{Also published at the Elder of Ziyon and Jews Down Under.}
Every once in awhile an honest anti-Semite drops by to say hello at Israel Thrives. The image to your left is the avatar of one Noor al Haqiqa.
Somehow or other Noor came across a piece that I wrote a little over two years ago entitled, Ryan Bellerose and the Indigenous Question and, lo, these 25 months later she decides to respond in the comments.
Normally it is not a great idea to "punch down" as news media people say, but in this case I feel compelled.
Our friend writes:
Everyone is all worried about this yidiot's this and that and no one speaks of the total idiocy of the concept that the Jews are comparable to Native Americans.Noor runs a peculiar little radically racist blog called Snippets And Snappits, which is a very cute name for a place wherein she encourages violence against Jews as a matter of "social justice."
Wanna buy into the victim myth much? This kid bought that cruddy line hook, line and sinker. He has been talmudicized, poor boy.
Anyone who knows the true story of the creation of Israel and the reason for its existence, recognizes a flaw in the fact that this discussion is even taking place.
It is a diversion from the truth of the matter. The Jews of Israel and their supporters around the world are committing genocide and being allowed to get away with it. THAT is the crux of the matter, not some silly young deluded athlete of limited education and abilities who thinks he "understands" .... someone twanged his "fellow victim" sensibilities and set him loose... meanwhile he should learn REAL history, not what he might have been told in school.
Noor, very clearly, is a hard-line, anti-Jewish racist.
For example, this is an image found on the front page of her blog:
I absolutely love out-and-out racists like Noor because they are honest and, therefore, much easier to deal with than the insidious progressive-left variety who pretend to be anti-racist.
And then there is this:
So, Noor would have the world believe that the Jews, via the State of Israel, are controlling the US government. This is classic stuff, the kind of thing that the Nazis believed.
It is the sprinkling of anti-Semitic magical-fairy-confetti that genocidal dreams are conjured from.
Just as the Nazis, in their malevolent hallucinations, believed that the tiny percentage of Jews in Germany (a grand total of 1 percent of the total population) were behind the scenes, nefariously pulling the strings so that Germany lost World War I - the Stab in the Back theory - so Noor seems to believe that the Jewish State of Israel is behind the scenes, nefariously pulling the strings of Washington, D.C. to the detriment of everyone but those subhuman Jews.
In any case, let's go through Noor's comment above bit-by-bit and see what we can see.
The comment is divided into four unlovely little paragraphs.
In the first she refers to Ryan Bellerose as a "yidiot." I have honestly never come across that usage before. It obviously implies "Jewish idiot." The general nastiness of anti-Semitic anti-Zionists is often hard to fathom. In this case, of course, Bellerose is neither Jewish nor an idiot, but "yidiot" is cute. It conveys racial hatred in a snippity-snappity kind of way.
It makes genocidal hatred toward the Jewish people, and disparagement of our friends, fun!
As for the Jewish people being comparable to Native-Americans, it just means that both are the indigenous people in their respective parts of the world. Just as Bellerose and the Metis stand up for the rights of the indigenous in Canada, so Jewish people stand up for our own indigenous rights in the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people, the Land of Israel.
In the second paragraph she comforts herself with Holocaust denial through the notion of a Jewish "victim myth."
Two-thousand years of persecutions and expulsions and pogroms and dhimmi status in Arab lands and the Inquisition and the Holocaust and the constant Arab-Muslim hostility and violence and war against the Jews of the Middle East, yet to this compassionate genius it's all just a myth.
The slaughter of much of my own family by the Nazis during Operation Barbarossa in the town of Medzhybizh, western Ukraine, in the summer and fall of 1942, was apparently also a myth. As Hitler's troops were marching on the Soviet Union, the Jews of Medzhybizh were crowded into hastily fashioned ghettos, forced to road building, and then once the road building was done they were made to dig trenches, remove themselves into those trenches, and then they were shot-dead by Nazi soldiers.
