American Jewish Committee Report Goes After Liberal Anti-Semites
January 30, 2007 | By M.J. Rosenberg
Today's New York Times carries a news item about a report issued by the American Jewish Committee which attacks progressive Jewish critics of Israeli policies as anti-semitic.
"The American Jewish Committee, an ardent defender of Israel, is known for speaking out against anti-Semitism, but this conservative advocacy group has recently stirred up a bitter and emotional debate with a new target: liberal Jews....
"An essay the committee features on its Web site, ajc.org, titled “ ‘Progressive’ Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism,” says a number of Jews, through their speaking and writing, are feeding a rise in virulent anti-Semitism by questioning whether Israel should even exist.
"In an introduction to the essay, David A. Harris, the executive director of the committee, writes, “Perhaps the most surprising — and distressing — feature of this new trend is the very public participation of some Jews in the verbal onslaught against Zionism and the Jewish State.” Those who oppose Israel’s basic right to exist, he continues, “whether Jew or gentile, must be confronted.”
This is a troubling development because the AJC is not a right-wing organization but a moderate one, one that until recently might have been characterized as liberal.
The attack on liberal critics of Israel comes at the same time that the AJC, and other Jewish organizations, are embracing far right Christians who support Israel, some of whom might be characterized as less than friendly to Jews. (Remember when Israel's great friend, Pat Robertson, celebrated Ariel Sharon's stroke as God's punishment for leaving Gaza?)
A new paradigm has been born. Right-wing Christians who "support" Israel (in fact, they support only the Israeli right) are wonderful but liberal Jews who criticize Israeli policies are enemies of the Jewish people. This, despite the fact that rightwing Christian support of Israel is predicated on the belief that the ingathering of Jews to Israel, and Israel's ultimate destruction, are necessary preludes to the Second Coming. These friends of Israel literally love Israel to death).
Some of the people described in the article are indeed hostile to Israel. But few call for an end to Israel's existence but rather an end to the occupation.
And even the more virulent critics can hardly be called anti-semitic. Anti-semitism refers to hatred of Jews as a race. Before 1948, millions of Jews would have categorized themselves as anti-Zionist especially in Poland where the Socialist and anti-Zionist Jewish Bund was so powerful.
Anti-Zionist Jews were among the leaders of the fight against the Nazis and were at the forefront of every ghetto uprising. It is almost sacreligious to take the term anti-semite and apply it to Jews who are part of a long standing and quite venerable Jewish tradition. Were the socialist, Bundist and anti-Zionist Jews who fought and died in the Shoah fuelers of anti-semitism?
Surely the authors of this report know what anti-Zionism is and what anti-Semitism is. And they know the difference.
The reason for this report is that some conservative groups within our very liberal community are growing evermore frustrated by the fact that Jews have remained progressives, despite the attempts to convince one of the country's most wealthy groups that its interests lie with those who cut taxes on the wealthy, turn a cold shoulder to the poor, and want America to go to war with global Islam.
They have, for as long as I can remember, tried to use Israel as a device to bring Jews over to conservatism. (In 1972, this crowd was all for Nixon and portrayed McGovern as a veritable Neville Chamberlain. Their effort succeeded in keeping McG's share of the Jewish vote at 65%. But, since then, the Jewish vote for the Democrats has been in the 78-90% range.)
The Jewish right -- that tiny fringe -- is growing angry and frustrated. And a report like this is the result.
But that won't be the only result. At a time when Democrats and progressives are on the upswing, when rightwingers lost the last election, does it make any sense to demonize liberals? Israel has friends across the political spectrum (although its policies are sometimes and rightly criticized across the spectrum) but this type of effort hurts Israel and its standing with most Americans.
What do the authors of this report want Jews to do? Embrace Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell? Join the Mega Churches and their 40,000,000 Members. Reject liberal Jews (and Christians) in favor of the least tolerant members of both faith communities.
What is going on? Has Jimmy Carter caused some people to simply lose their minds?
M.J. Rosenberg works in Washington supporting US efforts to advance an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. Previously, he worked on Capitol Hill for various Democratic members of the House and Senate for 15 years. He was also a Clinton political appointee at USAID. In the early 1980s, he was editor of AIPACs weekly newsletter Near East Report. After the signing of the Oslo Accords, Rosenberg broke with the AIPAC position and became a strong advocate of the "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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MJ Rosenberg is the Director of Israel Policy Forum's Washington Policy Center.
This just in from the blog entitled, "I am a Liberal Jew and I am Pissed".
