The Right is successfully exploiting fears over rising antisemitism for its reactionary crusade while the Israel-Hamas war is tearing the democratic popular front to pieces
The MSM coverage of the Israel-Hamas war is incredibly biased against Israel and your comment reflects an uncritical acceptance of this shoddy "reporting."
Consider: in the Russia-Ukraine war, we see lots of quotes from Western sources, Ukrainian sources, Russian sources, Russian bloggers, military sources from both sides. While I may disagree somewhat with the dominant "stalemate" narrative, the press has generally given readers what they need to understand the reality.
Meanwhile the mainstream press depicts Israel as a bunch of madmen out for vengeance, with no inclination or ability to strike legitimate military targets. Only in the last week have CNN or NYT got round to reporting that the IDF has in fact located and captured substantial pieces of Hamas's deep network of tunnels. If Israeli sources are quoted at all, they are expected to confirm/ defend the taking of innocent life.
Nor is the professionalism of IDF acknowledged. For example, in Vietnam, the US Army was virtually powerless to root out the tunnels that the Viet Cong dug, particularly in Cu Chi province; what the IDF has done will be studied in military service academies around the world. And it goes without saying -- though it should not -- that IDF does not, at least on the ground, attack, rape, or torture civilians, while Hamas actually celebrates such conduct.
Furthermore, no one seems to be emphasizing how Hamas is treating Gazan civilians. Hamas does NOT allow civilians to take shelter in the tunnels, which are well supplied with food, fuel, and electricity that civilians can't obtain. Hamas deliberately provoked a massive Israeli response, and Hamas wants to maximize the effect of that response on Gaza's civilians so that it can continue to win the propaganda war. That ought to be a big part of the story, too.
I take issue with the pro-Israel liberals and conservatives smearing anyone that is critical of Israel as antisemitic. With 1.9million people displaced, 500 thousand starving, and over 20,000 dead Arabs, a rise in antisemitism seems inevitable. Not to mention, Joe Biden has essentially made us all here in the States complicit in the complete devastation. We need to be able to discuss things openly in the media and with our peers without disgustingly being smeared as an antisemite.
Thank you for putting Elise Stefanik into context. Yes or No? The answer is correct: she is no, she is not leading a good-faith effort to fight antisemitism, "She is engaged in a cynical attempt to use Jews to suppress speech that reactionaries don’t like.. and punish those the Right sees as the enemy within. "
I really appreciate this article. As someone who has experienced the right wing hate machine and all it's power spin a narrative and have the mainstream media pick it up and repeat it personally your thoughtful unpacking of this incident and phenomenon is so welcome.
I've been feeling very uneasy about the hearing and subsequent widespread condemnation of the 3 university presidents. You have nailed it! I particularly appreciate your explanation of how it's not only anti-university (anti-intellectual), but also anti-democrary. Brilliant! Thank You!
It’s true that some on the Left have allowed their anti-Israel rhetoric to cross a line into antisemitism. It’s important to recognize, though, that the Israeli government has promoted the conflation of all Jews with the Israeli state for decades. The only way anti-Israel sentiment could possibly be construed as antisemitic or genocidal is if you accept this premise. Netanyahu clearly does, and has said that all criticism of Israel is antisemitic. Stefanik proved that she does by equating the call for intifada with genocide, a claim that is patently false but that most media outlets have also accepted at face value. Biden has said many times that Jewish people are not safe unless Israel is there to protect them. All of this comes back to the bigoted assumption that Jews must belong to a foreign state, that they are not welcome in ours.
Agree with a lot in this piece but we’re not going to solve these big issues anytime soon. All we can do is get active and engage as many voters as possible in the six swing states and everywhere else. Get involved. It’s not too late.
Thank you for this. I was appalled by the show hearing because it was so obviously in bad faith. Also I think the universities should have resisted the House trying to assert jurisdiction over private schools’ internal rules. These situations are so obviously dependent on the specific facts. You can’t make blanket statements.
