# Blumenthal's “Feeling The Hate In Jerusalem” (pls no censorship disc. here) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 24, 2009, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804 "2009-06-24T05:40:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/41 "2009-06-29T04:28:27Z")
What he said. I have rarely met a polite Israeli, and rarely met a rude Palestinian. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/42 "2009-06-29T05:06:24Z")
Israelis say what they think, not what the listener wants to hear. Some Westerners find that offensive. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/43 "2009-06-29T05:29:36Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Israelis say what they think, not what the listener wants to hear. Some Westerners find that offensive. Heh, that’s one way of looking at it. Israelis are used to being rude to one another so do not even see it as rude. Yes, it’s offensive to westerners but the trained eye/ear understands. Israeli expats tend to be rude and Palestinian expats tend to be polite. But at the same time Yasser Arafat was a crook and Palestinians don’t want to hear that. They don’t want to hear about his holding of a trendy bowling alley in New York bought with Palestinian funds. It’s complex. Israelis and Palestinians both are interesting. My experience with both has been welcome and I would associate with both again. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/44 "2009-06-29T06:37:12Z")
Sometime, when passions are less, we ought to start a thread about rude foreigners. Israelis are infamous for being brusk. (A buddy of mine reported being yelled at for answering the phone when it was a wrong number.) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/45 "2009-06-29T07:02:26Z")
Israeli society is generally egalitarian, and egalitarianism was a specific ideological goal of the founders of Israel. Generally, the more egalitarian a society, the more informal it is, and the less “politeness” is valued and the more directness is. Israel is also very much a first name society, even more so than the US. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/46 "2009-06-29T07:43:37Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Sometime, when passions are less, we ought to start a thread about rude foreigners. Israelis are infamous for being brusk. (A buddy of mine reported being yelled at for answering the phone when it was a wrong number.) Yea apparently in Israel they jostle for position in line at the grocery store too ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/47 "2009-06-29T08:06:12Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Yea apparently in Israel they jostle for position in line at the grocery store too That’s a bit of an outdated stereotype, although it was accurate in its day; there’s been noticeable improvement (at least, noticeable to me) in that area over the past couple of decades. Israelis have, generally speaking, figured out lines. I think things started to change when the Post Office began handing out numbers. There’s probably a sociology paper in here somewhere - anyone interested? The thing is, the change may not be obvious to the outside observer, who often sees a bunch of people milling around a counter in apparent chaos. Don’t be misled - even though they aren’t actually \*standing \*in line, everyone there knows exactly who’s ahead of them and who isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/48 "2009-06-29T08:32:39Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > That’s a bit of an outdated stereotype, although it was accurate in its day; there’s been noticeable improvement (at least, noticeable to me) in that area over the past couple of decades. Israelis have, generally speaking, figured out lines. I think things started to change when the Post Office began handing out numbers. There’s probably a sociology paper in here somewhere - anyone interested? Yea, this was from my ex-wife in about 2001. > [@](#): > > The thing is, the change may not be obvious to the outside observer, who often sees a bunch of people milling around a counter in apparent chaos. Don’t be misled - even though they aren’t actually \*standing \*in line, everyone there knows exactly who’s ahead of them and who isn’t. Yeah, I know how that goes, I live in New York. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/49 "2009-06-29T14:11:47Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > I have had little (actually no) interaction with Israelis, except for on this message board. > > The interaction that I have had on this message board does not leave me particularly surprised with what Max found. There is a tendancy towards nationalism and agression that I don’t find particularly pleasant. Why are you still talking about _Israelis_ and “what Max found”? There were none in that film clip. Seems to me that this sort of confusion was exactly what the film-makers were after. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/50 "2009-06-29T22:47:18Z")
