The Alt-right Spews Hatred of Jews. The Alt-left: Hatred of Israel

[shira]

As America becomes aware of the alt-right, it should also get acquainted with its mirror image: the alt-left, a loose association of activists with one unifying object of hate: Israel.

The “alt-right” is everywhere on Twitter. It consists of champions of nativism who, resentful over the receding dominance of white men in American society, tout the virtues of “white nationalism.” The movement has no coherent economic plans, its foreign policy is driven by fear of immigrants and Muslims, and its anti-Semitism is shocking. But even as America becomes aware of the alt-right, it should also get acquainted with its mirror image: the alt-left. Much like the alt-right, the alt-left is not clearly defined. Its approach to economic policy, foreign relations, and social issues is generally in tune with the mainstream left, with one major distinction – Israel.

For while the left champions democracy and self-determination, the alt-left has a peculiar animus toward democratic Israel, accusing it of the “genocide” of the Palestinian people. And while the left celebrates love between any two people, regardless of gender, the alt-left, strangely, looks at Tel Aviv’s thriving gay culture and sees nothing but a rainbow fig leaf behind which Israel hides its true maliciousness. As the left urges France to respect the religious practices of its Muslim citizens, the alt-left looks at Israel’s beaches, filled with Muslim, Jewish, and Christian women—in burkinis, bikinis, and everything in between—and sees apartheid.

The left sees clearly that the terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah are horrific abusers of human rights. But the alt-left views them as principled freedom fighters, struggling against Israeli oppression. The left believes that climate change is a singular threat to world order and lauds Israel for its groundbreaking work in water conservation and energy reduction. The alt-left explains that the Nazis, too, made important scientific advances. The left makes common cause with the Israeli left, championing its causes and honoring its heroes. To the alt-left, though, an Israeli is an Israeli (as long as she is Jewish), and no matter her politics, she is morally wanting. The left looks at the chaos of the Middle East and is glad that the U.S. has an ally that shares its democratic values. But the alt-left looks at Israel’s defensive capabilities, sees a bloodthirsty war machine, and demands that America cut off foreign aid.

read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.743903

[shira]

1. A little more from the OP...

And even as the alt-left rushes to condemn Israel for non-existent abuses of women’s rights and LGBT rights, and castigates it for perpetrating an imagined genocide, it is shockingly silent when such crimes do take place—often right next door to the Jewish object of its ire.

Both the right and the left see the tragic morass in Syria and long for a speedy resolution. But the alt-left supports the genocidal butcher, President Bashar Assad, and condemns any attempts to intervene in the tragic loss of life. Both the right and the left condemn Hamas and other Islamist extremist groups for their persecution of gays, women, Christians, and moderate Muslims, and for their brutal silencing of any criticism of their rule. The alt-left would never tolerate this behavior in Israel, yet says nothing about it in the rest of the Middle East.

The alt-left, in short, hates Israel, and apparently nothing can disabuse it of the conviction that (Jewish) Israelis are morally repugnant war criminals who must be brought to heel. This hatred does not extend to Muslim or Christian Israelis, who tell pollsters time and again that they are proud to be Israeli.

[shira]

2. Progressive Except for Jew-Hate? Pure anti-Semitism on the Purely anti-Israel Left

What happens when a leftist critic of Israel actually does veer into vile, high-octane, Klan-grade anti-Semitism?

In recent years, one of the few unifying Israel-related experiences on the North American left has been that of sincere critics of Israeli policies being unfairly and often vociferously attacked as anti-Semitic. What happens, though, when a leftist critic of Israel actually does veer into vile, high-octane, Klan-grade anti-Semitism? Is the anti-Israel hard left prepared to denounce the real thing – authentic Jew-hatred from a progressive?

The test case is before us. It comes from Oberlin, the elite liberal arts college in Ohio, seen as the first institution of higher learning in America to have admitted female and black students as a matter of course in addition to white males. Late last year, Dr. Joy Karega, a professor of Rhetoric and Composition at Oberlin, posted a graphic on Facebook showing banker Jacob Rothschild. A text framing Rothschild's likeness, his abundant nose prominent, read: “Hello there, my name is Jacob Rothschild. My family is worth 500 trillion dollars. We own nearly every central bank in the world. We financed both sides of every war since Napoleon. We own your news, the media, your oil and your government.” 

<snip>

...Most agreed that Oberlin, while defending free speech, should have denounced Dr. Karega's remarks. "Anti-Semitism is not free speech – it is illegitimate and must be condemned," said veteran peace activist Gershon Baskin, who called the remarks "disgraceful."

"Any tweet or Facebook post that talks about Rothschild and Jewish bankers, or a world-wide Jewish conspiracy, is bona fide anti-Semitic," said Professor Charles Manekin of the University of Maryland. 
However, the hard left websites Mondoweiss and Electronic Intifada, the exponent platforms for anti-Israel sentiment and hair-trigger responses to moral infractions by Israel, were conspicuously silent over the Oberlin professor's remarks.

Mondoweiss and Electronic Intifada, it should be noted, are sites in a class by themselves. A class in which it has become a matter of meme, that if you are strongly leftist on most issues, but can be seen to be pro-Israel in any way shape or form, even, or especially, if you are a two-state, pro-democracy progressive, you run the risk of being labeled, and therefore thoroughly discounted and dismissed, as PEP - Progressive Except (for) Palestine.

