By Alan Dershowitz, FrontPageMag
Shortly after Sarah Palin provoked (his use of the verb “provoked” bothers me. She simply used the term and they went ballistic.) a barrage of criticism for her use of the term “blood libel,” a Democratic Congressman named Steve Cohen compared Republican statements about the Obama health care reform to “the big lie” told by Joseph Goebbels, saying it’s “like [a] blood libel. The same kind of thing.” Cohen further posited, “the Germans said enough about the Jews and the people believed it and you had the Holocaust.” For the most part the left excoriated Palin for being insensitive to Jewish suffering, while the right has either defended her use of that historical term or has given her a pass on it. I am one of the few liberal Democrats who, while criticizing her use of crosshairs in indentifying contested congressional seats, found nothing objectionable in her use of “blood libel” as a metaphor to describe what she regarded as a false accusation of complicity in the bloodletting in Tucson. I have heard little from the left regarding Congressman Cohen’s more extreme statements.
The irony, of course, is that many of the same people on the left who criticized Palin for insensitively to Jewish suffering, have themselves contributed to Jewish suffering by unfairly demonizing the Jewish state and trivializing the increase in global anti-Semitism. They have also given a pass to those on the hard left who have used Holocaust and Nazi references in mischaracterizing Israeli self defense actions.
Consider the case of Norman Finkelstein, a hero of the hard left. Finkelstein regularly uses Nazi references in his attacks on Israel. He has said the following about the Israeli Defense Forces: “[I] can’t imagine why Israel’s apologists would be offended by a comparison with the Gestapo.” (This same formulation has been used by Finkelstein’s British clone, Gilad Atzmon and by others on the hard left.) Most recently, Finkelstein, who regularly refers to the Holocaust as a “circus,” responded to a critic with the words “Heil Hitler,” and to Israeli President Shimon Peres’ Christmas greeting to the Christian world with the words, “And a ‘Heil Hitler!’ to you too.” He has also offered the following advice to Israelis, when they travel abroad:
“Do not raise your arm at 45 degree angles and shout ‘Heil Hitler!’ Do not sing or hum ‘Israel uber Alles!’”
So proud is Finkelstein of his references to Hitler that he regularly includes them on his website. Other Finkelstein misuses of the Holocaust include calling prominent Jews “Nazis” and comparing them to Eichmann, Streicher and Ribbentrop. He has also said they are “parasites” who “resemble stereotypes straight out of Der Sturmer.”
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Why J Street Attacked Sarah Palin
Posted by Alan M. Dershowitz on Jan 24th, 2011 and filed under Daily Mailer, FrontPage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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Shortly after Sarah Palin provoked a barrage of criticism for her use of the term “blood libel,” a Democratic Congressman named Steve Cohen compared Republican statements about the Obama health care reform to “the big lie” told by Joseph Goebbels, saying it’s “like [a] blood libel. The same kind of thing.” Cohen further posited, “the Germans said enough about the Jews and the people believed it and you had the Holocaust.” For the most part the left excoriated Palin for being insensitive to Jewish suffering, while the right has either defended her use of that historical term or has given her a pass on it. I am one of the few liberal Democrats who, while criticizing her use of crosshairs in indentifying contested congressional seats, found nothing objectionable in her use of “blood libel” as a metaphor to describe what she regarded as a false accusation of complicity in the bloodletting in Tucson. I have heard little from the left regarding Congressman Cohen’s more extreme statements.
The irony, of course, is that many of the same people on the left who criticized Palin for insensitively to Jewish suffering, have themselves contributed to Jewish suffering by unfairly demonizing the Jewish state and trivializing the increase in global anti-Semitism. They have also given a pass to those on the hard left who have used Holocaust and Nazi references in mischaracterizing Israeli self defense actions.
Consider the case of Norman Finkelstein, a hero of the hard left. Finkelstein regularly uses Nazi references in his attacks on Israel. He has said the following about the Israeli Defense Forces: “[I] can’t imagine why Israel’s apologists would be offended by a comparison with the Gestapo.” (This same formulation has been used by Finkelstein’s British clone, Gilad Atzmon and by others on the hard left.) Most recently, Finkelstein, who regularly refers to the Holocaust as a “circus,” responded to a critic with the words “Heil Hitler,” and to Israeli President Shimon Peres’ Christmas greeting to the Christian world with the words, “And a ‘Heil Hitler!’ to you too.” He has also offered the following advice to Israelis, when they travel abroad:
“Do not raise your arm at 45 degree angles and shout ‘Heil Hitler!’ Do not sing or hum ‘Israel uber Alles!’”
So proud is Finkelstein of his references to Hitler that he regularly includes them on his website. Other Finkelstein misuses of the Holocaust include calling prominent Jews “Nazis” and comparing them to Eichmann, Streicher and Ribbentrop. He has also said they are “parasites” who “resemble stereotypes straight out of Der Sturmer.”
