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STRANGE SYMBIOSIS – ISRAEL & ANTI-SEMITISM
Antiwar.com ^ | December 28, 2001 | Justin Raimondo

Posted on 12/29/2001 12:08:08 AM PST by H.R. Gross

Behind the Headlines
by Justin Raimondo
Antiwar.com

December 28, 2001

STRANGE SYMBIOSIS – ISRAEL & ANTI-SEMITISM
That 'sh*tty little country' is dangerous – to its allies, and to Jews everywhere

As Israel prepares to expel its Arab helots from Palestine, its "amen corner" worldwide is also on the march, excoriating anyone who looks cross-eyed at Ariel Sharon as an "anti-Semite." The latest front in this campaign is England, where Barbara Amiel, wife of media magnate Conrad Black, went on a rampage in the Telegraph, claiming that, at a recent dinner party, the French ambassador referred to Israel as "that sh*tty little country," and wondered why the world had to be dragged to the edge of World War III on account of it. On the basis of evidence gleaned at ritzy cocktail parties, says Ms. Amiel, the world is experiencing a revival of anti-Semitism, which is now "respectable" again.

OSAMA ON MTV?

Oh, please! Does she really expect us to believe that Osama's infamous videos denouncing the "Jews and Crusaders" are the "in" thing with the hip cognoscenti? Lay off the crack pipe, lady, and get real: anti-Semitism is less respectable than pedophilia. After all, hordes of people aren't buying The Protocols of the Elder of Zion the way they're snatching up those Abercrombie & Fitch catalogs, now are they? Amiel's essay is just one breathtaking inversion of reality after another. Getta load-a this:

"For the past 25 years, I've watched sad-faced Israeli activists trudge around Western capitals with heavy hearts beating under ill-fitting suits. They carry folders of transcripts and videotapes to document the misrepresentations in the press and the moral hypocrisy of the world towards Israel. They want to win the war of ideas on its merits. Their attention to detail in translating the hate literature of the Middle East and the hate-filled speeches of its leaders is commendable."

FOLLOW THE MONEY

One can only wonder what "Western capitals" she means: surely not Washington, D.C. Everyone acknowledges that the Israel lobby is among the most powerful in the Imperial City. How else have they managed to get their hands on a grand total of $90 billion-plus in American military and economic aid since Israel's inception?

A STRANGE IRONY

Aside from US exporters, Israel is the single largest beneficiary of our "foreign aid" program: US tax dollars paid for a booby-trap bomb planted near an Arab elementary school, which blasted a group of Palestinian children – children! – to bits. American tax dollars also pay for Israeli "settlements" inhabited by violent, fanatical fundamentalists intent on provoking war no matter what. This image of sad bedraggled little underdogs making their rounds, desperately fighting an uphill battle against overwhelming odds, is nothing but a bad joke – either that, or it is meant to be ironic.

I SHOULD BE SO POWERLESS

If the Israeli lobby is so powerless, then why this American largesse? We not only arm Israel, but we also prop up their sh*tty little socialist economy with constant infusions of cash. Whatever those Israeli "activists" are carrying around in their folders, whatever is on those videotapes, it must be some pretty powerful stuff. Given the Fox News revelations about the extent of Israeli spying in the US, I don't even want to hazard a guess as to what's in them.

THE ONEIDA PURGE

They want to "win the war of ideas on its merits"? Tell that to Jean Ryan, former managing editor of the Oneida (NY) Daily Dispatch, and city editor Dale Seth (a 15-year veteran of the paper), who were both fired when a delegation of Israel Firsters approached the editor and then the owner demanding the paper retract an allegedly "anti-Semitic" post-9/11 editorial written by Seth. Seth's crime was to recall the terrorist origins of the Jewish state – as if no one had ever heard of the Irgun and the Stern Gang, both of which waged war on the Arab civilian population – and without which the state of Israel would never have come into existence. He also made the true but politically incorrect observation that the whole region is rife with religious fanaticism, and Israel is no exception to the rule:

"The United States, through its close association with Israel since its inception, has now been dragged kicking and screaming right into the middle of that centuries-old Middle Eastern conflict. From that position, it would behoove that party in the middle to consider the hearts of the warring parties. Neither can be simply beat into submission."

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER

A local attorney, Randy Schaal, demanded a meeting with Ryan to protest the editorial: Ryan refused to meet with him, pointing out that that if the staff met with everyone who disagreed with an editorial, they would never get a paper out. She told him to write a letter to the editor, which he did. But Schaal also contacted local politicians, as well as the Anti-Defamation League, and it wasn't long before pressure was brought to bear on the paper's management, which then ordered its editors to come up with a "clarification." This was published alongside Schaal's letter, a letter from Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), and a missive from the mayor of Oneida. Still, Schaal and his fellow Ameners weren't satisfied. They went to the President of the Journal Register Co., and demanded a retraction and an apology: it was unconditional surrender, or nothing.

