Re: Anti-Semitism and the "New Jews" (on DU home page)

(1) Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Frontpage Symposium. Let us begin with this question: would we agree that the contemporary growth of anti-Semitism on the Left is the result of anti-Semitism now becoming enmeshed with anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, anti-globalization etc?

Dinnerstein: First, I'm not sure how much leftist anti-Semitism is based on political concerns. The manifestations may be anti-Semitic but political concerns may not have been the cause of the anti-Semitism. Secondly, I'd like to see statistics on how many leftist anti-Semites there are. I am familiar with conditions in the United States. I am not familiar with conditions in other parts of the world.

Having said that, there is no doubt in my mind that the current wave of "increased" anti-Semitic manifestations is driven both by Muslim activists and concerns about Israeli policies.

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Dinnerstein: I would not be so quick as to label attacks on Israeli policies as the equivalent of blistering anti-Semitism. I also want to see statistics on how many people are involved. While I do believe anti-Semitic manifestations are on the rise around the world, the same is not true for the United States. I wish I did know who has become anti-Semitic as a result of the Middle East situation and how many have used the opportunity to express their anti-Semitic views which they had already held.

Lerner: Anti-Semitism on the Left remains a marginal phenomenon, because very few people on the Left would consciously say that they believe that Jews or the Jewish people ought to be treated differently or deserve worse treatment than any one else on the planet. Unlike, for example, those who hold that some people on this planet deserve more wealth and some people less wealth because of their alleged merit (in work, intelligence, or some other feature of their lives), very few Leftists hold that Jews deserve less of the goodies of the planet or the benefits of society than anyone else.

What irks many on the Left is when Jews take a larger portion than others relative to their proportion in the population of the world’s wealth (e.g. by being disproportionately represented in the elites of the most piggy society on the face of the earth which has 5% of the world’s population but consumes 25% of the world’s wealth) or when the Jews benefit from the support of colonial or imperial ambitions of, first Britain, and then the U.S., in the Middle East to establish a society benefiting as the single largest recipient of U.S. aid, and then using those benefits to create a society which oppresses Palestinians. Here, a small percentage of people on the Left single out the Jews and Israel for special, and in my view anti-Semitic attention, allowing what could be legitimate criticisms were they spread to all beneficiaries of an unjust global system to be focussed illegitimately on critique of the Jewish people and on Israel, and by ignoring the vicious and immoral acts of terror committed against Israeli civilians by some who advocate the Palestinian cause. Moreover, some groups on the left deny Jews the same right to have national self-determination (and with it all the attendant distortions that nationalism frequently produces) that they champion when it comes to other historically oppressed groups.

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That sounds like bullshit too. I have not heard any "Muslim activists" who are encouraging "anti-semitism" (a phrase that makes no sense in that context since Muslims could be semites.). I have heard a lot of ANTI-MUSLIM activists - Jews like Horowitz and Pipes as well as the Christian right-wing who send out crap trying to get people to hate Muslims.

Actually - I have to wonder if anyone who thinks the Horowitz thing to be reasonable is actually right-wing - at least when it comes to issues regarding Israel. Because that's what I think it's about. Another thing - trying to silence people who take issue with Israel's policies.