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Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
Current rating: 0 |
by David Green
Email: davegreen48 (nospam) yahoo.com (verified)
Phone: 840-3979 |
29 Mar 2005
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Systematic intimidation and repression supported by national and local Zionist organizations results in the violation of basic intellectual and political freedoms on college campuses throughout the country, including the U of I. |
Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses
David Green
Champaign, IL
It has become clear during the course of this academic year (2004-05)—if it was not already—that campus advocacy of Zionist ideology and Israeli state interests is shamelessly repressive of open and respectful discourse based on high standards of evidence, argument, and morality. This repression targets basic 1st Amendment freedoms of speech, assembly, and press; academic and more general intellectual freedom; and—most crucially—the political freedom to translate well-documented truths and carefully considered moral judgments into advocacy and activism. Like the struggle in Israel and Palestine, conflict on college campuses has an asymmetrical quality. On one side is a well-funded program for propaganda and defamation, all the while claiming the victimization of Jews both here and abroad, and profoundly racist against Arabs and Muslims. On the other side is the promotion of easily demonstrated truths about historical and current realities of the systematic denial of Palestinian rights, drawn from scholarly sources, international law, and the reports of major human rights organizations. But unlike the struggle in the Middle East, supporters of Israel cannot use violence with impunity, and thus the struggle is a spirited and hopeful one, especially for those with the truth on their side.
Before considering this phenomenon, I would offer a few observations about the larger political context. First, U.S. policies toward the Middle East, including Israel, are driven by American priorities; albeit these priorities have over the past 40 years increasingly coincided with those of Israel, culminating in the current era of Neocon-Likud collaboration. Nevertheless, when there are conflicting interests, such as in the Jonathan Pollard case and the current investigation into AIPAC spying, it becomes clear that the U.S. administration will put its foot down, and that both Israel and American Jewish leaders will comply, if not without disingenuous and face-saving complaint. Second, the power of AIPAC is directed not so much at the policies of the executive branch, which are largely determined by geopolitical and defense industry interests, but at the Congress. No member can be allowed to leave the reservation of long-running American/Israeli rejection of a just solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict without public punishment, including charges of anti-Semitism and extravagant funding of opposing candidates. Finally, suffice it to say that the mainstream media, for reasons both inherent in the “manufacture of consent” and specific to this problem, make it impossible for the average U.S. citizen to understand the blatant reality of Palestinian victimization. Thus relatively little effort has to be made by Jewish Zionist organizations to shape the views of Americans in general about Israel and Palestine, especially when one considers the strenuous efforts of Christian Zionists to this end.
It is in this context that college campuses have become the primary venue, such as it is, of honest and disruptive discourse about this conflict, and the primary focus of efforts by Zionist organizations to curtail the freedoms that are essential for debate, advocacy, and action by students, faculty, and activists for a just peace. It is only on college campuses that Palestinian rights advocates can be claimed to pose even an imagined threat to the hegemony of Zionist propaganda in mainstream American political culture. During the past year, supporters of the Palestinian cause have been faced with the gamut of organized efforts by Zionist organizations to deny basic freedoms: speech, press, academic, intellectual, and political. As cogently argued by Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Alexander Cockburn, and many others, the primary tactic employed in these efforts is to identify criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. At Harvard, this charge has been notably made by President Lawrence Summers and Law Professor Alan Dershowitz. This argument is supported with banal assertions of the “unique” nature of the Nazi holocaust, and by an evolving body of fraudulent scholarship and historical propaganda (including by Dershowitz) in relation to the Zionist movement and the state of Israel. The most recent addition to this litany is the “generous offer” made by Ehud Barak to Yasser Arafat at Camp David in 2000.
