Jeff Blankfort, a veteran anti-Zionist, seems
quite upset that my recent letter in the Santa Rosa
Press Democrat was reprinted in the Anderson Valley Advertiser, a weekly
serving a small rural area of Mendocino County.
While I guess I should be flattered that I
inspired Blankfort to research my background to discover that I am—GASP—a
Zionist activist (and thanks for the shout-out for my book, Jeff!), he appears to insinuate that, by not
providing my Zionist bona fides in my letter, I am somehow deceiving readers.
Of course, there’s no space in a letter to the editor to do that. But
Blankfort, in a 2500 word comment, should then have the integrity to disclose
his own associations.
And what are those associations? Blankfort has
presented at speaking events with Gilad Atzmon, an ex-Jew who has declared
burning down synagogues to be “a rational act”, but also believes “There’s no
such thing as antisemitism.”. He’s also appeared together with both Greta
Berlin and Alison Weir. Berlin was a founder of the Hamas support network known
as the Free Gaza Movement, which tried to bring expired medications and
worn-out shoes to Gaza by boat; in 2012, she notably promoted a Holocaust
denial film and then gave multiple, mutually
conflicting explanations of how that happened. Weir appears to be David
Duke’s favorite antizionist (at least until Duke tweeted out his
admiration for Ilhan Omar in 2019); her books have been on sale at his website.
Weir is so toxic that even Jewish Voice for Peace, which promotes an
astonishing litany of lies and libels about Israel, won’t work with her.
It's only who he chooses to associate with, of
course; he has his own track record of hate speech. As cited here, he “spoke at Oct 18 2012, at the Berkeley
Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists. Using coarse, vitriolic language, Jeff
evoked the themes of classic anti-Semitism, speaking of 'Jewish power', and
mockingly comparing those concerned with rising anti-Semitism 'dogs who like to
roll in horseshit.'" Declaring firmly "Our business here was to stop
support of Israel", he made no pretense of objectivity or impartially,
until he concluded "The Jewish establishment is the biggest purveyors of
untruth and disinformation you can possibly find anywhere in the world".”
Antisemitism is, at its heart, a conspiracy
theory. No wonder that Cynthia McKinney, the disgraced former Congresswoman
from Georgia whose promotion of conspiracy theories have made her a favorite of
wingnuts the world over, is a big fan:
But all of this pales in contrast to the ne plus
ultra of Far Left antisemitic online gathering places, the “Palestine Live”
Facebook group started by Jeremy Corbyn supporters. The British activist David
Collier has written at length about the old-school antisemitism rampant in that
group—Holocaust denial, Rothschild conspiracy theories, links to white supremacist
websites, uploads of the Protocols of the Elders of Ziyon (there was so much
material that he had to do two separate posts on it-- here and here. Of course Gilad Atzmon, Alison Weir and Greta
Berlin were members. So was Jeff Blankfort, who was prominent enough to be
added on the SECOND DAY of this group’s existence. On page 182 and 183 you can
find comments
posted by Blankfort; nobody could be faulted if they had guessed that
those were statements made by David Duke:
“Israelis like to use the terms blood libel and
Jew hatred in the matter that some dogs like to roll around in horse shit, the
only difference being that the dogs come out invariably smelling better.” And
“How could anyone possibly connect Jews with money any more than bees with
honey.” Blankfort spoke up about someone banned from the group for more extreme
antisemitism (one can only imagine what could get someone banned from such a
group), and posted, inter alia, “Most Jews are not semites.” (As if antisemitism
is in any way an opposition to “semitism” or “Semites”; look up Wilhelm
Marr, Jeff.)
So now that we have established who Jeff Blankfort
is, let’s examine his response to my letter. He doesn’t straight-up assert that
I am assisting the Mossad, but he does feel it necessary to spend a few
paragraphs chewing over what is apparently a Hebrew neologism for those who do
so, and has decided that I am indeed qualified to be one. Sooner or later,
though, if you insinuate dual loyalty or even outright assistance in espionage
to all Jewish supporters of Israel, you might even be correct once! Sorry Jeff,
just not this time. He also cites an alleged quote from Chaim Weizmann which
only appears on several quote aggregation websites with no documentation. Given
that a quote such as this would have been frequently used over the decades to
charge Jews with dual loyalty—especially by the KGB, which helped create the
basis for modern leftist antiZionism—I would strongly suspect that this quote
is just another in the very long line of deliberate misinformation known as
“Pallywood”. Even if the quote were genuine, modern Zionist thought has
obviously developed quite a bit over the past 100 years, and neither the State
of Israel or the Zionist organizations abroad adhere to such a philosophy.
Blankfort’s rewriting of Biblical history is quite
interesting. If he wants to take Genesis as literal history, he should go back
and reread it. According to the narrative, Abraham indeed came from Mesopotamia
but then personally went to what later became Beersheva, Hebron and Jerusalem.
