From Infidel753:
What Ilhan Omar did earlier this month — invoking an old anti-Semitic trope about shady rich international Jews manipulating politics behind the scenes with money — was at least as bad as posing in blackface, as Northam did. And it was contemporary, not from 35 years ago, representing her current views rather than some juvenile stupidity which intervening decades of maturity might have washed away. Pelosi and the rest of the party leadership were right to come down on her like a ton of bricks about it. This once again draws a clear line between Democrats, who will not and cannot tolerate such bigotry in their ranks, and Republicans, who almost never condemn the constant barrage of bigotry of all kinds from their own, notably from Trump himself.
Omar’s apology was unequivocal, and I’m willing to cut her some slack on this, especially since she came to the US in 1995 as a refugee from Somalia and may have been genuinely unaware of some of the history of anti-Semitic propaganda memes in the West. But if she ever does anything like this again, the leadership must force her to resign. We are not the Republicans.
People are very quick to assume intentions. Might an anti-Semitic person say things like “It’s all about the Benjamins baby” and “Israel has hypnotized the world”? Yes. Is anti-Semitism the only possible reason for saying such things? Hardly. I didn’t think twice about either of these tweets until someone suggested that I should have a problem with them because they are secret code for something more.
The term “dog-whistle” is applied far too frequently to innocent and normal comments, usually by people all too eager to take offense or stir up trouble when they can’t find something more concrete or important to criticize. There’s no consistency to the identification of it and it’s not clear why it really matters anyway. All the concern about it mostly seems to foster paranoia.
Ryan,
All the concern about it mostly seems to foster paranoia.
Indeed.
It seems we may be too insensitive. I was informed I was “Israel-bashing” for following this line of thinking.
“How do we criticize AIPAC and the Israeli far Right without being called antisemitic?” I mentioned we get this from the Right every time we dare broach the topic.
I suppose it didn’t help when I compared Israeli/Palestinian history with US/Native American history.
Perhaps that was going too far. Apparently my insensitivity clashed with a certain sensitivity, so communication was ended on the matter.
I remain a fan and admirer of the author, but mutual regards seemed to have been eroded.
The author in question has a particular way of handling conversations that he does not wish to have: deleting comments, declaring them irrelevant or uninteresting or insulting the author of the comment, and appealing to his ownership of the blog as justification. Some time ago, I pursued a different, entirely inoffensive subject and was met with the same sort of response. I also remain a fan and perceive that we agree on most matters, but it is difficult to put that treatment out of my mind, so I no longer read his blog except where it comes up here.
I don’t have a horse in this particular race: I have neither love for Islam nor hatred for Israel and I am no less likely to question the validity of accusations of anti-black racism as I am to question the validity of accusations of anti-Jew racism. I am just troubled by the Left’s growing sensitivity and eagerness to condemn, which, on top of being wrong, fuels the Right and distracts from much more important issues. I thought certain writers were above it.
Again, the distinction between antisemetism (or “Israel bashing”) and anti-Zionism must be made. Given how rapidly and reliably antisemetism accusations erupt in response to ANY criticism of Israel, it’s important to articulate the obvious, that there’s a difference between Israeli citizens and the extremist, reactionary leadership that governs Israel. Criticizing the latter does not imply criticizing the former.
In the US, we are experts at using and being used by divisive shibboleths that, by design, prevent examination of issues that lead to real solutions (think “Love it or leave it” or “You’re either with us or against us”). Knee-jerk cries of “antisemetism” are no different.
In Israel, as in the USA, average citizens are questioning with greater scrutiny and frequency the criminal backgrounds and actions of corrupt leadership. Far from being “anti-Israeli” or “anti-American”, such criticism, whether it comes from within or from outside a country, is an invaluable contribution to the slow awakening that is occurring in both countries.