The tone of the Zionist claim to victimization that underlies the current phase of this campaign was set in 2003 by Israeli politician Natan Sharansky, with his spurious claim that Jewish students are being silenced on American campuses that have become “hot-houses of anti-Israel opinion.” Since, then, Sharansky has become a favorite of George Bush and Condoleeza Rice. Highly-organized and well-funded efforts by American Zionists to suppress expressions of support for Palestinian rights on college campuses operate at many levels. AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) has intensively organized and trained Zionist students as advocates for Israel, with all of the distortion and defamation that that entails. Campus Watch, a program of the Middle East Forum (Daniel Pipes, Martin Kramer), has targeted professors of Middle Eastern Studies around the country in McCarthyite fashion, and indeed the entire Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Charles Jacobs of the David Project (and co-founder of CAMERA, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) has produced a propagandistic “documentary,” “Columbia Unbecoming,” defaming professors of that University’s Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC) department. Yigal Carmon, founder of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), has threatened Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan with a lawsuit for critical comments Cole made on his popular blog. Pipes has recently settled a lawsuit brought by an Oregon professor who fought back against Pipes’ customary slanders.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP, former Clinton diplomat Dennis Ross, mythmaker of the “generous offer”), provides a “respectable” Washington think tank image for those who regularly bring their arguments to a more official academic environment, albeit in campus venues that systematically exclude Palestinian voices. At a more vulgar level, David Horowitz’s frontpagemage.com website works to disseminate the latest in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim propaganda from himself, Pipes, Phyllis Chesler, and others to Zionist students, including campus newspaper columnists. Horowitz’s website has its origins in his Center for the Study of Popular Culture, with its far right critique of “political correctness” of (liberal) campus culture.
The venerable Anti-Defamation League provides a “civil rights” cover for equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, as it has done for the past 35 years. As an adjunct of the B’nai B’rith, the ADL has institutional access to Hillel. Hillel provides a “campus center for Jewish life” networking environment for Zionist Jewish students, connecting them to organizations like AIPAC and Campus Watch, and ferrying them to Washington and Israel for indoctrination in “Israel advocacy.” Local Jewish Federations provide a larger institutional context for campus repression, disseminating Zionist propaganda, demonizing campus advocates for Palestinian rights, and advising alumni to withdraw financial support unless demands to repress criticism of Israel and U.S. support for Israel are met. The Reform movement (Union for Reform Judaism) advises students on “how to talk to critics of Israel.” Students are told not to seriously consider a variety of perspectives, but instead to learn to detect “anti-Semitism” among critics of Israel who may either “deny Israel’s right to exist,” or “hold Israel to a higher standard.” The implication, of course, is that critics of Israel are to be either vilified or dismissed as Jew haters.
It is in this context that the current academic year has seen the fabrication and framing of several celebrated instances of conflict and repression on college campuses, most prominently at Duke and Columbia. But there are also numerous other minor skirmishes, such as at Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Illinois. I have intensively documented events at the latter campus in an open letter to its Interim Chancellor. I will conclude by referencing links to that letter and others that document the current Zionist disinformation and intimidation campaign, as well as the efforts of those who struggle for both their own political freedoms and, more importantly, the human and political rights of Palestinians.
1. http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.10.24/oped1.html
Tour of U.S. Schools Reveals Why Zionism Is Flunking on Campus
By Natan Sharansky, Forward, October 24, 2003
Sharansky has since become the high-minded theorist of democracy for George Bush, who claims to have read his book.
2. http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021125&s=mcneil
The War on Academic Freedom
By Kristine McNeil, The Nation, November 11, 2002
A good background summary.
3. http://www.hillel.org/Hillel/NewHille.nsf/0/039D27FB094E07B385256C3E00734215?OpenDocument
Anti-Semitism on Campus
Richard M. Joel, Hillel President and International Director
on Lawrence Summers Speech on Anti-Semitism
Hillel Website, September 24, 2002
After using anti-Semitism to silence critics of Israel, Summers is now complaining that he is being silenced for expressing his view that women may be genetically unable to compete in math and science.
4. http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=9
Don't Tell Anyone!
E-mail message to Norman Finkelstein, March 12, 2005
Reveals the tactics of the Pittsburgh Jewish Community prior to Finkelstein’s visit.
5. http://www.fpp.co.uk/Auschwitz/Finkelstein/Pittsburgh.html
Jewish community lines up to blunt message of anti-Zionist author
By Caitlin Cleary, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 15, 2005
Reports on efforts to deny people an opportunity to hear Finkelstein, but not on the substance of the talk; a talk with a similar message from Vancouver can be accessed in Finkelstein’s website (see above).
6. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/printer3296.shtml
"Columbia Unbecoming" in the clear light of day
Monique Dols, The Electronic Intifada, 5 November 2004
A graduate student exposes the film as propaganda.
7. http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1724
Students, Outsiders Spar at Columbia Conference
by Nathaniel Popper, Forward, March 11, 2005
Details an astonishing display of racist hatred.
8. http://www.counterpunch.org/robert03262005.html
Columbia "Unbecoming"
A European Student's Experience at Columbia
By Marc Robert, Counterpunch, March 26, 2005
The whole truth and nothing but from a bewildered foreign student.
9. http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1742
Academic Integrity Travestied at Columbia Middle East Studies Conference
By Terri Ginsberg, Z Magazine, March 14, 2005
A critical Jewish perspective.
10. http://lefthook.org/Ground/Birch031305.html
N.Y. officials fire left-wing professor: Witch-hunt at Columbia
By Jonah Birch, Left Hook, March 2005
Rashid Khalidi is prevented from speaking to New York City public school teachers.
11. http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/09/29/415aa16425330?in_archive=1
PSM draws continued criticism; Jewish schools withdraw support from Duke, TIP
By Kelly Rohrs, Duke Chronicle, September 29, 2004
To be fair, Jewish students at Duke did not try to prevent the conference—that effort came from outside Jewish organizations and Duke alumni.
12. http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/10/18/4173ae82d81f9?in_archive=1
Conference closes on peaceful note
By Kelly Rohrs, Duke Chronicle, October 18, 2004
The conference itself, of course, was constructive and peaceful.
13. http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/10/20/41765464d23bf?in_archive=1
Jewish community decries Chronicle; Students voice concerns about column, coverage at FCJL meeting
By Liana Wyler, Duke Chronicle, October 20, 2004
The Duke student paper is criticized by some Jewish students regarding its response to a student columnist who articulated painful truths.
14. http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/10/26/417e3e4b845cb?in_archive=1
PSM: Imagining Peace
By Bridget Newman, Duke Chronicle, October 26, 2004
A positive view of the Palestine Solidarity Movement conference.
15. http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/10/28/4180e2161935a
Student against terrible concert
By Amelia Herbert, Duke Chronicle, October 28, 2004
A negative view of the efforts of Jewish student to pretend that they were not simply supporting Israel.
16. http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/10/18/4173b1de57041?in_archive=1
The Jews
By Philip Kurian, Duke Chronicle, October 18, 2004
The above-mentioned column that created hysteria by stating that Jews are a privileged group in American society, and by mentioning Norman Finkelstein; note the e-mail responses.
17. http://www.antiwar.com/cole/?articleid=4047
Repressive MEMRI
By Juan Cole, Antiwar.com, November 24, 2004
An attempt to intimidate a respected professor and blogger.
18. http://www.registerguard.com/news/2004/12/02/c1.cr.cardsuit.1202.html
UO professor, authors settle defamation suit
By Bill Bishop, The Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon), December 2, 2004
Daniel Pipes customary slanderous tactics finally cost him some money.
19. http://hnn.us/comments/6399.html
Pressure in Colorado
By Paul Harvey, History News Network, December 30, 2002
Attempt by Pipes and others to silence Hanan Ashrawi; background for the Ward Churchill case.
20. http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display_any/22672/index.php
An Open Letter to Chancellor Richard Herman Regarding Charges of Anti-Semitism and Issues of Freedom of the Press at the Daily Illini
By David Green, Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, December 17, 2004
Zionist student columnists express openly racist views against Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims; Chancellor responds by commenting on anti-Semitism.
21. http://www.counterpunch.org/green03192005.html
The Holocaust Industry Comes to the University of Illinois
By David Green, Counterpunch, March 19, 2005
Israeli Holocaust historian uses academic platform to promote hysteria against what he sees as “Hitlerism” in the Arab and Muslim worlds.
