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Confront, Combat and Defeat Anti-Semitism in Every Form
Bentleyspop
Craft Beer Brewery, Colorado Posts: 10,544
Time for an opposing view....
Posted: Monday, January 13, 2014 10:35 am
For decades, the American Studies Association has labored in well-deserved obscurity. No longer. It's now made a name for itself by voting to boycott Israeli universities, accusing them of denying academic and human rights to Palestinians.
Given that Israel has a profoundly democratic political system, the freest press in the Middle East, a fiercely independent judiciary and astonishing religious and racial diversity within its universities, including affirmative action for Arab students, the charge is rather strange.
Made more so when you consider the state of human rights in Israel's neighborhood. As we speak, Syria's government is dropping "barrel bombs" filled with nails, shrapnel and other instruments of terror on its own cities. Where is the ASA boycott of Syria?
And of Iran, which hangs political, religious and even sexual dissidents and has no academic freedom at all? Or Egypt, where Christians are being openly persecuted? Or Turkey, Saudi Arabia or, for that matter, massively repressive China and Russia?
Which makes obvious that the ASA boycott has nothing to do with human rights. It's an exercise in radical chic, giving marginalized academics a frisson of pretend anti-colonialism, seasoned with a dose of edgy anti-Semitism.
Don't tell me this is merely about Zionism. The ruse is transparent. Israel is the world's only Jewish state. To apply to the state of the Jews a double standard that you apply to none other, to judge one people in a way you judge no other, to single out that one people for condemnation and isolation — is to engage in a gross act of discrimination.
And discrimination against Jews has a name. It's called anti-Semitism.
Former Harvard President Larry Summers called the ASA actions "anti-Semitic in their effect if not necessarily in their intent." I choose to be less polite. The intent is clear: to incite hatred for the largest — and only sovereign — Jewish community on earth.
What to do? Facing a similar (British) academic boycott of Israelis seven years ago, Alan Dershowitz and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg wrote an open letter declaring that, for the purposes of any anti-Israel boycott, they are to be considered Israelis.
Meaning: You discriminate against Israelis? Fine. Include us out. We will have nothing to do with you.
Thousands of other academics added their signatures to the Dershowitz/Weinberg letter. It was the perfect in-kind response. Boycott the boycotters, with contempt.
But academia isn't the only home for such prejudice. Throughout the cultural world, the Israel boycott movement is growing. It's become fashionable for musicians, actors, writers and performers of all kinds to ostentatiously cleanse themselves of Israel and Israelis.
The example of the tuxedoed set has spread to the more coarse and unkempt anti-Semites, such as the thugs who a few years ago disrupted London performances of the Jerusalem Quartet and the Israeli Philharmonic.
In this sea of easy and open bigotry, an unusual man has made an unusual statement. Russian by birth, European by residence, Evgeny Kissin is arguably the world's greatest piano virtuoso. He is also a Jew of conviction. Deeply distressed by Israel's treatment in the cultural world around him, Kissin went beyond the Dershowitz/Weinberg stance of asking to be considered an Israeli. On Dec. 7, he became one, defiantly.
Upon taking the oath of Israeli citizenship in Jerusalem, he declared: "I am a Jew, Israel is a Jewish state. ... Israel's case is my case, Israel's enemies are my enemies, and I do not want to be spared the troubles which Israeli musicians encounter when they represent the Jewish state beyond its borders."
Full disclosure: I have a personal connection with Kissin. For the last two years, I've worked to bring him to Washington to perform for Pro Musica Hebraica, a nonprofit organization (founded by my wife and me) dedicated to reviving lost and forgotten Jewish classical music. We succeeded. On Feb. 24, Kissin will be performing at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall masterpieces of Eastern European Jewish music, his first U.S. appearance as an Israeli.
The persistence of anti-Semitism, that most ancient of poisons, is one of history's great mysteries. Even the shame of the Holocaust proved no antidote. It provided but a temporary respite. Anti-Semitism is back. Alas, a new generation must learn to confront it.
How? How to answer the thugs, physical and intellectual, who single out Jews for attack? The best way, the most dignified way, is to do like Dershowitz, Weinberg or Kissin.
Express your solidarity. Sign the open letter or write your own. Don the yellow star and wear it proudly.
Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for the Washington Post.
http://www.postbulletin.com/opinion/charles-krauthammer-confront-combat-and-defeat-anti-semitism-in-every/article_32c6b529-2b86-578d-ba20-a6fc6e84f5b7.html
Posted: Monday, January 13, 2014 10:35 am
For decades, the American Studies Association has labored in well-deserved obscurity. No longer. It's now made a name for itself by voting to boycott Israeli universities, accusing them of denying academic and human rights to Palestinians.