It’s interesting how they had to use anti-black racism to revive antisemitism. Of course antisemitism was not dying out, but it had lessened and then it was revived using antiblack racism. Yet it is very surprising that so far the fear STILL doesn’t flow to the type of individuals--the white supremacists--who were the source of the European threat to Nazis. Nobody seems TRULY afraid of the exact people who did all the damage the last time. You see very wealthy people who say they concerned with antisemitism support Trump, support the people on the Supreme Court who are tied to Harlan Crow. You see people floating excuses for white dudes who collect Nazi memorabilia. We truly have a ‘the Nazis are coming’ situation in America and yet there are very few stories in the main newspapers about the huge white supremacism problem we face, very few outcries about Trump eating with Nazis. This should be a story every day. This is the looming threat. But practically everyone is muddying the waters, refusing to connect the dots. They were the ones who did it LAST TIME but somehow the fact they are continually doing things NOW has not become a major theme across the media, has not seemed to be significant to law enforcement, the media, etc. Is this because the GOP needs to be presented in a both sides tableau and being too vocal about their ties to the far right--the exact same type of people who were the threat LAST TIME--will tar the GOP. Then they can’t do both sides? I don’t get it.
As someone struggling to understand what is going on in a world that appears to be collapsing, shattering or shifting. I am very thankful for your writings.
This article by Jewish Voices for Peace addresses another way in which the establishment Left is failing to address these exact issues badly. I'm not antisemitic but I don't support the wholesale slaughter of civilians being underwritten by my tax dollars. And it shouldn't be as controversial for me to say that as it increasingly has become since Oct 7. Which sucks because it's my birthday. One more reason to stop celebrating birthdays (for me).
I agree with all of that including the birthday comment, I think we can just celebrate Tuesdays 🍻
Not birthdays
I respect the hell out of Jewish voices for peace & Not in my Name squads.
I am adamantly against the Israeli apartheid state and their genocide. And the zionists, and murderous thieving settlers. And our American government support of this horrible shit.
And I do see leftists crossing the line into what sounds more like fuck Jewish people and Judaism. I stand with all my brothers and sisters and non gender conforming too of all races religions and whatever unless they support genocide & hatred.
This article is chock full thought provoking ideas. Another great addition by Prof Zimmer. I especially love the weaving of antisemitism into the larger American tapestry of hate and how it is used by the right. Antisemitism is and has always been a problem, but so is anti-blackness, anti-Islam, anti-LGBTQ, anti-trans, and of course, anti-intellectualism. I don’t think you can fully understand any of these realities without understanding how they are related and part of a larger effort to undermines pluralism. As Prof Zimmer noted, “fears over antisemitism are being leveraged to legitimize the radicalizing reactionary mobilization against egalitarian democracy more broadly.” The same can be said of anti-blackness, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Islam, anti-trans, and anti-intellectualism. They work in tandem in their perennial fight against multiracial pluralism. Bringing the university presidents before Congress(not really the function of Congress) to scold them hypocritically served multiple purposes: it once again hit out at anti-intellectualism: experts, gatekeepers, elites or simply academic institutions that produce liberal progressive, who in their view, hate America(read white christian). It reinforced the dubious terms they rely on: ‘wokeism’, ‘DEI’, ‘CRT’, etc. It gleefully attacked women who had elevated themselves to a top job and it singled out one woman of colour questioning whether she was a ‘diversity hire’. In fact, the outrageous attacks on Ms. Gay are an exceptional example of the core racism that motivates the right. If white men reach the pinnacle of their profession, it is because they deserver it, but if a black woman does the same, she’s assumed to be an unqualified diversity token. It’s just ugly and transparent in its ugliness from the same people who constantly tell us racism doesn’t exist. But it does exist and it’s a principle part of their trifecta of fear, outrage and racism. And like all their ideology, it isn’t interested in solving the problem at hand, but rather, in reducing complexities to ‘yes or not answers only’ so it can insert and launder their core principles. The right has always been more successful in doing this, in part, because their core principles rely on manipulating the very worst base traits of human beings. It is far harder to coalesce forces under a banner of complex arguments and nuance. The ‘left’ to whatever degree it s exists in the US, has always had a far harder task because of the nature of their position. It is inherently fragmented and any ‘pro-democracy front’ would always be so much weaker than the corporate/religious coalition pulling the strings on social cleavages. That said, I am buoyed by the remarkable people making complex intelligent arguments in service of democratic principles like Prof Zimmer and many others. Meanwhile, Trump continues to hold rallies where his cognitive decline becomes ever more apparent, the attacks from the right are ever more shallow and pointless(see Hunter), and I remain faithful that the American electorate is far smarter than what the polls indicate.
Getting one’s mind around the behavior of the American Right is really difficult, and the US news media is terrible at putting events in context. Thanks for the much-needed clarification.
The MSM coverage of the Israel-Hamas war is incredibly biased against Israel and your comment reflects an uncritical acceptance of this shoddy "reporting."
