Little Green Footballs - hatred that won’t die

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♻Retweethatred that won’t die

Thu, Feb 28, 2002 at 4:14:11 pm PST

In the Guardian, an excellent column by Jonathan Sacks about The hatred that won't die.

Anti-semitism is undeniably the most successful ideology of modern times. Fascism came and went. Soviet communism came and went. Anti-semitism came and stayed. Its success is due to the fact that, like a virus, it mutates. At times it has been directed against Jews as individuals. Today it is directed against Jews as a sovereign people. The common factor is that Jews, uniquely, are denied the right to exist in whatever form their collective existence currently takes. There is a direct line from "You have no right to live among us as Jews" to "You have no right to live".

What disturbs me is that, were this cumulative hate to be directed against anyone else, the left would be the first to protest. Have we learned nothing from history? An assault on Jews is an assault on difference, and a world that has no room for difference has no room for humanity itself.

(via Grasshoppa.)

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4 comments

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Jak King Thu, Feb 28, 2002 2:35:44pm

I have a lot of problems with this article.

First, it is part of the Israeli campaign to try to equate ANY criticism of Isreali policy with anti-Semitism (a follish notion when so many Jews are disgusted by Israeli policies).

Second, it claims that fascism has come and gone. Perhaps Mr Sacks hasn't thought about North Korea lately, or any of those fine Central Asian Republics that the US likes so much these days. If these are not fascist -- where all rights of the individual are expropriated to the corporate rights of the state (the classic definition of facism) -- then nothning qualifies.

Geoff Thu, Feb 28, 2002 2:51:27pm

Of course you'd you have problem #1, Jak, probably because you can't read. From the article:

Equally we can too easily dismiss all criticism of the state or government of Israel as anti-semitism. It is not.

or, again, albeit a bit more abstractly:

Suppose someone were to claim that there is a form of prejudice called anti-kiwism, an irrational hatred of New Zealanders. What might convince us he was right? Criticism of the New Zealand government? No.

.

miki Thu, Feb 28, 2002 6:53:39pm

Are you sick of my "thank-yous" yet?

Seriously, I read pretty widely and regularly on Israeli and Jewish affairs, but this website has exposed me to articles I would not have found by myself, mainly due to limited time available for surfing.

So thank you!

miki

Jeremy Keith Fri, Mar 1, 2002 3:13:55am

I think you made a typo, Charles. You referred to the newpaper as "The Guardian".

Shouldn't that be The Daily Wanker?