Everything else in the Biblical story is centered around the land of Israel.
Yet the Biblical narrative is not in any way
required to understand how Jews are indigenous to Israel. Nor was it the basis
for modern political Zionism, led by resolutely secular—and socialist—Jews. The
land of Israel, as even Blankfort acknowledges, is where the Jewish people
developed our unique identity, language, faith, and ties to a particular piece
of land. Were there Canaanites, Philistines (sea people from Europe who lived
on the coast), Moabites, Edomites and other tribal peoples in and around that
land? Of course. But they all disappeared from history millenia ago. There are
no living Canaanites who give their children Canaanite names, teach them
Canaanite legends, or observe Canaanite religious practices. Yet Jews are
living in the same place, speaking the same language, following the same faith,
and giving their children the same names as thousands of years ago. The lie
that Ashkenazi Jews have “no connection” to the Land of Israel and the Middle
East is long since disproven by genetics indicating Middle Eastern origin (such
markers, of course, were absent in their non-Jewish European neighbors). And
despite the fact that the Khazar origin story (created by Arthur Koestler in
the 1970s without any actual scientific evidence) is still worshipped by
antiZionists as a way of trying to separate the bulk of world Jewry from the
Jewish homeland, there is no genetic, historical or archaeological evidence to
support it. How ironic that Blankfort titles his piece by referring to “Israeli
mythology” while simultaneously promoting the Khazar nonsense. Let’s not forget
to mention that he uses “Jewish supremacy”, a term popularized by David
Duke--not a surprise, coming from an active member of Palestine Live.
Blankfort, on the basis of his extensive (4
months’) time in Israel over 2 decades, has come to the conclusion that Israeli
Jews are irredeemably racist. Now let’s be clear—racism exists in Israel, and
it is vile. Just as racism exists in every country in the world, and it is vile
everywhere. But only in regard to Israel is it followed by “and therefore, that
country should not exist” (or some variant of that). There isn’t a way, without
sounding like a reprehensible bigot, to say that countries with exponentially
worse human rights records than Israel towards their own minority groups—China,
Russia, Iran, just to name a few—should be eliminated as nation-states. And
those who come to that conclusion regarding Israel aren’t any less the
reprehensible bigot. Did Israel have in its recent past have restrictions on
where Arabs could rent housing? Yes. Did the US have in its recent past have
restrictions on where Blacks could rent housing? Yes. Have courts in both
countries taken steps to remove them? Yes. Should the US be disestablished
because of this? (I'd say no, but I’m not sure where Blankfort stands on that
one).
What do Israeli Arabs think about their country?
In a recent survey, 60% said they had a favorable view of the
country and 63% said it was a positive place to live. That doesn’t sound like a
group being treated as Blankfort alleges.
Blankfort also has a problem with Israeli
democracy—it doesn’t elect an Arab as Prime Minister. Arabs are 21% of the
population. Jews are 74% (and 5% other, for those of you keeping score at
home). While Arab parties were in governing coalitions in the 1950s, 1960s and
1970s, Arab parties in the past few decades have been staunchly anti-Zionist
and refused to serve in any coalition. That changed last year when Mansour
Abbas’ Ra’am party served in the coalition that recently disbanded. Meanwhile,
Arab members have been elected to the Knesset from various parties—Labor,
centrist parties, even Likud-- and served as government ministers. Will an Arab
be Prime Minister of the Jewish state one day? There’s no law against it. Just
as Blankfort was still not able to find a single legal or political right held
by a Jewish Israeli not also held by an Arab Israeli. Arabs even can-- and do-- live in Israeli settlements; though there's
often friction arising from that, just as in multiethnic societies the world
over. No, the Nation-State Law didn’t remove any rights from its Arab citizens
nor add any new rights for its Jewish citizens.
Blankfort then goes on a lengthy tirade charging
Israel with controlling US government policy towards Israel. Of course, if
Israel really did control the US government we wouldn’t have had Reagan’s sale
of AWACS to the Saudis, or George W Bush's apparent refusal to help Israel
destory Iran's nuclear weapons development program, or Obama’s JCPOA which
legitimized that nuclear program while turning a blind eye to the mullahs'
drive for a nuclear bomb, or his refusal to veto UNSC 2334 which overturned
decades of US policy stating that final status issues of a peace agreement
would have to be negotiated between Israelis and Palestinians. After invoking
historically antisemitic tropes about Jewish money and power, he then complains
that he will be labeled antisemitic and a “self-hating Jew.” I don’t call
people such as Blankfort “self-hating”. My experience is that those like him
are very much in love with themselves-- and with their edgelord willingness to
deploy rhetoric used to justify the persecution and outright slaughter of Jews
just a few generations ago.