Consider: in the Russia-Ukraine war, we see lots of quotes from Western sources, Ukrainian sources, Russian sources, Russian bloggers, military sources from both sides. While I may disagree somewhat with the dominant "stalemate" narrative, the press has generally given readers what they need to understand the reality.
Meanwhile the mainstream press depicts Israel as a bunch of madmen out for vengeance, with no inclination or ability to strike legitimate military targets. Only in the last week have CNN or NYT got round to reporting that the IDF has in fact located and captured substantial pieces of Hamas's deep network of tunnels. If Israeli sources are quoted at all, they are expected to confirm/ defend the taking of innocent life.
Nor is the professionalism of IDF acknowledged. For example, in Vietnam, the US Army was virtually powerless to root out the tunnels that the Viet Cong dug, particularly in Cu Chi province; what the IDF has done will be studied in military service academies around the world. And it goes without saying -- though it should not -- that IDF does not, at least on the ground, attack, rape, or torture civilians, while Hamas actually celebrates such conduct.
Furthermore, no one seems to be emphasizing how Hamas is treating Gazan civilians. Hamas does NOT allow civilians to take shelter in the tunnels, which are well supplied with food, fuel, and electricity that civilians can't obtain. Hamas deliberately provoked a massive Israeli response, and Hamas wants to maximize the effect of that response on Gaza's civilians so that it can continue to win the propaganda war. That ought to be a big part of the story, too.
lol. lmao, even.
I take issue with the pro-Israel liberals and conservatives smearing anyone that is critical of Israel as antisemitic. With 1.9million people displaced, 500 thousand starving, and over 20,000 dead Arabs, a rise in antisemitism seems inevitable. Not to mention, Joe Biden has essentially made us all here in the States complicit in the complete devastation. We need to be able to discuss things openly in the media and with our peers without disgustingly being smeared as an antisemite.
Thank you for putting Elise Stefanik into context. Yes or No? The answer is correct: she is no, she is not leading a good-faith effort to fight antisemitism, "She is engaged in a cynical attempt to use Jews to suppress speech that reactionaries don’t like.. and punish those the Right sees as the enemy within. "
I really appreciate this article. As someone who has experienced the right wing hate machine and all it's power spin a narrative and have the mainstream media pick it up and repeat it personally your thoughtful unpacking of this incident and phenomenon is so welcome.
I've been feeling very uneasy about the hearing and subsequent widespread condemnation of the 3 university presidents. You have nailed it! I particularly appreciate your explanation of how it's not only anti-university (anti-intellectual), but also anti-democrary. Brilliant! Thank You!
It’s true that some on the Left have allowed their anti-Israel rhetoric to cross a line into antisemitism. It’s important to recognize, though, that the Israeli government has promoted the conflation of all Jews with the Israeli state for decades. The only way anti-Israel sentiment could possibly be construed as antisemitic or genocidal is if you accept this premise. Netanyahu clearly does, and has said that all criticism of Israel is antisemitic. Stefanik proved that she does by equating the call for intifada with genocide, a claim that is patently false but that most media outlets have also accepted at face value. Biden has said many times that Jewish people are not safe unless Israel is there to protect them. All of this comes back to the bigoted assumption that Jews must belong to a foreign state, that they are not welcome in ours.
This was extremely well written & thought provoking indeed,!!! Thank you 🙏
Agree with a lot in this piece but we’re not going to solve these big issues anytime soon. All we can do is get active and engage as many voters as possible in the six swing states and everywhere else. Get involved. It’s not too late.
Thank you for this. I was appalled by the show hearing because it was so obviously in bad faith. Also I think the universities should have resisted the House trying to assert jurisdiction over private schools’ internal rules. These situations are so obviously dependent on the specific facts. You can’t make blanket statements.
Very thoughtful and quite thorough.
It’s interesting how they had to use anti-black racism to revive antisemitism. Of course antisemitism was not dying out, but it had lessened and then it was revived using antiblack racism. Yet it is very surprising that so far the fear STILL doesn’t flow to the type of individuals--the white supremacists--who were the source of the European threat to Nazis. Nobody seems TRULY afraid of the exact people who did all the damage the last time. You see very wealthy people who say they concerned with antisemitism support Trump, support the people on the Supreme Court who are tied to Harlan Crow. You see people floating excuses for white dudes who collect Nazi memorabilia. We truly have a ‘the Nazis are coming’ situation in America and yet there are very few stories in the main newspapers about the huge white supremacism problem we face, very few outcries about Trump eating with Nazis. This should be a story every day. This is the looming threat. But practically everyone is muddying the waters, refusing to connect the dots. They were the ones who did it LAST TIME but somehow the fact they are continually doing things NOW has not become a major theme across the media, has not seemed to be significant to law enforcement, the media, etc. Is this because the GOP needs to be presented in a both sides tableau and being too vocal about their ties to the far right--the exact same type of people who were the threat LAST TIME--will tar the GOP. Then they can’t do both sides? I don’t get it.