Perhaps it's time we added one new designation, for those self-elected arbiters of public morals, the pure of anti-Israelism, who cannot bring themselves to condemn pure Jew-hate out of hand: 

PEAS - Progressive Except For Anti-Semitism. 
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.706182

Should be PEJH - Progressive Except for Jew Hate, as the title to this article states.

[shira]

8. Your last sentence is the really scary part...

Last edited Sat Sep 24, 2016, 04:48 PM - Edit history (2)

I don't like how those who do not believe in the conspiracy consider it pragmatic to ally with the conspiracy theorists (the left with the alt-left, the right with the alt-right).

There doesn't seem to be a Left vs. Right anymore due to all the extremism on both ends.

Rather, it's moderates/centrists vs. the extremists on both ends. I don't believe the alt-Left is any better than the alt-Right. Both ends of the political spectrum want us dead. So there are 2 sides in my opinion now that Left/Right has basically lost its meaning due to extremism (like rightwing nationalist fascists & leftist communists - shit and shit on top of shit).

There's the moderates/centrists vs. the extremists. My view...

[oberliner]

3. Here's another interesting piece by the same author

How BDS Is Pushing Jewish Students Out of Social Justice Activism

A Barnard College sophomore recently articulated the sad choice many progressive Jewish students face on campuses around the country. In a Columbia Spectator op-ed, she called on Barnard’s student government to not support a sexual assault prevention group — a group she herself had once helped lead.

She took this stand because the group had “officially taken on an anti-Israel stance… publicly denounc(ing) Israel on social media and collaborat(ing) with anti-Israel student groups, such as Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine.” By choosing to condemn Israel, the group had “effectively politicized anti-sexual violence work on this campus,” she wrote. “Doing so is detrimental to the cause and unfair to pro-Israel survivors.”

Much has been written about the rise of intersectionality, and how the academic theory claiming that all forms of oppression are connected, when applied to the real world, has encouraged the formation of coalitions between American progressives and pro-Palestinian activists. But it has also led to the erosion of traditional ties on which Jews have long relied.

http://forward.com/opinion/349000/how-bds-is-pushing-jewish-students-out-of-social-justice-activism/

[deathrind]

4. So if I understand the article right.

Any criticism of Israel and its conduct falls into one of the two "Alts" because the article does not appear to leave room for disagreement with out that being categorized in one of the two extremes.

[hedda_foil]

5. You don't understand it at all. So there's that.

[shira]

6. Maybe you missed this part about the alt-Left vs. Israel's Left...

The left makes common cause with the Israeli left, championing its causes and honoring its heroes. To the alt-left, though, an Israeli is an Israeli (as long as she is Jewish), and no matter her politics, she is morally wanting.

If you think the Israeli Left doesn't criticize Israel, I can't help you...

[Nitram]

9. Not true. The left criticizes Israel's actions against Palestinian's and that is viewed as hatred...

of Israel. This OP fails to see that Israel may be undermining its own security when it undermines a two-state solution by building settlements on Palestinian land, and builds a wall that runs willy-nilly through Palestinian farmland and orchards.

[shira]

11. Very true. The Alt-Left cannot stand Yitzak Rabin & Israel's Zionist Left.

Rabin, Peres, Golda Meir, Uri Avnery, Amos Oz, the Meretz Party, Shulamit Aloni......

All heros of the Israeli Left, despised by alt-Left BDS holes. Only hate-filled bigots find some way to oppose 99% of all Israeli Jews (from Right to Center to Left).

It's not about criticism. All the Leftists above criticize the Right & its policies all the time. And yet, they are despised by both the alt-Right and alt-Left. Because - and let's be honest - they're Jews.

[Little Tich]

10. I've never met these alt-left people - who are they and where can they be found? n/t

[shira]

12. Like Mondoweiss? They all hate & despise Yitzak Rabin & Israel's Zionist Left.

From Rabin & Peres to Amos Oz & Uri Avnery. From Shulamit Aloni to Zehava Gal-On & David Ben Gurion.

For some reason 99% of Israel's Jews are despised by the alt-Left for not being anti-Zionist BDS holes.

That's pure bigotry. Hamas feels the same way, hating all Jews except for the very few ( < 1% )who despise Israel & Zionism. Useful idiots Hamas tolerates. Just like the David Duke Klan & neo-Nazis. The alt-Left is no different.

As if you didn't know any of this...

[shira]

13. Jewish Voice for Peace disavows BDS activist Miko Peled: “No place 4 antisemitism in our movement”

http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/09/jewish-voice-for-peace-disavows-bds-activist-miko-peled-no-place-4-antisemitism-in-our-movement/

As all antisemites do, he denies he is one.

Peled is still a favorite at Mondoweiss and ElectronicIntifada, still adored by Richard Silverstein, Max Blumenthal....

[aranthus]

14. alt-Left is such a poor label.

First because it suggests that the alt-Left is simply the mirror image of the alt-Right, and that is just nonsense. They stem from entirely different impulses and have entirely different relationships to the mainstream ideologies for which they are named. Second, the name implies, like alt-Right, that the alt-Left is something new, and that is again completely false. The only way alt Left makes sense is if it is in German. The alt-Left is the old Left. That same group of anarchists, communists, socialists and associated nutballs who have been insinuating themselves into academia, the media and politics for decades. The new antisemitism of the Left is the old antisemitism of the Left. Because those beliefs are inherent in the ideology.