> [@](#): > > To me, it’s quite evident that Blumenthal and Dana deliberately sought to attack and humiliate most or all Jews and especially Israelis as stupid, vicious, hate-fueled bigots in order to further the pair’s own political agenda. I’m a lefty (American) myself, and like many on my side of the political spectrum, I’m critical of certain Israeli policies such as squatting in and expanding the provocative settlements. But I hold that publishing pieces such as the grotesquely over-the-top “Feeling The Hate In Jerusalem” hit job are only going to provide justification for marginalizing and even mocking of genuinely thoughtful liberal criticisms of various overly aggressive policies of the Israeli Right. > > I think it’s incredibly foolish and self-defeating to provide such low-hanging fruit to Right-wing critics on the left. What are your views? I completely disagree that they sought to attack and humiliate most or all Jews and especially Israelis. That’s absurd. It’s obvious to everyone that they were interviewing young people, many of them Americans, who were enjoying a spring break type of atmosphere with lots of alcohol. If this were the first man-on-the-street interview video _ever_, maybe I could concede your point. The interviewer didn’t have to prod anybody to say what they said. Some of them were grabbing the mic from him so they could have their say. > [@](#): > > …are only going to provide justification for marginalizing and even mocking of genuinely thoughtful liberal criticisms of various overly aggressive policies of the Israeli Right. So…this video means that if liberals rightly criticize overly agressive policies of the Israeli right, those liberals will be mocked? I don’t see how your logic follows. It’s a little hard to judge when the video isn’t available. What a shame that it’s so hard to find on the internet. I thought we prided ourselves on free speech, and made fun of countries that don’t honor it. Has YouTube mentioned yet why they took it down? Was it because of the hate speech directed at people of African descent? I hope there’s a transcript out there. I’ll tell you what it reminds me of, though. It reminds of MEMRI television, whose mission is to disseminate the most outlandish news and videos hand-cherry-picked from the Arab world. Sometimes with titles like “An Alarming Video Every Westerner Must See!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/51 "2009-06-29T23:05:18Z")
> [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](#): > > I completely disagree that they sought to attack and humiliate most or all Jews and especially Israelis. That’s absurd. It’s obvious to everyone that they were interviewing young people, many of them Americans, who were enjoying a spring break type of atmosphere with lots of alcohol. What they sought was to prove that Zionist youth groups foster uncritical, reactionary support for Israel. As he put it [here:](http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/06/censored-by-the-huffington-post-and-imprisoned-by-the-past-why-i-made-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-.html) > [@](#): > > The notion that the racist diatribes in my video emerged spontaneously from a beery void is a delusion, but for some, it is a necessary one. It allows them to erect a psychological barrier against acknowledging the painful consequences of prolonged Zionist indoctrination. And it enables them to dismiss the disturbing spectacle of young Jews behaving like fascist soccer hooligans in the heart of the capitol of Israel and the spiritual home of the Jewish people. > > The people in my video were not white trash, nor were they the “extreme right-wing fringe” as some bloggers have called them. They were the college-educated sons and daughters of middle and upper class American Jews from cosmopolitan metropolises and genteel suburbs. Some had come to Israel on vacation, some had made aliyah, and some told me they were planning to move to Israel in the near future. Many were dual citizens of America and Israel. They may have behaved in a moronic way, but they will not grow up to toil in the custodial arts. Many of these kids will move into white-collar jobs and use their influence to advance Israeli initiatives. Programs like Birthright Israel – a few of those in my video were on Birthright tours – exist for the exclusive purpose of indoctrinating American Jews into unyielding, unthinking supporters of Israel. Thus the kids in my video represent at least one aspect of the Zionist project’s future base of political sustenance. . . . > > Behind the Israeli view of Obama lies a climate of extremism that exploded into the open when the country attacked Gaza. Today, extremist sentiment hovers well above the surface. A groundbreaking study of Israeli attitudes published in the wake of the Gaza war by the Tel Aviv University political psychologist Daniel Bar-Tal, who I recently interviewed, found that “Israeli Jews’ consciousness is characterized by a sense of victimization, a siege mentality, blind patriotism, belligerence, self-righteousness, dehumanization of the Palestinians and insensitivity to their suffering.” Bar-Tal commented to me that the army is the primary vehicle for stoking the nationalism of young Israelis. “Some countries are states without armies,” he said. “But Israel today is an army without a state. There is no civilian institution capable of restraining the army’s influence.” ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/52 "2009-06-30T02:02:54Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > What they sought was to prove that Zionist youth groups foster uncritical, reactionary support for Israel. As he put it [here:](http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/06/censored-by-the-huffington-post-and-imprisoned-by-the-past-why-i-made-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-.html) Again he does the double-shift: American Jews = possible future Israelis = Israeli attitudes via the “Zionist project”; finally, he assumes this is the “Israeli view of Obama”. What nonsense. Isn’t the “real” story the fact he couldn’t find any real, live Israelis in Israel to parrot the views he so evidently wants to attribute to them? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/53 "2009-06-30T02:14:14Z")
