Why has the Left turned against the Jews?

[Gilgamesh]

Good points.

How about why have the Left in the Universities turned almost completely to the camp of the Arabs? Especially when a large (per capita) percentage of academia are Jewish?

They get saudi money, and they some how decide who will join their ranks and who won't. Also, they need attention to make progress instead of doing actual academic work (like publishing scientific articles and write books, which is VERY hard to anyone). The rest is peer pressure and fasion. If you break the ranks, you considered wried, counter revolutionary and layed off. Simple. Capitalism at its worst, when there is no proper goverment and consumer control.

If the socialists of the world revolution want the UN to become all powerful, then they must first neutralize the US. That is being attempted from both within and without. Devisive issues are tearing apart the US and hopefully (for the UN) we will fall apart into anarchy. They cannot stand the US because of what we stand for, our money, our influence and our quasi-morality.

Wasn't it always? Read Ayn Rand! (She was Jewish too, btw. ).

Perhaps Israel presents a similar problem to the UN. And it certainly is a partial stop against Islam. But if you get rid of Israel you embolden Islam.....which hates the West. Perhaps Islam will force the rest of the world to unite (under the UN of course) to defend itself against Islam. Or perhaps they believe that without Israel, the Arabs (with their oil money) will help fund a world government dictated out of the UN.

I am probably speaking in circles. Back to the drawing board.

There are several ideas born in Marxism that the post modern left adopted.
1. National defenitions are false. We are all one and the same human race (social class). When you hurt somebody you hurt your self, like one hand hiting the other hand. (here comes the global goverment thingi).
2. Religion is addictive drug used to controll mindless mob.
3. Indevidualism is immoral, it self worship and anti social and plain "show off". One can not realy do alone by himself.
4. Matrial possetions are false idoles.
5. Having money or wanting money is greed.
6. In radical forms: Industrialization is bad. (enslaving others, making few rich and destroying the enviorment).

Well, the above was in a nut shell.

The modern left, was born from Jewish philosophy. There is no doubt to it. The pre-communists were jewish Rabbies (later became pre-Zionists, like Moshe Kalisher, if i'm not mistaken). Marxism, are modern phrases of Jewish ideas taken to the extrem and perverted totally, among other things, thanks to a huge over dose of self hate. (by Karl Marx).

Most leftist who are not that radical, hold similar opinions only in different miled doses, and in different combinations.

Jews, by defenition of our culture, look for social justice. When society is built around tyrents and their capitalist crownies, like Europe before WWI, or robber barons in America, and racial discrimination and immigrant exploitation, jews were on the left. As the left gone radical (some of it, of course) Jews remined on their same leftist spot, it's the world around the moved. So now, we come to strengthening the right. It'll be like that, till the pendelum will be blanced on the middle. The Maimonidas golden path. And there where most Jews are standing, all the time, while the world goes crazy as always.

[abu afak]

New poster Eugeeenie seems ro have an interest in this topic and now common phenomenon.. so I bumped it up with a fresh article.

Anti-Israel chic consumes S.F.'s once-friendly left wing

BY EARL RAAB


A half-century ago, the Jews of San Francisco felt much more secure from the slings of anti-Semitism than Jews elsewhere in the country, according to a Commentary article of mine at the time. The conditions leading to that sense of security are even more pronounced today: the virtual absence of discrimination in employment, housing, civic or political life. Just check the number of Jews elected to public office -- including the U.S. Senate -- without causing eyebrows to rise. But despite the absence of those marks of hostility, there is today a palpable sense of uneasiness among Jews in this area that was not present 50 years ago -- or even 10 years ago.

The reason for this new uneasiness is, if course, the heightened drumming of anti-Israelism. Most disturbing, this is happening within a portion of the same liberal circles that were actively at our side in the fight against anti-Semitism and other bigotry.
Liberal college professors and leaders of churches, labor unions, ethnic and racial groups, civic life were all prominent in the anti-Nazi rallies we held during the period in which a remnant band of the Nazi Bund was roaming the streets of San Francisco. They were at our side in all activities against anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism was anathema to them -- and they all say that it still is. But among them, a significant sector has taken up an "anti-Israel chic" that singles out that nation for the most absurd and double-standard charges: Israel is the imperialist power oppressing the indigenous Palestinians; it is Israel that blocks peace; the suicide bombers are regrettable but understandable and "martyrs," while the Israelis defending against such action are "murderers."