David Green (davegreen48 (at) yahoo.com) is an employee of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is a member of AWARE, the local Anti-war Anti-racism Effort (www.anti-war.net), and is associated with Not In My Name (www.nimn.org), a Chicago-based group comprised mostly of Jews who are opposed to Israel’s occupation of Palestine. |
This work is in the public domain. |
Comments
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gimmeabreak
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
29 Mar 2005
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It may (or may not) be true that zionism uses anti-semitism as a shield, but that does not mean there is not a real and growing anti-semitic movement in the united states, and in academia in particular, and in "progressive" circles most specifically. |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
29 Mar 2005
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To be more precise, yes, there are Zionists who use antisemitism as a shield, but it's wrong to conclude that all Zionists do. Similarly, there are some antisemites who use anti-Zionism as a shield, and it's wrong to conclude that all anti-Zionists are acting from noble principles.
What I find more interesting is that Dave Green has revealed something interesting about his sources. Take a look at link 5. That's Focal Point Press, the website of the infamous antisemite and Holocaust David Irving. But Dave Green apparently sees nothing wrong with that.
@%< |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by just a person
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
29 Mar 2005
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That same article is available at the original source:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05074/471598.stm |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by Wayne D. Pickette
waynedougpick (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
30 Mar 2005
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My Wife, who doesn't want to post her comments in imc web site on her own any more, ask me to post some information instead of her, however, as the anti-Semitic flavor is becoming more and more strong.
My Wife happens to be related by blood to the bride of F. Kafka - Dorah. Kafka died before their families could marry them. She had been together with Kafka last four or more years of his life. The wedding had been announced one or two times, but Kafka had been too sick to withstand the ceremony. She was a distant cousin of my Wife's father. My Wife asked to provide imc readers with this piece of her personal information in order to enforce this already well known statement that Zionism started to flourish after even such enlightened and free thinking European country as France went through Dreyfus affair and all what it (this affair) symbolized. So, Zionism was THE RESULT of anti-Semitism.
AND EXACTLY THE SAME WAY IT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED NOW !!!
The second piece of information, which my Wife asked me to submit, is the fact that when Stalin after the creation of Israel, understanding that it meant the priority of the USA in the world's leadership, started to prosecute and exterminate famous Soviet Jews, who supported this creation, he was doing it by mouths and pens of much less valuable people, who had Jewish nationality and hot desires to make their careers no matter on which bones and aches they were making these careers. David Green and his activities look exactly like the activities of these people. There is nothing new in it !
The main question here is still the question of who and what for is inspiring these David greens on the federal level in the USA?
But , maybe, this question might and should be answered very simply: The relation of Zionism to the decline of all kinds of intellectual freedom in the campuses of American Universities is exactly the same as the relation of events of 9/11/2001 to Iraqi government and/or relation of communists to the ablaze of German Reichstag in 1933.
According to the basic common sense, it seems to be the most obvious explanation, as there are no other logical ties between Zionism and the decline of American freedom of speech and other intellectual freedoms. Like there is no relation between the population of Australian dingoes and the population of American wolves.
So, let us wait and see. |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
30 Mar 2005
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Franz Kafka never married.
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
30 Mar 2005
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The fact that the article is available at the paper's news site makes the question even that more interesting: how did Green land on David Irving's website? Who passed him the link, and why? What does that say about the uncritical way he deals with sources?
@%< |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by Wayne D. Pickette
waynedougpick (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
30 Mar 2005
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Yes, Franz Kafka was never married. See additional explanation in my previous comment. From the beginning I wrote "bride", not "wife". |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gimmeabreak
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
30 Mar 2005
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The direct link off of "Source 5" to a notorious holocaust denier -- David Irving -- is indeed outrageous. What do you say about this, Mr. Green? |
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Could you guys be more coherent? |
by impartial observer
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
30 Mar 2005
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I'm getting frustrated by this train wreck that is passing for commentary on David Green's article. Let's start with Gehrig's comments about the article from the David Irving website. That article was not written by David Irving, it's from a writer at the the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, as "just a person" pointed out. Whether that article was crossposted to the David Irving site is IRRELEVANT. David Green could have found it there by a Google search, as could anyone. The "guilt by association" argument is invalid.
Secondly, I have to give Anna a lot of credit for stating that she is using her husband's account to post. Thank you, Anna. And, Anna clearly stated that she is related to Kafka's fiancee, Dorah, but that Kafka died before they could get married. The correct word, though, is "fiancee," not "bride."