> [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](#): > > I’ll tell you what it reminds me of, though. It reminds of MEMRI television, whose mission is to disseminate the most outlandish news and videos hand-cherry-picked from the Arab world. Sometimes with titles like “An Alarming Video Every Westerner Must See!!!” It is surely a significant difference that MEMRI merely translates news and video stories actually broadcast in the ME. I looked an the MEMRI TV website and did not see any titles such as you suggest, and while certainly some of the clips portray Arabs and Muslims in a bad light, they certainly do not all do so. This was the very first story on the site: > [@](#): > > Najm Wali: I believe that normalization [of relations with Israel] is a cultural necessity for us, and it is the answer to all those who talk about a clash of civilizations. It is a historical necessity for us Arabs in particular, because it will take us to a new stage – a stage that will transcend the eternal conflict with Israel, and in which we will form new relations with the world. The eternal conflict with Israel has brought us nothing but material losses and loss of human life, as well as a chronic sense of defeat. The common Arab citizen feels that he is being defeated by this tiny country, Israel, which numbers only six or seven million, while the Arab world numbers 300 million. > The way to deal with this feeling should be through normalization. As you said at the beginning of this show, this is what the Islamic countries understood, long before the Arabs. The historical ties of Turkey, Malaysia, and Indonesia with Israel have gone beyond mere normalization. Turkey, Syria’s partner and the mediator in the indirect talks [with Israel], has a strategic, military alliance with Israel. But I’m sad to say that the notion that prevails in the public discourse is that normalization is a trap for us, a deception. This notion will lead us to more defeats and battles, and the loss of more human lives. Look at other Islamic states, like Indonesia and Turkey. Not only are these countries international powers, which are even accepted as mediators, but they are also economic powers. Like the “Asian Tigers,” they did not involve themselves in a daily conflict with a small country. This question has constantly made me wonder, even as a little boy: Why is this tiny state able to defeat us, even though we are 300 million? The problem lies with us. We have to think for ourselves, and build… > **[MEMRI TV](https://www.memri.org/tv)** > > MEMRI's archive of Middle East reports includes translations, Special Dispatches, and Inquiry and Analysis papers from and about media and events in the region on a wide range of topics, from 1998 to the present. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/54 "2009-06-30T03:53:34Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > It is surely a significant difference that MEMRI merely translates news and video stories actually broadcast in the ME. Most often on state-sponsored media. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/55 "2009-06-30T06:57:38Z")
My apologies, that might be a bit ambiguous. I should said “state run and controlled media” ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/56 "2009-07-05T15:10:03Z")
I have some comments regarding the following quoted replies… > [@bengangmo](#): > > … I have had little (actually no) interaction with Israelis, except for on this message board. > > The interaction that I have had on this message board does not leave me particularly surprised with what Max found. There is a tendancy towards nationalism and agression that I don’t find particularly pleasant. There is an even _stronger_ tendency towards nationalism and aggression in and among Americans, so your and Paul’s suggestion and/or argument concerning Israelis is pretty much invalid. Why? _ **Because Blumenthal and Dana only showed us hate-spewing Americans!** _ And drunk ones, at that! No Israelis! (At least none that said anything even _approaching_ what the Americans said). Yet – and this point cannot be overstressed – they emphasized that these (cherry-picked) Americans were _in Jerusalem!_ In _Israel!_ That’s the core of my arguments in this thread: **Why show us Americans _in Israel?_ Emphasizing in the very title that the film is about and from _Jerusalem_?** There is only _ **one** _ psychologically and intellectually honest answer: **They wanted – nay, _needed_ – people to mistakenly confuse and associate drunk American bigots = Jewish and Israeli bigots in order to lead them to believe the worst about Israelis and Jews!