentiment may not even be conscious anti-Semitism, but can often accompany a fairly ignorant view of Jews being basically equivalent to Israelis, so that if I were to mention in passing that I’m Jewish to a gathering of men-and-women-on-the-street, I may well be taken to task for Israel’s actions even though I patently have nothing to do with them (and indeed basically nothing to do with the local Jewish community).
After all, most people don’t really understand that one can be an atheist Jew - that Jewishness isn’t either just a religion or just a nationality. And in a way, why would they?
If right-wing American (and Australian) non-Jews use the anti-Semitism barbs against critics of Israel, I would say it’s something they’ve picked up from the more paranoiac and gung-ho end of the Jewish spectrum, really. The “G-d” thing being a case in point…
But is the “Israel is invariably in the wrong/should not exist” attitude on the left actual anti-Semitism in the classic sense, or a manifestation of anti-Western/anti-American ideology that holds that Western/liberal/capitalist ideology is the source of all injustice and anything that stands against it is a liberation movement (witness the rise of Islamomarxists like George Galloway and his ilk, for example)? I.e., do they hate Israel because it’s Jewish, or because it’s pro-American/capitalist/colonialist/bourgeois-liberal?
That’s a good question, and there’s no doubt that it’s different for different people. For some of them, from their rhetoric you start to wonder whether it is indeed actual anti-Semitism. It’s not like anti-Semitism is a stripe of one colour (is that a phrase?) itself - all it really means is a bias against Jews without a basis in fact, or a deliberate grouping of all Jews together…
In a way, the sort of “anti-Semitism” (in scare quotes) that’s manifested by some of the Left out of their anti-Western-imperialist feeling is more insidious than neo-Nazis’ explicit Jew-hate. The Left is politically correct enough that it won’t say, I dunno, “Chomsky’s all-right, for a Jew” or whatever. But still… the Islamomarxists betray their weird favouritism in the way that they neglect to criticise the cultures of misogyny, homophobia, oppression and so on in the Arab world, prefering to insist that the “real” terrorists are Israel & America. Of course those countries (and, by being allied with them, Australia etc too) have done terrible things and continue to do so, but come on, that doesn’t make them worse than a country where you cannot come out as gay and hope to keep your job (let alone, possibly your life), where opposition views are stamped out, where Jews have been eradicated… Anyone who supports such countries has to at least ask him or herself how comfortable they are supporting people many of whom are clear anti-Semites, racists, and so on.
I agree with you on the Islamomarxists’ bias, but I don’t think that’s so much latent anti-Jewish feeling as the radical-collectivist assumption that things such as womens’ rights, gay rights and so on are bourgeois individual rights, for which there is no need in an ideologically sound society (and, if you tilt your head the right way squint hard enough, the Taliban looks sort of Communist-ish). Needless to say, that is utterly insane to anyone from the same reality as you and me.
Certainly that’s true - I was saying in the last comment that the various isms that the extreme Leftists could be accused of are to some extent guilt by association, but you’re right that they’re also ideologically in a position where any rights movements (except for workers’ rights, and the rights of “the oppressed”) aren’t worth speaking of, especially because they want to treat everyone’s aspirations, needs and desires as if we already lived in their future utopia. Sure, if everyone was equal and there were no possessions, territories or borders then many of the things we strive for for people would become irrelevant; but not only do we patently not live in such a world, but it’s a long way off (some would say a pipe dream, given human nature), and what’s more the Left are remarkably selective in who they want to hold up to those ideals - i.e. Israel has to behave as if they have no particular needs or fears regarding their position as equal citizens anywhere in the world, but the Palestinians should have their own state… The West shouldn’t try to press its ideals of democracy, rationalism etc on other parts of the world, but don’t talk about the mullahs oppressing the citizens of Arab nations, and so on.
All of which has ventured further away from “the Left’s anti-Semitism”, but I suppose my point is:
**you’re absolutely right that the blanket anti-Israel sentiment is often linked to the blanked anti-”Western-imperialist” sentiment of the far-Left, but
**the Left is either wilfully naïve or really stupid if they can’t see both the anti-Semitism of some of their “friends” (in solidarity) and the anti-Semitic bias they themselves hold.
By the way, Juan Cole apparently used the word “anti-Semitism” to refer to anti-Arab sentiment in a recent interview. Which is quite stupidly Humpty Dumptyish, or perhaps pig-headedly pedantic. Of course “Semites” aren’t just Jews, but the word has a long usage meaning “anti-Jew”. But perhaps we should start to adopt the word “Judeophobia” which the New Internationalist has used. It works.
I think “Judaeophobia” sounds like a clearer word for the idea. And it borrows the “phobia” construction from “homophobia”, which turns it into an attitude rather hard for anyone to be proud of, something closer to bedwetting than to any banner one could rally to.
July 26th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Do many Jews see criticism of Israel as inherently anti-Semitic? From what I’ve heard, a lot of Jews (at least in Britain) see Israeli government policies as an embarrassment, and dissociate themselves publicly from them. There was a piece in the Guardian about that recently.
The “criticism of Israel == anti-Semitism” meme seems to be more the province of gung-ho American Zionists, at least half of whom aren’t Jewish (though many of whom pepper their blog posts with the word “G-d”, in solidarity with their adopted ideology; they seem to be like a more warlike version of the anime fans who laboriously work Japanese words into their conversation).
