want to imagine that the entire planet is mired in anti-Jewish paranoia! But then the matter becomes even more puzzling. What is the source of this hemiplegia? Why is the world frightened by Israeli bombs alone?
Two Measures, Two Weights
Written by
in
Comments
-
That was rather un-nuanced. I should be delighted if Israel wipes the floor with Hezbollah. On the other hand, I can appreciate the irony of this war being triggered by the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers when, around the time of my birth, there was a well-known case of two British army sergeants being kidnapped by Jewish terrorists in Palestine, and murdered. One of the sergeants was himself Jewish. Personally, I find it rather easy to distinguish Jews, British or foreign, from the Israeli state. And although plenty of people who oppose much of what Israel does may very well be anti-semitic, I doubt the wisdom of screaming that all of them necessarily are. And vice versa: Toni was happy to use party propaganda with a whiff of anti-semitism at the last general election, and look at him now. There’s plenty of nuance to go round.
-
It is quite extraordinary how unconcerned muslims are about all the muslims killed by other muslims. Some probing interviewer should ask muslim ‘leaders’ why this is. It looks as though muslims are animated much more by a hostility to infidels than by a sympathy for their fellow muslims.
-
Like Glucksmann, I suspect there is a lot of covert “Judenhass” behind the apparent humanitarian concern about Israel’s actions. But it can be hard to prove.
If someone wants to attack the Jewish religion, that’s fair game in a free society. Adult humans are free to choose their beliefs, and others are free to oppose them. If Hume, Voltaire and Russell can attack Christianity why shouldn’t people attack Judaism? I’ve occasionally heard reasoned critiques of both kosher animal slaughter and child circumcision; they may be right or wrong, but they aren’t racist. And, just as some non-Muslims condemn Muhammad for his violence as recorded in the Hadith, one could certainly condemn Moses for the same as recorded in Numbers.
The thing is, these criticisms are actually very rare. One reason is, once you start down this route, you’re inevitably going to have to criticize Islam too. So Israel comes in handy for the Jew hater. There’s an irony in this. Theodor Herzl thought his “Judenstadt” would normalize being Jewish; that saying “I’m Israeli” would come to be as blandly boring as saying “I’m Portuguese”. He would have been astonished to learn that his Judenstadt would itself become the animating focus of global anti-semitism. -
Those Jews who thought Herzl’s idea a bad one had some pretty good arguments, but neither they nor Herzl could possibly have foreseen Hitler, who changed everything.
-
Sorry to bore on, but your post was about Islam and Israel, and I comment about Israel. Why? I think it must be because Israel and “The Jewish Question” is discussable. There’s a chance of finding facts that can be agreed upon, even of polite disagreement. Whereas Islamonazism seems undiscussable – irrational, fact-free diatribes, mixed with evil motives and dire actions – bonkers, utterly outlandish. I wonder how civilised Muslims feel about all this?
Leave a Reply