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Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Criticism of Israel Does NOT = Anti-Semitism!!! I do know anti-Semitism all too well. I was surrounded with it as a kid growing up in Connecticut -- we knew of one Jewish family in the wide sweep west of Hartford, Connecticut -- the grocer in a poor community, Oakland Gardens, on the fringe of the suburbs. During and after WW2 Jews and the others did not share private clubs, residential, and recreation areas. I was horrified when I entered Yale in the mid 1950s to discover an anti-Jewish faculty policy combined with an admissions quota for Jews, limiting them mainly to German surnames and excluding "those types from Brooklyn and the Bronx" (Eastern European). I discovered the same anti-Jewish faculty hiring policies at my first teaching job (Vassar College) in the mid 1960s and there again the standards for admitting Jewish students were far higher than for others (I served on a scholarship committee on which we had a bare 4-3 majority determined to treat Jewish applicants fairly -- this was made explicit by the implied threats of the most powerful Vassar woman administrator, the business manager, and one other senior faculty member who growled at us juniors who had the temerity to challenge their anti-Semitic biases against those whom they termed "the over achievers". It was, thus, with great relief that I saw the barriers both to Jewish faculty and students suddenly dropped and I could get on to my next concern -- the comparable barriers to minority students and those from blue collar ethnic communities. I got to play a small role with the latter matter as the liaison to the CUNY (City University of NY) administration from New York City's most powerful behind the scenes politician, J. Raymond Jones, the "Harlem Fox' and Kenneth Clark, recently deceased, highly respected African American psychologist, who worked together to open the doors of CUNY to those above who were largely excluded until the barriers were dropped in 1970 with the advent of a host of new colleges and explicit efforts to encourage those to apply who had routinely been advised by NYC guidance counselors that they were "not college material." It is saddening, then, to see our elected representatives intimidated by AIPAC, ZOA and other organizations supportive of Israel who bring the anti-Semite charge to bear against any who criticize Israel's acts -- its brutal treatment of the occupied Palestinians, its mindless and avoidable destruction of Lebanon. These organizations over the long run are doing Israel no good. Bush should have ended off that war before the massive destruction and loss of lives had occurred. He might have -- had he not feared the sort of reprisals that his father suffered when he ventured some criticisms of Israel. Needless to day the last thing that any of us want to see is any more encouragement for the two millennia horrors of anti-Semitic pogroms launched by Saint Paul or some sort of Armageddon for Israel down the line, savored apparently by our right wing U.S. Christian nuts -- a good number of whom seem to be based in Texas. I speak from the heart here. It is full well time that Israel started concentrating its attention of making peace with its neighbors rather than war on them. Killing from on high is indiscriminate and criminal -- whether done by Americans or Israelis. -- "A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli) -- Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/ http://www.bloggernews.net Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by Ed Kent at 8:59 AM |
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1 Comments:
Mr. Kent is quite right. Criticism of Israel is not always anti-semitic. Sometimes it's just stupid. As in this case: Hezbollah has been sitting on Israel's border for decades, piling up weapons and proclaiming its intent to destroy Israel - and attacking, every now and then. Hezbollah invaded Israel and kidnapped Israeli soldiers.
What should Israel have done to avoid the war? What deal can Israel make with those who want to kill every last Jew in the world?
Israel did its best to strike at Hezbollah and avoid collateral damage, using smart bombs to hit specific positions. Meanwhile Hezbollah hid its forces among Lebanese civilians, faked civilian casualties, and bombarded Israel so indiscriminately that some of their rockets hit Arab villages in the West Bank.
Yet Israel is the side that is most savagely denounced. Mr. Kent is right, though - it's not 'anti-semitism', it's "White Guilt Syndrome".
Israel counts as "white" these days. By denouncing Israel, French intellectuals get to atone for the conquest of Algeria; British intellectuals for the Victorian Empire; American intellectuals for slavery and the Trail of Tears.
One of the signs of WGS is complete indifference to murderous criminality when the criminals are "people of color". Mr. Kent blames Israel and the U.S. for the bloodshed and damage; he doesn't even mention Hezbollah. He criticizes "brutal treatment" of Palestinians; he does not notice the continual murderous attacks by Palestinians on Israel (over 1,000 Qassam rockets fired from Gaza into Israel since Israeli forces pulled out).
WGS. Definitely.
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