As an example, a Jewish professor at Bard named Joel Kovel wrote this simplistic distortion in a recent issue of the Jewish magazine Tikkun: "There should be no doubt that those [the Israelis] who have dispossessed others and illegally occupy their national lands, have to bear primary responsibility." This anti-Israel chic has been taken up by some other Jews, professors, media pundits and self-defined "progressives" such as the Rainbow grocery, which wanted to boycott Israel for human rights violations -- but not Iraq or Syria!

Most of the anti-Semites of the right wing still hate Israel as a Jewish nation, although they hate Arabs as well. But that's a different battle still to be waged, as is that against most of the Arab students here. More frustrating is the sector on the left that has been absorbed by anti-Israel chic. That sector may be a minority of the liberal population, but it is particularly vocal and influential because it has a special impact on the media and on college campuses. It is also so disturbing in this area because it is a larger sector than it is anywhere else. And it is so frustrating because it is the same sector that helped San Francisco stand out in the fight against anti-Semitism.

How can we respond to this influential anti-Israel chic among our former friends? The operative question to them is: What do you want Israel to do? They say, for example: Israel should get rid of most of its settlements, give up land for peace, give more aid to the Palestinians, allow the establishment of a Palestinian state, get rid of its "war-mongering" leaders and be less harsh toward its antagonists.

Well, except for the last two items, weekly surveys show that the majority of Israelis agree with them. But these Israelis need some firm assurance that if they give up most settlements and much land for peace, they will get peace. The indications are contrary. When Israel withdrew from Lebanon, when Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered everything but the kitchen stove, the terrorists proclaimed victory and redoubled their efforts. They control the Palestinian population,
and their purpose seems clear enough: the dismantling of Israel, the subjugation of Israeli Jews, at best. That is why the Israelis need firm measures against terrorism, and they are going to re-elect Ariel Sharon, who also says he is still willing to negotiate.

So, in the face of all that, what do those of the anti-Israel chic want Israel to do? Faced with this question and the facts, the more reasonable among them might falter. Presumably, this lot does not want Israelis to commit mass suicide.
But most of them probably will not falter because chic is never a rational posture, and in this case it is tied up with other knee-jerk postures, such as anti-Americanism. So, although we continue to ask the question, we have to concentrate on keeping the mainstream from being infected. We can succeed in doing that, but the San Francisco area will not be as benign for the Jews as it was 50 years ago.

http://www.jewishsf.com/bk021213/comm2.shtml


The writer is director emeritus of Brandeis University's Nathan Perlmutter Institute for Jewish Advocacy. He is executive director emeritus of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council.

[Mediocrates]

Of course Sharon will be gone in a year or two and it's doubtful that Likud can maintain their coalition. When that happens and a 'softer-friendlier' Labor coalition takes the reins and still nothing happens who will these self annointed human shields blame? I think that's what people have to watch for.

At this point most of the world believes that Sharon, without ever having any of the actual facts, is the most evil leader in the world. Not much we can do about that or the target it forms for all the heaping abuse they chose to throw at Israel. And all of their running scared half apologists can scurry and say "But of course criticism sometimes harsh criticism is a legitimate PoV - it's merely the policies of the government they chose to excoriate..." and so on. But the real acid test will be when someone from Labor, someone the racist radical left takes to their own bosom as their own PM their own best hearts' desire to lead the horribly misguided Israelis to the path of peace (yadda yadda, fill in the blanks you know what it says...)

And they discover that nothing improves. The PLO is still killing Jews and one another. Hamas rules Gaza with an iron hand only Pablo Escobar could be proud of. The Palestinian people sink further into squalor and Arafat if he's still sitting on throne still refuses anything less than every Israeli Jew dead and in the ground.....who will these San Fran radicals blame?

I'll tell you who. They will blame ALL Jews, everywhere. It's they only place insane radical nonsense like theirs leads. Rest assured that the day Sharon leaves office antisemitism will increase not decrease. Overt acts in Europe will mushroon not go away. Without their magic boogeyman, the rads have nothing to hide behind and their latent genocidal politically correct antisemitism will shine through.

