A while ago, my girlfriend heard Walid Shoebat speak in St. Louis. I've known about Walid since slightly after Sept. 11, 2001, when I ran across his testimony on answering-islam.org. We briefly mailed each other; me, writing to encourage him; him, inquiring about opportunities to speak in this area. (Summary: I wasn't much help.)
Apparently Walid is considerably well-known now: Canada denied him entry, apparently they don't want a repentant former terrorist to speak against violence. Likewise, Columbia University recently did something similar: Instead of banning Walid from speaking, they prevented the general public from hearing him speak.
Recently, I ran across the following comments in a review of his speech at Wesleyan University. I found it, um, telling. In the opening, the author carefully describes an audience containing "members of traditional Jewish communities," wearing "yarmulkes and dark suits": "These pilgrims had ventured far out of their element to hear the testimony of Walid Shoebat, the 'reformed terrorist.'"
Most affected were the visitors from off-campus, but it was clear that many of the Wesleyan students were transfixed as well. Here was an irrefutable source, impervious to accusations of bias or racism, exonerating them of responsibility for the terrible situation in the Middle East–and dumping it on the other side. Shoebat had confirmed the deeply-rooted Jewish communal fear of destruction–in this case at the hands of the Palestinians–while absolving the Jews from blame in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
And then, later:
[M]any students think instead that Shoebat’s presentation is calculated to stroke the egos of Jewish Zionists, while uniting them in fear and hatred of Palestinians. Jacob Goldin, a freshman at Wesleyan when Shoebat visited the school, felt that “the biggest purpose of his speech was to make the people in attendance [Jews] feel good about themselves, and to take the blame for the situation off of them.”
And, yet again:
Maneuvering his biography like a Trojan horse, Shoebat gains the ear of liberal Jews. And his status as a “reformed sinner” gives him credence in the eyes of his target audience, overriding other Palestinian perspectives. At the very least, he has the power to lull Jewish audiences into complacency, absolving them of the need to examine their own history and politics.
Notice the theme? The author is generally talking about American Jews; not Israelis. They do not live in Israel, they have probably never served in Israeli politics, they have not served in the Israeli army. They are just Jewish Americans who live in or near Middletown, Connecticut, and who were interested in hearing what a "former terrorist" might have to say about the situation.
And yet, in the author's mind, at least some -- if not all -- of the "blame" for the conflict lies on them. At no point does he mention any Palestinian culpability; and it's even odder to blame Jews in Connecticut for the conflict, which started long before most of them were born. Yet his words carry a clear presumption of Ameircan Jewish guilt and culpability.
In another odd sentence, he even seems to place them in the middle east, commitin violence, and rejects the idea they'd do so out of self defense. Watch how "American Jews" is shortened to "Jews", who suddenly become armed combatants:
Indeed, the idea that anti-Semitism is the root issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a powerful message for many American Jews. Beyond planting paranoia, Shoebat absolves Jews of responsibility for the Middle East’s problems. He paints them as victims, and any violence they commit as pure self-defense.
And of course, the idea that Israelis use violence primarily or mostly in self-defense is an absurd one, dismissed as easily as a statement the world was flat -- with no dicussion; it's a given.
In Shoebat’s version of Middle-Eastern history, anti-Semitism is a timeless constant that has now taken root in the heart of the Arab world.
Surely, this Shoebat guy lives in an alternate reality. Anti-semitism "timeless"? The idea it's "taken root in the heart of the Arab world"? This is surely some sort of speculative, fictional alternative "version of Middle-Eastern history." These are absurd ideas, to be dismissed on their face as idiocy, not even worthy of a moment's consideration, apparently.
The author of this piece, Josh Nathan-Kazis, is not some European or Islamic anti-semite; from what I can gather, he is a liberal American Jewish university student. Dennis Prager, a noted conservative Jewish spokesman, often laments that liberal Jews have replaced their traditional religion with a "liberal" worldview. Indeed, here we see Nathan-Kazis repeating many of the mantras I've heard before.
Troublingly, we can see how that narrative moves easily from the presumed guilt of every Israeli to the presumed guilt of American Jews, coupled with an aversion to debate reasonable contentions -- such as the arument that Israel has mostly acted in self-defense, or that anti-semitism is a real problem today, one which merits any concern.
Is it not amazing to you how someone can write an article like this one here, trying to downplay anti-semitism, and not see how anti-semitic it is?
Well, again, if I understand the situation correctly, the author is himself a liberal Jew, editing a liberal Jewish magazine, which, I expect, would sufficiently insulate him from the charge of being motivated by hatred of Jews.
Nonetheless, much of that could also be said of Noam Chomsky, who will probably never be accused of failing to condemn Israel, nor failing to miss an equal or greater sin by Israel's opponents.
I don't think the world "self-hating" really applies as often as people use it. (Not to pick on anyone here -- it's a common enough term.)
There's good money to be made in running down people who are in some group to which you never chose to belong -- or once chose to belong. That's not hating yourself: that's hating your neighbor. As a comedian once quipped: "Greater love has no man than that he should give his friends for his life."
Don't get me wrong: there can certainly be a sincere motive for criticism: When Bill Cosby announces the bad news about the black community, he's only doing it, I believe, because he wants to improve things.
But on the other hand there can be less noble motives: I know firsthand that many Jews are raised with a deep (and justified, given history) fear of persecution. So there's always someone who want to feed somebody else to the shark, thinking they'll be eaten last. If we just show them we're "good Jews", they' leave us alone.
Such people have learned nothing from history.
I'm reminded of Arab Palestinian Christians, who undoubtedly want to appease and conform to the Islamic culture around them and be safe, and thus took up the standard Jew-hating stances and rhetoric predominant among their Muslim peers.
But alas, it seems the shark they once fed so eagerly and faithfully is now eating them, too:
Arab Christian communities identify with Arab nationalism — indeed, Christian Arabs were the founding fathers of this movement. They share with their Muslim brethren a common language, ethnic origin, and a total rejection of Israel. But the new mood of politicized Islam has made life harder for the members of these ancient communities. The result has been a massive emigration of Christians from the Middle East to the West and a dwindling of their numbers in the region. [1]
Perhaps they miss the days when the Iraeli state, which they so hated, protected their very lives.
I'm also reminded of the Jewish Orthodox Neturei Karta.
Is it not amazing to you how someone can write an article like this one here, trying to downplay anti-semitism, and not see how anti-semitic it is? Reading this article is almost like reading something written in Germany of Poland before 1939. Maybe not quite that bad, but certainly along the same lines. "The Jews should realize that they are the cause of the world's ills, Jewish aggression and greed!" I swear to God it seems to be a prime example of doublethink. Mind: I'm a tolerant man who relies on reason. Paper: Jews are evil!
Posted by: Troy on December 3, 2006 01:08 PM