JEWISH PROGRESSIVE CRITICISM OF ISRAEL IS NOW A MOVEMENT
MONDOWEISS | 06.02.2007 23:59 | Other Press
IT'S OFFICIAL: JEWISH PROGRESSIVE CRITICISM OF ISRAEL IS NOW A MOVEMENT
http://mondoweiss.observer.com/2007/02/its-official-jewish-progressive-criticism-of-israel-is-now-a.html
The New York Times' stunning piece last week about the American Jewish Committee's effort to smear leftwing Jewish critics of Israel as antisemites did what 1000 blogs, 100 human rights reports, even 10 pieces by Tony Judt, could never do: It embarrassed the Jewish leadership, by exposing the retrograde methods it has resorted to to try and stop debate. More than that, the Times report took a scattered opposition and solidified it, by telling us what we didn't understand: We're having an impact.
Let's declare what's afoot right now: it's a movement. Progressive Jews all over are denouncing the mainstream leadership's staunch support of the hateful occupation, and some of them are linking it to the U.S.'s bloody occupation of Iraq. In England, Independent Jewish Voices, a group of anti-occupation Jews (including Harold Pinter and Eric Hobsbawm) is breaking away from the mainstream organizations to show how bankrupt their lobbying position is. In Australia, Antony Loewenstein sees "dissent growing." His book My Israel Question, which I gather is even more off-the-hook than stuff I write, is to be published in the States this spring. And speaking of the States, Jewish Voice for Peace, an Oakland-based group with chapters nationwide, has lately launched a fabulous website, Muzzlewatch, dedicated to fighting the smears and threats that the lobby has always used against Jews who want to treat Palestinian Arabs with dignity. Meantime, the Union of Progressive Zionists, which brought Breaking the Silence to the U.S. last fall to describe real conditions in the West Bank to young Jews, is fighting to keep its membership on the Israel on Campus Coalition, and winning—a battle with the ZOA whose onset I reported on this blog two months back. Some Hillel groups have welcomed Breaking the Silence.
The one comment I'd add is that I give credit to progressive gentiles for helping to break open this discussion. Yes, Meretz-USA has been tireless. Norman Finkelstein has given hundreds of speeches. But Mearsheimer, Walt, and Jimmy Carter released this movement last year by embarrassing Jews with statements about the immorality of the treatment of Palestinians that were mainstreamed. They gave license to the media to write about this stuff, and have spurred progressive Jews to play their part and recover progressive voices going back to Hannah Arendt and Elmer Berger. 60 years before Walt and Mearsheimer, Rabbi Berger warned in The Jewish Dilemma about the Zionist "machine" and the ways it would transform Jewish identity and politics in the name of nationalism.
Hark! I hear the sound of the tumbrils, rumbling through the streets of northwest Washington, collecting neoconservatives.
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The New York Times' stunning piece last week about the American Jewish Committee's effort to smear leftwing Jewish critics of Israel as antisemites did what 1000 blogs, 100 human rights reports, even 10 pieces by Tony Judt, could never do: It embarrassed the Jewish leadership, by exposing the retrograde methods it has resorted to to try and stop debate. More than that, the Times report took a scattered opposition and solidified it, by telling us what we didn't understand: We're having an impact.
Let's declare what's afoot right now: it's a movement. Progressive Jews all over are denouncing the mainstream leadership's staunch support of the hateful occupation, and some of them are linking it to the U.S.'s bloody occupation of Iraq. In England, Independent Jewish Voices, a group of anti-occupation Jews (including Harold Pinter and Eric Hobsbawm) is breaking away from the mainstream organizations to show how bankrupt their lobbying position is. In Australia, Antony Loewenstein sees "dissent growing." His book My Israel Question, which I gather is even more off-the-hook than stuff I write, is to be published in the States this spring. And speaking of the States, Jewish Voice for Peace, an Oakland-based group with chapters nationwide, has lately launched a fabulous website, Muzzlewatch, dedicated to fighting the smears and threats that the lobby has always used against Jews who want to treat Palestinian Arabs with dignity. Meantime, the Union of Progressive Zionists, which brought Breaking the Silence to the U.S. last fall to describe real conditions in the West Bank to young Jews, is fighting to keep its membership on the Israel on Campus Coalition, and winning—a battle with the ZOA whose onset I reported on this blog two months back. Some Hillel groups have welcomed Breaking the Silence.
The one comment I'd add is that I give credit to progressive gentiles for helping to break open this discussion. Yes, Meretz-USA has been tireless. Norman Finkelstein has given hundreds of speeches. But Mearsheimer, Walt, and Jimmy Carter released this movement last year by embarrassing Jews with statements about the immorality of the treatment of Palestinians that were mainstreamed. They gave license to the media to write about this stuff, and have spurred progressive Jews to play their part and recover progressive voices going back to Hannah Arendt and Elmer Berger. 60 years before Walt and Mearsheimer, Rabbi Berger warned in The Jewish Dilemma about the Zionist "machine" and the ways it would transform Jewish identity and politics in the name of nationalism.
