Anti-Semitism on open display in the name of anti-Zionism
Remembering Christopher Hitchens admonition: Anti-Semitism “is to be regarded not as the enemy of the Jewish people,… but as the common enemy of humanity and of civilization”
Margie in Tel Aviv called attention today to a Christopher Hitchen’s quote.
I had not heard that before, so I looked it up, here is the clip, from 2010 (transcription):
“And I’ll close by saying this. Because anti-Semitism is the godfather of racism and the gateway to tyranny and fascism and war, it is to be regarded not as the enemy of the Jewish people, I learned, but as the common enemy of humanity and of civilisation, and has to be fought against very tenaciously for that reason, most especially in its current, most virulent form of Islamic Jihad….
Our task is to call this filthy thing, this plague, this—this pest, by its right name; to make unceasing resistance to it, knowing all the time that it’s probably ultimately ineradicable, and bearing in mind that its hatred towards us is a compliment, and resolving (some of the time, at any rate) to do a bit more to deserve it. Thank you.”
What we are seeing is anti-Semitism back in the open in the name of anti-Zionism. You cannot separate the two in the political real world.
In addition to all the other videos and images we have protested, here is France, where anti-Semitic pro-Palestinian street rioters wear “Boycott Israel” shirts (which we have seen before):
Here is Paris burning during anti-Semitic riots (more here):
It is important to document this widespread, worldwide anti-Semitism which infuses these “pro-Palestinian” protests.
It’s not a one-off phenomenon. It’s not soccer hooligans or neo-Nazis. It’s part of the anti-Zionist narrative which transcends normal political alignments — a coalition of Islamists and Leftists united in the desire for the end of Israel expressed through a hatred of Jews.
Jews in Europe are facing a rising tide of anti-Semitism, as left-wing, right-wing and Islamic groups take to the streets to protest against Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
In Toulouse, France, over the weekend, police arrested a man for throwing fire-bombs at a local Jewish center. The fire-bombs failed to ignite.
In Britain, police have recorded more than 100 anti-Jewish hate crimes since the Gaza conflict began, including an attack on a rabbi by four Muslim youths in Gateshead, a Hassidic enclave in north-east England, and bricks thrown through the windows of a Belfast synagogue on two successive nights.
In Norway, police have recommended the temporary closure of two Jewish museums, for fear of attack, while in Copenhagen on the weekend police dispersed a pro-Israel rally out of concern for the safety of the participants.
German TV showed protesters from the country’s Arab minority threatening violence against Jews at a demonstration in Berlin on Thursday. Similar incidents took place in Frankfurt and Essen recently, according to police.
And it’s not just in Europe, but in Miami and Boston and other cities in the U.S.
(h/t Gateway Pundit)
Never forget it.
Add to the list London, where the @JHunters_Corner Twitter account and blog post at The Times of Israel, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and The Babylonian Talmud anti-Semitic theories were being promoted:
As were crude anti-Semitic tropes about Zionist control (what the intellectuals in the U.S. call the “Israel Lobby”):
(London 7-26-2014, credit Jonathan Hunter, with permission)
(London 7-26-2014, credit Jonathan Hunter, with permission)
And support for Hezbollah and Iran, which seek Israel’s destruction, was everywhere:
(London 7-26-2014, credit Jonathan Hunter, with permission)
(London 7-26-2014, credit Jonathan Hunter, with permission)
More to come.
Related prior posts:
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Just more “pro-Palestinian” protests: Nazi salutes in Paris, “death to all Jews” in the Hague
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France’s Jews Fled As Rioters Burned Shops To Chants Of ‘Gas The Jews’
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Pro-Palestinian Berlin mob: “Jew, Cowardly Pig, Come On Out And Fight” (Video)
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Islamist Jew-haters and their leftist enablers: “The Jews are Beasts”
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Paris Synagogue attacked by Pro-Palestinian crowd carrying boycott message
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Miami anti-Israel rally: “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning”
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Comments
Just as it would have been more sensible to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza when they captured them in 1967, it would have been far, far better to let the Hamas rockets fall, to shelter from them and to let the world see how much better Israel is than its aggressive despotic neighbours.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2707036/PETER-HITCHENS-Israel-s-bloody-assault-Gaza-dream-come-true-Hamas.html#ixzz38iBFgoSw
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That is some magical thinking indulged in by Peter, Christopher’s brother, today.
How long was this Israeli forbearance supposed to continue? Until the cross-border tunnels were fully extended, stocked and manned?
It always fascinates me that people can forge a logical chain of just so many links…and fail with the last few.
“It always fascinates me that people can forge a logical chain of just so many links…and fail with the last few.”
That is what goes on in seminaries, colleges and universities. And on blogs, news sites and J schools. And in courts, L schools and think tanks.
if that scum was allowed to continue building those tunnels, then the world would have learned exactly how violent they are since we have learned that the intention was a massive operation against Israel on or about 24 September.
That scum will never give up. I am not buying stories of bullying when I know full well that the Gaza is full of scum from Hamas.