Yet, although J Street, which claims to be a pro-Israel lobby, went out of its way to criticize Palin’s remarks, it has not leveled comparable criticism against Finkelstein and other prominent leftists who abuse the language of Jewish suffering. The reason is obvious: Many J Street supporters adore Finkelstein, cheer him at his lectures and echo his demonization of Israel. J Street does not go after Finkelstein for the same reason it refused to go after Richard Goldstone: If it did, it would lose support from many on the hard left, which it is trying to cultivate. (One of J Street’s leading activist and supporters, Letty Pogrebin, has praised Goldstone as a modern day prophet and supported the most egregious statements made in his report.)
Why J Street felt it necessary to enter the kerfuffle about the use of blood libel may not be obvious to those who actually believe that J Street is a “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobby that limits its activities to issues surrounding the Israeli Arab conflict. After all, J Street does not claim to be in the business of defending the Jewish people against defamation as does the ADL. Nor is it a protector of Jewish sensitivities as is the Wiesenthal Center. But to those of us who understand what J Street really is, its attack on Palin makes perfect sense. J Street is a lobby for the Democratic Party in general and for the Obama Administration in particular. That’s why it doesn’t deviate from the Obama line, doesn’t criticize the Obama Administration, and doesn’t miss an opportunity to dump on Republicans, even those who support Israel.
J Street will respond to this charge of a double standard by arguing that Sarah Palin is a prominent public figure, a potential presidential candidate, while Finkelstein and others on the hard left who abuse the language of Jewish suffering are marginal figures. But that misses the mark. Those of us who are liberals have a special obligation to criticize abusers of the left, just as those who are conservatives have a special obligation to criticize abusers of the right, such as Patrick Buchanan. It’s too easy for J Street to pile on when the alleged abuser is a conservative Republican. It’s far more difficult, and costly, for J Street to go after fellow leftists who abuse language, especially those with large followings among its supporters. But that is their responsibility if they are to assume the role of protector of Jewish sensibilities. I doubt it is a role they are willing to assume, except when it serves the interests of their real clients: the Democratic Party, the Obama Administration and the left. That is why they went after Sarah Palin, even though her remarks had nothing to do with Israel or peace.
Any genuine lobby group for Israel and for peace must assure that support for Israel and for peace remains a bipartisan concern. J Street wants to turn it into a partisan wedge issue that divides Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, young and old. That’s why they focus so much criticism against Republicans who support Israel. Such divisions do not serve the interests of peace or Israeli security.
P.S. I’m still waiting for J Street’s reaction to Congressman Cohen’s invocation of the Holocaust, Goebbels and blood libels to attack Republicans.
Alan Dershowitz’s latest novel is The Trials of Zion.
Yes, and it is the same intellectually challenged Dersh who explained with an apparently straight face that the reason he voted for Imam Obama was that he believed Obama was a strong supporter of Israel, and would convince more liberals to support Israel, whereas most conservatives and independents already did. How’s THAT for an example of a self-deluding IDIOT?
In this article he says he criticized Sarah Palin because she depicted political targets who should be opposed in future elections with “cross-hairs” – the age-old symbol of a target. To an ultra-liberal-elite, self-serving putz like Dersh, this suggested something sinister.
Palin’s use of cross-hairs to depict political targets is just as legitimate and correct as her use of the term blood-libel, which has long since been used far beyond its original usage.
J-Street is pretending to be pro-Israel, pro-peace organization, however, the list of its donors includes a number of muslims, the founder, Soros, is anti-Israel, and J-Street activity demonstrates anti-Israel intends. The organizations advocates for division of Jerusalem, full support for Obama’s plan for Israel including 1967 border, support for Goldstone report. In other words, J-Street is an advocate for elimination of the State of Israel. Their profound ignorance in Israel and ME history and international law is astonishing. Their only motivations are money and political position close to the US government. They change their rhetoric now not because it was wrong, but because they need Israel support to represent themselves for US Jewish community and get support for their nominations to the US Senate and Congress on the next elections. And who are their nominees: “Gang of 54” anti-Israel lawmakers who signed a letter to Obama asking him to press Israel hard for more concessions. Please, for the sake of Israel and Jewish people in Israel and US, do not give J-Street legitimacy to represent Israel, as this will lead to catastrophe.
Bill, you’re twisting my words in order to make your own point.
Almost ALL Reform Rabbis ARE Leftist sycophants; that’s what they were trained to be at Hebrew Union College and that’s what the movement IS. They aren’t “at the edges” of the movement. They ARE the movement, with few exceptions. I was a member of a Reform Temple in Boca Raton for 10 years, taking the good with the bad, until the bad became unbearable. On the other side, my personal dear friend is the ex-Cantor of that Temple, along with her husband.
I have been in the audience there as David Saperstein, head of the Reform movement in the USA spoke – on the Bima – of “women’s rights” and “social justice”, which is code for socialism. We already have social justice. Everybody has the same shot at success. But to them, social justice is “affirmative action”, social injustice where some have a better shot than others because of race or who they sleep with. I have seen MY head Reform Rabbi sign a petition (one of 387 rabbis in 2006) urging President Bush to not discontinue funding the new Hamas government in Gaza in order maintain dialogue. Not that Hamas might, just might, use the money to fund arms and operations that kill Israeli Jews.