Fortunately, my grandparents on my father's side had the foresight to get the hell out of there in-between the wars, but according to those like Noor al Haqiqa my family history was nothing but a myth. Jewish history, in other words, is nothing but a myth, a shadow, conjured by nefarious Jews in order to subjugate the pastoral Arabs who, we are told, want nothing more than to tend their Sacred Olive Groves in peace... even as they send their children out into the streets of Israel with their knives.
In her vague third paragraph she refers to "the true story of the creation of Israel" without giving us the slightest indication of what she means by that, although I feel reasonable certain that whatever it is, it is both false and malicious.
Finally, in her fourth and final paragraph she brings it all home by accusing the Jewish people of committing genocide.
Holocaust inversion.
According to our friend Noor, the Holocaust is a myth, but the Jews are committing an actual genocide against the perfectly innocent Arab population.
We tend to get caught up in the fights against BDS or Obama's strategically moronic empowerment of American and Jewish enemies, such as Iran, or the ongoing construction of hatred toward Jews by the Palestinian-Arab leadership, but every now and again it is not a bad idea to put a spot-light on classic anti-Jewish race hate.
It used to be that Jewish westerners primarily associated violent anti-Semitism with people who tended to have names more like Gunter.
Today anti-Semitism, in its most obvious and forthright forms, tend to come from people with names more like Noor al Haqiqa.
Update:
Over at the EOZ Bob Knot has shown that the blogger who goes under the moniker "Noor al Haqiqa" is actually a Canadian by the name of Barbara Lee.
Or, who knows?, maybe her real name is Haqiqa and she sometimes blogs under Lee.
In any case, she is apparently a Canadian retiree who is spending her "golden years" spitting hatred at Jews.
Also, as an aside, her avatar is an image of Eva Green from the 2005 film Kingdom of Heaven, directed by Ridley Scott of Alien fame.
Now I have to rent that film!
I checked that sight. There's something about the Pacific northwest. Fertile soil for all kinds of nuts.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yet, somehow I am supposed to believe that San Francisco is not part of the Pacific Northwest?
Delete;O)
Home of fresh fruits & vegetables. ;0)
DeleteP.S. Thanks for the Beatles selection.
DeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteAs a Jewish westerner - albeit one living in Britain - I can reliably inform you that most vicious anti-Semites have incredibly ordinary English-style names.
As for Noor/Barbara, her stuff is the usual boilerplate. Horrible, but altogether unremarkable. There's so much of it about, if she really wants to stand out, she'll have to try harder. :(
PS, I wonder if she knows that Eva Green is half Jewish.
I know you don't like social media ( and I choose not to be on any) but anyone with an even vaguely Jewish sounding name has to clear tonnes of this stuff off their pages every morning.
Sometimes they take screenshots and show people what goes on. It also happens to completely non-Jewish people if they dare to make any comment that goes against the "proper" beliefs.
Mind you, you can hear people spouting this sort of stuff any day on the dear old BBC. And going completely unchallenged.
Some links:
DeleteFirst, via Mick Hartley's place, a typically loathsome interview with Roger Waters in the Indie.
http://mickhartley.typepad.com/blog/2016/02/a-few-questions-.html
Piece from young Jewish man, Daniel Sugarman:
https://medium.com/@Daniel_Sugarman/why-labour-has-lost-me-and-so-many-in-my-community-929c5b90f731#.57keg8bj4
Hope that's right. The scope for my getting something wrong in that link is really quite great, I think.
This is a really important piece from Fathom:
http://fathomjournal.org/the-left-and-the-jews-time-for-a-rethink/
And finally:
In case you don't know it, this is a really good site. It's full of essays, pdfs, etc. Covers a huge amount of ground.
http://www.paulbogdanor.com/antisemitism.html
Sorry for the overload!
Kate,
Delete"I wonder if she knows that Eva Green is half Jewish."
Hysterical. I had no idea, myself, but that's just perfect.
I often wonder about the sincerety of a person such as this and I find myself suspecting that she, and those like her, are probably very sincere.