GROVELING TOWARD BETHLEHEM

After a series of meetings with various self-appointed representatives of the Jewish community, the owners of the Daily Dispatch caved and published a groveling mea culpa: "We understand many felt [the editorial] expressed anti-Semitic sentiments," it said. "We will not further offend our readers by attempting in any way to justify what was written; we can only assure readers that The Dispatch is not anti-Semitic and that we acknowledge the editorial should not have been published."

So much for the Israeli lobby winning the war of ideas on the "merits" of their case. Clearly, another strategy is at work here: not debating their opponents but silencing them.

ODE TO BRUTE FORCE

The rest of Amiel's essay is really a kind of paean to the efficacy of brute force. While those poor bedraggled Israeli "activists" may have been fighting an uphill battle, according to Amiel, in the post-9/11 era the tide seems to be turning, and she can hardly keep herself from gloating that now the Arabs are really going to get it:

"Powerful as the truth may be, it needs a nudge from 16,000lb daisy cutter bombs once in a while. The Arab/Muslim world's intransigence comes into sharper focus when we see the Americans liberate Afghanistan from the Taliban in six weeks and a cornered Arafat unable to go to the bathroom without the risk of being blown into the next world."

PSYCHOPATHIA SEXUALIS

Here is the kind of Zionist who clearly enjoys the brutality and indignity of the Israeli occupation. Such people now feel free to publicly exhibit and even flaunt their perversity, which seems like something straight out of Kraft-Ebbing. What else can one call Amiel's odd interest in controlling Arafat's bowel movements other than a sh*tty little perversion?

THE TERRORISTIC IMPERATIVE

"Nothing succeeds like powerful bombs," exults this war goddess, "as bin Laden explained in his latest video release. 'When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse,' he said." How natural for her to approvingly cite bin Laden on the terroristic imperative: but then that is what tribal warfare is all about, no matter which side one fights on.

CHOO-CHOO

Yes, it is force, not reason or negotiation, that is decisive, avers Ms. Amiel, who gleefully predicts that "All those people badmouthing the Jews and Israel will quieten down." Or else be quieted down, involuntarily, like Jean Ryan, Dale Seth, and now perhaps Carl Cameron, of Fox News. "You are looking," Amiel continues, "at the tail end of the train but the engine has already turned a corner and is going in the opposite direction" – and anyone who shows up at one of those ritzy parties she's always attending had better get on board, or else.

AMIEL'S JIHAD

No one would think to label denunciations of, say, Robert Mugabe, as the equivalent of anti-black racism: but we are expected to just accept that virtually all criticism of Israel and Ariel Sharon is due to "anti-Semitism." Amiel's blatantly dishonest and self-serving jihad is naturally bound to cause resentment among all thinking people – an emotion that could, easily, turn into genuine anti-Semitism. But that, I believe, is the point: anti-Semitism serves the interests of the most extreme wing of the Zionist movement, and always has.

100 YEARS AFTER DREYFUSS

Founded as it is on the permanence of Jewish victimology, and the idea that anti-Semitism is inevitable, Zionism thrives when Jewish persecution grows. It is a natural tendency of Zionist propaganda to exaggerate hostility to Jews. The founder of Zionism, Theodore Herzl, was confirmed in his opinion that it was "futile" to combat anti-Semitism when the infamous Dreyfuss case was at the center of a storm of controversy. Today, however, with the rapid decline and marginalization of anti-Semitism everywhere but in the Middle East, the pressing need for a Jewish state requires more justification.

WHY A JEWISH STATE?

Anti-Semitism in the West, as "hate crime" statistics and other research has shown in recent years, is practically nonexistent. This good news was hailed by Jewish organizations in the US when it was first announced, but the extreme Zionists were no doubt made uneasy. For if anti-Jewish prejudice is distinctly beyond the pale, at least in the civilized world, i.e., the West, then what do we need a Jewish state for? This is a question many Jews, when faced with an appeal to emigrate to Israel, must ask themselves, and, at least up until Ms. Amiel's outburst, the Zionists have had no good answer. Now they appear to have solved the problem by simply redefining "anti-Semitism" to mean any criticism of Israel's expansionist policies and its current radical right-wing government.

THE OLD ANTI-SEMITISM

Anti-Semitism used to mean legal and cultural proscriptions directed against Jews. In medieval Europe, Jews were forced into ghettos, in Nazi Germany they were branded with the yellow star and exterminated, and, in America and Europe, it used to be that some establishments, both high and low, would not do business with Jews. Certain hotels and men's clubs would not admit them, and anti-Semitism was especially rife in the universities where an unofficial Jewish quota kept their numbers and influence limited. This is real anti-Semitism, and, today, it is not only illegal but socially and politically unacceptable: anyone deemed an anti-Semite in this, the original sense, is in effect a pariah, and rightly so.

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To: H.R. Gross
Hmmm. An antiwar.com(mie) poo pooing Jew hatred. Why am I not surprised?
21 posted on 12/29/2001 12:08:46 AM PST by Stultis
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To: H.R. Gross
"US tax dollars paid for a booby-trap bomb planted near an Arab elementary school, which blasted a group of Palestinian children – children! – to bits."

