Wednesday, December 11, 2019

A note to an old college friend

Michael Lumish

So, you support Sanders.

Do you understand that Sanders is not considered a friend of either the Jewish people or the state of Israel... by, y'know, most Jews. I am very familiar with the ongoing discussion among Jews who care about the Jewish people and Sanders is not well-liked.

He is hostile toward Israel and even brought antisemitic anti-Zionist, Linda Sarsour, into his campaign as a representative.

As for "far right talking points" I am liberal.

I marched against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I support Gay rights and a woman's right to choose an abortion.

I support a tax code that favors the middle-class and the poor.

You write:

<"There's been mostly white people at every Bernie rally I've ever been to.">

What's your point? Of course, there has mainly been "white" people at Bernie rallies. This does not negate the fact of anti-white racism as a central feature of progressive-left politics.

This is not a "right-wing" perspective.

It is simply a matter of acknowledging the obvious.

You write:

<"For hardcore Zionists it seems that anyone critical of the Israeli government's policies and actions towards the Palestinians is, BOOM, automatically, an anti-Semite...">

How do you distinguish a "hardcore Zionist" from a Jew who supports Jewish self-determination and self-defense on historically Jewish land?

Do you think that Jews who support the well-being of our brothers and sisters in Israel are "hardcore Zionists"?

Is any Japanese person who believes in Japanese self-determination and self-defense on Japanese land a "hardcore Japanese nationalist"?

How about the French?

From there you launch into a diatribe that is something akin to the "blood libel" wherein you discuss how brutal and murderous "Zionists" are.

<"1,492 civilians brutally killed during protective edge or the teams of Israeli snipers shooting thousands of unarmed protesters at the wall in Gaza, killing hundreds including paramedics and journalists.">

You know nothing of the conflict.

I remember you as a good guy, but you know zero about the Long Arab War Against the Jews in the Middle East and seem to think that Israeli Jews are something akin to evil.

This is, by the way, a very sort-of nineteenth-century imperial outlook which sees "people of color" as merely innocent victims who have no agency in the world.

This is a perfect example of how "progressives" -- who are not liberal, btw -- treat those of non-European descent as children.

I find it racist, as hell, frankly.

The fact of the matter, of course, is that the Jews of the Middle East lived under the boot of Arab and Muslim imperial rule for thirteen long centuries.

We were not allowed to ride horses, only donkeys.

We were not allowed to marry Muslim women or build housing in higher geographical locations than Muslims.

Cursing "the prophet" meant death.

In some places, we were not even allowed to go out in the rain lest our filth washed into the streets and contaminated our neighbors.

And we had to pay protection money, the jizya, in order to live in our own communities.

Furthermore, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are not "critical" of Israeli policies. They are antisemitic anti-Zionists who want Israel eliminated as the national homeland of the Jewish people. They are not working for social justice but against it.

These people are not liberals. They are something much more akin to fascists and they are all very protective of political Islam which targets Jews for death.

I know that you mean well, and I do not mean to give you a hard time, but I do not think that you are very well educated on this subject.

44 comments:

  1. "1,492 civilians brutally killed during protective edge ..."

    You could also point him to the manifest of those 1,492 "civilians" comparing each individual to lists of known terrorist affiliates. I believe that was produced by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. One thing about that list is that absent a picture in the uniform of a particular group, no individual was classified as a terrorist, so there are no grounds to challenge the numbers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. People who believe this blood libel crap are thoughtless trendies who don't want to do their homework. They are doing the economical thing - go along to get along. We must create prohibitive costs they won't be so ready to pay to believe such unscrupulous nonsense put out by authoritarian serial human rights abusers such as Hamas.