Hark! I hear the sound of the tumbrils, rumbling through the streets of northwest Washington, collecting neoconservatives.
MONDOWEISS
Comments
Hide the following 9 comments
phoney
07.02.2007 02:07
The only thing radical about Mearsheimer, Walt, and Jimmy Carter is their radical Neo-Conservatism.
Moish...
Right wing backlash
07.02.2007 08:03
mentioned in this article, perhaps you are one stage ahead of yourself.
One thing 4 sure the pro Israel lobby are masters of dirty tricks propaganda I wonder what they will
come up with to counter the moderates. It's about time that Jewish people started to stand up against the
capitalist barons that have made Israel what it is today. good news !!
Lefty Good
responsibility?
07.02.2007 10:00
because I'm Jewish does not make me responsible in any way for anything to do with Israel (Christians responsible for all done in the name of Christianity parallels anyone?). As a Brit, I have to feel some sort of responsibility for the UK policy on Israel (though mixed in different sections of UK government), and it's cosying up to the US & the arms they supply, though as an anarchist, should I feel responsibility for the UK state...?!?
Having said that, long before there were the groups mentioned above, & to give the article a bit more UK relevance, there was Jews for Justice for Palestinians,
J@UK
so
07.02.2007 11:50
a religious anarchist?!?
seems bizzare
confused of england?
astonishing...
07.02.2007 13:35
What it means ?
They attack the Muslims , they attack Catholics ( We know !they do'nt like religion...!) but nether the Evangelicals Protestants (they are Zionists) and nether the Jewish religion (Zionists too ) and this for the great profit of the U.S RAEL NeoCons -Zionists
stupyfied
re: so
07.02.2007 18:27
Comment after, don't understand, so can't comment on.
J@UK
Primer on anarchism?
07.02.2007 18:46
Anarchists need not be on the "left". The "individualist anarchists" are usually considered to be on the "right". Not the POLITICAL right (authoritarian) but the ECONOMIC right. Extreme examples might consider even sharing between spouses to be "collectivism" (or parents and children). Rather than list names/sources I suggest that you get a copy of some "sampler" like "Patterns of Anarchy" to get a sense of how wide the spectrum is all properly called "anarchist".
Anarchists need not be anti-religious. Again a decent sampler should give you some examples of religious anarchists. Should be easy to find Christian ones (like the "Catholic Workers"). The particular objection here was to somebody claiming to be a Jewish anarchist. That's a little less accessible if you don't read Hebrew. Part of the difficulty is also related to the first part ("left" or "right") and part is the tendency among people of the "left" to classify their political opponents (anybody in a faction different from their own) as being "rightists" regardless of what they ACTUALLY are. Thus ---- while the "Irgun" folks WERE (and their successors ARE) on the "right" of the political spectrum the "Stern Gang" folks (did not leave descendents, basically only a couple survived the 40's) were in fact from the anarchist tradition --- and while some were religiously weird (I'm thinking of some of the poets; a lot of this very small group WERE poets) not an anti-religious group.
Mike Novack
e-mail:
stepbystpefarm mtdata.com
oh
08.02.2007 09:37
well that clears that up, you are a tribal anarchist
I don't trust you, cause I'll never know when you might start acting out of this tribal alligence rather than from an ethical anarchist one
no gods no masters
my ancestors where christians and english, before that they were pagan and tribal (probably some of them where chinese, african, slav, viking etc etc)
I don't let my ancestors weird beliefs inform mine BECAUSE I am an anarchist by conviction
You are an'anarchist' by conveinience and a jew by conviction
no gods no masters
confused of no state whatsoever
there are many notable jewish anarchists, anyone heard of emma goldman
08.02.2007 22:15
anyone heard of emma goldman, one of america/canadas biggest anarchists was herself jewish, also around the 1930s in the east end of london there were loads of radical communist and anarchist jews, battle of cabble street anyone? so in that sense you can be both jewish and anarchist.
now on to israel. its fucked up thats for sure. im not gonna disagree, israel needs to pull out of the west bank and gaza and for them to make their own state or what ever. but for one to want this i dont ess supporting one military side on this as effective and claiming every opposer to the state of israel as a friend in the fight for freedom for the pals as a good way to go around this, because then you do get antisemites in your groups. and you do get facists in your group aswell. ntherefore, in my anarcho-jewish (zionist- in the sense that i believe there should be some form of a state of israel, but then again still havent made my mind up just like the sound of the word and the use of the letter z) mind for one to well and truly be anti war they must oppose both sides of the struggle. oppose both guns not just the bigger or more easily identifyable guns. this is just one view and an ever changing one at that.
please dont hate me, inform me.
also j in uk