Neturei Karta members demonstrate in favor of Jew-hating Hungarian Jobbik party, January 28, 2014
I don’t argue anymore about whether extreme anti-Zionism is other than a form of Jew-hatred. It’s evident from the double standards, the imagery used, and the very special place it holds in the hearts of the self-righteous who enjoy feeling sorry for the dead Jews of the 1940s while supporting those who want to murder the still-living ones of today.
I also don’t take seriously those who say that Jews can’t be professional Jew-haters. This is refuted by a list of counterexamples as long as my arm, from Max Blumenthal to Philip Weiss. They will all say that they are only ‘critical of Israel’s policies’, but if you believe this then you probably also believe that Iran’s nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes.
If more examples of Jewish Jew-hatred are needed, there is a perfect one in our friends from Neturei Karta. They always insist that they are just anti-Zionist, from the purest of religious motives, but their actions show that this is not the case.
Last week, Gábor Vona of the Hungarian Jobbik party spoke at a rally in London in advance of Hungarian elections (Hungarians living abroad who have a permanent address in Hungary can vote). And among his supporters were members of Neturei Karta (who, incidentally, were seriously annoyed that the BBC at first reported that they were demonstrating against Jobbik)! There is no doubt that Jobbik is anti-Jewish in the traditional, ugly European sense. Of course they are also anti-Zionist, but the latter is clearly derivative from the former. It is not possible to be pro-Jobbik without being anti-Jewish.
Worlds away from Neturei Karta in almost every respect we have 58 affluent, progressive Jews from New York. They would never demonstrate on behalf of Jobbik, but they have no trouble bashing New York’s new, very liberal, Mayor Bill De Blasio for — imagine the chutzpah — speaking at an AIPAC event.
What seems to have particularly annoyed them was De Blasio’s statement that his door was open to AIPAC. They responded that
…the needs and concerns of many of your constituents–U.S. Jews like us among them–are not aligned with those of AIPAC, and that no, your job is not to do AIPAC’s bidding when they call you to do so. AIPAC speaks for Israel’s hard-line government and its right-wing supporters, and for them alone; it does not speak for us.
I find this very revealing. AIPAC is a bête noir to Israel-haters like Weiss and Blumenthal, because it is a pro-Israel lobbying organization, and they are anti-Israel. In addition, as Jew haters, they naturally see AIPAC as a conspiracy, because Jewish conspiracies are part of traditional Jew-hatred.
But there is nothing conspiratorial about it — it works to influence the US government in support of the interests of Israel, just like the Saudi Arabian lobby, or the China lobby, or the Micronesian lobby (although, unlike these, it is supported by American citizens and not paid by the states it lobbies for).
AIPAC does not — or tries not to — have a particular ideological tilt. It promotes the positions of Israel’s government, whether it is the labor government of Rabin or Barak, or the Likud government of Netanyahu. It is neither “hard-line” nor “right-wing” as the 58 signatories on the De Blasio letter imply (would that it were).
They happen to dislike Israel’s present government, but recent polls show that support for Netanyahu’s party among Israeli voters, who live there and have to deal with the consequences of their government’s behavior, is stronger than ever.
Earth to 58 ‘progressive’ Jews: it’s called ‘democracy’. You are for that, no?
The truth is that the 58 object to AIPAC because they object to an independent sovereign Jewish state, which is what AIPAC is for. Interestingly, that is also what Neturei Karta is opposed to.
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