      Delete
  2. Singers Lily Allen, Paloma Faith and Jade Thirlwall (right),
    Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams, comedian John Bishop and even Hollywood star Danny DeVito have also urged Britain to make Mr Corbyn the next PM

    Make the UK Jew hating again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's curious, this appeal of authoritarians to people who claim to be the most progressive. How do we explain this? Is it an infantile tantrum against the well-off? I'm sure the list you've supplied is of people who don't exactly have trouble paying the bills. So there seems a bit of hypocrisy and sanctimony. Oh boy, what a yummy combo, eh?
      Want to cure the world's problems? Just go to any acting school. They'll tell you everything you'll need to know in order to save "the planet."

      Delete
    2. It appears British Jews voted strategically against Labour which has had it's poorest showing since 1935 and should mean the end of Corbyn. Would American Jews would do the same against the antisemitic Dems.

      Delete
    3. The problem with this comparison is that these leftist Dems are pitted against a controversial Trump. This is not the year to ask for a change in voting patterns.

      If it were any other president doing the things that Trump did, it would have been applauded by American Jews. That says that Trump will never get the credit for it--and his personality is the reason. So the choice is not one many of us can stomach--either vote for the "businessman" or for a party with SOME antisemites (not ALL the Dems are antisemitic, but we have to keep our eye on those who are). Let's revisit this topic about changing voting patterns when this time passes and people nominate those we can fully support.

      Delete
  3. I do not really understand how Sanders can make a statement condemning antisemitism and have antisemites (Sarsour et al) in his campaign. Of course, if he were a Republican, he would be pressured to fire them.

    But of course he is a leftist and can get away with it...

    As usual, you hit the target. Unfortunately, the cycle continues. And it didn't start in 2016; it started in 2008 (and the warnings may have come as early as 1992). When we started being unwilling to assume that the other side might have a perfectly good point of view, we got Obama and then Trump. I'm hoping that we only have to put up with four more years of the garbage and then we can clean up the mess.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stephen Miller has not been fired.

      Delete
    2. Hitler's family's doctor was Jewish, so what? And I doubt you know Katie Waldman's ethnicity because she hasn't publicly disclosed it. In any event, defending Stephen Miller's obvious white nationalism tells me all I need to know.

      Delete
    3. Hey, who hijacked my comment? I don't think I said anything about Stephen Miller. Watch where you reply.

      Delete
    4. You said Democrats let racists get away with things that Republicans do not. I said Republicans do let racists get away with it. Either you want Sarsour and Miller both gone or neither fired. You can't choose one and not the other. I think they should both be shown the door, how about you?

      Delete
    5. Yes, I would hope that the racists and antisemites in both parties should be "shown the door." I did not realize that you were referring to someone specific in the Republican party.

      But I think that Sanders cannot have it both ways. He can't claim to be against antisemitism and have antisemites in his campaign.

      I hope this clarifies my position.

      Delete
    6. Joseph, since you brought up Stephen Miller, could you provide any evidence of him being a white nationalist?
      His wife, Katie Waldman, is multiracial.

      Delete
    7. He is an arch conservative, which makes him a white supremacist to some, just as Trump allegedly is, because they hate them. It takes their projection to make the leap. Sarsour, on the other hand, has expressly shown her bigotry, in words and deeds. Miller may not like some people, but Sarsour hates. Haters of Miller cannot distinguish and that's sad.

      Delete
    8. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    9. Glick's op-ed provides better context and illustrates the hatred at work.

      https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/why-american-jews-slander-president-trump/

      This explains why the knee-jerk response is "Stephen Miller." Then there's no need to address the actual threat to Jews and the discrimination they experience at the hands of non-white supremacist causes. Who knows what Miller actually is (unlike Sarsour). He's a diversion.

      Delete
    10. Do you follow the actual news or only Faux news? https://www.splcenter.org/stephen-miller-breitbart-emails
      Vdare, in case you didn't know, is a virulently anti-semitic website.

      Delete
    11. OK, he's against massive third world and Muslim immigration (you have to be out of your mind to be Jewish and in favor of Muslim immigration, just look at Europe). Some white nationalist supposedly likes him (David Duke likes Ilhan Omar, so what). I don't see anything antisemitic. Do you really think third worlders and Muslims are your allies?