[Alfred]

Maybe these radical leftist Jews think they have progressed beyond mere "jewishness." Maybe they believe they have evolved to a higher state where the need for a Jewish State is a token of the past... a token of some religious requirement that is no longer in their mindset. Israel, then becomes an embarassment to their higher intellectualness as a sign of a dogmatic religious past they are trying to bury.

Either that or they like attending Liberal parties and they won't get invited unless they bash Israel.

[Mediocrates]

That's not as farfetched as it seems. The notion of a 'binational' state, a place called Canaan from the sea to the river made up of whomever lives there be they Jew or Palestinian Arab came from the Liberal left not the Arabs.

[Elisheba]

The Left turned against the Jews when the Jews began fighting for our own causes. They loved us when we died for the (African-American) civil rights movement and when we fought for every cause but our own. The Left likes nothing more than a self-hating Jew.

When I realized that, I turned against the Left.

[abu afak]

Maybe these radical leftist Jews think they have progressed beyond mere "jewishness." Maybe they believe they have evolved to a higher state where the need for a Jewish State is a token of the past... a token of some religious requirement that is no longer in their mindset. Israel, then becomes an embarassment to their higher intellectualness as a sign of a dogmatic religious past they are trying to bury.

Either that or they like attending Liberal parties and they won't get invited unless they bash Israel.

That's not as farfetched as it seems. The notion of a 'binational' state, a place called Canaan from the sea to the river made up of whomever lives there be they Jew or Palestinian Arab came from the Liberal left not the Arabs.

I agree with medio.. that is NOT as farfetched as it seems.

The Victim pschology/morality is unquestioned... and the Left loves perceived underdogs .. no matter how big and Vicious that dog really is.
As I said in response to Bob light in regards DavidHoward

http://www.israelforum.com/board/sho...0&page=2&pp=15

just such a Jewish poster on the beliefnet board: (see the bold especially)
[quote]

(for others who don't know the board.. some here do.. the below post is in reference to Beliefnet's Israel-Arab board http://www.beliefnet.com/boards/disc...?boardID=21321 )

I believe he is Jewish.... He seems to have a knowledge of Hebrew and the Religion.
There are Jewish leftists.. and then there are the FAR Leftists who hate, increasingly, Israel and Jews... and then there's a few even further Left than that.. DH etc.

He is also a Jew Baiter of the First Magnitude... He goads on the Jews (and the non-Jewish anti-semites) in the most Inflammatory way, calling Israel, it's leaders, and the Jews in it.. 'Nazis'.. in a few more words than just saying 'Nazi' but 'Nazi' all the same.... "a 37 Year Holocuast against the Palestinians".. "apartheid/segregated Israel" Headlines like "Gassing Palestinians", "Extermination", "Murdered Children", "Butcher Sharon"...an article broken into 5 Separate headlines; Quoting Hass, Levy, and more recently al-Jazeera (& 'Arab News' but withheld the link from the board). .. and too many other grotesque lies and and defamations to count.
And Those morsels were just in the few days I was there!
The Jew Haters on Stormfront Chat are much more restrained than he.


When the more classic anti-semites come along and parrot the identical thing he says.. he scolds them.,. but only because THEY are so clumsy to use the word 'Jew' (instead of "zionist' or 'Israeli')..meaning that would even include Jews who hate other 'good' [anti-]Jews like him!..
(as if they would spare him in the Next Pogrom)

He says he is in favor of a '2 state solution'.. This is also a Lie though he repeats it tokenly and periodically.
(He would prefer Israel in "Nevada" ...Unquote... is closer to the truth)

Israel's Existence and everything it does is an affront to him and he says so.
He is in Favor of Israel/the state, like Bullfighters are in favor of bulls... to be out in a ring and abused, and finally rendered helpless .. to be slaughtered 'honorably'/the defenseless Holocaust Jew. (as opposed to the ignoble existense he says it has always had/has)

He is regulary quoted by the Anti-Israelers/semites there.
Used and quoted just as Amira Hass/Gideon Levy are by Him and the crowd at 'Jewwatch' and wherever else anti-semites need cover...
ie from yersterday.. but many more examples available:...

[Eugeenie]

I agree with many folks here, but also see it as a numbers game that is being facilitated by the internet, our declining school system, and people's need for conformity.

