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Antisemitism Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 15, 2014 14 Comments
Max Blumenthal is experiencing what goes around coming around. Having blamed various critics of radical Islam as well as international Zionism for the 2011 mass murder in Norway, unfairly, Blumenthal now is in focus because the Overland Park shooter was a big fan of Blumenthal's Jewish money and Israel Lobby conspiracy theories.  The shooter was a Neo-Nazi and KKK leader for whom Jewish control of the media and international money was a core belief motivating hatred of Jews.  That's a shared space for anti-Zionists of multiple political ideologies and religions. Specifically, the shooter focused on Blumenthal's theory that Jewish campaign donors were trying to buy the 2012 U.S. presidential election for Bibi Netanyahu, as expressed by Blumenthal in a lengthy article and a Russia Today television interview, to which the shooter linked.  It's ugly stuff, but the type of ugly stuff for which Blumenthal has become known. I've been less harsh on Blumenthal than others, The Overland Park murders, anti-Zionist conspiracy theories, and the blame game:
Assuming Cross [aka Glenn Miller] linked to Blumenthal’s conspiracy theories about the 2012 election, would that mean Blumenthal is responsible for the Overland Park shooting? Absolutely not. Is the intersection between neo-Nazi and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories worthy of examination? Absolutely. We have seen in Europe in particular how anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism go hand-in-hand, often based on conspiracy theories about Jewish and Israeli influence. [image omitted] Those types of consipiracy theories regarding the alleged manipulations of Jewish money and interests are as old as hate itself. That is a fair subject of discussion. I wonder if the mainstream media will go there, as it did in the Norway shooting.
Others are more direct in drawing the connection between the shooter's adoration of Blumenthal's anti-Zionist conspiracy theories and the shooting, in part perhaps because Blumenthal tried to lay blame on some of  them for the Norway shooting (Pipes, Geller):

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 13, 2014 6 Comments
When these types of shootings take place, initial news reports often are inaccurate, so caution is urged. . Kansas City News41 identifies the following person as having been taken into custody, and says at least 3 people dead:
Three people are dead following multiple shootings reported at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park and Village Shalom. Overland Park Police confirm multiple shots were fired at the center, which is located at 5801 W 115th St. and Village Shalom, a retirement home located at 5500 W. 123rd. Both areas are currently on lockdown. Police took one man into custody at the Valley Park Elementary at 123rd and Nall. The man was heard yelling "heil Hitler" as he was taken into custody. A 41 Action News photographer on the scene spoke with a man who says another man pointed a gun at him and shot the windows out of his car. That person was not injured.
Alleged Shooter Overland Park KS Jewish Center

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 28, 2014 20 Comments
So last night I saw a term I had not heard before, "The Jew Flu." I'm not sure how I found the column from Haaretz on that topic. Someone may have tweeted the link, but regardless, it talks about what I've noticed regarding the obsession of the Jewish left with demonizing Israel beyond all rational thought. How is it that so many progressive Jews are happy to break bread with Islamists and other assorted Jew haters, but can only find harsh things to say about Israel? The Haaretz column was by Uzi Silber from 2009, but it rings true today when I see the Jews put out ahead of the BDS movement as cover. Here's an excerpt, The Jew Flu: The strange illness of Jewish anti-Semitism:
Diagnosis The 1930s Labor Zionist leader Berl Katznelson asked "Is there another People on Earth so emotionally twisted that they consider everything their nation does despicable and hateful, while every murder, rape, robbery committed by their enemies fill their hearts with admiration and awe?" This is Jew Flu - the virus of Jewish Anti-Semitism, and its Jewish Anti- and Post-Zionist mutations, afflicting a small but inordinately loud minority of Hebrews. Its modern symptoms are a rejection of Israel's identity as a Jewish state and a dismissal of its right to defend itself militarily, while embracing the goals of its nihilistic Arab enemies. Those infected with the virus wildly inflate Israeli sins real or imagined, while excusing or rationalizing Palestinian anti-semitism and outrages against Jews. Those afflicted with Jew Flu often view the notion of Peoplehood as an artifice, which implies a rejection of Jewish national self-determination and acceptance of the 90-year-old Palestinian Arab contention that Jews are not a nation but merely members of a religion, and as such don?t merit a national home of their own.
Silber then goes on to describe some historical,  sociological and psychological research on the subject, which I have no way of evaluating on medical grounds, but was interesting to read. Regardless of cause, here's his conclusion:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 09, 2014 15 Comments
Several of most prominent promoters of the American Studies Association academic boycott of Israel attended a bizarre "redwashing" panel discussion in Beirut, at which they tried to delegitimize the Jewish people's indigenous history in Israel and connection to other indigenous peoples. I'll have much more on that insidious conference in another post, but for now you can read the posts by Jeffrey Goldberg and Prof. Jonathan Marks. These academic boycotters gave an interview to The Daily Star of Lebanon that is very revealing. They played upon classic anti-Semitic tropes of Jewish money controlling the press in trying to minimize the overwhelming rejection of the academic boycott throughout most of academia. ASA scholars stand firm by Israel boycott (emphasis added):
Since then, the organization has been forced to defend itself from a barrage of highly vocal critics who have accused the ASA of everything from anti-Semitism to threatening academic freedom. At the conference this week, however, many ASA members reiterated their strong support for the motion. “The boycott is also about the vision of a right to education for people; it’s about a right to democratic participation of all people and it’s about the right to land,” said Alex Lubin, a professor at AUB [American University in Beirut, on leave from University of New Mexico] and ASA member. Despite efforts to publish op-ed pieces explaining the ASA’s position, Lubin said the organization had “effectively been blocked out of [the] U.S. press.” The reason, he said, was “donor dollars that come to them [the publications] from the Israel lobby.” Lubin also said many Americans took issue with the comparison between the treatment of Palestinians and Native Americans.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 04, 2013 8 Comments

