The Swedish tabloid, which has admitted that it has absolutely no evidence to back up its claim, told the world that the Jews of Israel are killing Palestinians for the purpose of harvesting their organs for sale on the world market. It's a disgrace and Ambrose, rightly so, pointed this out, as well as the fact that the tabloid is being sued in New York City by a Jewish lawyer.
In response, one commenter sarcastically proclaimed:
"Any criticism of Israel.. is anti-Semitism. As always."
Criticism?
This is criticism?
No, I do not think so.
This is what is referred to as the Livingstone Formulation. It is the idea that one can deflect even the most vicious anti-Semitic attack by proclaiming, "You cannot criticize Israel without being called anti-Semitic."
Criticism, if it is criticism, objects to specific policies and explains why those policies are mistaken and offers suggestions on how to correct those mistakes. That is criticism. Repeating centuries old anti-Semitic themes about how Jews love to kill innocent non-Jews is not "criticism." It is vilification. It is anti-Semitism. It is the spreading of hatred.
It should be noted, however, that this comment received only one uprate, but eleven downrates. It should be further noted, unfortunately, that all, or virtually all, of those downrates came from Jews.
They are:
- Paul in Berkeley, arielle, Karmafish, Red Sox, zemblan, Shane Hensinger, BFSkinner, aggregatescience, volleyboy1, The YENTA Of The Opera, sorenScostanza
Why do we get no support?
The thrust of the comments, moreover, opposed the lawsuit. I find it highly unusual that when a newspaper publishes an article screaming that Jews kill to steal organs that the "liberals" in Daily Kos I-P expend most of their pixels on how stupid and wrong it is for a Jewish lawyer to fight back against this insidious and hateful charge against the Jewish people.
And, yet, they still demand Jewish support and the support of friends of Israel.
It's ridiculous.
Many of them simply do not understand the difference between criticism and vilification.
And I am not the least little bit sure that they care.
Posted by Karmafish
I think someone ought to point out that most non-Jewish liberals, at least in Congress, support Israel. Like liberal lion Ted Kennedy, god rest his soul in peace. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251145117814&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull This would make a great diary, as Krissy pointed out. Also, it could open the eyes of other Kos users who may stray from I/P discussions, and see the right side. Ted Kennedy, indeed was another "imperial colonial apartheid ZioNazi."
ReplyDeleteBut this is very trouble. I'm an Indian-American liberal Democrat, who is amazing at how Israel's opponents oppose the only free country in the ME. And it is indeed extremely alarming that Jews are the only Israel supporters on Kos, it seems. They're leading the "progressive" movement down a dangerous road, and soon, "progressive" will be a word so dirty it makes "liberal" look cleaner than Zac Efron. Their blindness to Islamic extremism or apologies for it simply show nothing but their extreme hatred for the West, and America. I think this is part rooted in this fringe's historical love of Communism. They talk ethnic cleansing. But what about my family's cleansing from their native town, Aizawl simply because they are Hindu, like millions of others from the area?
Kumar,
ReplyDeleteYou really hit at the point of what I am trying to do. I find it difficult to be a progressive Democrat knowing that something I care deeply about, Israel, could be in danger if this particular progressive policy is ever followed. Furthermore, it is a wedge issue that Republicans can use to siphon off Jewish support for Democrats. A lot of people have talked about Ted Kennedy and his support for Israel. Look at the 1980 Democratic primary in New York between Kennedy and Kos idol Jimmy Carter, Carter actually lost the primary mostly because of his anti-Israel views. My Jewish friends and relatives who I fought with about Obama are already telling me "I told you so." This could be bad for the Democratic Party.
Regards,
DKW
Kumar, thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteYou raise a good point. The fact is, the partition of India created something like 10X the number of refugees than did the partition of Palestine, yet no one seems to care about that.
I do not know much about the refugee situation among Hindus and Muslims due to the partition of India, but I am guessing that both sides incorporated their people into their societies. Unfortunately, this did not happen with the Palestinian people.
