I’ve been on the road for the past several days and out of the loop so to speak. I just got home last night.
I read a blog post by Jonathan Tobin from Commentary today where I discovered that the post-Zionist poster boy of the American Jewish left Peter Beinart is now accusing Israel’s non-Jewish supporters of being anti-Semites.
Beinart you see, thinks that an anti-Semite is someone who criticizes anti-Zionist (or post-Zionist, or fair-weathered Zionist) American Jews for hanging Israel out to dry.
So if a non-Jew criticizes, say Peter Beinart for spewing nonsense about how Israel’s rejection of Beinart’s positions on territorial surrender legitimizes anti-Israel sentiment, then that person is an anti-Semite.
Beinart, after all, criticizes Israel as a Jew so since he does it as a Jew, attacking him for making ridiculous accusations against Israel makes you an anti-Semite.
There is a wider context for Beinart’s position. Beinart has closely associated himself with J Street the pro-Palestinian lobbying group run by American Jews. During the last election cycle, J-Street targeted Israel’s staunchest supporters in Congress for defeat. Specifically it targeted Joe Walsh and Allen West, (both ran in gerrymandered districts), because they refused to support the establishment of another Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, (to the side of the Palestinian state in Gaza which the Left likes to pretend doesn’t exist).
J-Street claimed that West and Walsh — among Israel’s firmest supporters on the Hill — were anti-Israel because they rejected the establishment of another Palestinian terror state in the historic and strategic heartland of the Jewish state.
Beinart’s attacks on Rupert Murdoch and others who criticize Jews who attack Israel have to be seen as a continuation of the J Street campaign against Israel’s supporters in Washington.
Jonathan provided the following quote from Beinart’s assault on Murdoch:
I don’t think anti-Semitism is widespread on the American right, any more than it is widespread on the American left. But when expressed, it should be publicly condemned. Whether it masks itself as hostility to Israel or support for Israel should make no difference at all.
You see what he is doing here.
He is saying that there is no difference between those who support Israel and decry its critics and those who oppose Israel and decry its supporters.
This post-modern moral equivalence is absolutely necessary. If you want to make a completely false argument sound reasonable, the first thing you have to do is erase all distinction between good and evil. (See the film clips in my last blog post.)
We need to be aware of what Beinart and his allies are doing. In the coming months and years, we should expect more and more of Israel’s supporters to be attacked as anti-Semites by leftist American Jews. The intention of people like Beinart and J Street is to demonize and discredit Israel’s supporters just as Israel itself is being demonized and discredited.
In the face of this new initiative it is imperative that we continue to point out the real distinctions.
And just by way of example, here is Glenn Beck’s recent message to the people of Israel. Remember, Beck was repeatedly and viciously targeted by leftist American Jews who called him a racist for pointing out that George Soros admitted to collaborating with the Nazis during the Holocaust.
G-d bless Glenn Beck
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