Bernie Farber, the CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, has a letter published in the Toronto Star in reaction to a Thomas Walkom column. This is how it's done, folks.
To falsely accuse Israel, and by extension the vast majority of the world's Jews who support the Jewish state, of "apartheid," is a form of anti-Semitic bullying.
Notice how easily he manages to imply that "the vast majority of the world's Jews" are in full support of not just the existence of Israel but everything the Israeli government does, including its treatment of Palestinians. Hand in hand with this is the implication that a criticism of the actions of the state of Israel is somehow aimed at "the vast majority of the world's Jews" which is how Farber and his fellow sophists make the leap to claiming that criticism of Israel is anti-semitism. All this in a single sentence. He's good, I'll grant him that.
Of course the people responsible for the policies of the state of Israel are those who govern Israel, whether they're Jewish or not. If I criticize those policies, I'm not criticizing the Jews who may live in my neighbourhood. For all I know, some of them may feel that Israel is practicing apartheid. In fact, there is reason to believe that some of them do since there are Jewish organizations in Canada that support Israeli Apartheid Week and the BDS movement.
Years ago, I went to a high school that was about half Jewish. It was a large high school of about 2,000 students where smaller groups of friend formed together. There were groups that included both Jewish and non-Jewish students. There were also groups of students that were basically exclusively Jewish. Note there were groups that were non-Jewish. There were punk rockers, new wavers, preppies, and others. In my opinion, I found that some Jewish students treated me as if I were non-existent. They lived in their own Jewish world. They went to the Jewish community centre and Jewish summer camps. They went to the Jewish area of Florida on vacation. I'm still trying to figure out where that mysterious place is. Those Jewish students did not hold up signs saying, "No non-Jews allowed." Nevertheless, I felt excluded. Those students were practising a form of racism.
Today, I occasional speak to Jewish parents who have had their children transfer from one school to another outside their own neighbourhood. I remember one parent stating that the educational program was better at the transfer school. In my opinion, that was strange. Both schools offer the same programs as do other schools in the region. I didn't know if I laughed or cried when I heard that same parent complain that the neighbourhood school had too many ESL students. What was interesting was that her child was an ESL student (now ELL-English Language Learner) from Russia via Israel.
While Bernie Farber claims to be a champion in battling racism against Jews in Canada and Israel. He does not want to admit that Jews in both Canada and Israel can be as racist as non-Jews. They do not need to wear white hoods and burn Stars of David on the lawns of non-Jews. They don't need to put up signs stating, "No non-Jews allowed." They just need to ignore and exclude the rest of the world. They can ignore and exclude their fellow Canadians, Arab Israelis, Palestinians, and Arabs living in neighbouring countries. Ignorance and exclusion can be forms of racism. Some may include these in the definition of "apartheid."
Most Jews in Canada and Israel are good people. They express their support for Israel in various ways. They are leftists, centrists, and rightists. At the same time, some Jews can demonstrate racism as much as non-Jews can. This is something Bernie Farber needs to recognize.
The Liberals, I suspect, will try to weasel out of this. There are too many powerful folks in the party complicit in this for them to push it hard. I also suspect they have been told flat out that the PM will not go down alone. Watch for a "bipartisan compromise" that will sweep the whole mess under Frank's carpet until the heat death of the universe. Sure, the NDP will squeal, but then the MSM talking heads will sweep in and call them extremists, they will never hold power and that the adults are in charge. In other words, business as usual, elites covering each other's asses.
Sorry, this got attached to the wrong post. My bad.
Skinny Dipper, I don't know how old you are, but your school wouldn't be named after a housing development in a Toronto suburb and start with a "W", would it?
I'm appalled by this.
The high school I went to, in a suburb of Toronto, was extremely cliquish. It drew from a number of different neighbourhoods and included students from a number of different junior high schools. The kids who had known each other before they got to high school tended to stick together and exclude the kids they didn't know. (And since I had just moved into the neighbourhood from downtown Toronto and didn't know any of the other kids, I ended up in the group of students who didn't belong in any of the other groups.) I think a certain amount of that happens in high school, though the lines may be drawn for different reasons in different situations.
But that doesn't detract from Skinny Dipper's main point -- "that Jews in both Canada and Israel can be as racist as non-Jews."
He's good, I'll grant him that.
Well, I won't, pogge. How "good" do you have to be to recite talking-points? A number of the other letters there are actually interesting to read and think about. Farber you could write in your sleep, or at least I could.
For my sins, I've read 'way too much Farber over the years, and it seems to me that he either doesn't know how to debate or doesn't care about debate. He just makes claims. When he realizes that he's losing an argument, he turns to sentimentality, bursts into tears.
His job isn't to be readable and thoughtful, which is the main reason I would prefer to read him as little as possible and think about him less ... Except that he threatens us.
PS: North Americans never get over high school. *grin*
Maybe some version of that is true everywhere. But it's really true of us.
it seems to me that he either doesn't know how to debate or doesn't care about debate
The latter. This isn't about debate at all. And when I say he's good, I'm talking about how he must come across to the audience he's appealing to, which isn't you or I. In a letter to the Star he wants to plant those talking points in the minds of casual readers who are skimming through the paper and haven't necessarily followed this story -- or even events in the Middle East -- as closely as you and I. In the course of a couple of sentences he gets that whole narrative out. I think he's effective at what he does. That's why he threatens us.