That said, I disagree that Zionism is the result of modern anti-Semitism. Zionism seems to be based on the Bible. Also, while it may be true that Stalin used Jews to help persecute other Jews, I wouldn't lump David Green in with them. You don't seem to know anything about David Green, and making rash conclusions without knowledge is plain stupid. |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gimmeabreak
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
30 Mar 2005
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The double standard is phenomenal. Guilt by association is stock-in-trade not only on this website in general, but in Mr. Green's comments in particular. He throws charges around with abandon, imputing evil motives to virtually anyone with whom he disagrees. My point was not to suggest Mr. Green is in sympathy with David Irving's views, but that polemical approaches to a complex issue lead to contradictions. Beyond that, I do believe it is valid to contemplate the fact that a vicious anti-semite who denies the historical fact of the holocaust is using Norman Finklestein as fuel for his fires. When your ideological opponents speak, you seek out every possible contradiction and are eager to point up any connection with unpalatable views, no matter how tenous that connection. When Mr. Green falls into the same snare, those who point this out are attacked. It's hypocrisy plain and simple. Finally, although it's not really relevant, let me note that I am opposed to the Israeli occupation of the west bank and gaza. My issue is not about Zionism. It's about polemics and hysteria masquerading as reasoned political discourse. If you folks are going to dish it out, you should be prepared to take it. In the end, you're simply thin-skinned. |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
31 Mar 2005
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"Whether that article was crossposted to the David Irving site is IRRELEVANT."
No, it's actually very strongly reinforcing my point, which is that antisemites _do_ use anti-Zionism as a fig leaf. That's so basically and blatantly true, and so much a part of the reality of the antisemitism/anti-Zionism discussion, that even David Green can't put together a set of anti-Zionist URLs without erroneously pointing to David Irving's site.
Yet Green would apparently like you to believe that I'm crying wolf by pointing that out. He would like to pretend the phenomena of antisemitism among anti-Zionists doesn't exist or is unimportant, and that when people like me use the word "antisemitism," it's really only a red herring rather than a genuine complaint.
As Green's citation of David Irving demonstrates better than I could, it's not a red herring, and it's condenscending and rong to say "so he found this article on the site of an internationally known Jew-hater, so what?"
I'm not accusing Green of antisemitism, just a dazzling -- dare I say, nessie-esque -- blindspot when it comes to antisemitism. Sorry to say, antisemitism still exists, and still poisons the Israel/Palestine discussion, like it or not. To pretend otherwise is duplicitous.
@%< |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
31 Mar 2005
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Ask yourself a simple question: if this were a thread about race relations, and someone pointed to an article -- even a mainstream article -- that had been posted on a Klan site, would you be so blase, so quick to sweep it under the rug?
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by impartial observer
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
31 Mar 2005
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To answer Gehrig's question, yes, if a mainstream article were posted to a Klan site and referenced there, that would not bother me. What's important is the content of the article. I'd recommend that the author cite the original source rather than the Klan site, though, if only because others could misconstrue the citation as support for the Klan's views. Personally, though, I'm not as thin-skinned as others and wouldn't draw that conclusion. Hopefully, David Green will take our comments as constructive criticism. I'm glad that you and "gimmeabreak" view David's "transgressions" as carelessness rather than maliciousness. |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gimmeabreak
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
31 Mar 2005
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This is a difficult issue. One the one hand, I see Mr. Green's concern that there are political forces in the US and elsewhere that are invested in a particular outcome in Israel/Palestein.
On the other hand, I am having a very difficult time not viewing his particular focus as something of a red herring. I simply don't buy the idea that, with all the perceived strategic interests of the US (i.e. perceived by the bush administration) in the middle east, that US jewish opinion has beans to do with how the US conducts foreign policy in that part of the world.
I also reject the notion that supporters of Palestinian rights are somehow being prevented from expressing their views. If there is a difficulty in gaining purchase on the Palestinian position, it is because the vast majority of US public opinion supports Israel's stance. Not jewish opinion, but US opinion. Check out the polls.
Rightly or wrongly, then, the preponderance of public opinion in this country is opposed to the Palestinian position. That doesn't make them right. It is a function of complex interactions -- terrorism, fear, christian fundamentalism, and yes, jewish lobbying.