Uh OH, notice the typical tactic of "DO IT FOR THE CHILLLLDRRENN!". Hey, Justin Retardo, start posting in vanities and stop trying to promote opinion as fact...where's the proof that our tax dollars paid for that bomb? I also notice that you failed to mention that the booby-trap was set in an area where Palestinian militants were sniping at civilian settlers and launching mortar attacks.

Also notice how he brings up the Stern and Irgun gang, but pretends like the massacre of 200+ jews in Hebron years before these groups came about never happened, and also how he fails to mention the many Palestinian Arab terrorist acts preceding the 40's.

I could spend all day pointing out why this shouldn't be posted where it is, but I have other things to do. Anti.war and Justin Raimondobizzaro are getting so predictable it's sad...

22 posted on 12/29/2001 12:08:47 AM PST by Frances_Marion
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Comment #23 Removed by Moderator

Comment #24 Removed by Moderator

To: College Repub
Didn't they teach you to read in college? I've written five -- five! -- columns saying that the Israelis had FOREKNOWLEDGE of 911. Carl Cameron of Fox News reported the same. So wake up, kid -- and do a search. I ain't repeatin' myself....
25 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:40 AM PST by Justin Raimondo
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To: Justin Raimondo
And you know this how?
26 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:43 AM PST by College Repub
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To: Justin Raimondo
Actualy, the more you say something, the less likley it is to be true. Your 5 article propoganda set means nothing
27 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:44 AM PST by College Repub
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To: Frances_Marion
"I could spend all day pointing out why this shouldn't be posted where it is..."

Uh huh, I'm suuure you could, bubala. It's funny how the response to this column by the Amen Corner validates the column's theme: that, when faced with facts, the Ameners always turn to censorship (or, in this case, attempted censorship). Good god, even someone who denounces anti-Semitism, as I do above, isn't safe from these tribalist fanatics.

28 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:44 AM PST by Justin Raimondo
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To: College Repub
And Carl Cameron on Fox News reporting Israeli foreknowledge of 911 also means nothing, eh? Please, dude, go do your homework -- and then come back and debate with the adults.
29 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:46 AM PST by Justin Raimondo
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To: Justin Raimondo
I believe Fox quietly retracted all or most of that report. Seen or heard from Cameron lately? In any case, if i write 6 articles saying Justin Raimando enthusiasts were responsible for the WTC bombing, does that make it true because those 6 peices of BS are one more than the 5 peices of pure BS that you wrote?
30 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:47 AM PST by College Repub
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To: Justin Raimondo
Care to elaborate a bit on "PSYCHOPATHIA SEXUALIS". Where can I find more info on this as it relates to the Jews. Post me a link please Justin
31 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:47 AM PST by College Repub
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To: Justin Raimondo
I didn't agree with the Fox story, but the "spiking" of it is a travesty.

Amazing Fox will keep a confirmed liar like Geraldo Rivera around, despite many protests, yet will pull a story like Cameron's.

What a double-standard!

32 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:47 AM PST by bulldog905
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To: bulldog905
Incidently, I don't agree with spiking it either. My guess is they discovered parts of it were false and were threatend by the companies named. This happens all the time in the business world with regard to corporations. Nothing new...
33 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:52 AM PST by College Repub
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To: bulldog905
Incidently, I don't agree with spiking it either. My guess is they discovered parts of it were false and were threatend by the companies named. This happens all the time in the business world with regard to corporations. Nothing new...
34 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:52 AM PST by College Repub
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To: College Repub
Oh, and WHERE is this "retraction"? Fox News issued a statement saying "We stand by the story." Have I heard from Cameron late/y? Uh, why do you ask -- did the Amen Corner kidnap him and drag him off to Israel? Good lord, again the theme of today's column is validated by the response -- you guys are trying to create anti-Semitism, isn't that it? Or else what is the point of such stupid arrogance?
35 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:53 AM PST by Justin Raimondo
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To: Justin Raimondo
Just becuase you say something--that doesn't make it so. You are not the final authority on anything, much less the middle east conflict.
36 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:53 AM PST by College Repub
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To: Justin Raimondo
I am not calling you anti-semetic. I'm calling you a liar who makes outrageous claims and doesn't back them up with anything and then insults people who disagree with you.
37 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:54 AM PST by College Repub
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Comment #38 Removed by Moderator

To: College Repub
Of course you're not calling me anti-semitic -- you can't even SPELL it, dude! Good grief, what is the next generation coming to?
39 posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:59 AM PST by Justin Raimondo
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To: tex-oma
It's weak in the US but strong in the rest of the world. As the UN gets stronger, the EU gets stonger, and the influence of the globalists become more prevalent, the threat of anti-semitism rises.
40 posted on 12/29/2001 12:10:00 AM PST by College Repub
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