      Delete
    12. If you are simply going to deny the obvious there is nothing more to say. Go enjoy vdare.

      Delete
    13. Joseph,
      You think that the SPLC is a news organization? Hilarious! It bills itself as some sort of watch dog group, but in reality it is a left wing activist organization with boatloads of money and plenty of bias and slant in its analyses. Yet you proudly link to it. It seems that it is you who don't know the difference between fake and real news. Perhaps it's time for you to stop lecturing. SPLC and the hard Left generally do the body politic no favors by exaggerating a White Supremacist threat to the country. The US is not about to go white supremacist - not even close. There is, however, a problem with Sarsour, AOC, Tlaib, and the little Somalian thing sucking the life out of a once great political party and replacing it with something rather unsavory. Communist shitheads.

      Delete
    14. Read Miller's emails. That they were released to SPLC is not the point, the emails are.


      Delete
    15. Read Stephen Miller's emails? Yeah, right. I'll make it my #1 priority. lol

      Delete
    16. I briefly looked at your link, there is a lot to wade through there, could you post a couple of his most incriminating emails here so we can judge for ourselves?

      Delete
    17. McHugh, Oct. 23, 2015, 6:10 p.m. ET: “This being the worst hurricane ever recorded, what are the chances it wreaks destruction on Mexico and drives a mass migration to the U.S. border?”

      Miller, Oct. 23, 2015, 6:12 p.m. ET: “100 percent. And they will all get TPS. And all the ones here will get TPS too. That needs to be the weekend's BIG story. TPS is everything.”

      McHugh, Oct. 23, 2015, 6:22 p.m. ET: “Wow. Ok. Is there precedent for this?”

      Miller, Oct. 23, 2015, 6:31 p.m. ET: [VDARE link]

      The VDARE story by Steve Sailer, an anti-immigration activist who traffics in discredited race science, focused on instances in which the United States offered refugees temporary protected status. The article was posted the same day Miller shared it with McHugh. Vdare is a disgustingly anti-semitic site. That Miller cites that place tells me all I need to know.


      Delete
    18. So the most damning thing you have as proof is a link to VDARE. Never heard of the site but went there today. Nothing obviously antisemitic at a cursory glance, but they have Mark Levin and Michelle Malkin (she's Philippino and her husband is Jewish) as contributors. There are other contributors with Jewish names. Notorious Richard Spencer has one article. So OK, site hosts some unsavory people, but Stormfront it is not. By that standard YouTube and Facebook are antisemitic cesspools.

      Delete
    19. This is insane. Vdare is a notorious site. To say that it is anything else reveals a stunning lack of knowledge. To keep saying I haven't proven anything is either meant as a joke or is just sophistry. I might just as well say that Abbas is a good friend of the Jews and you can't prove otherwise.

      Delete
    20. Joseph,
      Are you saying that Mark Levin is a notorious antisemite?
      Are you saying the SPLC is not slanted and always above board/objective?
      You began by calling out oldschooltwentysix for allegedly not knowing the difference between real vs. fake news, whereupon you introduced SPLCenter into the conversation, I guess, as some sort of example as a solid source for news. It has been said that generally SPLC regards anyone to its right as a hate group.
      You are again here hijacking a conversation.
      Did you read the Caroline Glick article which was an effort to answer your allegations?
      Is Bernie Sanders a friend to Israel and the Jewish People? Are his fellow travelers?
      Or are you here to accuse anyone to the right of the SPLC of being a white supremacist?

      Delete
    21. To show Miller a bogeyman who linked to an extreme site, use a link to an extreme site. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

      SPLC is the far more dangerous link and organization. Not to mention its egregious finances and claims of workplace racism and harassment that stretch back decades, while some cite to it to point fingers at others. Woke=ignorant!

      https://www.al.com/news/2019/03/claims-of-workplace-racism-harassment-stretch-back-decades-at-southern-poverty-law-center.html

      Delete
    22. Rather than deflect with projections about the importance of Stephen Miller, perhaps better to address the Corbynization of Democrats.

