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The book-Burners Boast Editor's Note: Look at the last pargraph.  Fighting Jewish anti-Semitism 12.22.2006 | The Jewish Advocate By Shulamit Reinharz Shulamit Reinharz is the Jacob Potofsky Professor of Sociology at Brandeis University, where she founded the Women's Studies Research Center and The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (hbi@brandeis.edu). Anti-Semitism is an extremely old phenomenon that began, probably, about 50 years after the execution of Jesus by the Romans. Scholars have classified types of anti-Semitism, including racial, religious, economic and political, among others. But there is another form that flourishes today – Jewish anti-Semitism. It seems like a contradiction in terms, but it is not. In fact, Jewish anti-Semitism is particularly troublesome because it seems to corroborate the views of anti-Semitic non-Jews. This month, the American Jewish Committee, founded 100 years ago and devoted, among other things, to combating anti-Semitism, published "'Progressive' Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism," an essay by Alvin H. Rosenfeld, professor of English and Jewish Studies and director of the Institute for Jewish Culture and the Arts at Indiana University. Rosenfeld writes that Jewish anti-Semitism includes both disdain for fellow Jews and hatred for Israel. Contemporary communications vehicles make it particularly easy for anti-Semitic Jews to disseminate their ideas. They publish books. They use the web. They go on speaking tours. They seem to be respectable. Most would say that they are simply anti-Zionists, not anti-Semites. But I disagree, because in a world where there is only one Jewish state, to oppose it vehemently is to endanger Jews. These are not stupid people. But which part of their smarts do you accept? In other words, if you accept Noam Chomsky's linguistic theories, do you have to accept his Middle East theories? If you like Tony Kushner's plays, do you have to like his book on Zionism? If you admire Adrienne Rich's poetry, do you have to accept her view that "Zionism needs to dissolve"? Unfortunately, the kudos people such as these receive for their work gives their political views undeserved credibility. This summer in Europe, I came face-to-face with Jewish anti-Zionism when a Jewish radio journalist for a Berlin-based broadcast interviewed me. After the interview turned into a conversation, I asked her about her own views as a European Jew. She told me that she had officially renounced her "Right to Return" in a public ceremony (The Law of Return, established in 1950, gives every Jew the right to immigrate to the Israel) in order to challenge the country's Zionist ideology. I later learned that other so-called "progressive" Jews make this announcement for a son at the brit milah ceremony. Jewish anti-Semitism/Zionism has major mouthpieces in England (Jacqueline Rose), Canada (Michael Neumann), the United States. (Tony Judt, Alisa Solomon, Seth Farber, Joel Kovel, and Sara Roy), and Israel (Yuval Yonay and Ilan Pappe), countries that protect freedom of expression. Strangely, Pappe claims that "Israel silences those who attack the Zionist mythic narrative." But Pappe is not silenced – he teaches in Israel, receives a salary from the University of Haifa (which is supported by the state), and speaks all over the world. Rosenfeld names and offers cited quotations of Jewish anti-Zionists who teach on American campuses and label themselves "progressive." Among the group are Irena Klepfisz at Barnard College, Norman Finkelstein at DePaul University, and Marc Ellis at Baylor University. Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, a public intellectual, has consistently won the praises of scholars for her work about Jewish life, Jewish power, and lesbian issues. She also co-organized, with a Palestinian Arab, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, a public demonstration on the steps of the New York Public Library. Rosenfeld mentions journalists, including Richard Cohen of the Washington Post, who wrote the following on July 18: "The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake. It is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims (and some Christians) has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now. " What is to be done? Rosenfeld does not address this point. The only solutions I can imagine are to write back, speak back, teach back and fight back. Hand-wringing, inaction and silence will not help. Let all Jews who are truly progressive, liberal, not self-hating and not anti-Zionist develop a clear set of ideas to address these individuals specifically. Let organizations that fight anti-Semitism have special divisions to combat Jewish anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. Address the books and lectures head on, as Amazon.com did when it refused to advertise Finkelstein's "Beyond Chutzpah." Sue for libel. Engage our fellow Jews and provide a new model of clarity, courage, and sanity. SHARE THIS POST:     |
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  What we can do:
Video: On the place of civility in academic life (10.18.2007) Finkelstein's talk at the academic freedom conference Tenure Denial Letters (June - November, 2007) On How Actual Survivors Were Cheated by Jewish Organizations:
Communication for Middle East Journal. (02.19.2006) Alleged Errors in Beyond Chutzpah. (2005) MEMRI NAZIS (again) (10.23.2006)  New evidence of old lies (2005) Under the heading DIABOLICAL PLOTS, I stated in Beyond Chutzpah...    Articles and Reviews Related to The Holocaust Industry  Preface to German edition of The Rise and Fall of Palestine Postscript to German edition of The Rise and Fall of Palestine The Dershowitz File:
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