Philosophical Conversations Public Opinion philosophy.com Junk for code
hegel
"When philosophy paints its grey in grey then has a shape of life grown old. By philosophy's grey in grey it cannot be rejuvenated but only understood. The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk." -- G.W.F. Hegel, 'Preface', Philosophy of Right.
RECENT ENTRIES
SEARCH
ARCHIVES
Library
Links - weblogs
Links - Political Rationalities
Links - Resources: Philosophy
Public Discussion
Resources
Cafe Philosophy
Philosophy Centres
Links - Resources: Other
Links - Web Connections
Other
www.thought-factory.net
'Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainity and agitation distinquish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones ... All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned.' Marx

questioning Zionism « Previous | |Next »
February 20, 2007

The American Jewish Committee, is a well known defender of Israel, and it has a high public profile of speaking out against anti-Semitism in the US. This is a key institution of the Israeli Lobby, and it has recently published a paper entitled Progressive’ Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism by Alvin H. Rosenfeld. This targets liberal Jews who are wrestling, or are uncomfortable, with Zionist ideology. The latter critique Zionism due to it being a religious nationalist ideology that has helped foster violence and to justify a brutal occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The New York Times reports that the Rosenfeld essay has created controversy in the US.

Rosenfeld's essay starts thus:

“German fascism came and went. Soviet Communism came and.. went. Anti-Semitism came and stayed.” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, offered these discerning words in response to a speech by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in which the president of Iran denounced Israel as “a disgraceful blot” that should be “wiped off the map.”... Shocked by. such unabashed outpouring of anti-Jewish venom and by numerous parallels to it, Rabbi Sacks confessed that the reemergence of anti-Semitism “is one of the most frightening phenomena in [my] lifetime–because it’s happened after sixty years of Holocaust education,.anti-racist legislation, and interfaith dialogue.” In light of this disturbing trend, this paper will reflect upon two. questions: (1) What, if anything, is new about the “new” anti-Semitism? (2) In what ways might Jews themselves, especially so-called “progressive” Jews, be contributing to the intellectual and political climate that helps to foster such hostility, especially in its anti-Zionist forms?

The context for this is the blurred point at which legitimate criticism of Israel and its defenders ends and anti-Semitism statements begin and the determination by the Israeli Lobby to squelch criticism of Israel or opposition to the longstanding pro-Israeli slant in US foreign policy. As Michael Desch recently pointed out in The Australian the members of the lobby play the traditional (and legitimate) game of interest group politics, channelling money and other forms of support to politicians who support their agenda. They also engage in what Israelis refer to as hasbra: telling Israel's story in the most favourable light. But some of them also hit below the belt, employing character assassination and other illegitimate tactics....Jews who deviate from the pro-Israel line are dismissed as self-hating.

Rosenfeld says that one of the most distressing features of the new anti-Semitism” is “the participation of Jews alongside it. His argument characterizes liberal or leftist Jews, who are critical of Zionism and the occupation policies of the Israeli Government, as anti-Zionist Jews, say that it is "illegitimate" for Jews to question the nature of the founding of Israel, that such inquiries represent a "betrayal" of Israel, and they are based on "tangled psychological" motives.

Rosenfeld goes through the texts of anti-Zionists , including Jacqueline Rose and Tony Judt and the 'ideological fellow travelers—Jews who mouth the standard negative clichés about Zionism and Israel to establish their leftist credentials.' He then says:

Such thinking is also harmful in its likely effects, for in calling into question Israel’s legitimacy and moral standing, it abets the views of those who demand an end to Jewish national existence altogether and lends a coveted aura of Jewish support to the advancement of this eliminationist goal.

His judgement about those Jews who identify with these Leftist political tendencies is that it:
is more than just a pity—it is a betrayal. Over the decades, elements within the left stood as principled opponents of anti-Semitism and fought against it. To witness some of their heirs today contributing to a newly resurgent anti- Zionism that, in many ways, recalls older versions of anti-Semitism is dismaying as well as disheartening.

It reads as a conservative Jewish or Israel hawk attack on liberal Jews and Jews on the Left side of the politics. The argument is suss: it identifies anti-semitism - hatred of Jewish people - with anti-Zionism-- anti a nationalist ideology--and then with the belief that Israel should not exist as a Jewish state. The implication is that Jewish criticism of Israel poses a threat to the taboo on non-Jews criticising Israel. If Jews are saying it, surely a non-Jew can say it, too - and do so without being accused of anti-Semitism.

However, as Richard Silverstein says in The Guardian things are changing. Different, diverse and independent Jewish voices are increasingly being heard in the public sphere and make a welcome change to the usual strident nationalist one.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 05:14 PM | | Comments (0)
Comments
 
Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

Name:
Email Address:
URL:
Remember personal info?
Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)