With 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, there are 1.2 billion people already predisposed towards favoring fellow Muslims. The numbers of Arabs, likewise, and with an even greater degree of predisposition. This is not an inditement, really, but just an acknowlegement of basic human nature. We form spheres of loyalty and base our trust of information based upon these spheres. Now, Muslims and Arabs have had an explosion in terms of influence upon western culture in recent years due to their explosive birth rates, their emigration to Europe and the advent of the internet which has facilitated the spread of their message -- a message that is naturally more loyal to the Arab Palestinians.

Arab propagandists have created a message carefully selected to appeal to the left (defined however we may wish). Israelis are portrayed as western imperialists, Palestinians as "indiginous peoples". Terms like "apatheid", "ethnic clensing", and any of a number of other terms are selected in order to elicit an emotional response geared towards (as folks have pointed out) a sense of protecting the underdog. Heck, the entire 20th century creation of a Palestinian people is part of this engineering, as the dynamic is changed from Israel vrs. Arabs to Israel vrs. Palestinians.

I would venture to guess that most of this current trend is coming from younger people. It is always easier to change history for those who have not lived through it, and the internet today has become the history classroom for so many people. Problem is, few of those who go searching the net ever consider the source -- ever apply any critical thinking to the subject matter since they do not have the necessary skills-- and since they run into far more rabidly pro-Palestinian sites due to the enormous difference in numbers, their reality is shaped accordingly. They want to be a good lefty, conforming to what a good lefty should conform to, and they seldom if ever question whether there is any consistancy to the values they purport to uphold. Watching some people defend honor killings, oppression of women, and suicide bombings, for instance, can border upon the absurd.


It's odd that I have long been a life-long lefty, and find myself becoming increasingly disgusted with this element within the left.

[Elisheba]

Eugeenie, it is true that the pro-Arab propaganda machine outspends us by a great deal, but I believe there is a great deal of truth in the 'naturally rebellious' youth (ignorant of history) who see the palestinians as an oppressed people. Who would be the oppressors? Israelis. What does that touch? The scapegoat for all times: Jews.

Listen, my family was targeted by HUAC, my Dad a life-long union organizer and my Mom a social worker ... home filled with all colors, ethnicities, Jews and Gentiles: all very Left. My religion was left-wing politics.

Then came the paradigm shift: we Jews, especially those who are not ashamed of being Jews and who definitely support Israel, are now the enemy of BOTH the left and the right.

You have become 'increasingly disgusted with this element within the left'???? Give it time: you will come to grips with the fact that Jews (sometimes cloaked in terms of being pro-Israel, sometimes not) are not welcome by the so-called left anymore UNLESS you are a Jew like the ones who are active in groups such as A.N.S.W.E.R. Frankly, it's heartbreaking ...

Are you aware that at nearly every demonstration, no matter its purpose, you will find a whole lot of people holding signs with swastikas superimposed over the Star of David? Again, it's heartbreaking ...

[redcake]

Gilgamesh's post above about Marxism is right on, and incredibly pertinant. The root of our problem here is the concept of power, elitism, class structure, and nationalism that students are brainwashed with. It also provides the tools for the pro-palestinian jet set to attacks Israel, and Jews... even scarier, to justify signaling out Jews in general, attempting to discredit the idea that Jews are a nation with semetic origins, and a 5000 year old history. In order to pull this off they have to put into question everything that makes Jewish heritage unique to Jews. They would never apply their logic to Native Americans, or certain African tribes, now would they ?

How is this happening? Well, look at works like Edward Said's Orientalism, and other theorist texts which impose the logic that history is never firm, facts are never black and white, that the truth is always up for debate, to validate a thought process that equates fiction, history, and mythology as one. Funny how you'll never hear anyone from the Left deny the existance of Slavery or Black civil rights issues.... but it's considered healthy to encourage the questioning of the Holocaust. So to answer the question, it's a perversion of already perverted Marxist concepts, applied through theoretical studies meant to promote critical thinking ... the students of the left's academy learn to avoid logic, sense, and morality for the sake of "compassion", and " revolution". They're so caught up in a dream that they're happy to join any unifying cause. That most are middle class, and from non-religious Jewish homes draws obvious conclusions.