Given that Israel has a profoundly democratic political system, the freest press in the Middle East, a fiercely independent judiciary and astonishing religious and racial diversity within its universities, including affirmative action for Arab students, the charge is rather strange.
Made more so when you consider the state of human rights in Israel's neighborhood. As we speak, Syria's government is dropping "barrel bombs" filled with nails, shrapnel and other instruments of terror on its own cities. Where is the ASA boycott of Syria?
And of Iran, which hangs political, religious and even sexual dissidents and has no academic freedom at all? Or Egypt, where Christians are being openly persecuted? Or Turkey, Saudi Arabia or, for that matter, massively repressive China and Russia?
Which makes obvious that the ASA boycott has nothing to do with human rights. It's an exercise in radical chic, giving marginalized academics a frisson of pretend anti-colonialism, seasoned with a dose of edgy anti-Semitism.
Don't tell me this is merely about Zionism. The ruse is transparent. Israel is the world's only Jewish state. To apply to the state of the Jews a double standard that you apply to none other, to judge one people in a way you judge no other, to single out that one people for condemnation and isolation — is to engage in a gross act of discrimination.
And discrimination against Jews has a name. It's called anti-Semitism.
Former Harvard President Larry Summers called the ASA actions "anti-Semitic in their effect if not necessarily in their intent." I choose to be less polite. The intent is clear: to incite hatred for the largest — and only sovereign — Jewish community on earth.
What to do? Facing a similar (British) academic boycott of Israelis seven years ago, Alan Dershowitz and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg wrote an open letter declaring that, for the purposes of any anti-Israel boycott, they are to be considered Israelis.
Meaning: You discriminate against Israelis? Fine. Include us out. We will have nothing to do with you.
Thousands of other academics added their signatures to the Dershowitz/Weinberg letter. It was the perfect in-kind response. Boycott the boycotters, with contempt.
But academia isn't the only home for such prejudice. Throughout the cultural world, the Israel boycott movement is growing. It's become fashionable for musicians, actors, writers and performers of all kinds to ostentatiously cleanse themselves of Israel and Israelis.
The example of the tuxedoed set has spread to the more coarse and unkempt anti-Semites, such as the thugs who a few years ago disrupted London performances of the Jerusalem Quartet and the Israeli Philharmonic.
In this sea of easy and open bigotry, an unusual man has made an unusual statement. Russian by birth, European by residence, Evgeny Kissin is arguably the world's greatest piano virtuoso. He is also a Jew of conviction. Deeply distressed by Israel's treatment in the cultural world around him, Kissin went beyond the Dershowitz/Weinberg stance of asking to be considered an Israeli. On Dec. 7, he became one, defiantly.
Upon taking the oath of Israeli citizenship in Jerusalem, he declared: "I am a Jew, Israel is a Jewish state. ... Israel's case is my case, Israel's enemies are my enemies, and I do not want to be spared the troubles which Israeli musicians encounter when they represent the Jewish state beyond its borders."
Full disclosure: I have a personal connection with Kissin. For the last two years, I've worked to bring him to Washington to perform for Pro Musica Hebraica, a nonprofit organization (founded by my wife and me) dedicated to reviving lost and forgotten Jewish classical music. We succeeded. On Feb. 24, Kissin will be performing at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall masterpieces of Eastern European Jewish music, his first U.S. appearance as an Israeli.
The persistence of anti-Semitism, that most ancient of poisons, is one of history's great mysteries. Even the shame of the Holocaust proved no antidote. It provided but a temporary respite. Anti-Semitism is back. Alas, a new generation must learn to confront it.
How? How to answer the thugs, physical and intellectual, who single out Jews for attack? The best way, the most dignified way, is to do like Dershowitz, Weinberg or Kissin.
Express your solidarity. Sign the open letter or write your own. Don the yellow star and wear it proudly.
Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for the Washington Post.
http://www.postbulletin.com/opinion/charles-krauthammer-confront-combat-and-defeat-anti-semitism-in-every/article_32c6b529-2b86-578d-ba20-a6fc6e84f5b7.html
0
Comments
I cannot condone the actions by the israeli government.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
those who stood by aparteid south africa have been judged harshly by history.
same will be said about those who stand by this criminal israeli government.
and guess what, america was on the wrong side of both of these issues.
is must be easy to have the trump card of calling everyone critical of the israeli government's policies an anti-semite.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
i am sure if he calls me an antisemite for my criticism of the israeli government and it's policies, i can call him a racist because of his support for cutting programs that assist the poor and minorities.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
I agree with the thread title.