      Delete
  4. Perhaps a referral to "The Case for Israel," book or movie, would have greater practical effect, especially when dealing with ignorance.

    ReplyDelete
  5. There is no such thing as international law anyway, beyond conventions and agreements that countries voluntarily enter into. The whole point of having a sovereign nation is to live by your own laws. Jews are an "internationally" extremely unpopular minority, the last thing we should want is some international body making laws to govern our lives.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:

    “Indeed, the only nation subjected to the so-called
    BDS movement is the nation-state of the Jewish people.

    When only Muslim states were subject to the Trump administration’s travel ban, the Left was outraged.

    Why is there no similar outrage at subjecting
    only the nation-state of the Jewish people to BDS?

    Many of those who most loudly support boycotting Israel demand that we end boycotts of: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and other tyrannical regimes. How can they justify this double standard?”

    SOURCE: Defending Israel (chapter 10, page 153)
    by Alan M. Dershowitz, year 2019, All Points Books,
    ISBN-10: 1250179963 * ISBN-13: 978-1250179968

    BOTTOM LINE: Jews are the only people who are not
    allowed to have their own country, no matter how small.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Peter Tatchell, a supporter of BDS,
    said this in year 2015:


    “While I oppose Israel’s occupation, I find it strange that some people condemn Israel while remaining silent about these other equally or more oppressive occupations.

    Many of Israel’s critics are also silent about neighboring Arab dictatorships.

    And where are the protests and calls for boycotts against the tyrannies of: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Syria and elsewhere?

    Why the double standard?”

    SOURCE: Defending Israel (chapter 10, page 153)
    by Alan M. Dershowitz, year 2019, All Points Books,
    ISBN-10: 1250179963 * ISBN-13: 978-1250179968

    BOTTOM LINE: Jews are the only people who are not
    allowed to have their own country, no matter how small.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just used your line as a response on FB. I hope you don't mind.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Use away Jeff. It's a meme I picked up somewhere, don't know where but it deserves to be spread because it deflates one of the nastiest accusations ever against a man who is Israel's best friend.

    ReplyDelete
  10. David Harris (CEO of American Jewish Committee) said:

    “Moreover, most of the intimidating and bullying acts
    of anti-Semitism on college campuses have come from
    those aligned with the extreme left.”

    SOURCE: New York Times Tilt on Trump
    Anti-Semitism Story Hints at Influence of Repeated
    Poor Judgment
    by Ira Stoll, 2019/12/15
    https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/12/15/new-york-times-tilt-on-trump-antisemitism-story-hints-at-influence-of-repeated-poor-judgment-editor/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Suffice it to say, Vdare and SPLC both suck for different reasons. My guess is there are far more leftist/faux Liberal antisemites than white nationalists AND the leftists have more political power (eg the Squad and all their fanboys and girls.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And I think that's kind of the main point around here. No one dis-acknowledges the history of right wing antisemitism. Of course, anti-jewish prejudice runs through the spectrum. We talk about activists pushing that prejudice into political discourse and policy - antisemitism. And it is being mainstreamed at this point in history by the Left. So-called anti-Zionism is now the gateway drug, and as a doctrine, has been well-developed almost in its entirety by the Left. The radical Right begins with Jew hatred and then attempts to justify it, the Left works it more insidiously claiming itself to be the engine of everyone's liberation and then introducing old antisemitic tropes as the barrier to liberation.

      Delete
    2. Sad it needs to be pointed out. Interested to hear what is being done by Democrats to address the antisemitism of its members, including elected officials, much like Labour in the UK, before insinuations of white supremacy commence against others.

      Delete
  12. Bernie's a millionaire.

    And that makes an even 50 comments. ;0)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Can you believe Blackface Trudeau?

    https://civicrm.unwatch.org/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=1240

    ReplyDelete