Anti-Semitism is our problem

[GabysPoppy]

Last week a unique and unusual conference took
place in Jerusalem. Representatives of Jewish
organizations from all over the world joined
Israeli officials and academics to formulate a
joint strategy for a war on anti-Semitism. No more
local reaction to one incident or another, but an
attempt at universal Jewish cooperation.

snip

The doubt which traditional anti-Semitism cast
on the right of the Jewish individual to exist
as an equal in general society, turned, in the
new anti-Semitism, into a dispute of the right
of the Jewish nation to exist on its land as
any other nation. Another feeling shared by the
delegates in the conference is that the new
trend caught us, both in Israel and in the
Diaspora, unprepared. It took us a long time to
understand that we are facing a new incarnation
of anti-Semitism and to respond accordingly.
Thus, for example, we did not prepare for the
Durban Conference that turned into an
anti-Semitic carnival; we didn't fight hard
enough against the UN resolutions against
Israel, which are becoming more hypocritical
and radical and we failed to warn of the
anti-Semitic cries and measures accompanying
the protest against the war in Iraq

snip

It took us all three years of vociferous
anti-Israel propaganda, comparing Israel to
Nazi Germany, banning Israel from the family of
nations and accusing it of crimes against
humanity, to understand that the attempts to
make such a separation are passe. Isolated and
ostracized, accused of every possible atrocity
and discriminated against in every
international forum, Israel had to ingest that
while it regards itself as a normal state, the
world is not necessarily willing to treat it as
such and that anti-Semitism is not about to
disappear.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=327265&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

[drdon326]

1. Anti-semitism ??

in this day and age??

I find that hard to believe.:eyes:

[pink_poodle]

2. This might sound harsh, but I am getting sort of sick of this...........

being crammed down our throats. Being forced by laws, never ending name calling by Jews and finger pointing to every single reference by anything or anyone that shows the hypocracy of Israel's policies - it's just getting to be way too much - they "doth protest too much" and I'm afraid they are losing interest and support from people, such as me, by continually crying and whining about all this stuff.

Is it just me? Like the holocast - My parents were babies when this happened - to me it is not even an event in my life time and lots of terrible events have happened since then - I just can't even identify with the Jewish plight as there were so many others who perished, being disabled, aged, children, Gypsies, Polish, Brits, everyone who resisted and look what happened to the Russians! It was a war.

I just think that a lot of times it backfires on the Jews because they are always trying to prosecute people for "anti-semitism" and a lot of the time I don't really see where these claims are based. I just feel it is high time we all move on from the 2nd world war. And in today's world, there are lots of Jews running businesses, corporations and countries - it's not like they are the lowest rung on the ladder and paraded around in chains or anything like that - they are just regular people in society and yet seem to be continually crying for extra attention.

I am not anti-semitic by the way so don't even bother with that label.

I'm just getting fed up with this always in the news, newspapers and media and this forever and continual whining by them. I think they make mountains out of molehills.

[GabysPoppy]

6. Those who forget or disregard history are bound to repeat it

Sure an old cliche but worth repeating.

You might find this website worth visiting.

http://www.yad-vashem.org.il/

Because the history of the holocaust was before your families time does not mean the ramifications shouldn't be understood. To rephrase your last paragraph, it is important to not take the mountain and turn it into a molehill.

[Noon_Blue_Apples]

7. Agreed

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=124&topic_id=3477&mesg_id=3477

[frylock]

13. BOO-YAHH!!!

[pink_poodle]

11. History repeats itself over and over again because that is the way........

human nature, driven by greed, makes it so. Repeating old cliches does not deter anything. We just need to face up to our faults as humans.

[drdon326]

14. History repeats itself?

then INTAFADA- 3 should be real interesting.

[pink_poodle]

16. Actually drdon326, it was not me who made the quote..................

"history repeats itself" but rather the person I was responding to. I actually think that is a pretty silly cliche.

[Wonder]

25. in addition

it is also humane to acknowledge the history of other cutures. Denial works both ways. That is one of a number of root problems here. Israel's memory might be considered a bit to selective from the perspective of those on the other side of the fence.

Pointing out hypocrasies when they are blaringly evident has nothing to do with forgeting anyones history. One has little to do with the other.

[Wonder]

24. refreshing

and this opinion that you express is not an isolated one by any means.

