Targeting Stephen Hawking and Dustin Hoffman: Right-wing ‘pro-Israel’ advocacy as hate speech
Increasingly, the rabid far-right ‘pro-Israel’ camp is carrying out repulsive, hate-filled attacks on Jews whose most cherished wish is to see a stronger, more democratic Israel. It is time to take a stand.
By Bradley Burston, HAARETZ
Professor Steven Plaut teaches business finance and economics at the University of Haifa. He also writes articles, pamphlets and blog posts intended to defend Israel.
This is what he offered in defense of Israel this week, in response to physicist Stephen Hawking’s decision to boycott next month’s Presidential Conference in Jerusalem, over Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
“I have a suggestion,” Plaut wrote on Wednesday, in a reference to the wheelchair-bound noted scientist, and to a 1985 incident in which Palestinian gunmen commandeered an Italian cruise ship, murdering a disabled American Jewish passenger and throwing his body overboard:
“I suggest that the people of Israel send Hawking for a free trip on the Achille Lauro!!”
Plaut’s argument, that the proper punishment for boycotting Israel should be execution, was only slightly more obscene than that of attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of the Shurat Hadin-Israel Law Center Organization, a right-wing pro-Israel not-for-profit whose stated primary goals include “defending human rights” and conducting a “civil war” in court against global terror.
In a statement, Darshan-Leitner alluded to the fact that Hawking is almost entirely paralyzed and communicates through a speech generating device:
“His whole computer-based communication system runs on a chip designed by Israel’s Intel team. I suggest that if he truly wants to pull out of Israel he should also pull out his Intel Core i7 from his tablet.”
For years, prominent voices on the ostensibly pro-Israel far-right have been competing to see who can be the most outrageous in cruelty, the most childish in bullying, while pursuing a career in what they call Israel advocacy.
Just last week, the New York-based Jewish Press, which describes itself as “the largest independent weekly Jewish newspaper in the United States” and “a tireless advocate for the state of Israel,” published a news article that used classic anti-Semitic imagery in the service of a right-wing polemic on Israel.
Taking actor Dustin Hoffman to task for accepting the Muslim Public Affairs Council’s invitation to present an award to the Academy Award-nominated film “Five Broken Cameras,” Jewish Press correspondent Lori Lowenthal Marcus wrote:
“Hoffman is someone whose Jewishness seems to have played very little role in his life other than as a trigger to anti-Semitic bullies, and the fact that his height, his nose, his nasal voice and his plucky, outsider roles are all stereotypically Jewish.”
Later, Marcus, who also serves as president of the far-right Z Street Israel advocacy organization, concludes:
“So, in the end, Dustin Hoffman with his honking nasal voice and Semitic nose may be emulating the pattern of the mindless good-looking movie stars against whom he rose as the iconic non-handsome, non-sexy male movie star of the counter-culture years.”
Increasingly, the rabid “Pro-Israel” far-right has taken on as principal targets Jews whose most cherished wish is to see Israel become a stronger, more democratic, more livable society.
Commentator and media personality Pamela Geller, whose bread and butter “pro-Israel” tack is hatred of Muslims, has branched out to target writer and editor Peter Beinart as a “vomit-inducing kapo.”
Geller, at times borrowing her writing style from Stormfront, has also called the Daily Beast’s Beinart “the pet Jew turncoat” of Newsweek/Daily Beast Editor-In-Chief Tina Brown.
Of columnist Jeffrey Goldberg, Geller writes: “Jihad Jeff Goldberg, from one Jew to another, go to hell. Cuz it’s foe shizzle you are going to rot there.
It has to stop. It has to stop here and now. When self-styled pro-Israel advocates on the far-right practice incitement and repulsive bullying to further their cause, when hate speech becomes the go-to tool in their belt, it is time for people who care about Israel’s future to take a stand, call them out, shut them down, fight their smirking, obscene, proudly bigoted pronouncements.