As a side note, I grew up in San Francisco, and it's no shock to me why antisemetism runs rampant there. Acts targeting Jews, such as desecrated tombstones don't even make the news there. I can remember going to my Conservative Temple, on High Holidays and seeing the JDL with guns driving past on a flatbed truck while undercover cops looked for pipe bombs in the back alley. That Temple has a Rabbi who teaches Buddhist-Judaism, and a board of directors full of converts who refused Bar Mitzvas to kids on a pick and chose politics basis. Your choices for services out there are dominated by liberal Renewal and Reconstructionist services that are bordering on not even being Judaism at all. When Rabbis and Cantors retired or passed away they didn't have a new generation waiting in the wings who they trained...so instead San Francisco got Cantors who shake tambourines, and sing songs about clowns on Yom Kippur. I'm not exagerrating in the least! So there you have it... Jewish identity has been corrupted, probably beyond repair in the city where the Left are at their most rapid.

I doubt I've done well to articulate my point, but I think this is the key issue to our own survival. I really do.

[Gilgamesh]

So there you have it... Jewish identity has been corrupted, probably beyond repair in the city where the Left are at their most rapid.

I doubt I've done well to articulate my point, but I think this is the key issue to our own survival. I really do.

You made your point perfectly, although you descripition has no news for me.

Jewish traditions and survival is gaurenteed as long as there are people who read our anciant texts and attempt to understand them. The rest, is irrelevent transitory and has no long term affect.

The experimitation of Jewish traditions reached a limit, a border with Chrisitanity. Jews will grow sick of it, in the next generation. How else you can "rebel" against older generations by being more "reconstructionist, post modern and experimenal" ? Jews re discovering thier roots and identity. Jewish Orthodoxy moving little by little out side of it's shell and produces a true spiritual alternative to the Hippie culture, only they have true contanct with the legacy and harritage of the Jewish people.

As for assimilant Jews and converts, who understand Judaism as an extrem protestant - Unitarian Christian church... well, however funney or scary it may seem, it a natural process, already happened many times over in Jewish history.

The whole Rabbnical philosophy was heavily influanced by Greek philosophy and methods, either by adopting or confronting it. This is a greatness of Judaims, our ability to adjust and evolve by ideological darvinism, producing many schools and ideas only few survive the ages.

Remeber G-d promise to Avraham. More then one race, nation, civilization would come out of him. Avrahams extended family keeps on growing infornt of your very eyes.

[KettleWhistle]

Why has the Left turned against the Jews?

A pretty loaded question... Well here's my theory:

The "left" in the U.S. is traditionally the movement of the discriminated, poor, and disadvantaged. The Jews in the U.S. haven't been that since the seventies. So the extreme left often sees the Jews as the opressors of disadvantaged. Just think of the attitudes of many regarding the entertainment industry if you need an example.

In regards to Israel, it is the same issue. When Rabin shook hands with Arafat, he gave legitimacy to the terrorists. He, literally single-handedly, created moral equivalency between Arab terrorism and the Israeli self-defense. In the minds of the extreme leftists, this indeed created the image of the "Palestinian" Arabs as "freedom fighters" againt the well-trained and well-equipped Israelis. Add to that the underdog appeal and the poverty of these Arabs, and there you have it.

An important point to make here, is that the Israeli right and left are nothing like their respective American coutnerparts. In Israel, the issue is mostly about the approach to a settling the conflict with Arabs. The two sides are almost identical on the other issues. In the U.S., concervatives are mostly social concervatives, and the liberals are social liberals. Their stance on other issues stems from these positions.

[Alfred]

Then came the paradigm shift: we Jews, especially those who are not ashamed of being Jews and who definitely support Israel, are now the enemy of BOTH the left and the right.

..

Outside of a couple of thousand skinheads; the only reason the Jews are the enemy of the Right is because they are in general VERY prominent Leftists. Otherwise most Righties do not have a problem with Jews (as a religious cultural group), and in fact are Israel's biggest supporters.

It's that Leftist disease that we detest.

And lest some protest about my assertion that Jews are very prominent Leftists....I give you our own Elisheba, who picked at random, admits to having a Social Services Mom and a Labor Union organizer Dad, and a house full of Lefties.



