By Vic Rosenthal
I went to the ADL’s Finding Our Voice conference in San Francisco on Sunday (see my earlier post). The conference was an attempt to bring together Jewish activists on the Left and Right – at least those who profess to support the continued existence of the State of Israel – to learn about ‘the new’ (i.e., left-wing) antisemitism and how to deal with it.
When does ‘progressive’ criticism of Israeli policy go to far? Certainly if it becomes antisemitic. The ADL, concerned about increasing left-wing antisemitism is sponsoring a day-long conference in San Francisco this Sunday (28 January) to discuss the phenomenon.
The organizers want to get a ‘spectrum of opinion’ from the Jewish community and co-sponsors include the ADL, the AIPAC, Americans for Peace Now and the Jewish Labor Committee. They notably do not include Jewish Voice for Peace or Tikkun. The fact that the conference is being held on the same day as planned antiwar demonstrations — including one in San Francisco — will probably decrease participation of left-wing groups.
FresnoZionism.org will be there.
What we are facing today is nothing new. Jews are being wronged in many ways: in the political, economic, and social arenas; both as an identity as well as individually. The purpose of this is to intimidate us, to silence us so that we will not speak up. In my opinion, the British model is what the United States will experience in the near future, where there will be an increase of anti-Semitism on campuses and in societies, and what is marginally acceptable will become commonly acceptable.
We have seen many intellectual elites bitten with this cancer in Britain and worldwide, such as the revival of the Durban process to delegitimize Israel by 2009…We have seen the impact of the inflow of Saudi money into British campuses. More mosques have been built in the US in recent years, in which most of them Wahabism is taught…It is time for us to think anew as we see the marginally acceptable ideas becoming visibly accepted by the mainstream. [my emphasis] — Malcolm Hoenlein, at the Herzliya Conference
There can be no doubt that there is a deliberate plan to delegitimize Israel in part by weakening her natural suppporters, the Jews. The latent power of the antisemitic virus is so great in the West that it doesn’t take much to stimulate its flowering, and a lot of money is flowing from the twin poles of radical Islamism, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The themes adumbrated in the ‘academic’ work of Mearsheimer and Walt and the popularization of Jimmy Carter now find expression even in discussions of real estate.
Editor’s note: ‘Gary’ (not his real name) is an acquaintance. I’m posting the following in order to illustrate how some antisemitic notions – especially the ideas that the Jews control the mainstream media and use this control to prevent exposure of the their conspiratorial influences on everything else, are remarkably prevalent today.
I found the statement that the antisemite was just exercising his right of free speech somewhat strained, but it just could have been about not understanding the difference between ‘censured’ and ‘censored’.
I’ve obscured various details, such as the name of the blog from which he quotes, and so forth. Otherwise this is exactly what he sent me. I would especially like to receive comments about this.
New York, NY, January 10, 2007 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called the formation of a new far-right grouping of European Parliament members who share avowedly racist and anti-Semitic views, “a disturbing show of unity among bigots.”
The “Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty” group, whose leader, Bruno Gollnisch of the National Front in France, is currently on trial for questioning the existence of the gas chambers in the Holocaust, was cobbled together by some of Europe’s most notorious bigots to promote a racist and xenophobic agenda and outlook.
Read the full ADL statement here.