July 26th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
I would say that, really, the majority of the Jewish community, although much more nuanced than just a big bloc of sameness, nevertheless tend to nervously wonder whether criticism of Israel is masked (or open) anti-Semitism. Part of this is because not infrequently it is… even (or especially) from those on the Left who see Palestine as inviolably in the right, and Israel (being an oppressive colonial force) as in the wrong.
So I’d say that even plenty of left-wing Jews like myself have to wonder, when they hear unsubtle, untempered criticism of Israel, whether they are themselves being held accountable for the actions of its government and/or army. Anti-Israel sentiment may not even be conscious anti-Semitism, but can often accompany a fairly ignorant view of Jews being basically equivalent to Israelis, so that if I were to mention in passing that I’m Jewish to a gathering of men-and-women-on-the-street, I may well be taken to task for Israel’s actions even though I patently have nothing to do with them (and indeed basically nothing to do with the local Jewish community).
After all, most people don’t really understand that one can be an atheist Jew - that Jewishness isn’t either just a religion or just a nationality. And in a way, why would they?
If right-wing American (and Australian) non-Jews use the anti-Semitism barbs against critics of Israel, I would say it’s something they’ve picked up from the more paranoiac and gung-ho end of the Jewish spectrum, really. The “G-d” thing being a case in point…
July 26th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
But is the “Israel is invariably in the wrong/should not exist” attitude on the left actual anti-Semitism in the classic sense, or a manifestation of anti-Western/anti-American ideology that holds that Western/liberal/capitalist ideology is the source of all injustice and anything that stands against it is a liberation movement (witness the rise of Islamomarxists like George Galloway and his ilk, for example)? I.e., do they hate Israel because it’s Jewish, or because it’s pro-American/capitalist/colonialist/bourgeois-liberal?
July 27th, 2006 at 12:19 am
That’s a good question, and there’s no doubt that it’s different for different people. For some of them, from their rhetoric you start to wonder whether it is indeed actual anti-Semitism. It’s not like anti-Semitism is a stripe of one colour (is that a phrase?) itself - all it really means is a bias against Jews without a basis in fact, or a deliberate grouping of all Jews together…
In a way, the sort of “anti-Semitism” (in scare quotes) that’s manifested by some of the Left out of their anti-Western-imperialist feeling is more insidious than neo-Nazis’ explicit Jew-hate. The Left is politically correct enough that it won’t say, I dunno, “Chomsky’s all-right, for a Jew” or whatever. But still… the Islamomarxists betray their weird favouritism in the way that they neglect to criticise the cultures of misogyny, homophobia, oppression and so on in the Arab world, prefering to insist that the “real” terrorists are Israel & America. Of course those countries (and, by being allied with them, Australia etc too) have done terrible things and continue to do so, but come on, that doesn’t make them worse than a country where you cannot come out as gay and hope to keep your job (let alone, possibly your life), where opposition views are stamped out, where Jews have been eradicated… Anyone who supports such countries has to at least ask him or herself how comfortable they are supporting people many of whom are clear anti-Semites, racists, and so on.
July 27th, 2006 at 12:52 am
I agree with you on the Islamomarxists’ bias, but I don’t think that’s so much latent anti-Jewish feeling as the radical-collectivist assumption that things such as womens’ rights, gay rights and so on are bourgeois individual rights, for which there is no need in an ideologically sound society (and, if you tilt your head the right way squint hard enough, the Taliban looks sort of Communist-ish). Needless to say, that is utterly insane to anyone from the same reality as you and me.
July 27th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Certainly that’s true - I was saying in the last comment that the various isms that the extreme Leftists could be accused of are to some extent guilt by association, but you’re right that they’re also ideologically in a position where any rights movements (except for workers’ rights, and the rights of “the oppressed”) aren’t worth speaking of, especially because they want to treat everyone’s aspirations, needs and desires as if we already lived in their future utopia. Sure, if everyone was equal and there were no possessions, territories or borders then many of the things we strive for for people would become irrelevant; but not only do we patently not live in such a world, but it’s a long way off (some would say a pipe dream, given human nature), and what’s more the Left are remarkably selective in who they want to hold up to those ideals - i.e. Israel has to behave as if they have no particular needs or fears regarding their position as equal citizens anywhere in the world, but the Palestinians should have their own state… The West shouldn’t try to press its ideals of democracy, rationalism etc on other parts of the world, but don’t talk about the mullahs oppressing the citizens of Arab nations, and so on.
All of which has ventured further away from “the Left’s anti-Semitism”, but I suppose my point is:
**you’re absolutely right that the blanket anti-Israel sentiment is often linked to the blanked anti-”Western-imperialist” sentiment of the far-Left, but
**the Left is either wilfully naïve or really stupid if they can’t see both the anti-Semitism of some of their “friends” (in solidarity) and the anti-Semitic bias they themselves hold.
By the way, Juan Cole apparently used the word “anti-Semitism” to refer to anti-Arab sentiment in a recent interview. Which is quite stupidly Humpty Dumptyish, or perhaps pig-headedly pedantic. Of course “Semites” aren’t just Jews, but the word has a long usage meaning “anti-Jew”. But perhaps we should start to adopt the word “Judeophobia” which the New Internationalist has used. It works.
July 27th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
I think “Judaeophobia” sounds like a clearer word for the idea. And it borrows the “phobia” construction from “homophobia”, which turns it into an attitude rather hard for anyone to be proud of, something closer to bedwetting than to any banner one could rally to.