[seventhson]

3. Here's the Problem with this analysis:

Natan Sharansky, who wrote this article, epitomizes the tunnel vision and blindness of the extreme right in Israel when he says:

"The doubt which traditional anti-Semitism cast
on the right of the Jewish individual to exist
as an equal in general society, turned, in the
new anti-Semitism, into a dispute of the right
of the Jewish nation to exist on its land as
any other nation."

The problem is that modern Israel was created by warfare and a UN resolution which took land which belonged to others for the Jewish state.

anti-Semitism is NOT therefore "the dispute of the right of the Jewish nation to exist on its land as any other nation." Putting aside that Arabs and Palestinians are also Semitic persons, further confusing the terminologicaL FOUNDATION OF THE DISCUSSION, the problem that many have, including many Israelis and Jews outside of Israel, is that the right wing in Israel essentially refuses to revognize the colonial-like nature of the State of Israel or the fact that the land taken from the Palestinians by warfare and by UN resolution for the Jewish state IS at the heart of the violence.

Instead of acknowledging what many Jews on the left have acknowledged (see Tikkun.org for example) that is that the Palestinians ALSO have rights in and to the land of Israel/Palestinine as any other nation - rightwing idealogues like Sharansky blame the conflict on antiSemitism.

Now, certainly there are many antiSemites and many who hate Jews all over the globe. But by failing to see or say that the problem is caused primarily by a political conflict over rights in and to lands - rights to the "inheritance" - between the descendants of Abraham's (or Ibrahim's) sons Isaac and Ishmael - the Arabs and Jews who are geneologically and genetically cousins and Semites all - is to be Ostrich like or intentionally misinformational.

Is there anti-Semitism which has the right of Israel to exist as a Nation out there. Certtainly. But the heart of this struggle is political and exists over the rights to the land and the holy places.

Until this is seen and there is an agreement to SHARE this land and its holy places in PEACE by the people of Israel and Palestine and the rest of the world (enforced if necessary by the United Nations which established the right of Israel to have a state) there will continue to be war.

Both the Israelis and the Palestinians know that they must eventually share the holy land. To acknowledge this is just common sense and to portray it as Shransky has done will only continue the conflict. For some in power the conflict is what they want because it KEEPS them there. That is why it must be confronted by Jews and others who see it for what it is.

Tikkun.org for those who wish to know more about Jews and others for Peace and Justice for the Palestinains AND Israelis.

[pink_poodle]

4. Bingo! Very astute post and observations!! -nm

:

[wildmanj]

5. sad

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[peacetalksforall]

8. Linking anti-semitism to the current politics of Israel makes me sick

I've never had one anti-semetic thought or feeling, but I deplore the current politics of Israel. Gathering people all over the world to conclude that not approving of Israel's politics, strategies, tactics, and killing comes from being anti-semetic is crap.

Israelites (who do not happen to be the beginning and end of Jusaism)should spend their energy thinging about how fully justified and heritaged people can also exist and thrive.

Israelites (who are not all semites) should think about what needs to be balanced and stop denying Palestinians.

And the Palestinian people should stop killing and also find balance.
Calling a cease fire and never following through is a blight on humanity.

When people cry to be heard, they will go to extremes.

But, in the case of this gathering, it appears that the people who attended and discussed anti-semetism and ended up accusing anyone who does not approve of Israel policies of anti-semetism is a waste of the creative mind.

[pink_poodle]

12. Yes, they are using the label of "anti-semitism" to manipulate...........

the media and people in order to justify their policies, aggressions, greed and violence. It is time we stop kidding ourselves and cloaking them with protection. Israel is run by corruption and greed - thugs are in power. It is up to Jewish people to either support this or put an end to it and live in a respectable manner.

[Wonder]

31. and it is not really

a new strategy either.

[quilp]

9. I am as anti-Israeli as it gets. But I am not anti-semetic.

Nor do I beleive that The Jews should not have a state. I just object to them taking somone elses. If these "representatives" don't understand this they will continue to see "anti-semites" under every bed. I am an American, but in my veiw the Jewish refugees should have been give Alaska which was very sparsley populated at that time. I believe a case could be made the world, the Jews, and America would have greatly benefited from that.

[mmm]

10. Zion apologists are a very dangerous breed

'Whatever it takes for the expansion' of Zionism is a very evil creed.
Don't blame Jews for the work of Zionists.
THAT, my friend, would be anti-Semitic.