As if the world didn’t have enough evidence that Israel is morally superior to its neighbors! I’m constantly astonished by the moral blindness of so many on this issue, and especially by the blindness of those who otherwise seem to have reasonably elevated moral sensibilities.
It stops being astonishing once you accept that these are the worst possible anti-semites. They happily abandon reason for their hatred.
The twilight zone of Uber Emotionalism . We have entered a new era where feelings & connectivity are king . .
This is a old argument that erupts in such a climate .even in better times ,It is not surprising to see it now .morphing .
If one is demonstrating against Israel by showing up at a synagogue in a different country one is an anti-Semite.
Anti-Semites are completely unaware of how vociferous is political debate in Israel. There is an strong left and right wing (and Jewish and Arab) parties in Israeli politics and the govt (no matter which side is in office) frequently loses in the courts to the other side.
The political situation surrounding the current IDF Gaza operations are unique in how unified is Israeli support…except at Haaretz…the left wing Israeli newspaper.
I would have thought that the latest coming from Haraatz is the opposite to what you are saying. In particular Haraatz has given an interesting opinion on Lurch… and more or less told him to bug out of the Middle East.
Jews are historically the “canary in the coal mine.” Anti-Semitism is an excellent predictor of exponential prejudice.
Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism. The phraseology does not matter one iota. The result is always the same. DEAD JEWS.
Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism because the Israelis have not given what any reasonable person could take as an offense. People who want to kill inoffensive people are criminals.
I’ve come to believe that anti-Zionism is synonymous with anti-Semitism. It’s just being used as an excuse, but in reality it means the same thing. Destroy Israel, you destroy Jews – and that is the goal of not only almost all of the Middle-East, but many others as well, including Europe and yes, America. America – who seems to have a vein of anti-Semitism of its own.
” … the common enemy of humanity and of civilization …”
Correct, it is not anti-Semitism or anti-Zionism. It is anti-humanity. Human eliminationism. Caliphists are no different than environmentalists, other than articulation. Deeming it anti-Semitism or anti-Zionism is weak, bleating, narrow, peevish, unconvincing. The comments here and, pace our host, the post miss Christopher’s point. It is anti-humanity. Fascists and Caliphists are united in hating men and women — including themselves. That is the point that needs pounding. That is what Christopher is saying and he is right.
The British ( & French ) liked the Caliphate in the 19th C going to war in Crimea on their behalf twice . .
40 years later they did not & tried to invade Turkey . I think they just wanted the ME .
So it is not Hate ( speech) but what they want . Western Europe wanted the Jewish homes , businesses , art collections & gold & were just waiting for the nazis to bring it on. Look how happily they sent their own Jewish populations off on the train.
So I think there are differences between anti semitism & anti Zionism . Most people don’t much care about Jewish having a land as long as they sell their nice homes cheap.before they go.
the historical facts that you attempt to present are wrong and full of mushroom fodder. I am not supporting the British but I am calling you out for spreading manure.
Why did Britain not attack Crimea in 1850s& 1870s to try. & wrest it back from Russia & hand it over to their friends -The Ottoman Caliphate?
Did not The British have a change of heart & attack the Ottomans with warships but stalled by the excellent defences? Did they then not try & invade via Gallipoli with a plan known to risk massive casualties?
Did the Swiss banks only grudgingly admit 60 years later they still had money Jewish had sent there for safe keeping ? They were almost successful because almost all perished.
Did the Germans not find a massive art collection stolen 1934 44 from Jewish citizens & held by one family just recently ? Can’t have been just one guy buying at market price down the local art ‘ collection centre’ aka dispatch central.
Who moved into the homes of 6 million Jewish persons in Europe? They were very nice – especially Vienna . There were whole towns built in Tsarist Poland built by Jews . Today those are all Polish with not even an inscription ..all signs of Yiddish have been chiselled off & replaced by Polish . Just a few gravestones left deliberately hidden by scrub .
Simple -they got killed for their stuff .
Nonsense. The efforts of France, Britain, and Austria in the Crimean War weren’t about helping the Ottomans, it was to stop Russia from taking advantage of the decline of that Empire to realize their centuries-old lust for warm-water ports.
Gallipolli was in WWI, more than half a century later, when the rise of Germany had shifted alliances. The Allies attacked to give Russia some relief from pressure in the Caucasus, the plan was ill-conceived and the defenses vastly underestimated.
Neither of those actions had anything at all to do with the Jews.
And the Swiss keeping the secrets of Jewish deposits was an after-the-fact policy, and actually in keeping with the banking secrecy they were known for.
To Estragon
The Caliphate comments are in reply to David aGraham . Simply Britain Etc represented the western branch of Christianity against the Eastern Orthodox. They did not want a Russia to reclaim Constantinople & thus put their armies behind the Caliphate . Britain later wanted the southern Ottoman lands for themselves. As to the Jewish I this part of my answer – it begins in 1920. Previous commenters on LI have not been complimentary to the British here.