The “pro-Israel” far right takes full advantage of – even while scorning – its liberal opponents’ beliefs in freedom of expression and tolerance for democracy’s sake. Their vile views regularly grace newspaper columns and are granted platforms by synagogues and Jewish organizations.
And it’s only getting worse. It may have been anger over the realization that most Western Jews disagree with them, it may have been input from the high-IQ snots of Im Tirtzu, it may have been the sense that their beloved settlers have won a final and permanent victory in Israel, but of late, something terrible and growing is infecting far-right “pro-Israel advocacy.”
It has to stop. We have to stop meekly putting up with it. Otherwise, as we’ve seen a number of times recently, if smartly dressed thugs of the right can disrupt a serious debate on Israel’s future by booing and delegitimizing atwo-state solution as being anti-Israel, the way forward is clear.
If the bigots, the fanatics, the Apartheid apologists, the velveteen fascists of the pro-Israel far-right are freely granted platforms as respected “experts” on Israel, no one who hates Israel as bigoted, fanatic, Apartheid-ruled and fascistic – no one who wants to see Israel ostracized to death – will ever need to say another word.
The Plauts, the Gellers, and a host of others will have already done their work for them.
Michael Devolin Said:
Pickled Herring?
CuriousAmerican Said:
Of which I am his most willing acolyte.
“A more nuanced criticism would have been appropriate.”
You mean like your anti-Semitism. Nobody cares what you think. You’re a Jew-baiter.
@ CuriousAmerican:
Jews who drive German cars aren’t at the same time calling for a boycott of Germany. As I said, I think its legitimate to wonder why Hawking doesn’t extend his boycott to its logical conclusion, which would be to forego the Israeli technology which enables him to communicate.
@ CuriousAmerican:
I disagree with your sha-shtil recommendations as I do with this statement: “If you do not give a hoot about Hawkings, then care about the memory of Leon Klinghoffer.” If we care about the memory of dead victims of terrorism, then it is our duty to fight against terrorists by bringing up their evil crimes at every opportunity and reminding people like Hawking and Hoffman that their support of terrorism and damning comments about Israel, which are read worldwide, will be mocked and ridiculed. Hawking should be reminded to put himself in the same chair as Klinghoffer (when he was executed by terrorists on the Achille Lauro) as Hawking lies about Israel and works to damage the reputation of Israel and all Jews. His brainpower may be strong in certain aspects of science but he has a weak moral conscience and a distorted knowledge of Israel compromised by propaganda from the left.
@ yamit82:
Shalom Yamit 82
Interesting your use of the word “oxymoron” in relation to the religious left. The same phenomena exists in the U.S. where there is an “Evangelical” religious left springing up as well. To me it also seems counter-intuitive for these two ideologies to attach themselves to each other but if one agrees that in point of fact they have a common “enemy+ — Judaism (religious) and Zionism (nationalism) it is not so strange at all. The Left is sure that once they have destroyed nationalism and Capitalism they will be able to deal with Islamism quite easily. They are fools. The Communist party in Germany in the early 30’s thought that they could handle the fascists once they destroyed the Social Democrat parties. History has shown how that little dream fared.
But then again, who pays attention to history nowadays.
Personally I think these so-called religious parties on the left (both Christian and Jewish) are funded secretly by Saudi money – or Soros money.
Pamela Geller is a bit over-the-top at times, but she is not a rabid far right hater of Muslims. She is identifying and attacking those Muslims who engage in extremist and violent terroristic behavior. She calls attention to this problem better than anybody else I know. You don’t see it in the mainstream press. You don’t see it on the ADL or American Jewish Committee websites? The Union of Reform Judaism, or whatever it is called these days? Forget it.
If it were not for Pamela, we would not know about honor killings, persecution of women, and genital mutilation. Oh, of course, we would hear the occasional, rare story, but not with the frequency that it actually occurs.
She’s the lone sentry for civilization in a brutal, dangerous world.