I also agree that anti-semitism should not be thrown at people when they question ruthless Israeli policies that leave much to be desired.
I can tell you that as the original poster that the title of the thread has not been changed.
I copied and pasted the title of the article as it was posted in the postbulletin.
Check the link I posted if you think the title was changed.
The first line in the first post was so strong that subconsciously I thought of this thread as 'that' thread.
Again... apologies for my confusion.
Interesting piece of gibberish from this Jewish neo-Conservative.
What double standard is being applied? Have Iran or Syria been engaged in a 60 year campaign of ethnic cleansing and Apartheid?
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
As for supporting Palestine or Israel- the first time I paid much attention to that situation was when Bob Dylan came out with his "Infidels" record. I figured a) it's Bob so it must be good, b) he is (or at least was?) very passionate about his feeling toward Israel and c) I didn't have much other information to go on. I also had a friend who was passionately pro- Israel so I figured that was the way to go. Over the years I've become more inclined to feel neutral about this conflict because there have been injustices on both sides. My basic feeling is that this is another form of endless war, that neither side will ever compromise (not that I necessarily support compromising). It's a terrible situation that has had little hope for peace. I hope I'm wrong about that..
you say there are injustices on both sides. the injustices committed by palestinian extremists or islamic militants are a direct result and a direct consequence of israel's stealing of land, displacing palestinians, killing of palestinians, destroying and burning palestinian olive groves, destroying the palestinian economy, the blockade, etc. all of the injiustices from "the other side" are a direct result of the israeli goverment's policies. one begets the other. israel has the power to make peace, but they do not want to. why would they give up the land that they have acquired? an economic boycott of israel and isolating them at the UN are the next steps, but unfortunately i do not think this will ever happen in my lifetime.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
How does it feel / To be without a home / Like a complete unknown
From what I've read, I'm guessing you're right Gimme, it sounds like much of the injustice going on is provoked by Israel. At the same time, when looking at the history of that country, I wonder how much of it is an ingrained reaction to many years of oppression. But perhaps the pendulum has swung too far again.
By the way, regardless of the religious/political content, "Infidels" is an excellent album- how can you go wrong with this line up?:
Bob Dylan – guitar, harmonica, keyboards, vocals, production
Alan Clark – keyboards
Sly Dunbar – drums, percussion
Clydie King – vocals on "Union Sundown"
Mark Knopfler – guitar, production
Robbie Shakespeare – bass guitar
Mick Taylor – guitar
Well, the neighborhood bully, he’s just one man
His enemies say he’s on their land
They got him outnumbered about a million to one
He got no place to escape to, no place to run
He’s the neighborhood bully
The neighborhood bully just lives to survive
He’s criticized and condemned for being alive
He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin
He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He’s the neighborhood bully
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land
He’s wandered the earth an exiled man
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn
He’s always on trial for just being born
He’s the neighborhood bully
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad
He’s the neighborhood bully
Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he’ll live by the rules that the world makes for him
’Cause there’s a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac
He’s the neighborhood bully
He got no allies to really speak of
What he gets he must pay for, he don’t get it out of love
He buys obsolete weapons and he won’t be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side
He’s the neighborhood bully
Well, he’s surrounded by pacifists who all want peace
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease
Now, they wouldn’t hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep
He’s the neighborhood bully
Every empire that’s enslaved him is gone
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon
He’s made a garden of paradise in the desert sand
In bed with nobody, under no one’s command
He’s the neighborhood bully
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health
He’s the neighborhood bully
What’s anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin’, they say. He just likes to cause war
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed
He’s the neighborhood bully
What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers? Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill
Running out the clock, time standing still
Neighborhood bully
- Dylan wrote those words 31 years ago.
-and this: "Here's the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don't find it anywhere else...I don't adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I've learned more from the songs than I've learned from any of this kind of entity." (Gates, David, October 6, 1997. "Dylan Revisited". Newsweek.)
And of course the idea that we should make up our own minds and not let big name personalities make them up for us. I'm not taking sides with Israel here, I'm just pointing out that this picture is bigger when put into historical perspective.
War, religious fanaticism, nationalism, greed, earth abuse. It's all part of the same fucked up human condition.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."