** Finagle’s balls! **How much more blatantly obvious can anti-Semitic propaganda get!** **Paul** and **bengangmo** and those who think they see something of genuine interest in that anti-scientific propaganda video are trying _desperately_ to cross and blur their own eyes so that they _won’t_ see this vicious, anti-Semitic propaganda _as_ vicious, anti-Semitic propaganda. I do not ascribe to them any knowing, deliberate anti-Semitism, but there’s no _good_ reason to try and defend the video even only as “interesting”. (At least “interesting” as anything _other_ than bogus anti-Semitic propaganda.) (Perhaps I should add at this point that I’m an atheist and United States native citizen, with no Jewish or Israeli relatives or personal social connections to either group.) > [@bengangmo](#): > > … I also know that speaking of areas I know well, such an obvious and offensive agenda would not find much support in public, you would really need to spend some effort to seek it out. Which is the question that we come back to I guess. What ridiculous tripe. “Invest” enough money in a film crew, liquor and/or drugs, and I’ll deliver you a tape with 15 intoxicated people praising or even bragging about _pedophilia_ in public! All it takes is anti-scientific cherry-picking and a population to select from. And, if you allow me some coaching (and who says Blumenthal and Dana didn’t coach their “subjects”?), I’ll do it in one night. Watch some episodes of _The Colbert Report_ “Better Know a District” segments, and you’ll find _ **high-profile elected politicians** _ saying pretty much anything you want, including one who said on camera that he’d “have to look into” the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA, a pro-pedophilia group (no longer extant)) before voting against it! Also said on camera is a U.S. Representative who stated: “I enjoy cocaine because it gives me joy” and “I enjoy the company of prostitutes for the following reasons: It represses women, it’s generally illegal… and it gives me joy”. (exact quotes). > [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > What he said. > > I have rarely met a polite Israeli, and rarely met a rude Palestinian. So? This is relevant how? I’ve only met a couple of Israeli civilians that I know of, and they were very polite. I’ve only met three Palestinian civilians, and they were all impolitely arguing that Israel should be “swept into the sea” and the “stolen land” should be returned to themselves and their families after all Israelis have been killed. Now, I have no idea what any of these individuals were actually thinking or what they actually believe (the Israelis _could_ have been Mossad assassins and the Palestinians _could_ have been role-playing), but what makes your experience more valid and relevant than mine? Let’s drop that whole line of argument, shall we? > [@Malthus](#): > > Why are you still talking about _Israelis_ and “what Max found”? There were none in that film clip. > > Seems to me that this sort of confusion was exactly what the film-makers were after. What _he_ ( **Malthus** ) said (if I may echo Paul’s words). > [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](#): > > I completely disagree that they sought to attack and humiliate most or all Jews and especially Israelis. That’s absurd… So…this video means that if liberals rightly criticize overly agressive policies of the Israeli right, those liberals will be mocked? I don’t see how your logic follows. Learning this last does not surprise me. Allow me to explain my logic. First, let me describe the essential background steps: The creation of the video in the first place. (1): Hire a film crew and record a great many drunken, angry people at night in Jerusalem, taking as many nights as you need to to capture enough people to serve your agenda. Go ahead and buy them booze and/or drugs to get them in the mood to be publicly belligerent. Telling them that Obama secretly called them kikes or other vile anti-Semitic epithet is a great strategy, since that lie will play into the ignorant prejudice of ignorant people that African Americans and Jews hate each other. If you want or need to, go ahead and coach them in what you want them to say, or even pay them outright to say what you want them to; nobody will ever know because you will not provide any evidence of any attempt to interview a genuine, scientifically representative sample. After all, that would ruin your agenda. (2): If it takes ten thousand people to find 15 who will say what you want said, maintain your patience and you will eventually be “rewarded”. (3): Edit down how ever many hours of videotape you need to leave the 15 who said what you needed them to say to fit your agenda, which is: "Israelis and most, if not all, Jews hate Barack Obama and other African Americans so much that they’ll openly display their hatred by spewing ugly, vicious, racist epithets! The United States must not continue providing military support for Israel because… [fill in specious “reasoning” here; for example, you might try to intuit that “they’ll turn right around and attack the United States, the vicious, scheming, nigger-hating kikes will – see if they don’t!”] (4): Post the anti-scientifically cherry-picked propaganda video under the title “Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem” and