Commanders Post at The Warpath - View Single Post - Guard at Holocaust Museum Killed by Alleged White Supremacist

djnemo65 · 06-17-2009, 03:03 AM

First of all, Israel is not the new South Africa. The apartheid in South Africa was based on and justified by colonial notions of racial inequality. Israel's current imbroglio is a sovereignty/ security issue. Israel has behaved punitively but it has been in response to decades of terrorist attacks. Both sides share blame. Saden, your position lacks any degree of nuance or historical perspective. If you accept that Israel has a right to exist then you have to recognize its right to defend itself.

And while it’s true the PNAC was as pro-Israel as it gets, such support was part and parcel of their larger thesis, which was that the United States, as a unique unipolar power, needed to basically act imperially. Israel was to function as an extension of US military power in the region. One can criticize this policy, as I certainly have, without characterizing them as a Jewish group, which can be more problematic.

Second, there is a qualitative difference between the fanatical anti-semitism of far right fringe groups, which tends to be based on demonization of the Jewish race and conspiracy theory, and criticism of the "neo-cons," which is principally a policy objective. As a Jew, I don't get offended by criticisms of people who happen to be predominantly Jewish; nor do I by criticisms of Israeli policy, even when I think they are kind of dopey. I do obviously by the former, as well as the illuminati style conspiracy theories involving Jewish banking cabals frequently propagated by people on the "left" (true story, my Greek friend once asked me if I was aware that no Jews had died in 9/11. His point? The illuminati had tipped off every Joe Rubenstein from the Bronx working in the towers. That I found more moronic than offensive, but you do hear stuff like this from time to time).

06-17-2009, 03:03 AM	#23
djnemo65 Playmaker Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,836	Re: Guard at Holocaust Museum Killed by Alleged White Supremacist First of all, Israel is not the new South Africa. The apartheid in South Africa was based on and justified by colonial notions of racial inequality. Israel's current imbroglio is a sovereignty/ security issue. Israel has behaved punitively but it has been in response to decades of terrorist attacks. Both sides share blame. Saden, your position lacks any degree of nuance or historical perspective. If you accept that Israel has a right to exist then you have to recognize its right to defend itself. And while it’s true the PNAC was as pro-Israel as it gets, such support was part and parcel of their larger thesis, which was that the United States, as a unique unipolar power, needed to basically act imperially. Israel was to function as an extension of US military power in the region. One can criticize this policy, as I certainly have, without characterizing them as a Jewish group, which can be more problematic. Second, there is a qualitative difference between the fanatical anti-semitism of far right fringe groups, which tends to be based on demonization of the Jewish race and conspiracy theory, and criticism of the "neo-cons," which is principally a policy objective. As a Jew, I don't get offended by criticisms of people who happen to be predominantly Jewish; nor do I by criticisms of Israeli policy, even when I think they are kind of dopey. I do obviously by the former, as well as the illuminati style conspiracy theories involving Jewish banking cabals frequently propagated by people on the "left" (true story, my Greek friend once asked me if I was aware that no Jews had died in 9/11. His point? The illuminati had tipped off every Joe Rubenstein from the Bronx working in the towers. That I found more moronic than offensive, but you do hear stuff like this from time to time).