But hopefully that will turn around some day.

[redcake]

Jews will grow sick of it, in the next generation. How else you can "rebel" against older generations by being more "reconstructionist, post modern and experimenal" ?

That's a great thought! Though I do fear we'll have to go through a period where Judaic cult spin offs like the Kabbahlist become the norm for a while. The Jewish Conservative movement is dead in places such as California where it thrived the most, so who will be left to pass down the tradition of chanting? If I could find a Cantor that didn't sound like Joan Baez I'd be really happy!


Alfred: "Otherwise most Righties do not have a problem with Jews"

That really is a recent thing Alfred. Since as you say, a good number of Jewish households lean to the Left, the Right usually stood in opposition to Jews. Christian fundamentalism has only recently embraced the concept of Zionism into their own beliefs. I think this is more a case of you projecting your own political stance on the situation rather then any commentary on what the reality has been. Leftists Jews were great supporters of the Zionist movement... the question is how did Zionism turn into the number one enemy of the Left? It's not simply a partisan issue. When a Leftist defends oppresive dictatorships over a socialist democracy made up of exiles you know it's not about ideaologies either.

[Canajew]

To start out with, I do not know the answer. But I would love to hear theories.

Historically, the Left has been very pro-Israel and pro-Jewish. But of late (what, in the last 4 years??) the Left has turned against both Israel, and to a lesser degree, the Jews; and has turned more pro-Islamic. Witness the Berkeley thread etc.

One guess I have is that Israel is being ruled by "conservatives" and that ideology is playing its hand. Would the Left in this country and in Europe be against Israel and the Jews if Barak or Peres were President?

I don't think one can say that the Left has always been anti-semitic, and that it is just coming out. Something has changed. Is it that the Right supports Israel and therefore the Left must not support it? I don't know.

essentially, I think it boils down to a perception of vitimization. Minority groups are, in general, perceived to be disadvantaged, and this draws support from the left. Discrimination against blacks, against women, against aboriginal peoples has been a catalyst for leftist support of these groups and to support things such as affirmative action. Jews used to be in this group, and so the left generally supported Jews.

However, this seems to have changed. you would say the past few years, but I think it has been a gradual change over decades, probably starting in the 1970s. Jews are no longer viewed as being one of the disadvantaged "us" but rather one of the advantaged, white "them".

Combine this with the fact that the Palestinians identified this and played the victimization card to a T, latching on their own definitions of identity with the disadvantaged, oppressed minority that the left is so quick to support, and you end up with a complete reversal. Rather than a situation where the victimized Jews are being denied a right to live in freedom after centuries of oppression in a tiny strip of land surrounded by the majority arab masses, the left altered its world-view such that this band of strong, powerful white (note how the PAlestinains and the left always portray israelis as being Ashkenazi) colonialists are oppressing and exploiting a bunch of poor, weak powerless Palestinians (who are now given a distinct identity apart from the wider arab world even though historically they were not).

The left penalizes success. if the Jews are successful, and, indeed, more successful than the average American, then they could not possibly be an oppressed minority and must therefore not be as worthy of protection and support as poor and disenfranchised minorities, given the left tends to assume that any said poverty or disenfranchisement is due to "the man" - the white male dominated economic system which exploits the proles and minorities and ignores the "feminist economics" and global welfarte considerations which are so prominent in leftist discourse.

To be sure the govenrnance of Israel affects the left. Relations between The US and Canada, for example, peak and wane based on whether ideologically similar parties and leaders are in power, and I would expect this to hold all over the world.

But the anti-globalization pro-oppressed "social justice" focused new left is concerned with minorities that are victims. Jews lost the victim status due to their success in the world community and Israel lost it due to its being as successful as it has been at staving off destruction and liquidation. Meanwhile, the Palestinaisn have been embraced notwithstanding that their society generally stands for things that are considered absolutely abhorent by the leftist community, in that it is illiberal, not at all progressive, oppressive of women, hostile to minorities, and very violent in its dealings. But they seem to abhore "the man", being in this case American globalization/imperialism and all that brings more, and so they side with the oppressed masses, notwithstanding that the oppressed masses would severely restrict their liberties, if they had the chance, while the Jews in Isarel are demonized and dehumanized as an extension of "the man".