The targeting of Jews in a Europe for their property is undeniable . Yes you hide behind secret Swiss banking because you see no problem in holding on to money of holocaust victims . Shameful admission . Some things you should keep to yourself.
Rubbish.
If the argument against oppression is about Jews — either way, oppressor or oppressed — it will fail. That I guarantee you.
Jews are no more and no less oppressed than anyone else. Jews are no more “a canary in the mine” than is anyone else. Shakespeare’s Shylock makes this point and it was sufficient for Nazis to ban The Merchant of Venice in their jurisdiction. Germans, after all, were the world’s then-preeminent Shakespeare scholars and Nazis were not entirely uneducated or stupid in regard to the Bard’s — who was a Roman Catholic persecuted by so-called Good Queen Bess — produce.
Nor are Jews a unified bloc. There is no “the Jews.” There is no “the Christians.” Jehudi Menuin’s father, a Sephardi, opposed Zionism as Ashkenazi-enunciated and Jehudi’s career was stunted much on that account, although his supreme musicianship triumphed finally over internal Jewish prejudice.
Oppressors’ target is humanity, no matter where they are, who they are. Oppressors pick groups to oppress for propaganda reasons and, more fundamentally, because they, oppressors, see this or that group as representing humanity generally and simultaneously easy (politically) to hit. Think Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Obama, Saud, Khomeini, al-Baghdadi.
It is a good and salutary thing, therefore, that Israelis choose to defend themselves. They should drive their enemies to unconditional surrender and not relent until reaching that goal. Still, they have US American blood on their heads and hands (USS Liberty), which is the deep reason USA will not support them unconditionally. Israel is not a friend of the USA, never has been. Think espionage, for starters.
An argument against anti-Semitism or anti-Zionism is going to fail because neither is where the action is. The action is anti-human. Eliminationism. The “die-off” movement against all humanity, Jews included, by Fascists (environmentalists, new agers) and Caliphists. Argument there will succeed. Israelis and everyone else should make it.
that makes a lot of sense.
America is its own identity, with many internal disputes, but a common foundation. We are “Judeo-Christian” (a term derived around 1950) not because we are allies with Israel, but because our founders recognized old testament struggles and laws as PART of the foundation for building a society of individual freedom.
The vile language used toward Jews is used toward the Tea Party (though in the US physical violence is not yet in evidence much against either group).
The left organizes around division, raising up identity politics mobs to hate the 70% that stand for traditional American pie liberty. Women must have a group, black, brown, gay … all being cast by the left as the oppressed. Class warfare riles folks up, Martyr Trayvon leads people to riot.
But humans seem to be largely tribal, at least if they aren’t educated in the unique foundations of American liberty. American history and civics classes would of necessity include some of the Biblical underpinnings. But that has largely been eradicated, replaced with subtle Marxist references about fairness, redistribution, or diversity.
Even our churches are being overrun with this social justice crap. George Will now says each county in America should take in 40 “eight year old criminals with their teddy bears”. Perhaps he had a psychotic break.
Does George not see pictures of the teenagers and adults that are 80% of that number. And do we take in 40 every six months, which would soon be 140, then 1000 per year, till every county looks like Venezuela? And of course the parents who abused their kids to get them here plan to follow, and their cousins.
America is not one big tribe, but we do have ideals and borders and our governments must serve its peoples (federal, state, local), not some grand global “we are the world, we are the children” mythology. That crap is just a mask for a globalist gang of dictator thugs.
Anyway, this is about civilized peoples recognizing the road to individual liberty is not through centralized fascist governments. The PC left is establishing their government PC religion, much as “radical Islam” is forming their caliphate. If we keep going down this road, the only way to survive will be to join a tribe/gang, the more brutal the better perhaps, judging by Mexico or Iraq.
Of course the old testament did have tribes and a chosen people, though I think they mostly sought peace, not global domination by force. But have we evolved? We don’t ally with Israel because they are “people of the book” like “us”. I think Madison and Jefferson had the right ideas, and traditional America offers a unique opportunity, which the controlling left despises.
The Europeans are baffled by the hostility of their antisemitic and muslim residents, after all, haven’t they consistently thwarted Israel and supported the Palestinians at every turn? Yet they have to call out police, and still get fires and vandalism.
They have learned nothing from history, and don’t realize that Israel and the Jews are only the immediate targets and they themselves will follow shortly.
For those who hate them, Jews ARE a unified block. Anti-semites don’t make distinctions. The Nazis sent ANY Jew to the camps, and the Moslem monsters kill any Jew who gets in their reach.
We neither accept nor use categories created and employed by people who hate, lie, cheat, steal, etc. Hate (etc.) and its consequences are those people’s business, not ours. The stochastic structure (world) they inhabit is theirs, not ours. If haters come at us or our friends, we biff them a good one in the kisser rather than pursue the futility of talking with them. And we never accept to think as they do. Were we to, we would be haters (etc.).
Who is the ‘we’?