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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Leftist blasts use of 'Israel firster'

Leftist Spencer Ackerman blasts the use of the term 'Israel firsters' by fellow Leftist MJ Rosenberg (pictured with another friend) among others.
Some on the left have recently taken to using the term “Israel Firster” and similar rhetoric to suggest that some conservative American Jewish reporters, pundits, and policymakers are more concerned with the interests of the Jewish state than those of the United States. Last week, for example, Salon’s Glenn Greenwald asked Atlantic writer Jeffrey Goldberg about any loyalty oaths to Israel Goldberg took when he served in the IDF during the early 1990s. (On Tuesday, writer Max Blumenthal used a gross phrase to describe Goldberg: “former Israeli prison guard.”) The obvious implication is that Goldberg’s true loyalty is to Israel, not the United States. For months, M.J. Rosenberg of Media Matters, the progressive media watchdog group, has been throwing around the term “Israel Firster” to describe conservatives he disagrees with. One recent Tweet singled out my friend Eli Lake, a reporter for Newsweek: “Lake supports #Israel line 100% of the time, always Israel first over U.S.” That’s quite mild compared to some of the others.

“Israel Firster” has a nasty anti-Semitic pedigree, one that many Jews will intuitively understand without knowing its specific history. It turns out white supremacist Willis Carto was reportedly the first to use it, and David Duke popularized it through his propaganda network. And yet Rosenberg and others actually claim they’re using it to stimulate “debate,” rather than effectively mirroring the tactics of some of the people they criticize.

Throughout my career, I’ve been associated with the Jewish left—I was to the left of the New Republic staff when I worked there, moved on to Talking Points Memo, hosted my blog at Firedoglake for years, and so on. I’ve criticized the American Jewish right’s myopic, destructive, tribal conception of what it means to love Israel. But it doesn’t deserve to have its Americanness and patriotism questioned. By all means, get into it with people who interpret every disagreement Washington has with Tel Aviv as hostility to the Jewish state. But if you can’t do it without sounding like Pat Buchanan, who has nothing but antipathy and contempt for Jews, then you’ve lost the debate.

This is tiresome to point out. Many of the writers who are fond of the Israel Firster smear are—appropriately—very good at hearing and analyzing dog-whistles when they’re used to dehumanize Arabs and Muslims. I can’t read anyone’s mind or judge anyone’s intention, but by the sound of it these writers are sending out comparable dog-whistles about Jews.
Read the whole thing.

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4 Comments:

At 10:47 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

those who use the term and attack those jews who are pro israel, are also anti american far leftist kooks

just as they find it hard to simply criticize israel and instead, demonize her...they do the same with america

 
At 3:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

(On Tuesday, writer Max Blumenthal used a gross phrase to describe Goldberg: “former Israeli prison guard.”)

LOL

Oh I do love Max Blumenthal, he says it like it is, as do other stars like Joseph Dana who was recently in London :)

Israel Firsters like Caroline Glick do not belong in the USA. It is only a matter of time before these traitors are given their walking papers (if they're lucky) at best...and at worse...

 
At 3:18 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Get off your cocaine Bacci40,

Max Blumenthal is 100% pro American, in fact he'd make a good President of the USA.

I love Joseph Dana. :)

These guys are worth a billion of right wing trash

 
At 12:39 PM, Blogger Juniper in the Desert said...

I think the intoxicant is down YOUR throat, chayma! Nearly drowned in the koolaid did you?

 

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