"To falsely accuse Israel, and by extension the vast majority of the world's Jews who support the Jewish state, of "apartheid," is a form of anti-Semitic bullying."
Why does Farber continually get away with this inversion?
Here it is, right side up :
To falsely extend approval of the apartheid policies of the government of Israel to include the world's Jews on the basis of their race is a form of anti-Semitic bullying.
http://www.rense.com/general90/rach.htm
Debate??? As we must accept all the lies spoken by the self chosen there is no need for debate--just agree, bow down, and send money.
George, I'm going to forward your comment to the Elders.
From George's link, the hate letter sent to Rachel Corrie's parents:
Some people are truly unhinged. The profound bigotry against Arabs -- well, you know, they're all the same -- it doesn't matter where you put them -- is just breathtaking.
You might want to surf on that site a bit skdadl before you assume that letter is even genuine. Apart from the letter, the comment is a pretty thinly veiled attempt at inserting the real deal into the discussion anyway.
It's true that rense.com isn't the most reliable source on the internet. However you can also find that letter reproduced on a blog written by the letter's purported author, Steven Plaut, who does appear to be a figure of some controversy. I didn't hang around long enough to find out if he actually sent it or just posted it as an open letter. Among other things, he's a regular contributor to FrontPage Magazine which raises a whole different set of credibility issues. You can read about Plaut at Wikipedia.
pogge, thanks, yes I just surfed a bit and saw it in other places, so the letter itself seems to be genuine. I'd agree that the rense site is unreliable. I'd go farther but that's not really the topic of your post.
I'm not sure Farber said quite what you think he said. I think he's saying that in his view anti-Zionism equals anti-Semitsm rather than that criticism of the Israeli government is anti-Semitism. Clearly he is defining IAW as being about anti-Zionism and as the same as Zionism equals racism/apartheid. In so doing he is ignoring those who support Palestinian rights who are no more anti-Zionist than anti-Vietnam War protesters were anti-American. Not only are not all IAW supporters anti-Zionists but not all anti-Zionists are anti-Semites. Other than that I agree with him. ;)
I'm not sure Farber said quite what you think he said.
Whereupon you completely ignore the portion of Farber's letter that I actually quoted and commented on. You don't get anywhere near the point of my post.
As for Farber defining IAW, that's like relying on the Conservatives to define NDP policy.
I don't think so-it isn't clear from that excerpt whether he is talking about: 1. Israel=Apartheid; or 2.certain policies deserve that label. I think your post does to him the same thing you accuse him of doing to IAW activists.
I don't think so-it isn't clear from that excerpt whether he is talking about: 1. Israel=Apartheid; or 2.certain policies deserve that label.
And that distinction isn't necessary in order to understand my point: that Farber conflates Jews the world over with the government of Israel, implies that "supporting Israel" automatically means supporting every policy of that government and also implies that everyone who criticizes Israeli policy is targeting Jews the world over instead of that government.
You wander off into the weeds and start talking about anti-Zionism. In fact you always seem to wander off into the weeds and start talking about anti-Zionism. Objection, your honour. Irrelevant and immaterial.
Well, for one thing, it is a very badly written sentence. Sometimes I think that Farber does that on purpose.
If you're an editor (I have been since the mid-1960s), you see three players in that sentence: Israel, the vast majority of the world's Jews, and ... then you run into a problem. If there were a comma after "Jews," Farber would be saying that the vast majority of the world's Jews support the Jewish state. However, there is no comma, so that's not what he's saying. He's speaking only of those Jews who do support the Jewish state, and we don't know how many of those there are worldwide.
But of course he had already made the sentence utterly illogical just by saying that a statement about Israel automatically works by extension to anyone. That is just not true, not in language and not in logic. Nothing works by "extension" unless it is put into either words or practice by people with the will to do that.
Srsly. Farber is one of the worst writers I've ever read.
Nothing works by "extension"...
But that phrase is key. That's how he jumps from Israel to Jews. As I said earlier, I think his intended audience is the casual reader who's just skimming through the paper and he wants to plant that connection -- that there is no difference between criticizing Israeli policy and criticizing Jews. The prose is muddled because the thinking is muddled but the goal here isn't clarity.
It is in Farber's best interest to state his anti-semitism garbage. The push is on to make us believe that anti-semitism is on the rise around the world. The fact is that we are anti-genocide committed by israel but that is to be considered anti-semitism to promote the likes of Farbers victimhood. The true Semites are the Arabs and I have absolutely nothing against Arabs.
Marky Mark--forward my comments to the elders if you so desire. I am sure I am already on their hit list. Remember, this is Canada where we do not have free speech!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFWkWib5CTs&feature=related
"Canada stands with israel? and "speech against israel will be classed as a hate crime in Canada"???????
George, my point was that rense.com is not only unreliable but crosses the line into conspiracy theories involving Jews that are Protocols like and, yes, anti-Semitic.