Anti-Semite (By Jeanette Pontacq, Don Deane Publisher)

[norml]

Anti-Semite
By Jeanette Pontacq, Don Deane Publisher


Have you ever been called an anti-semite, or heard a good friend labeled as such? I have, recently, because I have a column in the Coastal Post. The slur was thrown at me, and at the owner of the paper, because a long-standing CP writer consistently criticizes Israeli policies and treatment of the Palestinian people within the Occupation.
Unfortunately, such labels are too often casually, but deliberately, attached to anyone, gentile or Jew, contesting the present U.S. public policy of total and unquestioning support for whatever Israel's government wants or does. Even here in bucolic West Marin, too many automatically equate a desire for honest information and debate on the Israeli-Palestinian issue as a sign of anti-semitism - rather than a rational need now missing in making good public policy.

This label of anti-semitism is a powerful weapon, used unsparingly to attempt to stop those who either criticize Israel's actions or argue that pro-Israel groups have significant influence over US Middle East policies. In other words, criticize Israeli policies and you are, by definition, an anti-semite. The end result is that real debate is stifled on this issue, both within the halls of government and even, potentially, in West Marin.

This virulent weapon is a tactic taught and used by the "Israeli Lobby." The Lobby (as described by Professors Mearsheimer and Walt, March 2006) "is shorthand for the loose coalition of individuals and organizations who actively work to steer US foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction. This is not meant to suggest that the Lobby is a unified movement with a central leadership, or that individuals within it do not disagree on certain issues. Of course, the majority of Jewish Americans are not part of the Lobby."

The majority of Jewish Americans do not even agree with this far-right strategy. The Lobby exists and acts swiftly and surely to kill public debate or any attempt by government or media at even-handedness on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. It has been wildly successful.


snip


http://www.coastalpost.com/06/08/20a_.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. A reverse "J'Accuse".

(Literary allusion to essay by Emil Zola in defense of Captain Dreyfus in the 19th Century in France, who was imprisoned on trumped-up charges, but the real crime he committed was being Jewish in a high military rank. He was sentenced to Devil's Island.)

[norml]

3. You only say that because you're a...

...Francophobe!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=francophobe&btnG=Search

:P

[Poll_Blind]

2. The "anti-Semite" and "self-loathing" labels are used to shut down...

...discussion and threaten anyone who disagrees with them be they Gentile or Jew.

PB

[jonnyblitz]

4. don't forget the tactic of bringing up the holocaust

to guilt people into shutting up even if it is irrelevant to the current situation. this tactic has been used here, too.

[xchrom]

5. that phrase has kept me

from even caring much about the current conflict -- or venturing much in the way of thought about it.

the obviousness of it's use -- the way the government lines up behind the blanket support of israel -- the way history about the modern middle east is presented and controlled.

but what ever.

[warrens]

6. To some people...

If Israel nuked Egypt tomorrow, turned it to glass, and someone said that it seemed a bit of an overreaction by IDF, that would be clear hatred of Jews coming out.

Some people will excuse ANYTHING if Israel does it. And use the usual freeper trick of saying that disapproval of Israel means you're a Hezbollah supporter. Remember, if you oppose the Iraq war, you're a Saddam and Osama lover. Period.

[earth mom]

7. It's called staying on message-the reTHUGS also use it well.

Well, this is my message:

I do not support any nations killing of innocents. Period! :grr:

[gula]

8. Not only that, I have actually been accused of pulling

gold fillings from Jews killed during the holocaust. FYI I was born in 1953.

Amazing what a germanic accent can bring out in people.

[norml]

10. Maybe they were anti-dentites?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22anti-dentite%22&btnG=Google+Search

[YOY]

9. In the long run such false accusations might cause those with little

experience in dealing with diverse crowds who are accused of antisemitism to actually BECOME antisemitist.