I only know Lori Lowenthal Marcus for some of her writings. I don’t see ZStreet as an extreme right wing organization. It is firmly within the mainstream. Unfortunately, as an activist pro-Israel organization, it seems also to have been targeted by the exempt organizations division at the IRS. Everybody speaks about the Tea Party and “patriot” organizations, well, I suspect the IRS has been targeting Jewish and pro-Israel organizations as well. They have already targeted Commentary Magazine. Where’s Abe Foxman? He should be looking into this, but I guess he’s too busy dialoguing with people who don’t really like Jews and exploiting any anti-semitic incident to sell a diversity/sensitivity program for a grant. (Ciralsky, anyone?).
I don’t know much about this Bradley Burston, I’ve seen his name a few times, but he seems to be another conflicted maladjusted and neurotic Jewish leftist. He probably should be living in some Jewish commune in Berkeley I’m sure there he would find real happiness. He can still mail in his Haaretz column.
Dean Said:
He needs awards to pump up little ego, little man symdrone.
CuriousAmerican Said:
Don’t flatter yourself. I am not into advocacy of Israel or anything else. No amount of advocacy can counter the stupidity of Israels perfidious leadership. If our leader’s acted as proud Jews without concern to what those like you think we might then have the best advocacy based on fear shock and awe. Israel behaving like weak supplicants and scared rabbits do not lend themselves to advocacy unless you are into projecting poor defenseless Jews images hoping for sympathy and understanding.
In reality we are so past that story line and narrative.
An Open Letter To The World
A Letter to the World from Jerusalem – 1969
, @ Stanley J. revich:
The writer is from California, graduate of Berkley dropped out on Med school and gave his poor mother heart palpitations then became a journalist (sarc/) was a member of the defunct bankrupt Kibbutz Gezer and today lives on Land purchased from the Arab village of Abu Gosh outside of Jerusalem called Nataf. His neighbor is Avram Burg. Even in his settlement the religious are lefties an oxymoron in itself.
He has made a career of being critical of Israel except when Israel behaves according to his leftist ideals.
I think more people read this blog than Haaretz and even less his columns.
Even discussing him and what he wrote is giving him more exposure then he could ever hope to get from small distribution and readership of Haaretz.
“The best defense sometimes is to ignore idiocy.”
Yours especially.
“Israel uses German technology. Is that any less hypocritical?”
Israel isn’t boycotting German technology, asshole.
The Yamit school of Israel advocacy.
Israel uses German technology. Is that any less hypocritical?
How many Jews drive Mercedes Benz’s?
Hawkings statements were silly, but the response was over the top.
I understand that Israel is starting to feel enormous heat and wants to fight back. But fight back wisely. Flailing at every action is not wise; it is counter-productive.
Hawkings could have been dismissed with a joke.
Hawkings was wrong. But the Achille Lauro joke was out of taste, and wrong. If you do not give a hoot about Hawkings, then care about the memory of Leon Klinghoffer.
The best defense sometimes is to ignore idiocy.
Hawkings actions could easy have been dismissed with a joke … “When it comes to Israel, it seems Mr. Hawkings reason has gone down a black hole.”
The Achille Lauro comment was out of order. Understandable, but out of order.
Hoffmann is another matter. The reaction to him should have been stronger.
But Hawkings?! He should not have gotten involved. But his critics reactions were not wisely stated. I know you want revenge, but is it not always the best policy.
First of all, Hawkings was wrong to get involved in this. Whatever his opinion, he should have stayed low key.
That being said, the right wing response was unnecessarily viscious and counter-productive. A more nuanced criticism would have been appropriate.
In a way, this attack on Hawkings was out of proportion. They could have said, “He was manipulated,” or that “he is mistaken.”
On the other hand, Israel is fighting for its survival. I would expect some kidney punches.
This cartoon is floating around. http://latuffcartoons.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/stephen-hawking-boycotts-israel-academic-conference.jpg?w=590
Sometimes the best attack is to ignore foolish critics.
Just reading through Burstons comments, we really shouldn’t be surprised! They’re were voices similar to his in the 1930’s and 1940’s convincing the Jews that the Nazis weren’t that bad, and not to listen to the people saying that they were going to die. It was the Burston like voices saying that if you just do what the Nazis tell you, and ignore the evil resistance advocates, then everything will be alright.