AJC is the new Anti-Semite
January 31, 2007
By PATRICIA COHEN
The American Jewish Committee, an ardent defender of Israel, is known for speaking out against anti-Semitism, but this conservative advocacy group has recently stirred up a bitter and emotional debate with a new target: liberal Jews.
An essay the committee features on its Web site, ajc.org, titled “ ‘Progressive’ Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism,” says a number of Jews, through their speaking and writing, are feeding a rise in virulent anti-Semitism by questioning whether Israel should even exist.
In an introduction to the essay, David A. Harris, the executive director of the committee, writes, “Perhaps the most surprising — and distressing — feature of this new trend is the very public participation of some Jews in the verbal onslaught against Zionism and the Jewish State.” Those who oppose Israel’s basic right to exist, he continues, “whether Jew or gentile, must be confronted.”
The essay comes at a time of high anxiety among many Jews, who are seeing not only a surge in attacks from familiar antagonists, but also gloves-off condemnations of Israel from onetime allies and respected figures, like former President Jimmy Carter, who titled his new book on the Mideast “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid.” By spotlighting the touchy issue of whether Jews are contributing to anti-Semitism, both admirers and detractors of the essay agree that it aggravates an already heated dispute over where legitimate criticism of Israel and its defenders ends and anti-Semitic statements begin.
The essay, written by Alvin H. Rosenfeld, an English professor and the director of the Institute for Jewish Culture and the Arts at Indiana University in Bloomington, castigates a number of people by name, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, the historian Tony Judt, the poet Adrienne Rich and the Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, in addition to a number of academics.
Mr. Judt, whose views on Israel and the American Jewish lobby have frequently drawn fire, is chastised for what Mr. Rosenfeld calls “a series of increasingly bitter articles” that have “called Israel everything from arrogant, aggressive, anachronistic, and infantile to dysfunctional, immoral, and a primary cause of present-day anti-Semitism.”
A historian at New York University, Mr. Judt said in a telephone interview that he believed the real purpose of outspoken denunciations of him and others was to stifle harsh criticism of Israel. “The link between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism is newly created,” he said, adding that he fears “the two will have become so conflated in the minds of the world” that references to anti-Semitism and the Holocaust will come to be seen as “just a political defense of Israeli policy.”
--MORE--
I refuse to believe that they get away with this by using the 'anti-simetic' tag.
Everyone by now must have worked out that they are a bunch of lying, killing totalitarian freaks.
Hi leftfield,
Something from Reich, er, right-field for you here.
Jews in the diaspora perform a variety of functions for Mossad. The volunteer Jewish helpers are called sayanim.
I have my own personal "helper" who comments on my blog. This sayanim blogs at, "My Not So Random Thoughts ", where one can read a proud Zionist's point of view. Following the links to the recommended blogs will lead to more material filling out the portrait of these lying, killing totalitarian freaks.
Well now, since we're still batting around the old "anti-semitic canard", I thought it would be of note to post the "Great Vanishing Interview" with Christopher Bollyn which supposedly aired on CNN the other night. They really pulled out all the stops this time. If you compare the content of the original audio with the remnant left in the TV spot, you'll realize the all powerful Wizard really made this one go poof ! BIG TIME ! The actual video has not been posted on the web yet, to my knowledge. Until we, as Americans, can finally see behind the curtain of 9-11, and come to terms with it, we will continue to see the damage unfold exponentially, and nothing, but NOTHING else will improve. To read this transcript is to read but another chapter of a seemingly endless tragedy. To add insult to injury, of course they had to trot out the ADL and SPLC to parrot their absolute favorite phrase "conspiracy theory" until the cows come home. Here is a link to Christopher Bollyn's page about his CNN interview: http://www.iamthewitness.com/Bollyn-CNN-interview.html
FREE 9-11 event................. Here's the raw audio, in entirety, of the original interview in Chicago, before CNN trashed it: http://www.erichufschmid.net/mp3/bollyn-with-cnn.mp3
bollyn-with-cnn.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)......................... And here's the CNN transcript of Paula Zahn's masterful hatchet job:
PAULA ZAHN NOW
Racist Parties on the Rise on College Campuses?; Obesity Report Cards
Aired January 30, 2007 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[SNIP]
ZAHN: Stay with us, because we're not done yet here. Coming up next, conspiracy theories out in the open that blame Jews for the terror attacks on 9/11. Also ahead, one of the nation's highest ranking retired military men on why he thinks it's time to reconsider the don't ask, don't tell policy for gays. We're going to bring that story out in the open when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Just ahead in this half-hour, don't ask/don't tell. Our weekly people you should know segment. We bring that question out in the open tonight. A top retired general says it may be time to change the policy on gays in the military.