The membership is not monolithic of course, but in a way not dissimilar to the Trinity United Church of Chicago, they are having poison poured into their heads by the people they look up to as Rabbis. And at election time 2004, these unmonolithic congregants were parading around with flashing Kerry/Edwards buttons while the 1% of us who were Republicans had to stay silent in order to avoid polemics and more….
As for Obama, Barack is as Arabic a name as Hussein. And though I don’t ascribe to the belief that Obama is a Muslim today, you can bet your last Looney that he was BORN a Muslim as per Muslim law, to a Muslim father. You can bet your second-last Looney that his Muslim step-father registered him in school in Indonesia as a Muslim, and although (now) Barry Soetoro attended the Christian half of a Muslim/Christian school, he read the Koran every day for the YEARS he was there – as was required in Indonesia.
Today, I believe Obama is only a Christian for packaging purposes. Everything about him is for packaging purposes. I believe he is a non-religious, soulless, self-serving narcissist who wants to re-make the USA, not because it’s good for our country but in order that he be adored by the rest of the world. He is an Obamanian, a believer and lover of Obama, as are his sycophants. But you cannot remove all that Islam from his blood or his memory. Perhaps that’s why he so badly wants to be loved by Muslims – or maybe he’s still seeking the love of the two Muslim fathers who abandoned him (before his atheist mother did).
Worst of all, this is where the majority of Jews find themselves today in America (It’s much better in Canada). On the Leftist road to non-judgmental, equal, tolerant, assimilationist oblivion. For a jew who is a tiny bit cognisant of his own history of persecution to throw his support behind a person with a personal history like Obama has, says it all.
Perry, I disagree with your painting all reform Rabbis and congregants as leftist sycophants and especially with your saying to be leftist is to not be a Jew.
Reform Jews generally speaking are of liberal to left wing minds. Reform Rabbis and synagogue boards do in varying degrees make social justice activism for society as a whole, part of their calling and agendas.
Those Reform Jewish leaders at the far edges of left wing thinking call themselves Progressive Reform Jews. I think it is they whom you really have in mind, as their thinking re: the Israel vs. Palestinian conflict sometimes seem to approach the thinking of the more extreme left wingers in society as a whole.
Not all Reform Jewish congregants however, agree with the social politics of their Rabbis and leaders or their leaders’ views on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, just as not all Orthodox congregants seek to be as Orthodox as their Rabbis.
The largest Jewish congregation in the States and Canada, from what I can tell is what one might very loosely describe as the congregation of detached, apathetic and complacent Jews.
Referring to Obama by his middle name in the context you have, is unbecoming. If you want to weigh into the issue of whether Obama is a Muslim or not, an ill advised excercise at best, doing so through the back door of innuendo, does not reflect well on you.
“What is troubling is that mainstream Jewish organizations have not called out J Street for what it is long ago and expressed displeasure with Obama”
– Bill Narvey
Bill, I have lived in Canada and in the US. Fundamentally, Canadian Jews are more conservative than their American counterparts. Canadians hold onto traditions more, and when they go to pray, the majority go to an Orthodox synagogue. In the USA, Reform is the the branch most “Jews” participate in. And Reform preaches all of the things necessary to the destruction of Judaism – multi-culturalism first and foremost, followed by abortion, moral relativism, etc. Reform Jews are umbilically attached to the Leftist Democrat party, the party whose membership polls at 48% who believe Israel is an ally of the USA. (If you remove the Jews from that membership, what would the percentage be? 35%?)
By and large, American Jews are Leftist sycophants, not Jews. They vote for a Democrat named Hussein who puts his boot on Netanyahu’s neck and they are convinced that empowering Palestinians will bring peace in the Middle East. When Michael Savage (a Jew) declared Liberalism a mental disorder, it was certainly American Jews who were the basis for his statement.
In America, “mainstream Jewish” is SOLIDLY Leftist and Dhimmicrat.
Has anyone checked whether or not they qualify for a “Tax-Free” organization? Being so political could disqualify them.
Is this the same Dersh who in defending O.J. said of Ron Goldman: “One less waiter”? The same bilious and envious Dersh who called for the murder of Judge Goldstone? The same Dersh who called for the extermination of the “filthy shvatz goyim” (i.e. Palestinians). Nobody corrupts and endangers more Jews than Dersh.
It has long been known by mainstream Jewish organizations that J Street is a lobby for the Democratic Party in general and for the Obama Administration in particular, a point Dershowitz unreservedly makes.
Obama embraces J Street of course and invited that organization to his July, 2009 get together with Jewish leaders at the WH.
What is troubling is that mainstream Jewish organizations have not called out J Street for what it is long ago and expressed displeasure with Obama for his treating this faux pro-Israel organization on par with mainstream Jewish organizations.
Its not too late. Maybe Dershowitz’s article might be used to prod truly pro-Israel Jewish organizations into doing what they should have done about J Street long ago.