But to single out the jewish community as the predominant source influencing US foreign policy is specious. And the result of pressing that view is to alienate a great deal of people who might be open to other approaches to discussing the issues in the middle east.
Whether anyone likes it or not, there is a connection on the world stage between anti-semitism and anti-zionism. And Mr. Green and those who share his views end up convincing a lot of fair-minded people -- who want to do the right thing -- that there is an anti-jewish agenda inside all of this.
If Mr. Green is upset that his views are somehow marginalized, it might be because they are marginal. |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gimmeabreak
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
31 Mar 2005
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One more thought: I suspect (or presume if you like) that Mr. Green would acknowledge the reality of prejudice against blacks, hispanics, native americans, and other groups. Is it possible that jews, who have a five thousand year history of struggling with disrimination, are the single ethnic or religious group that is immune from hatred?
Anti-semitism is real. That is has become confuted with middle east politics is unfortunate. But it is still real. |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
31 Mar 2005
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I'm more worried about the attempt to pre-emptively declare that "no, don't listen to them when they claim 'antisemitism,' they're just lying Zionists trying to play the race card as a machiavellian way to change the subject." As Green demonstrated unintentionally by linking to David Irving's website, the anti-Zionist movement -- such as it is -- is not as pure as the driven snow on the antisemitism issue, and, no, it's not just a cynical Zionist rhetorical ploy to point out that this is a very morally troublesome thing.
That's not saying that all anti-Zionists are antisemites or motivated by antisemitism, or even most of them -- just that enough of them are to make it disingenuous for folks like Green to say there's no problem there when there clearly is.
@%< |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by get on track
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
31 Mar 2005
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Israel oppresses and mistreats the Palestinians, just as we oppressed and mistreated the Native Americans. The Palestinians fight back with the same tactics used by the US and its Europeans allies in WWII: the deliberate targeting of civilians. ((Not that suicide bombing and carpet bombing are morally equivalent: we killed hundreds of thousands more than Hamas could ever dream of.))
All this irritating yapping about antisemitism, whether David Green is a pawn, who is a right winger or a Holocaust denier and who isn't, who uses what as a shield...this is all just noise, which serves to distract from the fundamental issues.
Let's talk about something substantive, eh? |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
31 Mar 2005
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"All this irritating yapping about antisemitism"
Well, again, you're proving my point for me. Relying on a racist source is a bad thing, but apparently relying on an antisemitic one isn't, as long as you're bashing Israel. "Nazi-shmazi, as long as you hate Israel enough, we won't look too closely." And pointing out this double standard is apparently to be dismissed self-righteously and out-of-hand as "yapping."
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by impartial observer
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
01 Apr 2005
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For some reason, my last comment to Gehrig was deleted. I was arguing that it would not bother me if someone cited a mainstream article on a Klan site, although it's obviously preferable if the article were cited on its original "mainstream" site. Not everyone is as thin-skinned as you portray. What's important is the content of the article, not where it was found. You're making a strawman argument. |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
01 Apr 2005
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Granted, Dave Green's writing is usually so scattershot it's hard to tell what he's on about. But part of his intent in this article is clearly to try to delegitimize the charge of antisemitism in the context of anti-Zionism, to try to make it easier to sweep it under the rug. And that's a bad thing.
Especially considering that, by demonstrating unintentionally just how simple it is to use antisemitic sources, Green ended up doing the opposite. Instead of proving that the whole issue is one cynically manufactured from thin air by Zionists, Green instead showed that the issue isn't a manufactured one at all, but a genuine concern based on genuine fact.
Among anti-Zionists -- and unique among all forms of racial prejudice -- accusations of antisemitism are declared _a priori_ to be false and ignored.
If you don't see the moral problem with that, look closer.
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by Samuel Barber
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
01 Apr 2005
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There is anti semitisim all around the world, especially in the midst of Europe. It is a reality; however, the numbers of racial attacks to our other Semitic brothers, Christian or Muslim Arabs are higher, particularly in the US.
