http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/apr/26/thejewsshouldknowbetter

Also here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/mar/24/isisraelgoodorbad

It is just an argument of convenience, of course, an expectation raised against Jews to justify blame-placing. When the issue is Palestinian brutality (or any other group du jour), the line becomes: “Oppression made them brutal. What else could you expect?”” Paul Malin

I have always been uncomfortable with the argument that Jews should be better than other because of our history of suffering. However, to be fair the argument has often been raised by Jews themselves and even Zionist Jews.

Here is an article in The New Republic which exemplifies such thinking:

“Victory and Sorrow by David N. Myers+”

Post Date Wednesday, October 22, 2008

http://www.tnr.com/booksarts/story.html?id=dc88024f-c1f6-47e0-b88c-58bc8983f703

Of course the fact that Zionism has had, and has such high moral expectations of themselves doesn’t make the argument any truer.

I prefer Ruth Wisse’s wise account of Jewish responsibility in her important book “Jewish And Power:”

http://www.amazon.com/Jews-Power-Jewish-Encounters-Wisse/dp/0805242244/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223385257&sr=1-1

I find the demand that suffering Jews be held to a higher moral standard either masochistic (when articulated from within) or antisemitic (when demanded from outside).

In the first sentence which is an incomplete fragment.

Did you mean to say: Finally, and briefly, the depiction of antisemitism which is a tool to close down debate about Israeli policy?

I don’t mean to be picky, but I got lost reading it and had to guess at the meaning.

And when it comes to Jews, the implicit argument it that the Holocaust needed to be a moral school for the leaders of the State of Israel.

Thanks for the comment. Not sure I understand what the problem with that paragraph is.

It is just an argument of convenience, of course, an expectation raised against Jews to justify blame-placing. When the issue is Palestinian brutality (or any other group du jour), the line becomes: “Oppression made them brutal. What else could you expect?”

“Finally, and briefly, the depiction of antisemitism as tool to close down debate about Israeli policy. I said that was scandalous, as a cursory examination of Geras’s blog or of the Engage website amply proves. There is plenty of criticism here, much of it justified. But it is measured and proportionate.”

Thanks!