The reason there is no peace in the Middle East is that Palestinians believe this, teach it and put it on their television, via Palestinian Media Watch (h/t @haivri): Sheikh Muhammad Al-Tawil teacher in Al-Aqsa Mosque school: "What's happening at the Al-Aqsa Mosque (i.e., Temple Mount...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 13, 2013 24 Comments

We ran this over at College Insurrection last week, but I think it's worth running again an excerpt from Hen Mazzig, An Israeli Soldier to American Jews: Wake up! As a young Israeli who had just completed five years of service in the IDF, I looked...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 08, 2013 28 Comments

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement, as our readers know, is a vile combination of leftists and Islamists joined together by hatred of Israel who hide behind false and exaggerated claims regarding the "occupation," when the real goal is the destruction of Israel. The BDS...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 20, 2013 8 Comments
Yesterday we posted examples of the racist and other posters placed around the Oberlin campus last February as part of The Great Oberlin College Racism Hoax of 2013.  There are many more in the Oberlin police department document production we did not post. On no campus in the United States or elsewhere would the racist posters using the "N" word and so on be acceptable public discourse (even if it is an interesting free speech legal issue). But what about the anti-Israel poster? Oberlin Poster Anti-Israel w out handwriting Unfortunately, such discourse on campuses and elsewhere is par for the course in the anti-Israel movement.  The attempt to single out Israel alone for boycott, and the false equation of Israel with Apartheid, fascism and Nazism, is part of the dialogue and accepted.  Oberlin is one of only a handful of higher education campuses where the student government has endorsed the anti-Israel BDS movement and boycott.  https://twitter.com/SJPNational/status/331473633899864064 In fact, Oberlin has one of the most active anti-Israel movements which spreads historically inaccurate falsehoods about the "occupation" and Israeli "Apartheid" policies: I have to wonder, if only the anti-Israel posters were put up around Oberlin not accompanied by attacks on blacks, Muslims and gays, would anyone have noticed or cared?  Would the campus have erupted in protest? Somehow I doubt it. The specific flag used on the Oberlin poster is akin to a stock image in anti-Israel protests, this one in San Francisco:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 09, 2013 6 Comments

It's a really catchy toon, I hear. The Boycott Divestment and Sanctions crew sure knows how to fire up a crowd. Oh wait, they were the crowd. BDS head draws fire after defending ‘Shoot the Jew’ chant: An anti-Israel rally at a South African University that saw protesters...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 20, 2013 17 Comments

Don't say we didn't warn you repeatedly about Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his administration: Turkish Deputy Prime Minister blames “Jewish Diaspora” for Gezi Park protests Turkish Prime Minister drops what little is left of his moderate mask Turkish Foreign Minister salutes “all those martyrs who were...

Posted by David Gerstman on August 18, 2013 20 Comments
Earlier this summer the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) held a BDS camp. The BDS (Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions) movement, which we have covered extensively, targets Israel. AFSC BDS These groups claim only to seek an end to the "occupation" of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. That territory, as we've covered here many times, is not illegally occupied. AFSC has a long history of demonizing Israel and seeking to delegitimize Israel under the seemingly benign Quaker movement name. AFSC is one of the most active BDS supporters, providing support for BDS groups on and off campus: AFSC BDS Handout AFSC seeks the de facto destruction of Israel as a Jewish state by pushing for a "right of return" for all Palestinian refugees, based on the false claim that such right of return is required under U.N. Resolution 194. In fact, as readers know, there were as many Jewish refugees from Arab countries as the other way around. There's a very telling remark at the end of Philadelphia Jewish Exponent's Philly-Based Quaker Group Criticized For BDS Camp:
Alexis Moore, an AFSC spokeswoman, said her group rejects “the idea that BDS is anti-Semitic. We are not targeting a country.” Instead, it is targeting specific companies like Israeli-owned Sodastream, that has its home fountain soda maker factory on the West Bank. “We see nothing anti-Semitic in the use of these non-violent tactics. Our work is rooted in human rights and equal justice for everyone.”
By mentioning SodaStream she gives away her game.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 07, 2013 22 Comments

We've made this point time and again, the Palestinian culture of incitement is the core problem You will not see western boycotts, divestments or sanctions for the type of incitement against Jews routinely put out by Palestinian media and institutions. Anti-Jewish incitement is an accepted part of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 02, 2013 9 Comments

We have noted time and again that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's hostility towards Israel seemed pathological, not political.  It's not just Erdogan.  The Turkish Foreign Minister has praised the martyrs against Israel. Now the Deputy Prime Minister has has suggested a Jewish conspiracy behind the protests centered...

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