As someone struggling to understand what is going on in a world that appears to be collapsing, shattering or shifting. I am very thankful for your writings.
You nailed it!
This article by Jewish Voices for Peace addresses another way in which the establishment Left is failing to address these exact issues badly. I'm not antisemitic but I don't support the wholesale slaughter of civilians being underwritten by my tax dollars. And it shouldn't be as controversial for me to say that as it increasingly has become since Oct 7. Which sucks because it's my birthday. One more reason to stop celebrating birthdays (for me).
https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2023/12/12/mccarthyism-and-antisemitism/?sourceid=1001761&emci=58c7d807-0a99-ee11-8925-002248223cbb&emdi=6121056f-1c99-ee11-8925-002248223cbb&ceid=767589
I agree with all of that including the birthday comment, I think we can just celebrate Tuesdays 🍻
Not birthdays
I respect the hell out of Jewish voices for peace & Not in my Name squads.
I am adamantly against the Israeli apartheid state and their genocide. And the zionists, and murderous thieving settlers. And our American government support of this horrible shit.
And I do see leftists crossing the line into what sounds more like fuck Jewish people and Judaism. I stand with all my brothers and sisters and non gender conforming too of all races religions and whatever unless they support genocide & hatred.
This article is chock full thought provoking ideas. Another great addition by Prof Zimmer. I especially love the weaving of antisemitism into the larger American tapestry of hate and how it is used by the right. Antisemitism is and has always been a problem, but so is anti-blackness, anti-Islam, anti-LGBTQ, anti-trans, and of course, anti-intellectualism. I don’t think you can fully understand any of these realities without understanding how they are related and part of a larger effort to undermines pluralism. As Prof Zimmer noted, “fears over antisemitism are being leveraged to legitimize the radicalizing reactionary mobilization against egalitarian democracy more broadly.” The same can be said of anti-blackness, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Islam, anti-trans, and anti-intellectualism. They work in tandem in their perennial fight against multiracial pluralism. Bringing the university presidents before Congress(not really the function of Congress) to scold them hypocritically served multiple purposes: it once again hit out at anti-intellectualism: experts, gatekeepers, elites or simply academic institutions that produce liberal progressive, who in their view, hate America(read white christian). It reinforced the dubious terms they rely on: ‘wokeism’, ‘DEI’, ‘CRT’, etc. It gleefully attacked women who had elevated themselves to a top job and it singled out one woman of colour questioning whether she was a ‘diversity hire’. In fact, the outrageous attacks on Ms. Gay are an exceptional example of the core racism that motivates the right. If white men reach the pinnacle of their profession, it is because they deserver it, but if a black woman does the same, she’s assumed to be an unqualified diversity token. It’s just ugly and transparent in its ugliness from the same people who constantly tell us racism doesn’t exist. But it does exist and it’s a principle part of their trifecta of fear, outrage and racism. And like all their ideology, it isn’t interested in solving the problem at hand, but rather, in reducing complexities to ‘yes or not answers only’ so it can insert and launder their core principles. The right has always been more successful in doing this, in part, because their core principles rely on manipulating the very worst base traits of human beings. It is far harder to coalesce forces under a banner of complex arguments and nuance. The ‘left’ to whatever degree it s exists in the US, has always had a far harder task because of the nature of their position. It is inherently fragmented and any ‘pro-democracy front’ would always be so much weaker than the corporate/religious coalition pulling the strings on social cleavages. That said, I am buoyed by the remarkable people making complex intelligent arguments in service of democratic principles like Prof Zimmer and many others. Meanwhile, Trump continues to hold rallies where his cognitive decline becomes ever more apparent, the attacks from the right are ever more shallow and pointless(see Hunter), and I remain faithful that the American electorate is far smarter than what the polls indicate.
Getting one’s mind around the behavior of the American Right is really difficult, and the US news media is terrible at putting events in context. Thanks for the much-needed clarification.