Yes, yes, I know — faulting Israel is hardly anti-Semitism. But note the obsessive focus on Israel, especially from the left. So take any issue: occupied land? Why do we not evoke Ossetia, Tibet, or Cyprus? Or for that matter Prussia?
Take a divided city? How about Nicosia?
Take disproportionate force? Try the leveling of Grozny?
Targeted killing? Our own Predators have killed more than Israeli air attacks.
The killing of Muslims? India and China trump Israel.
Wait — the issue is U.S. aid? OK, are we “shocked” that Egypt gets billions and harasses human rights activists, stifles democracy, and tortures its own?
No, the issue is blockading Gaza? So Turkish and European flotillas are off the Egyptian coast?
No, no, the problem is the detention of third parties in international waters? So President Obama has ended, as promised, rendition (remember the movie?)? Hardly.
Yes, the Arabs have hundreds of millions, Israel seven. Yes, they have oil, the Israelis none. Yes, libel a Jew and it’s cute, libel the prophet and go into hiding. And yes, Israel is a surrogate often for anti-Americanism. But all that said, it is still strange that so many Westerners focus such antipathy and attention on Israel over precisely the topics that they otherwise ignore in other countries.
It is not anti-Semitic to discuss divided cities, occupations, the use of force, blockades, refugees, etc. It is, when all these topics mysteriously appear only in reference to Israel so as to suggest it is somehow singular in its transgressions. I somehow know who Rachel Corrie is, but not any of the names of tens of thousands of Kurds in Turkey, or Chechens in Grozny, or Tibetans in China, or Egyptians in Cairo. Why?
Why indeed? Much more at the link. Read the whole thing.
3 comments:
and the question can be asked i the reverse.
i know why israel/palestine is so often in our news.
but it escapes me as to why they matter to many with such lopsided importance.
(that is, the many who are not jews. its understandable that it matters to them)
The Left isnt oddly obessive about only Israel. The media that I read focuses on oppression and conflict in many places. If I were to guess why (what one perceives as) the MSM tends to focus more on Israel, I would suggest that it's because the MSM is capitalist, not liberal.
Um, Amanda, I'm sorry, but I remember the eighties quite well, and the unfortunate reality is that the left could see any wrong....
....except for those coming from the Warsaw Pact, China, and other Communist nations. I'm sorry, it's a HUGE blind spot.
Gotta add something to our gracious host's comments; if you want to talk about the wholesale slaughter of Muslims, let's talk about the Iranians, Iraqis, and (ahem) the "brother" nations that keep all those Palestinians locked up in camps for political gain.
Post a Comment