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Probably, not necessarily though. Even unfair criticism of Israel is not antisemitsm unless racially motivated
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Depends on the overall purpose of the demonstration, your not seriously saying that anyone who goes on an antiwar demonstrtation is antisemtic, are you?
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Almost certainly, but it’s a false analogy.
I guess some people were assuming that “!=” meant “really, really equal, I mean it!” 
And so that this post has some merit, I agree with the article by Jonah Goldberg. Call it a good thing or a bad thing, but Jews are no longer viewed in the same light as blacks, et al. Members of the Coalition of the Oppressed are viewed as poor, defenseless victims, and are given some leeway in their actions. Of a card-carrying member of the Coalition commits a sin of some sorts, it’s at least partially explained away as being caused by their victim status. “Yeah, he robbed a bank, but after living through the poverty caused by years of slavery, can you blame him?”
Meanwhile, look at the Israel-Palestine crisis. Whether you agree with their actions or not, what is undeniable is that they’re acting out of concern for their own self-preservation. However, Israel’s actions are almost universally condemned by the left, some even comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. The Palestinians, however - Coalition members, certainly - are given a pass. “Yes, they deliberately target women and children who are minding their own business, but their oppressed! Is it any wonder?” As if murdering innocents is the natural response to being oppressed. And this is typically defended by claiming that the Israelis should know better - they’re a democracy, after all. As if the Palestinians would stop murdering folks if only someone were to take them aside and politely inform that, you know, that’s really not very nice.
And the exiling of the Jews from the Coalition has little to do with the nigh-eradication of anti-Semitism. Regular readers of Goldberg will know that he gets legions of emails dripping with hatred for Jews. My personal experience is that people are more likely to be anti-Semitic than anti-black, though of course that’s just an anecdote; take it for what you will. It could be that anti-Semitism is just more acceptable, so people are less afraid to voice it.
No, I think Goldberg is onto something when he says that Jews are no longer “victims” because of their success. Blacks, as a class, are poorer than whites - thus, victims. Women aren’t any poorer than men, really, but that dreaded “women make 75% of what men make” statistic refuses to die the death it deserves, so the perception lives on - thus, victims. Jews, though, make just as much money as whites - sorry, victim status denied.
Personally, I think the Jews should be happy, in a sense. The label of “victim” carries with it the burden of an offensive condescension by the “enlightened” left. “These poor [insert protected class] can’t make it on their own. They need government handouts! They need affirmative action! They need subsidization! They need our pity!” The end of their stint as victims implies that the left no longer believes they need any assistance. They can make it on their own.
Are the Jews no longer a protected class? Nope. And that’s good news.
Jeff
Um, ElJeffe, I don’t think that everyone who is condemning Israel is giving Palestinians a free pass. I think they both are acting like assholes.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that everyone who condemned Israel was excusing the Palestinians. But the trend isn’t negligible, certainly.
Jeff
Isn’t it a good thing to escape the “Coalition of the Oppressed”? Germany has for decades tried to reach the goal of being a “normal country.” Israel has reached that goal.
Imagine Great Britain applying Israel’s policies towards the Catholics in Northern Ireland, or Spain doing the same against the Basques. People would scream to the high heavens - and some would use outrageous rhetoric.
It appears to me that Israel is now being treated like a normal country - one whose policies are open to lots of criticism.
Sua
I’d say a different standard is being applied to Israel. The outcry is much greater against Israel than it is against Syria (occupying Lebanon) or Turkey (occupying Cyprus). In fact, both these countries are occupying otherwise sovereign states, so if anything the outcry should logically be stronger against them. So if the policies to which you refer is a policy of occupation, then that point is moot. If you want to talk about Israel being criticized for human rights, I think it’s clear that there are plenty of countries with far worse human rights records that receive less criticism than Israel for them.
