Re: [Marxism] When Is An Anti-Semite Not An Anti-Semite?

[Jim Farmelant <farmelantj@xxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 3 Apr 2009 07:52:55 -0700 Eli Stephens
<elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> 
> "Desperate to promote Israeli Government policy, the Australian 
> Jewish establishment has resorted to calling all kinds of people 
> anti-Semites ? even Jews"

The favored catchword used to be "self-hating Jews."  For years,
indeed for decades, Zionist polemicists would always
call Noam Chomsky a "self-hating Jew."  I am sure
that Chomsky has his share of human frailties, but I
don't a lack of self-regard is among them.  Now a
days, I have been seeing the term "Jewish anti-semites"
in Zionist polemics.  Apparently, the fact it is often
Jews who have been taking the lead in such
things as Palestinian solidarity movements,
and that there are now mainstream Jewish
intellectuals like Tony Judt, who have been
openly arguing for a one-state solution,
drives these polemicists to distraction.
Then you have the case of Judea Pearl
(yes, the father of the murdered journalist
Daniel Pearl), who
argued in an op-ed in the LA Times
that anti-Zionism is worse than
antisemitism. (See:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-pearl15-2009m
ar15,0,2362924.story)

That notion was always implicit in Zionism going all the
way back to Theodor Herzl, who was a friend of
the French antisemitic agitator, Edouard Drumont.
(Drumont published a very favorable review of
Herzl's *The Jewish State* in his newspaper,
"La Libre Parole").

And over the years, Zionists have been more than
willing to play footsie with a wide variety of
antisemites, including the Nazis.  However,
up to now, it had been pretty rare for any
Zionist polemicist to openly state that
position.  But apparently, some Zionists,
or at least Mr. Pearl, have come to the
conclusion that it is now necessary to
baldly argue this position, which suggests
that while they clearly still wish to
smear their opponents as antisemites,
they are realizing that this tactic is
reaching a point of diminishing returns,
since among other things, if you start
labelling all manner of critics of Israel
as antisemites, including Jewish critics,
and even Israeli critics, you will inevitably
strip the term, antisemite, of its sting
as a pejorative.


        



> 
> Actually, that statement could go further, and say, "even Jewish 
> Israelis," since Jeff Halper, although the article doesn't mention 
> it, is not only Jewish but also Israeli (born in the U.S., but an 
> Israeli as much as millions of others).
> 
> 
> 
> Eli Stephens
>  Left I on the News
>  http://lefti.blogspot.com
> 
> 
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