Then coming up at the top of hour, Larry King talks with the owners of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro who lost his fight to recover from a shattered leg.
We have all heard some absolutely incredible 9/11 conspiracy theories. The web of course is full of them. But tonight we're bringing one out that feeds on racism out in the open. We were absolutely shocked by one recent poll that found out that one in every three Americans believe the terror attacks were not the work of America's enemies, but some sort of inside job. And Deborah Feyerick found a smaller percentage who believe an even uglier theory.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This 9/11 attack was not by 19 Arabs. It was not by Muslims.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They talk about a Jewish plot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everywhere you look you find a Zionist agent.
FEYERICK: A conspiracy by Zionist Israeli intelligence or by Zionist moles in the Bush administration allegedly calling the shots in the Middle East. Websites, magazines, documentaries, radio programs, dozens of them disputing the fact that al Qaeda was behind the 9/11 attacks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was done by a group of Zionists.
FEYERICK: Are you suggesting that al Qaeda had nothing to do with it, that this was all part of a large conspiracy, Zionist or otherwise?
CHRISTOPHER BOLLYN, WRITER: Al Qaeda is in my opinion -- has been exploited. I question whether such a group even exists.
FEYERICK: Chicago writer Christopher Bollyn is one of the conspiracy theorists.
BOLLYN: I believe that there are Israeli elements that are connected to the Mossad, that are involved in this attack.
FEYERICK: There's no physical evidence to support claims that Jews were behind 9/11, but the speculation and rumors, mostly discounted here in the U.S., have gained momentum in Muslim countries where they're discussed and believed. Deborah Lauder is with the Jewish run Anti-Defamation League.
DEBORAH LAUTER, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: What's most puzzling is when it reaches the Internet and goes into the Muslim-Arab world, we have this cross-fertilization of hate and this is something we've never seen before.
FEYERICK: A whole web of beliefs has grown to support this conspiracy theory. Listen to these Americans interviewed on Iranian television.
VOICE OF ERIC HUFSCHMID: This is a big plot to take control of us, to start war.
FEYERICK: One of the beliefs is that some 4,000 Israelis or Jews in the New York City area were warned by instant messages not to go to work on 9/11. For Wilton Sekzer, a retired police sergeant who is Jewish, the claim is outrageous.
WILTON SEKZER, FATHER OF WTC 9/11 VICTIM: The remains consistent of a piece of bone two and a half inches long and about an inch long, about the size of your index finger.
FEYERICK: And that's all they ever found?
SEKZER: That's all they ever found.
FEYERICK: Sekzer's son Jason died in the towers. He says Jason received no warning. Neither did some 400 Jews who died in the tragedy.
SEKZER: Give me the names of the 4,000 Jews who stayed home. Show me something. There is nothing to show. This is a total, ridiculous, asinine rumor that was started by anti-Semites.
MARK POTOK, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: I think the conspiracy theories in general really do work a bit like a game of telephone. They are told and retold and tend to get more and more far out in the telling.
FEYERICK: When you imply that somehow Israelis were involved in the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, people are going to look at you, critics will say you are an anti-Semite. Are you?
BOLLYN: No, I'm not an anti-Semite. This is the main charge that's leveled against me and has been for years, even before 9/11, because I am a critic of Zionist policies.
LAUTER: That's a very common technique among anti-Semites. They will twist things. I'm not an anti-Semite. I just believe XYZ.
FEYERICK: Anti-Semitic or not, the question now, will this 9/11 conspiracy theory become like the Kennedy assassination, analyzed for generations as an unsolved mystery? Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Time to check with our out in the open panel. I'm sure they have plenty to say about this. Lauren, Michael, Deroy, welcome back. All right. So let's start with the resident Jew on our panel here. You hear this stuff and it just makes you sick to your stomach. There is absolutely no evidence that anybody, other than al Qaeda, was involved with this attack. How upsetting is this to you?
GROSS: Look, we've been kicked around for 2,000 years. The face you're looking at has got a lot of anger in it because of that. That's not a way to live, wandering around the globe never having a home. It's pretty difficult because every time there's trouble, we're scapegoated. We're not the only ones that are scapegoated, but we're scapegoated by people who are frightened. They don't care. They are paranoid. You can't debunk this theory. It's madness as well as idiocy to think that the Jews brought down the World Trade Center on 9/11, but you cannot argue logic to someone who is mentally ill. What frightens me is that the whole nation is frightened and that fear is being fueled by this administration and by the media -- not you, just the opposite. I congratulate you and I'm grateful for you seriously, to bring this stuff out, because it is in those times that Jews like other minorities better get scared, better get angry, better fight for what's right and try and convince people courage is the cure for paranoia, not racism.
