[Peace-discuss] Commentary from Chicago Tribune on anti-Semitism

[Green, David]

This timely editorial is in today's Chicago Tribune. Emily Hauser is an
Israeli citizen and converted Jew who spoke last week at a forum on
anti-Semitism at the U. of Chicago. I assume this is based on her remarks. I
hope to obtain a copy of the tape of this forum, which included three other
speakers.

 

David Green

 

On anti-semitism and criticism of Israel



By Emily L. Hauser. Emily L. Hauser lives in Oak Park


Published December 9, 2002

Does anti-Semitism exist? Of course. There have always been people who
object to the peculiar religion of the Jews. People who believe that we are
by nature power-hungry, evil.

Sadly, in the face of this, the fear of anti-Semitism has become one of the
Jewish people's few unifiers. We long ago stopped agreeing on how to worship
God, educate our children, or treat women. About the only positions over
which most Jews are near agreement are: 1) the Holocaust proved that Jews
are never entirely safe, and 2) Israel is Good. For those who might waver in
the latter, the former is referenced as corroborating evidence. Ethnic
anxiety (to paraphrase Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic)
has become virtually our only proof of authenticity.

Yet, does this mean, can it possibly mean, that any criticism of any Jew is,
by definition, anti-Semitic? The term assumes baseless hatred, and allows us
to summarily reject anything it touches. But if I do wrong, and someone
points it out, isn't the wrong still mine, even (and this is very important)
if that someone hates me?

We take the easy way out when we conflate criticism of Israel's government
with anti-Semitism. If all criticism of Israel comes from a place of
baseless hatred (or, in the case of Jews who express it themselves, typical
self-loathing) then we needn't consider it, hold it to the light and examine
its contents. The accusation of anti-Semitism thus consistently serves to
paralyze thought within the Jewish community, as McCarthyism once did within
American society.

Much as I can't believe that as a loyal American, I'm not allowed to
criticize the American government, I also can't believe that as a loyal
Israeli, I mustn't criticize, or brook criticism of, the Israeli government.
Being in a state of war doesn't make governments incapable of error, nor
does war itself justify every action a government takes. When we elevate
Israeli politicians and generals to the kind of infallibility that assumes
that criticism can only be made with evil intent, we remove them from
history, reality, the very normalcy to which Israeli founding father David
Ben-Gurion is said to have aspired. To say that Israel is held to a higher
standard than most is equally ahistorical. Humanity has never been anything
but inconsistent in judging friends and foes--Israel has been held to
standards higher than some, and lower than others. The question should not
be: Are we being treated fairly? Are we allowed to be as bad as the next
guy? But: How do we do good? How do we behave with fairness?

Having said that, I will agree that some of Israel's critics are flat-out,
flaming anti-Semites. But the bigger truth is that some of the people who
criticize us from a place of hatred aren't anti-Semitic--they just plain
hate us.

It's very popular, in Israel and the diaspora, to discuss anti-Semitism in
Palestinian schools. The enduring appeal of the Protocols of the Elders of
Zion is frequently cited. Following the suicide bombing at Hebrew
University, many Jews pointed out that most of the Jews killed there weren't
Israeli--the target was Jews, qua Jews, they said.

And yet. Isn't there a difference between, say, an American blaming "the
Jews" for the world's ills, and a Palestinian--told over and over that
Israel is a Jewish state, for all Jews, everywhere, eternally--who blames
"the Jews" for the ills his countrymen suffer? Is it baseless hatred--or
hatred based in 35 years of my boot on his neck? Why do we want to believe
that the Palestinians wouldn't notice how badly we've treated them if no one
were to point it out? Do we honestly believe they hate us so much for our
peculiar religion that they would rather die, than see us live?

It's true that this hatred, the kind found in every conflict ever launched
between peoples, often takes on classically anti-Semitic expression among
Arabs generally. It's further true that if any Arabs hope to achieve
reconciliation with Israel, they will have to learn to respect our
sensitivities, recognize them as legitimate (2,000 years of persecution
don't just go away) and find a new vocabulary. To draw any comparison, for
instance, between Israel and Nazi Germany is ghastly and repellent--and it
frees us to reject anything else the speaker may say.

In all honesty, though, personally, I don't care if the critics of Israeli
policies are anti-Semitic. I don't care if the Europeans, Americans, or
Palestinians like me--at this point, I'd be surprised if the Palestinians
did. As an Israeli, what must matter to me is the morality of my country's
actions, regardless of personal feelings of pique. We need to examine our
history fearlessly, and find a way to right the many wrongs we have
committed. Rather than hide behind our fears, I want to have the strength to
do the right thing.


Copyright (c) 2002,  <http://www.chicagotribune.com/> Chicago Tribune 

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