Then, you might think, "Well, this person is clearly not very bright." But she is bright.
So, as ever, the question is, what explains the impulse?
On a political level, I think that we have a pretty clear idea what drives anti-Semitism. On the personal level it still baffles me a bit. There is something emotionally satisfying, I think, about indulging in self-righteous indignation.
I certainly have done it enough to know.
But why do it against one of the most beleaguered people in world history in the name of human rights, no less?
k,
DeleteThanks for reminding me of Paul Bogdanor's site. It's been some years and I totally forgot about it. Always lots of material, and I see even more than there used to be. Have you read the book of essays he put out with Edward Alexander "The Jewish Divide Over Israel?" It's one of the first books on the subject I read. It goes back to when I first got serious about this stuff.
Jeff,
DeleteNo, I haven't read that.
Thanks very much for mentioning it. I will definitely look it up.
Jeff,
DeleteHave read the reviews and am now ordering it. Looks completely fascinating.
Feel rather daft that I didn't know of it.
So thank you very much for pointing me in its direction.
Kate. :)
I ordered a copy, as well.
DeleteShe probably makes lampshades out of human skin in her spare time; taught by her daddy or other close Nazi relatives.
ReplyDeleteUnder Education she says: Unedderkated. I take this to mean she is too stupid to correctly spell uneducated. Bright? I think not. Any moron can repost racist swill, truther assholism,and White Supremacist garbage. All one needs is broadband. She has over a million hits on her site; proof of the truth behind the sci-fi story "The Marching Morons."
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons
"I take this to mean she is too stupid to correctly spell uneducated."
DeleteOr maybe a deliberate misspelling to show hostility toward education.
Yes, that's likely Randall. The uneducated often like to say they were educated in the "school of hard knocks," and stuff like that I have noticed on Facebook and elsewhere. Either way she is some kind of pathetic flake.
DeleteJoseph,
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of truth in that.
Anyone who needs to spend so much time and effort in hating - and trying to spread hatred - is, by definition, missing something healthy in their psychological makeup.
It is really such a waste of a life.
People like that are to be pitied, I think.
Which brings Facebook to mind. I was just there, and it's funny (in a bad way) that many of the people I know are either staunch conservatives or in love with Bernie. All of them believe that they are the righteous and their opponents are the wicked. It's a really sick atmosphere. The last one I looked at was from an old friend from high school who said that anyone who disagreed with the Daily Kos article he was posting is "fact challenged." That expression alone is a"tell." "Fact challenged" is PC Left for stupid, ignorant moron. But to him, it's important to use "fact challenged," because that way no one's feelings are hurt. (That's a joke, but one worth thinking about.)
DeleteLanguage is all we have.
I skimmed through that little article but found it honesty challenged in the service of the impartiality challenged.
Many of my friends have a visceral dislike of conservatives and Republicans and savor a special hatred for people like W., Cheney, Palin, and their friends. I don't think that they realize how petty and small they sound when they start mocking these people. I was having dinner with a friend of mine the other night when he started complaining about "red state" America, about their bigotry, misogyny, and homophobia. He painted these people with the broadest and ugliest brush possible. When I started shaking my head he said, "What?" And I told him that I was surprised at the pure depth of his hatred for so many of his fellow Americans.
DeleteMike, I have had the same experiences and it always amazed me since my Liberal upbringing always saw tolerance as a virtue. One wonders what pathologies are at work here.
DeleteThis is quite interesting:
Deletehttps://medium.com/@SeanBlanda/the-other-side-is-not-dumb-2670c1294063#.ejvi8dfyg
Hope link works.
While we're at it, I'm still wondering why, in the Democratic race for the nomination, only one actual Democrat is running. (Rhetorical)
DeleteAnother article. This time from the London Telegraph. It is interesting to see an article like this. The Telegraph has been known to contain some fairly egregious reporting on I/P.