The most progressive and open minded Jewish Americans are blamed as anti-Semite, or holocaust denier including Prof. Finkelstein. This is wrong. The criticism of Israel’s ruthless and unjust occupation is nothing related to anti-semiticisizim. It is used or abused to suppress the Israel’s occupation and its land grab policy. Only dogmatic minds can avoid seeing this reality. It is against many UN resolutions, and the collective punishment of Palestinian civilians, are against to Geneva convention, UN resolutions, International Human Rights agreements, including the basics of Judaism. There is a long report of Amnesty International on killing of Palestinian children. Destroying, bulldozing, houses, towns, supposedly sheltering resistance fighters, against occupation, or sending missiles to crowded city centers killing children and women, are, collective punishment, and we know in the history who used collective punishment against resistance. Ask the villagers of the whole Europe, who were occupied by Italian fascists and Nazi forces.
The Israeli newspapers, like Haaretz and intellectuals like ex Knesset member Uri Avrey, Prof. Neve Gordon, refusenicks, including top hero pilots, top Intelligence officers and many others, can criticize the policy of Israel, but our narrow-minded, extremely dogmatic, right wing ideologues and right wing Zionists, not only avoid the reality, they can do everything to suppress criticism, in fact this is a frontal attack to our first amendment rights.
The Israeli peace activists “Gush Shalom” writes in their web site, “What democracy, one ethnic group, one religion, Hitler tried to achieve this, but only Sharon succeeded.” |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
03 Apr 2005
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"The criticism of Israel’s ruthless and unjust occupation is nothing related to anti-semiticisizim. It is used or abused to suppress the Israel’s occupation and its land grab policy. Only dogmatic minds can avoid seeing this reality."
You'll see that I have said above that there are indeed Zionists who use antisemitism as a shield. That's a sad truth, and it makes this dialogue more complicated than it should be. But their existence doesn't negate the existence of antisemitism in the anti-Zionist movement.
All it does is provide a handy out for those who don't want to examine antisemitism in the anti-Zionist movement, or who want to use it as an excuse to blame that antisemitism on Thuh Zionists.
Your suggestion that antisemitism has "nothing to do with anti-Zionism" is simply demonstrably wrong, as the David Irving URL demonstrates. And no anti-Israel litany makes that morally justifiable.
@%< |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by David Green
davegreen48 (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
03 Apr 2005
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To quote from my article: "Before considering this phenomenon, I would offer a few observations about the larger political context. First, U.S. policies toward the Middle East, including Israel, are driven by American priorities; albeit these priorities have over the past 40 years increasingly coincided with those of Israel, culminating in the current era of Neocon-Likud collaboration. Nevertheless, when there are conflicting interests, such as in the Jonathan Pollard case and the current investigation into AIPAC spying, it becomes clear that the U.S. administration will put its foot down, and that both Israel and American Jewish leaders will comply, if not without disingenuous and face-saving complaint. Second, the power of AIPAC is directed not so much at the policies of the executive branch, which are largely determined by geopolitical and defense industry interests, but at the Congress." |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by Wayne Pickette
waynedougpick (nospam) yahoo.com (verified) |
Current rating: 0
04 Apr 2005
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It is very nice, Mr. Green , that you finally admitted in your last comment that USA DICTATED Israel its policies, or at least seriously pressures it. Like, for example, when last time Likud wanted to elect Natanyachu to replace Sharon, it didn't happen under the pressure of the USA government. (Natanyachu stated many times openly that war in Iraq is no Israeli war, and no Israeli problem). This is, of course, natural political relation between the little country and the big and much more powerful one. However, it still doesn't explain why you are ACCUSING Israel or at least the part of its population in the INTERNAL problems of the USA. How could the country, like Israel, which can't avoid the pressure of the USA in its own INTERNAL problems, because it is obviously weaker than the USA, can be even a bit responsible for the progressive of regressive changes in the INTERNAL policies of the USA ? It has no sense whatsoever, now hasn't it ? Sorry, to say it, but it looks like the traditional attempt to organize anti-Semitic hysteria on an empty place in order to find scapegoats, doesn't it? |
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Re: Zionism vs. Intellectual and Political Freedom on American College Campuses |
by Mike
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
16 Apr 2005
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Your sources are crap, you pulled information that is exactly what you want to hear from websites exactly like this one. Give me a break. Your article amounts to nothing more than leftist fluff. Get serious. |
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