ZAHN: Is this just a smear campaign for anti-Semites?
MURDOCK: I agree with Michael. The blame the Jews theme is something that goes back about 2,000 years. It's a really hardy varietal. But look, I mean we know who pulled off 9/11. Richard Minard (ph) writes about it in his book, the disinformation. He quotes directly from Osama bin Laden who says on a tape we found, we calculated an advanced the number of casualties from the enemy who would be killed based on the position of the tower. We had notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place that day, unquote, says Osama bin Laden himself.
(CROSSTALK)
LAKE: We have a government that has led us into a war and most Americans, even the smartest of us, sit around and go why, again, are we here in the war? When there are blanks, we often fill in the blanks and those blanks are filled in by misinformation, urban legends. We create stories and people believe things.
ZAHN: You're talking about a very unpopular war. We're talking about 9/11.
LAKE: What I'm talking about is the war is based upon what our government told us, this fear that we have from 9/11.
GROSS: This will get worse as the unrest in the Middle East gets worse. This problem will not go away. The reason it wasn't go away is because we don't have an administration as we once did that said and counseled us, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. We have just the opposite. We have an administration that fuels fear, that puts up the sign every day that tells us be frightened, stay scared, be worried, and so we are suspicious. We are xenophobic and we don't like anybody that's different from us.
ZAHN: How concerned are you that these conspiracy theories will take even deeper hold?
MURDOCK: Look, I think it's entirely possible. The kind of people who are spreading this sort of stuff will continue to blame the Jews for anything that can go wrong. I think it's very important as this war on terror continues to point out exactly who the bad guys are which are Islamo-fascists who want you, you, you and me dead and want people dead around the country and they're engaged in tremendous violence, killing thousands all around the world starting even before 9/11. The '93 attack, the attack on the U.S.S. Cole. This is a really serious enemy and we need to identify it and we need to educate people.
(CROSSTALK)
LAKE: That's my point. There are reasons why people are open to belief theories and these reasons will not change unless our government more actively works to inform us of what the real truth is so people are not just playing guessing games.
ZAHN: Lauren Lake, Michael Gross, Deroy Murdock, fascinating discussion. Your anger was palpable during that piece as well. Well understood.
Larry king live is coming up just in a few minutes. Hey Larry. You're going to talk to the owners of Barbaro tonight?
LARRY KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, who wouldn't be angry with that last story?
ZAHN: I know. I know, but it's astonishing, wasn't it, the statistic that one in three Americans believe not that particular conspiracy theory, but one of many?
KING: The old Goebbels theory, you tell a lie long enough, more people will believe it. We've got an exclusive coming up, race horse Barbaro's owners and his doctor, their first interview since the champion was put to death yesterday. Plus Jack Hanna and animal right activist Bo Derek on whether racing pushes horses too far. And the latest on that woman convicted today of murdering her Marine husband with poison. All that at 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific immediately following the lovely, talented, exquisite Paula Zahn.
ZAHN: Thank you Larry, you didn't have to say that.
[SNIP]
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0701/30/pzn.01.html
"KING: The old Goebbels theory, you tell a lie long enough, more people will believe it."
Quasi: Thanks for the transcript link.. It is a classic worthy of a bookmark.
Claymoremind, and anyone else I may have missed, I thank you for your input and patience. That video link I mentioned above, to Christopher Bollyn's "Great Vanishing Interview", which instantly morphed into CNN's 'CLASSIC SMEAR JOB' has now become available. This wretched assemblage is just another striking example of CNN's collaboration in massive Zionist mainstream media manipulation, which has now only magnified the national cancer of 9-11 to exponentially more monstrous proportions. I sincerely hope that most participants of this site are now able to see through the cracks in this bizarre, deformed edifice of lies. If these criminals think they can stop a man of Christopher's stripe, they have another think coming. Bollyn is a fine journalist, a man for our time, and with his courage, is truly a man for all seasons.............. If you haven't yet made his acquaintance, you are in trouble. http://www.iamthewitness.com/video/CNN-911-30Jan2007.wmv
CNN-911-30Jan2007.wmv
I found the CNN video quite crap.
Its not a jew hate theme, there is no discussion of the Israeli firsters in the Bush admin, the power of the jews.
How 9/11 does not benefit Muslims one bit, it did benefit the Zionists and Neo-cons.
There should have been a real context given to the story, nothing was...it was all 'conspiracy theory' this anti-Semite that, nothing of any substance.
What about operation Northwoods and Gladio and the Lavone Affair...its not as if it has never been done before. The official story is a conspiracy theory