December 23, 2018
ZIONISM IS NOT JUDAISM:
Alice Walker Endorses anti-Semitism. Marc Lamont Hill Doesn't. Was That So Hard?: When the right-wing pro-Israel community completely writes off all pro-Palestinian advocates as 'anti-Semites' it cheapens the charge of anti-Semitism. That's not only unfair - it's actually dangerous for Jews (Raphael Magarik, Dec 23, 2018, Ha'aretz)
In the past few weeks, two African American leaders have been accused of anti-Semitism - Alice Walker and Marc Lamont Hill. The problem is, only one of them actually made anti-Semitic remarks - Walker.And by erasing the difference between Walker's remarks and Hill's, we Jews are minimizing the threat and danger of actual anti-Semitism. In writing off the whole pro-Palestinian movement as anti-Semitic, we lose the ability to call out anti-Semitism when it really happens. Moreover, we lose any leverage over people in that movement. [...]The problem is what Hill said was not the least bit anti-Semitic. He was punished for advocating wholeheartedly and unapologetically for Palestinian rights - as non-Jews on the Left, and particularly people of color, routinely are.By contrast, last week, Alice Walker recommended an openly, rabidly anti-Semitic book in the New York Times. And it wasn't even the first time. It turns out she has been praising the book's conspiratorial author, David Icke, for years. [...]She claimed to have found in the wisdom of Youtube videos "the trail of 'The Talmud' as its poison belatedly winds its way into our collective consciousness."Walker's awful anti-Semitic comments only serve to highlight how unfairly Hill was treated. Hill and Walker stand on opposite sides of the bright line between criticizing Israel and expressing anti-Semitism; where Hill restricted himself to politics, Walker attacked Jewishness itself. Hill spoke of liberation; Walker talks conspiracy theories.
Posted by Orrin Judd at December 23, 2018 10:32 AM