Blankfort and I likely agree on one thing: that
the Palestinian Arabs should be able to determine their own future in their own
nation-state. But his position is that, of all the peoples in the world, Jewish
national self-determination is uniquely illegitimate and the Jewish state
should be eradicated, to be replaced by the 22nd Arab nation-state. (Basically,
it's the same position which Vladimir Putin has taken towards Ukraine, and
threatens to for other nation states within what he feels is Greater Russia.)
And that is, by the criteria in the IHRA
definition which has been adopted by three dozen
democracies as well as the US Departments of State and Education, indeed
antisemitic. Not all criticism of Israel is antisemitic, of course, but that
doesn’t mean that none of it is. Pre-emptively declaring in advance that this
would be the response to your words doesn’t in any way mean that it’s
incorrect. If you’re sharing platforms with antisemites, if you’re using
historical tropes of antisemitism against the Jewish state, if you're using
terms popularized by actual neo-Nazis, if you’re demanding that Palestinian
self-determination and dignity require the elimination of Jewish
self-determination and dignity—well then you might just get correctly called out for
promoting antisemitism.
Today, at least four Israelis were killed in a Beersheba terror attack. Mohammad Ghaleb Abu al-Qi’an, a 34 year old former terror convict from the Negev town of Hura stabbed and ran over multiple Israelis before he was finally neutralized. Abu al-Qi'an was a former high school teacher previously jailed for supporting and promoting ISIS at the school.
Palestinian media was filled with praise for the attacker. Hamas spokesperson Abd al-Latif al-Qanou on official Hamas radio declared “We salute the executor of the heroic operation in occupied Beersheba
“The occupation’s crimes shall be met with heroic operations: stabbings, ramming and shooting,” al-Qanou added
In Gaza, sweets were passed out in the streets to celebrate the murders.
Palestinian promotion of violence, glorification of violence and celebration of violence- these have always been the obstacles to peace in the region.
Gaza, an area 25 miles long and 8 miles wide has 1,230 mosques, many ornate and extravagant. The people of Gaza are begining to ask why.
Imam al-Shafei Mosque in the al-Zaitoun neighborhood of Gaza was built at a cost of $3.5 million.
| Imam al-Shafei Mosque in Gaza |
Al-Hassayna Mosque in Gaza City cost over $2 million.
| Al-Hassayna Mosque in Gaza |
The Al-Khalidi and Salim Abu Muslim mosques in Gaza were built at a cost over $1 million each. More lavish mosques will be opening soon.
| Gaza's Al-Khalidi Mosque |
In improverished Gaza, citizens are begining to question the wisdom of such lavish expenses.
From Al-Monitor:
Mohammad al-Khalidi, a citizen from Gaza, poured out his resentment of such luxury mosques. “The Ministry of Endowments claims that the donors funding the construction of the mosques want to spend this much money on them. But why would it [the ministry] not inform the donors that there are other fields in Gaza where the donations could be more useful? Mosques can be built at a reasonable cost and the remainder of the donations could be used to build hospitals, schools or residences, for example.
Al Khalidi questioned these priorities:
“The opening of the Khalil al-Wazir Mosque in the coming months will stir an uproar among Gazans due to the large number of mosques already present in Gaza, in the absence of development projects, hospitals and sewage networks. For example, in the Beit Lahia area in northern Gaza, the Salim Abu Muslim Mosque was built at a cost of $1 million, while a nonregulated landfill in the area is endangering the health of the locals and the environment.”
The construction of these lavish mosques in Gaza is yet another indication of how out of touch the Hamas leadership is to the needs of its people and how misplaced its priorities have been.
Read more here:
Gazans outraged over millions of dollars spent building mosques
(Cross-posted at Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers)
Last night, in Nablus’s Balata refugee camp a gunfight broke out when Israeli Border Police officers entered the camp to arrest a wanted criminal. Two terrorists arrived on a scooter and began to shoot at the police. Border Police officers fired back, killing them.
The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry identified one of the deceased as 17-year-old Nader Rayan, who will go down forever in statistics as a "child" killed by Israel.
Qatar affiliated AJ+ (Al Jazeera plus), a social media publisher owned by Al Jazeera Media Network the death, posted about Rayan's death, deliberately devoid of any context .
English language posts on social media show a well groomed young man in athletic wear. The Arabic posts are quite different.
Images that aren't geared to a Western audience portray the "martyr" Nader Haitham Rayan in a very different light.
When 17 years olds are given weapons and told to shoot policemen, 17 years olds will die. Mourn for Nader Haitham Rayan, whose life was cut short by those cynically willing to sacrifice their young. Mourn for his community, that values his death more than his life.
In a stunning rebuke to Amnestry International recent slander, the Democracy Index from the Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked Israel in 23rd place in the out of 167. The index ranks Israel as the most democratic country in the Middle East, placing it ahead of even the United States. Israel's overall score has been improving steadily over the years.
Israel scored 7.97 points out of a maximum of ten, just behind France (7.99 points) and Britain (8.1 points). Nations are rated on a variety of factors, including electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation and political culture.
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