Iron Bru › Forums › Non Football › ‘Incipient McCarthyism’ › Reply To: ‘Incipient McCarthyism’
Okay, I’m not remotely suggesting that antisemitism is not on the rise and neither is Peston or Steinberg, so I don’t get why you are so dismissive of legitimate criticism of Israel’s appaling ongoing actions. As Steinberg says:
‘If Israel’s cause is just, let it speak eloquently in its own defense. It is very telling that some of Israel’s own supporters instead go to extraordinary lengths to utterly silence the other side. Smearing one’s opponents is rarely a tactic employed by those confident that justice is on their side. If Israel’s case requires branding its critics antisemites, it is already conceding defeat.’
My posts here have nothing to do with ‘smearing criticism of Israel’. It’s about opposing hatred of Jews which is wrapped up in many who call themselves Palestinian activists. It’s not all, but it needs calling out because it’s been part of a climate which has driven up hatred of Jews. The problem I have with Peston and Steinberg is that they don’t acknowledge this and focus on half the picture. Steinberg makes out that the real problem comes from the far-right. I do not deny that there isn’t a problem there, I have spoken of Musk’s buddying up to antisemites and George Soros, which are eerily reminiscent of Rothschild conspiracies, from the right before. However, recent events have shown that it is existent in not an insignificant number among many on the left, and I didn’t just single out academics, but others too. Hence we have credible accusations of UNRWA members allowing some horrendous things to be taught in their refugee schools, keeping Israeli hostages, journalists casting doubt on Oct 7th atrocities (e.g. Owen Jones), TikTok rubbish, activists coming out in New York to support Houthis (their slogan includes “a curse upon the Jews”) and so many tweeting hate at Jews for anything that falls short of the ‘right opinion’.
It is, of course, possible to criticise Israel antisemitically. I have not thought anything you have said is such, for example. My own thoughts are that Netanyahu is a fascist prat (would use a stronger term that rhymes, but would fall foul of swearing rules) who has no to little regard for human life. I think Hamas caused this conflict and put blame on them for that, but I naively hoped that there wouldn’t be the response we’ve seen from Netanyahu’s Israel. I was wrong to be so careless in that and in some of the things I previously argued. I still say it’s not genocide, it’s a war which is not taking appropriate care for collateral damage. Gazans were told to move south, but have to continuously move, which doesn’t seem thought out. Progressive activist, Brianna Wu, said Israel is making the same mistakes as the US post-9/11 and I can sympathise strongly. Even though Hamas embed themselves within society, such callous bombing of refugee camps, with weapons that don’t seem to be precision strikes, is bad. There is no justification for the starvation of Gazans, I suggested that such aid should come in the past, but it hasn’t happened. There are multiple parties at fault here, Hamas do steal some of it, but I don’t think enough has been let in anyway. Surely air drops can work. All of this is disgusting from the regime, but many don’t criticise along these lines and seem to treat Israel with a disdain they don’t share with other similar or worse regimes. And some of the criticism goes into antisemitic tropes. I am not referring to people who criticise Israel, but too many treat any antisemitic comment as if it’s just criticism of Israel. Portraits of Netanyahu drinking blood are not reasoned criticism, but Jew hate, in the same way a racist portrayal of Idi Amin would be. Both Amin and Netanyahu are not good people, but racist portrayals are still condemnable.
It also goes the other way, and some comments have been anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian. I have read a lot of this guy’s output recently and agree with much of it:
https://twitter.com/afalkhatib/status/1740477230374068523
Nothing antisemitic at all in his criticism of Israel, and I am not referring to such when critiquing Peston, so I don’t think I am conflating anything.