Need to hear what some smart people have to say about this.

[Laura Kelber]

This is a painful topic for me. I loathe the right-wing militaristic
Zionistic wing of Jewish identity. I come from the communist and/or
politically progressive, secular strain that helped shape the intellectual
life of NYC when I was growing up in the 60s. Now it's the rightwing
Orthodox and Hasidic Jews that dominate the Jewish community. Where the
hell did all the secular, progressive Jews go?!

But much as I loathe both the American and Israeli strains of Zionism, I'm
hypersensitive to the antisemitism that simmers below the surface of a lot
of so-called progressive groups and individuals. A failure to recognize and
protest the antisemitism of the alt-right and white supremacists, for
example. A willingness to buy into the "rich Jewish banker" and
"Jewish-controlled media" stereotypes. Hell, I buy into some of those
stereotypes myself, sometimes. But I'm allowed to, because I'm Jewish.
Non-Jews, proceed with caution! I don't need a disclaimer about how your
best friend is Jewish, but I do need to hear an acknowledgement that
antisemitism exists and that Jews of any ideology have a right to be
paranoid about it.

Even though antisemitic signs were prominently displayed in Charlotte, VA,
none of the knee jerk lefty emails I got mentioned antisemitism. It just
isn't sexy to decry antisemitism. Look, I can understand that. Black people
are beaten, murdered and incarcerated all over this country every fucking
day. That's not happening to Jews.

But there is and always has been an antisemitic strain in this country,
and, perhaps stoked by the internet, it's become particularly virulent
lately. It was ever-present in the construction industry when I worked
there in the 80s and 90s. Job sites were frequently racially and ethnically
segregated, and I was often placed in the "Jew crew." Not uncommon for us
to bear the brunt of being "tightwad Jews" or, in my case, a "Jewess cunt."
"Hey, you know who the world's biggest cunt is? Hitler, 'cause he couldn't
even finish the job!" And so on.

Just recently made the mistake of reading the comments on a mainstream news
story about Weinstein. The comments started in on the "typical Jewish"
behavior of that trio - Weinstein, Polanski and Woody Allen, then on to how
they were a disgrace to the white race, and finally, to an argument about
whether Jews could even be considered white.

So, yeah, it's obnoxious when anyone who's legitimately outraged by
Israel's racist/militaristic actions gets branded an antisemite. But it
would be nice if those same anti-zionists expressed a little dismay over
the seething hatred of Jews that so many non-Jews seem to foster. Because
it's pretty disturbing.

Laura


On Oct 28, 2017 4:41 PM, "da kid" <peterock86 at live.com> wrote:

> ------------------------------
> *From:* da kid <peterock86 at live.com>
> *Sent:* Saturday, October 28, 2017 8:05:33 AM
> *To:* Mark Thibodeau
> *Subject:* Re: Need to hear what some smart people have to say about this.
>
> Im not that smart but I think it is really really really sad that people
> feel they have to write a paragraph that attempts to prove they don't hate
> Jews before they can criticize Israel. I am also what you call a
> philo-semite but Israel's treatment of Palestine is abhorrent. The recent
> hubbub about Hebron, which is in Palestine, not being called Israeli is
> another recent example of false "anti-Semitism" accusations being thrown
> about. There is definitely a rich and powerful right wing pro Israeli lobby
> in America. That's not antiSemitic to say is it?
> ------------------------------
> *From:* owner-pynchon-l at waste.org <owner-pynchon-l at waste.org> on behalf
> of Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Saturday, October 28, 2017 3:52:59 AM
> *To:* pynchon -l
> *Subject:* Need to hear what some smart people have to say about this.
>
> First things first... and I hate that I have to state this up front (but
> considering the subject matter, I feel that I must)... I am not an
> anti-Semite. In fact, if anything, I'm a Judeophile, or philo-Semite. Many
> of my heroes are Jews. I think Jewish women are among the world's must
> beautiful. I have many Jewish friends, some of whom are among my closest
> and most beloved. In short, I am no Jew-hater.
>
> But I'm also a huge fan or the musician Roger Waters. A lifelong admirer
> of both his music and his obvious sincere, passionately held beliefs.
> Lately, I've noticed a significant uptick in attacks on Waters from
> pro-Israeli news outlets. This week, I learned that there is actually an
> entire documentary film that's been shot, apparently with the sole
> objective of smearing him as an anti-Semite.
>
> While Waters is definitely an opponent of the current regime in Israel,
> and an advocate for Palestinian rights up to and including lending his
> support to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, I also
> have seen a lot of accusations made against him with little to zero
> supporting evidence (video, audio, etc). And I definitely think the attacks
> on him have taken on a dangerously aggressive tone.
>
> And then, today, I ran across this article...
>
> *https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.819132?v=448801475EBF52877C3C6DDD9BA51DFF
> <https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.819132?v=448801475EBF52877C3C6DDD9BA51DFF>*
>
> My first compulsion was to check with Snopes, even though the original
> article is from an Israeli paper, just to see if maybe I'd fallen for an
> elaborate prank. There I find...
>
> https://www.snopes.com/texas-harvey-israel/
>
> And as I read, my blood runs a little bit cold.
>
> So I guess my question to you folks here is...
>
> What the fuck is going on here? And in what universe does anyone think
> denying aid to victims of natural disasters unless they pledge never to
> take part in the BDS movement isn't going to backfire spectacularly?
>
> Jerky
>
>
> <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> Virus-free.
> www.avg.com
> <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail>
> <#m_521546189736007454_m_-2142130621856274249_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
>
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