And of course, I don’t know of any other country which has been so consistently accused of not having the right to exist.
december. I just saw a PBS story on the Palestinian issue which showed Israeli contruction on this fortified wall. Is this going to help or make things worse?
This victim classification thing is a little strange. To me, an apparent upswing in anti-Semitism is a more serious issue. However, Israel is a big target for some legitimate criticism, as Sua noted. It can be hard to pick through and distinguish sometimes.
Interesting. I doubt it will have much effect, but what do I know?
I agree.
Every country in the world is a big target for legitimate criticism. But, the others don’t get the same kind of widespread opprobrium. For example:
Nobody talks much about Netherlands contribution to a massacre in Srebrenica in 2000. OTOH, Belgium is trying to prosecute Ariel Sharon today for a similar event that took place in Lebanon 1982. Neither Holland nor Israel committed the massacre, but both are blamed for not preventing it. Why don’t anti-war people demonstrate against the Dutch military leader at Srebrenica and call him a “war criminal”?
What are France’s misdeeds in their recent unilateral attack in the Ivory Coast? Nobody asks.
The most galling double standard is between the actions of Israel and its Arab neighbors. There have been a handful of cases where some Israeli citizen intentionally attacked Palestinian civilians. They were tried and put in prison. Can you imagine the uproar if it were Israeli policy to attack Palestinian busses, restaurants, religious gatherings, etc.? Can you imagine the uproar if the world Jewish community openly supported these attacks, with financial and logical aid?
I could go on to contrast the treatment of Arabs in Israel vs. Jews in Arab countries. Then there’s differences in human rights, democracy, civil liberties, tolerance, the death penalty, treatment of gays, etc. For that matter, there are examples of Arab mistreatment of other Arabs that are far worse than any Israeli mistreatment of Palestinians, but one seldom hears about it. For some reason, many people sympathize with the Arabs and vilify Israel.
Fair enough, Fang
Revise my statement to read that Israel is being treated like a normal democracy.
Sua
Wow. You missed two distinctions between Srebrenica and the Shatilla (is my memory correct on the name?) massacres. They’re minor, so I’m not surprised you missed them :rolleyes:
- The Dutch troops did not have the military strength to stop the massacre at Srebrenica. The criticism of the Dutch is that (a) they didn’t put enough troops in ahead of time, and (b) they didn’t make a real effort, even a futile one, to stop the massacre.
OTOH, the Israelis did have the military strength in Beruit in 1982 to stop the massacre. They decided not to.
- Wim Kok, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands (and IIRC the Defense Minister at the time of the massacre) was forced to resign after the investigation was complete. Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister of Israel.
And, of course, you may have notice in the article you linked that those bigoted and anti-Semetic Belgians have tried the same thing with Yasser Arafat.
You want to try again?
Sua
December if you read the indictment against Sharon, he is accused of far more than merely not preventing it.
OK, december, the Israelis themselves found him culpable. The Belgians may do the same.
Where’s the bias there?
Sua
Jurisdiction. By re-trying Sharon they’re claiming that the Israeli justice system - and by implication, the State of Israel in its entirety - is either subordinate to Belgium, or worse, invalid. It’s a direct assault on the Israeli rule of law.
And as for bias, why is Sharon the only figure being prosecuted under these laws?
Well Alessan, this is because a group representing the victims and the victims families filed a complaint against Sharon.
And he is not the only one who is being pursued by the Belgium Justice system under these laws either.
Sharon is accused of having failed to prevent a massacre committed by people not under his control, 21 years ago. Arafat’s al Axsa brigades have boasted about committed a series of massacres, year after year, right up to the present time.
Decembert are you listening!!! He is accused of more than failing to prevent the massacre, but delibrately allowing the Phlangists in so that they could commit the massacre and then providing auxillary support to them while the massacre took place.
The Al Asqua brigade is not under Arafat’s control or even recognised by him, though several Al-Asqua members also belong to Arafats Fatah faction. Also it has only existed since the end of the year 2000.