ReplyDeleteAlso, though not possible to know the breakdown of the people who participated, they ran an onsite poll as to whether people thought the media was biased against Israel. 87% agreed that it was.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/12170227/The-media-is-twisting-the-knife-into-Israel-over-the-lone-wolf-intifada.html
Some of the comments BTL, however, involve the usual fanfare of "how can it be theirs when it's just a Bible story that the land was given to them. That's not a good reason for coveting Palestinian land," or words to that effect. I find that willingness to write the Jews out of our own history blood curdling.
DeleteWhat's really being said is that the Arab Nation is the rightful heir to ancestral Jewish lands, and there are people who will bend over backwards to convince themselves and an ignorant public.
Another disgusting thing I found on Facebook last night was that a "liberal" acquaintance of mine from New Jersey was recycling an article supporting the now debunked depro provera hoax. Dutifully some of his "liberal" friends lined up the comments about how Israel (and America) are racist.
Well, except for them. They are the wonderful "liberals" who point fingers at people.
Sorry, but this is worth reading, too:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/188828/whos-behind-italys-rising-anti-semitism
k,
DeleteAlso definitely worth reading is the next one down, "Intersectionality's Newest Victims: Women"
Jeff,
DeleteThat's a really, really good piece. Thanks for the link.
I think more and more people are beginning to call out the "regressives". Not enough, obviously - but it is happening.
From the article: "It's about power." Yes. That is, when all is said and done, what it seems to be about. There is no genuine belief in their need to support people's rights. Anyone will be tossed aside - and vilified - if it suits them.
No real solidarity. No real compassion. No real concern for fairness. It has become a movement that is disgracing itself. Morally, and intellectually.
There is, I think, a growing coalition of people - from left and right - who are finding some common ground in wanting to debate ideas rather than identity, discuss things openly and honestly, and who refuse to be cowed by these ridiculous and desperately dishonourable games. And the inevitable smearing that accompanies them.
You probably know these people, but in case they might be new to you : Gad Saad, Dave Rubin, Lalo Dagach, Maajid Nawaz etc. Some are atheists, some won't be. I, personally, do not believe one has to be an atheist to be a secular, liberal - in the proper sense of the word - and welcome anyone who wishes to be open to ideas, open to the idea that people who hold different positions on some issues may well be in entirely good faith, and not be in the least evil or stupid or racist etc.
I would much rather listen to people who I might disagree with but who can explain and back up their arguments. I am still free to disagree. But, also, I might well learn something and have to think more. Even change.
I have no political home. No party I can vote for. And no particular political label. The closest is probably a kind of classic liberal - but with a European style belief in a supportive state for people who are vulnerable and in need. Those are quite difficult things to mix. I see that.
I believe that people are individuals rather than representatives of groups. That people are responsible for their actions. And that some people are not less responsible for their actions than others simply because they are deemed to belong to a particular designated victim group. None of this, I think, should be considered appalling. But it is.
Nick Cohen wrote a blog for the Spectator the other day, where he said (paraphrasing) that it has now become pointless for people on the Left to keep claiming that they are the true gatekeepers of "the Left". It has become nothing more than games of semantics. Words, nothing more. As he said, the Left *is* what the Left *does* and if we look, certainly in the UK, the "Left" is doing things that are at odds with everything they were supposed to stand for. So, they *are* now what "the Left" is. That doesn't mean there are not good people with leftwing principles, but they are now outside of the actual political and parliamentary movement that calls itself the Left. At this point, in Britain, you have to fight it from outside it or else you are endorsing it. And that contaminates you.
As for the juggernaut of endless lunacy and deceit that identity politics /intersectionality etc are, we can only watch it devour itself and all who sail in it.
From the outside. With horror, and - if it ever looks like it is actually on its deathbed - with enormous relief.
Sadly, I believe there is a very long way to go.
And it can only get worse.
Until then, I seek out the people -regardless of which side of the political aisle they are on - who are honest, intelligent, open, and curious about ideas. And open to truth over narrative, and facts over myths.
I make up my mind issue by issue. And if that makes me stupid, evil, racist - or whatever else- in some people's terms, they will have to deal with their own limitations. And their own prejudices.