“Antisemitism cannot be regarded as just one more lazy, ill-thought-out bigotry. The anti-Semite hates and fears Jews because he interprets the world through them. Wistrich quotes the French monarchist Charles Maurras’s candid admission that anti-Semitism ‘enables everything to be arranged, smoothed over and simplified.’” From my Jerusalem Post review of Robert Wistrich’s epic new book, A Lethal Obsession.
Archive for February, 2010
El Páis of Madrid is a wonderful newspaper. In the lead editorial of today’s edition it fearlessly condemns the supposed assassination by Israel of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
As well as being legally reprehensible and morally unacceptable the policy of selective assassination, or to put it another way, the dirty war only contributes to the illusion that there are alternative solutions to the one that Israel will sooner or later have to face: an end to the occupation and the opening of talks with the Palestinians on the basis of a two state solution.
This is a guest post by Dan Yurman of Idaho Samizdat, a blog covering nuclear energy and non-proliferation issues.
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed in a speech marking the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that it has the capacity to make “weapons grade”uranium which could lead to the fabrication of an operational nuclear bomb. Iran has also been developing a 1,200 mile range ballistic missile which could be used to deliver one. The question for Western powers, and especially Israel ,which Iran has repeatedly vowed to destroy, is how credible are these claims?
Ariel Ilan Roth maintains that Israel’s objection to Iran acquiring nuclear weapons is not based on a fear that those weapons would be used against it as he believes that the certainty of a devastating Israeli response is likely to deter the ayatollahs.
This is a guest post by Christian Tau of NIJ.
Most Norwegian books are dearly priced and contribute to nothing except the prestige of their authors, yet still manage to capture the public eye. Meanwhile Eirik Eiglad’s recently published “The anti-Jewish riots in Oslo” is receiving no publicity whatsoever. For the sin of contrasting too sharply with Norway’s “goody two shoes” image of being a humanitarian superpower, Eiglad’s book is being quietly ignored to death.
As readers of this blog know, Roger Cohen is not a wise man. His latest column in the New York Times gives further evidence of this.
Domestic U.S. politics constrain innovative thought - even open debate - on the process without end that is the peace search.
Continue reading ‘Roger Cohen And Wishful Thinking, Part 974′
Here’s my latest piece for AJC’s Reality Check on Iran’s nuclear program, in the light of the regime’s announcement that it will be enriching uranium to 20 per cent. Included is an extended interview with French UN Ambassador Gérard Araud, who just assumed the Presidency of the UN Security Council.
By way of Engage, I came across this excellent interview with Moishe Postone which I commend it to your attention. I have a quibble though and it’s about the very first thing he says:
It is true that the Israeli government uses the charge of anti-semitism to shield it from criticisms.
Continue reading ‘Moishe Postone, Antisemitism And Star Trek’
I received an e-mail circular from B’Tselem today about Israel’s policies towards Gaza. The first substantial argument offered is this:
“The siege of Gaza is causing enormous suffering among innocents, and it’s hard to see how that deprivation can be justified,” said Uri Zaki, B’Tselem’s USA Director. “International law, as well as basic human and Israeli values, demands that Israel do its utmost to address its legitimate security concerns without inflicting unnecessary harm to the civilians of Gaza. The current policy doesn’t come close to meeting that standard.” Gazans’ rights to minimal standards of food security, shelter, health, education and to travel are protected under international law. These needs should not be held hostage to security and political issues.
Soccer Dad points us to this fine essay by the Israeli philosopher Asa Kasher which demonstrates why Operation Cast Lead was a just war justly fought. Among the pertinent points Kasher makes:
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The Tehran Symphony Orchestra has been wending its way around Europe performing a piece nauseatingly entitled “Peace and Friendship Symphony,” by Majid Entezami, and described - in a brilliant piece by Michael Kimmelman - as “a four-movement jeremiad of martial bombast and almost unfathomable incompetence and silliness.” As Kimmelman points out, protests did greet the orchestra in certain cities, but I’m not aware of Naomi Klein, Brian Eno, John Pilger or any other minor radical celebrity urging a boycott.
The repellent George Galloway turned up in Boston this week, raising money for Hamas. Via Solomonia, a video of the crowd greeting him.
Commenting on Human Rights Watch’s criticisms of the Jordanian government for stripping nearly 3,000 Palestinians of their citizenship, Elder of Ziyon makes the following observation: “…every Arab country is equally wrong by refusing to grant citizenship to people of Palestinian origin born in their countries - who now number in the millions. Not only is the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness being violated, but also the Convention on the Rights of the Child.” Read it all.
“Anthony ‘Genius’ Julius, 39, is not a divorce lawyer but a specialist in media law, acting for Robert Maxwell and once employed by the Daily Mail. His background could not be further from the upper-class world inhabited by his opposite number. He is a Jewish intellectual and Labour supporter and less likely to feel restrained by considerations of fair play.” So wrote a reporter on The Daily Telegraph during the divorce proceedings between Princess Diana and Prince Charles. Read more from Anthony about the antisemitism which can surface in England’s elite here.
John Pilger and the Enabling of Antisemitism
This is a guest post by David Adler.
To find journalist-ideologue John Pilger ranting about “the criminality of the Israeli state” and “the murderous, racist toll of Zionism” is all too routine. (Hat tip Oliver Kamm.) What’s new is this: Pilger trots out “the expatriate Israeli musician Gilad Atzmon” as a representative good Jew, emblematic of “the heroes of Israel” and “the moral courage of Israeli dissidents.” Either Pilger is fool enough to be unaware of Atzmon’s vicious anti-Jewish bigotry, or he has consciously praised an apologist for the Third Reich, who has declared:
Continue reading ‘John Pilger and the Enabling of Antisemitism’