watch the anti-Semites in the U.S. and elsewhere demonize Israel and the Jews as evil, vicious hate-mongers! (Insert Jon Stewart’s Cheney or Bush laughter imitation here…) **Now:** We finally get to your question: > [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](#): > > So… [ellipses in original] this video means that if liberals rightly criticize overly agressive policies of the Israeli right, those liberals will be mocked? I don’t see how your logic follows. It’s really quite simple. When American liberals criticize various overly aggressive Israeli policies (such as the settlements), our political and polemical opponents will simply point to _Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem_, remind people that the creator, Blumenthal, is an American liberal, then correctly note the plain, blatantly obvious fact that the video is a ludicrously anti-scientific, cherry-picked, hate-mongering, anti-Semitic propaganda hit piece, and by the spurious transitive property almost universally employed by our opponents, they claim or imply the following equation: **Blumenthal = American liberal anti-Semitic hate-monger = all American liberals**. _That’s_ what I meant by “low-hanging fruit”. > [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](#): > > … The interviewer didn’t have to prod anybody to say what they said. Some of them were grabbing the mic from him so they could have their say. And you know they were not prodded _how_, exactly? But even that’s irrelevant in this case. To remind yourself why, please re-read my explanation of the steps, above. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/57 "2009-07-05T15:29:59Z")
> [@ambushed](#): > > … **Now:** We finally get to your question: It’s really quite simple. When American liberals criticize various overly aggressive Israeli policies (such as the settlements), our political and polemical opponents will simply point to _Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem_, remind people that the creator, Blumenthal, is an American liberal, then correctly note the plain, blatantly obvious fact that the video is a ludicrously anti-scientific, cherry-picked, hate-mongering, anti-Semitic propaganda hit piece, and by the spurious transitive property almost universally employed by our opponents, they claim or imply the following equation: **Blumenthal = American liberal anti-Semitic hate-monger = all American liberals**. > > _That’s_ what I meant by “low-hanging fruit”. Perhaps I should explain that last: It’s “low-hanging fruit” because it’s particularly easy for mental-dwarfs to pick and hurl against the also-mental-dwarfs who find such arguments “convincing”. Alas, the membership in that club are legion… ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/58 "2009-07-05T15:40:54Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > What they sought was to prove that Zionist youth groups foster uncritical, reactionary support for Israel… **Inaccurate.** To put it with precision, they merely publicly _ **claimed** _ that they sought to prove that Zionist youth groups foster uncritical, reactionary support for Israel. But we know **for certain** that they actually did _nothing of the kind_, because in order to prove such a thing, they would have to have utilized valid, peer-reviewed scientific methodology and have provided their raw data for independent analysis – rather than merely assert as fact what they allegedly “sought to prove”. A statement is not proof of it’s own truth. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/59 "2009-07-05T15:44:40Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > > [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > > > What they sought was to prove that Zionist youth groups foster uncritical, reactionary support for Israel. As he put it [here:](http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/06/censored-by-the-huffington-post-and-imprisoned-by-the-past-why-i-made-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-.html) > > Again he does the double-shift: American Jews = possible future Israelis = Israeli attitudes via the “Zionist project”; finally, he assumes this is the “Israeli view of Obama”. > > What nonsense. **Isn’t the “real” story the fact he couldn’t find any real, live Israelis in Israel to parrot the views he so evidently wants to attribute to them?** Yes. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804/60 "2009-07-05T16:05:04Z")
> [@ambushed](#): > > Perhaps I should explain that last: It’s “low-hanging fruit” because it’s particularly easy for mental-dwarfs to pick and hurl against the also-mental-dwarfs who find such arguments “convincing”. Alas, the membership in that club are legion… Dammit, I forgot to add this: liberal web sites like _The Huffington Post_ took down _Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem_ only in part because (I suspect) a great many liberals (Jewish, Israeli, or other) balked at the racist epithets. But I’ve been told by an occasional contributor there that Huffington also saw the severe damage such a video would do to the American liberal cause concerning Israeli right-wing policies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blumenthals-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-pls-no-censorship-disc-here/500804.md?page=4)