[mistertrickster]

15. Anti-zionism does not equal anti-Judaism.

Even the word "semite" has been appropriated by the Jews. It actually and originally meant anyone who lives in the middle east, as in a "semitic language"--Arabic, Hittite, Hebrew . . .

Anyway, because one wants Israel to adhere to UN resolutions by pulling out of illegal settlements, stop levelling or occupying Palestinian villages, and to allow the establishment of a Palestian state is not anti-semitic.

An excellent book that everyone should read is the Elias Chacour's "Blood Brothers." Despite having his entire village stolen by Israelis who moved him and his family and neighbors out and just took everything, despite having family members shot dead while playing soccer, this Christian Palestinian continues to work non-violently for peace in Israel/Palestine.

[Wonder]

26. no it doesn't

but trying telling that to judge and jury.

[StandWatie]

17. the new antisemitism..

apparently consists of bad talking Israel and is somehow far more threatening than swastikas and burning synagogues :shrug:

[rini]

19. new anti-Semitism

Consists of empty platitudes about "poor Palestinians" in order to pretend not to be anti-semitic. Some of this garbage is due to ignorance of the historical facts, some is misguided sympathy for the "underdog," but a lot is just plain anti-semitic. At the begining of the Nazi movement, it was "just talk," then thought turned to action.Words are very powerful, the ideas they present either overtly or covertly must be refuted. I don't care if you like Israel or not, that is not the point. The point is we are on a slippery slope of hatred here; one that is being exploited by the enemies of the United States.

[Darranar]

20. Uh...

MOST of it is due to not ignoring what's thrust in front of your eyes. A tiny bit is due to anti-semitism.

[StandWatie]

22. you don't understand the times

pre-holocaust wasn't just talk and it wasn't just about Jews either.

It was boycotts against Jewish business (take a look at Israel these days) and a philosophy of racial hygiene (take a look at Israel's handling of the "demographic problem")

Racial seperatism is to be opposed always, that is the lesson to be learned from the failed eugenics policies of the Germans.

[Wonder]

27. you got that right

but it seems to me this is old news which some choose not to heed.

[mike_c]

18. this is yet another example of the intellectual dishonesty...

...of the Israeli right-wingnuts. Having already appropriated not only the Palestinians's land by violence, but also the generic term "semite" which refers to both of them equally, they continue to equate opposition to Israeli apartheid as being fundamentally anti-Jewish. Was the abolishonist movement in the U.S. "anti-Caucasion" or "anti-southern", i.e. motivated by a fundamental desire to eradicate those cultures? Was the Allied fight against the Axis forces during WWII motivated by desire to destroy those cultures or was it motivated by our collective horror at how the Axis powers were conducting themselves on the world stage? Opposition to the Israeli oppression of Palestinians is no more "anti-semitic" than was the abolishonist movement "anti-white." Just as the anti-apartheid movement was not motivated by any desire to stamp out the Afrikans culture itself.

[Wonder]

28. another refreshing viewpoint

of course over time for many it is redundant, but what can one do when victim's victimize -- denial is even that much more inculcated I guess, at least that is the way it seems.

the black and white lines in the sand become increasingly more annoying, trite, if not altogether irrelevant, it becomes to a degree some of the cause of the backlash, but just voicing that gets the defenses up.

The only reason some point out the hypocracies when they see them is because it seems to me that for the most part Jewish persecution is acknowledged as is the need for Jewish resistance, the inability to apply this to Palestinian persecution and resistance after a while renders the anti-Semitic card impotent. Again, this is another round and round topic, which I have become quite rapidly tired of.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[soothsayer]

23. Yup, I agree that anti-Semitism is not the same as deploring Israel's.....

...recent politics.

But it sure is handy for Israel to use to shut up opponents. The old 'race card.'

[Wonder]

29. risks making the card mighty impotent

especially when some that are playing the card are just on cut and paste, but I have said that now in this thread three times.

[Lithos]

30. Locking

Without an understanding of Natan Sharansky, the politics of his (now defunct) Yisrael B'Aliya party, and the specific audience he is addressing (of which very few people here are a part of), it is almost impossible to answer this emotional appeal without using the same emotionally laden terms of the author and falling into the numerous minefields this usage entails.

Regards

Lithos
FA/NS Moderator
Democratic Underground