In any case, we have a dilemma on our hands. I'm a liberal Democrat, but there is unquestionably an element within the grassroots / netroots of the Democratic party that absolutely loaths Israel. My concern is that they will gain influence and that is why I find it troublesome that regular liberal Dems, those who do not hate the Jewish state, refuse to confront those who do.
What's even more disturbing is that if any one of us raise the issue, we get dismissed or demeaned.
I'm not worried about Pres Obama and Israel and I will continue not to worry as long as Rahm Emmanuel is COS. He'd quit, pick up a rifle and fight for Israel himself if he thought it was in danger.
ReplyDeleteThat's why you see so many "liberals" catigate Rahm all over the blogs. Everything that Pres Obama is doing that is against the "liberal" talking points is Rahm's fault (according to them).
He drives them crazy and I, for one, am very amused by that.
Oh well, I'm probably going to get banned for wishing that the Lockerbie bomber would get killed.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good fight, folks.
funny, I HRed a comment that Vick deserved to die and 2 people uprated it. AB, I would HR a comment advocating the death of anyone.
ReplyDeleteIf we had the location of Bid Laden, Taliban leaders, etc., I'd advocate we drop a bomb on them. Would you HR that comment?
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm concerned, Al-Megrahi is a terrorist on the loose again.
but ambrose, it isn't "terrorism," "terrorism" is a racist word to oppress Islam!! He was resisting American capitalist colonial imperialism!
ReplyDeleteIt's a fair point, but the difference here is that he was captured, given due process and then released. Plus, he is basically dead already.
ReplyDeleteKumar....thanks for some fresh perspective. You really hit the nail on the head. There was a time I considered myself a progressive but this new progressive type is something I don't recognize at all most of the time. I often speak of the red-brown alliance that has invaded segments of the left. That's why when I see a talking point that could easily be spoken by a fucking fascist coming out of an alleged progressive or Democrat mouth, I point it out and the hell with the HR's. You wanna be a good guy? Don't walk the facsist path and don't even give them any succour intentionally or otherwise.
ReplyDeletedoodad's right.
ReplyDeleteI was (and am) one of those lefty-liberal socialist troop-hating, Pelosi-lovers so reviled by the right-wing during the Bush years.
But now there are swastikas intertwined with Stars of David at peace rallies.
I must have marched, I don't know, 10 times against the Iraq war... not no more.
Not when I have to confront swastikas.
"Liberals" holding up swastikas at peace rallies.
It's enough to make one wretch.
Karma...first let me express my sadness at you having to face that kind of fucking bullshit. That ANY part of the left EVER allows that to happen is beyond the pale. I can remember a time when REAL leftists woulda torn that stuff up on sight and chased the mo-fo's outta dodgecity. This is a stain that the left will be tarred with for many years. The Democratic party needs a purge of these clowns.
ReplyDeleteHey doodad,
ReplyDeleteY'know, in truth, it's been a weird couple of years for me personally... in the political sense. I think that I'm sensitive to this kind of thing because I never really experienced it before.
I mean, I grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in Connecticut and didn't see much in the way of anti-Semitism and I didn't worry much about Israel. I just thought of myself as a Jewish-American in more or less the same way that I imagine any ethnic American sees themselves, as an American first but with the ethnicity having to do with family traditions, food, and things like that.
But I saw damn little ethnic hatred. I had a couple of moments growing up, but nothing that fazed me.
It's only been the last few years where I've been seeing this really atrocious stuff and on-line, fuggedaboutit. It's been my on-line experience that really opened my eyes to the loathing toward Israel that is prevalent on the left.
And I think what most of 'em don't get is that hatred towards Israel is hatred towards Jews.
They don't get that and they always maintain that it's not true, but I know that they're wrong. How could it be otherwise? Almost half the world's Jews live in Israel and they represent 80% of the population of that country.
So, yeah, when you hate on Israel, you're hating on Jews.
There's simply no two ways about it and we need to stop pretending otherwise.
And that's why criticism is welcome, while vilification is not.
It simply is not and the sooner the grassroots of the party figures that out, the sooner they'll be able to staunch what I expect to be a slow bleed from the party of Jewish support in the years to come.
We shall see.