The voices coming from Haaretz are no different to those of the kapos like George Soros, who funds a lot of these leftist organisations.
“The writer by inference is truthful, fair, even-handed, true and virtuous.”
Sounds like an atheist.
When you re-read this “article” (if you have managed to survive its nonsense) two things quickly stand out. In the entire piece there is not one attempt to refute any arguments put forth by the “far right” as the writer calls the majority of the Israeli electorate. The writer lives in a bubble of moral certitude, It is a bubble in which he and his fellow believers are so certain of their own beliefs and good will towards Israel that rational argument is completely unnecessary. Secondly the writer uses relentless ad hominem attacks upon those he disagrees with. They are “thugs”, “bullies” “obscene” , “smirking”, “bigoted”. The writer by inference is truthful, fair, even-handed, true and virtuous.
The writer gives the game away though towards the end of his rant. His true worry is that Israel will be “ostracized to death”. What he means of course is that he and his fellow “ghetto Jews” will be ostracized from the intellectually and morally superior cohort within whose cohort he lives out his impoverished life. In his mind the only words he continually hears are “what will the goyim think?” For him there is only one answer — capitulate. G-d forbid that Muslims, Christians, the rest of the world should think ill of us. For these people there is only only one solution and it has been tried many times. it is the Final Solution.
FIFY 🙂
Bullying to further their cause is what the left is doing in spades.
As for being pro-Israel, those who advocate Israel surrender territory to genocidal enemies ARE NOT PRO-ISRAEL. Those who call for antisemitic boycotts of Israel ARE NOT PRO-ISRAEL and they should at least be honest about that rather than pretending their promotion of treacherous policies which gravely endanger the Jewish state amounts to being pro-Israel.
Is it not legitimate to point out the hypocrisy of Hawking using Israeli invented technology for his medical condition while supporting the BDS movement? Yes its legitimate to ask why he doesn’t take his supposed principles to their logical conclusion.
A quote from an article by Mona Charen:
What do they have in common? They are all cowards and bullies. Far easier to malign the Jews than it is to malign these big, bad Arabs. We are FAR too nice in this world, despite Burston’s opinions.
As the late Lenny Bruce once said, “The Jews are noted for their charm; in ancient Egypt, the locals used to go downtown on a Saturday night just to watch the Jews be charming.”
This is a joke for sure. Nobody could possibly think that Jews are the only people on earth not allowed to fight back when they are attacked. That premise is precisely what the peace process has been about – bully Israel and then excoriate Jews when they protest their rights or defend themselves against terrorism.
I am interested in knowing what Squawking Hawking thinks about a theoretical trip on the Achille Lauro. I want to know how Hoffman feels offering his support to his own executioners.
The Israel hate campaign knows no bounds and Haaretz should try printing bold articles critiquing the sadistic approaches of left wingers. I wonder if we could quantify the number of deaths related to the propaganda printed by Haaretz?
“Daily Beast’s Beinart”
This guy and this website is ravenously anti-Zionist, anti-Israel, and anti-Jewish. To excoriate Pamela Geller for attacking this scumbag is ludicrous. I’ve always wondered why David Frum frequents this webpage.
boo-hoo, those poor anti-Zionists are so picked on! Let’s be nice to our enemies and the friends of our enemies. NOT.
At first I thought this was a parody… But then I understood that what Burston is saying is merely rubbish.
The folks he hates so much are simply mirroring the excrement that comes out of the mouths and pens of (a) the Jew-hating leftists (including the lefist Jews like himself), and (b) the Muslim ummah. They don’t do as good a job, because, being true Jews, they have some class. On the other hand, it’s good to see Jews who have an “edge” that makes people – especially people like Burston – sit up and take notice.
Next thing he’ll rant about is that no Jews should be allowed to own guns, because guns are “not nice” in ultra polite Jewish society.