[Imc-radio] IMC & anti-Semitism

[C. G. Estabrook]

Last night's IMC News included a long section on anti-Semitism that seemed
to me to pose several problems.

[1] The suppressed premise seemed to be that all but the most glancing
criticisms of Israel were necessarily anti-Semitic.  Would the reporter
admit that one could say, "Israel is a racist state," without being a
racist or anti-Semite?  

[2] Specifically, it was at least strongly implied that the publication of
an anti-Semitic letter by the DI was itself necessarily an anti-Semitic
act. I don't agree.

[3] The reporter listed a number of slogans purportedly seen at rallies
(on campus?).  They ranged from the clearly anti-Semitic ("Hitler should
have finished the job") to others that seemed to assert more defensible
views.  Yet "the signs" were treated an anti-Semitic whole in questions to
respondents.

[4] Virginia Rep. Jim Moran's remarks were treated as obviously
anti-Semitic.  (Admittedly, the feckless Democratic leadership in Congress
did the same thing)  Alex Cockburn offers a defense at
<www.counterpunch.org/cockburn03152003.html>.

[5] Finally, regarding Jewish students feeling "uncomfortable" in the
anti-war movement, I'm immodest enough to refer to my piece in the last
public I (reprinted at <www.counterpunch.org/estabrook02262003.html>) and
the remarks of Professor Stanley Hoffman, who descried four groups
pressing the Bush policy, the last being

"...a loose collection of friends of Israel, who believe in the identity
of interests between the Jewish state and the United States -- two
democracies that, they say, are both surrounded by foes and both forced to
rely on military power to survive.  These analysts look at foreign policy
through the lens of one dominant concern: Is it good or bad for Israel?
Since that nation's founding in 1948, these thinkers have never been in
very good odor at the State Department, but now they are well ensconced in
the Pentagon, around such strategists as Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and
Douglas Feith."

I think there are reasons other than anti-Semitism for those who hold such
views to be uncomfortable in the anti-war movement.

Regards, Carl
  ==============
  Carl Estabrook
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [MC-190]
  109 Observatory, 901 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana IL 61801 USA
  office: 217.244.4105 mobile: 217.369.5471 home: 217.359.9466
  <www.carlforcongress.org>
  ======================================================================= 
  The anti-Arab racism that has become so familiar as to be unnoticed has
  been accompanied by apparent concern over anti-Semitism; that the
  qualification is accurate is evident from a closer look at the revision
  that the concept of anti-Semitism has undergone in the process. 
  There have long been efforts to identify anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism
  in an effort to exploit anti-racist sentiment for political ends; 
  "one of the chief tasks of any dialogue with the Gentile world is to
  prove that the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is not
  a distinction at all," Israeli diplomat Abba Eban argued, in a typical
  expression of this intellectually and morally disreputable position. 
  But that no longer suffices. It is now necessary to identify criticism
  of Israeli policies as anti-Semitism -- or in the case of Jews, 
  as "self-hatred," so that all possible cases are covered.
  	--Noam Chomsky, Necessary Illusions
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