This is the second time I am breaking my own rule by criticizing Israel (or in this case a segment of Israeli society) publicly (since there are more than enough people to do that, and falsely at that).
Omer Bartov lives in the US and is a professor at Brown. I am not sure I would call him the Israeli left anymore, just a useless jackass. Whatever his reasons he gives succor to the Jew haters because they can now Jew-wash their antisemitism. Listen the entire Left is responsible for the judicial reform debacle and everything that has come since then. They have used the hostage issue to try to unseat Bibi and do not care how it effects Israel in general. They are traitors to the Jewish People. Full stop.
Appreciate use of the term "Jew-wash." Never saw it before but it works to allow anti-semites to express positions hostile to Israel and to the survival of Jews generally, and then claim they are not anti-semites because "many" Jews take the same positions. I've seen the term "as a Jew" used to describe such people, Jew-washing also works.
Actually its a play on the term pink-washing which is decades old. It was coined by a professor (who only had a BA at the time) of gender studies at CUNY to say Israel by treating the gay community exceptionally was using that to cover up its treatment of Palestinians-hence pink-washing. (And you thought CUNY just became an Islamo-Marxist-Nazi hell hole since Oct7?) So advocates of Israel and those who fight antisemitism, mock her ridiculousness by using the term Jew-washing for those antisemites who like to seek out the few "As a Jews" who support Israel's enemies so they can say heck- I cant be an antisemite a Jew agree with me. Hence Jew-washing their antisemitism.
I found particularly repugnant that Bartov actually admits that no amount of stretching can extend the definition of genocide to Gaza - so he discards it summarily, in a sad attempt to appease the chorus of people who still won’t allow his existence past his utility as a traitor
Judicial reform debacle protests and how it was handled. As we all know now, especially with the reporting, it was the Biden administration that funded these protests and used it to try to unseat Bibi. (There was huge speculation about it during the time but with the opening up of the books of USAID, we now know where the money for the protests came from)
So yes, the left is responsible for the debacle of how it was handled and what happened afterwards, because among other things, what it did was cause Israel's enemies to think that it was so divided it could attack on oct 7 and the country would not respond. Remember how reserve pilots said they would no longer serve if the judicial reform bill was passed? I remember. So maybe just maybe, the left needs some introspection, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that matter.
If someone can explain how allowing the elected representatives to choose the judges in the country as opposed to an unelected legal guild is somehow undemocratic I would like to know.
There have long been Jews who hate Jews, and Americans who hate America. It is more gratifying for them to identify as halo-shining leftists than to identify as Jewish people. Many people derive satisfaction by going against the grain; going with the flow is too easy. Inhabiting he left side of the spectrum seems to be a default position for Jews, most notably in New York City where they support an avowed antisemite. Well-stated piece, Dena
I spend a couple of hours almost every morning writing on people's Facebook pages with variations of your essay here. . It is so very aggravating. It is hard enough talking to people who are not Jews and aren't informed or educated, but I truly have lost patience with the Jewish left... Which of course is a long tradition among Jews for understandable reasons as our core liberal and social justice values seem like it should be a good fit.... But the ideological stance Is, as you say, dangerous. I subscribed to haaretz at first so that I could get real news about Israel. But I am stopping my subscription because it is horrific in its rabid criticism of anything and everything going on in the Israeli and Jewish world. And the phenomenon of it being intellectuals and academics who are the most vociferous and vile and ultimately it is so self-destructive. Thanks for writing.
Yes, as I wrote above, Rikki, Jews who hate Jews are a psychological breed that I do not fully understand. You and I are not going to change their minds. To keep your blood pressure down and your sanity intact, avoid conversations and people - Jews and non-Jews - the uninformed who will never get-it.
It seems to me that Israelis in general (from every political party) do not have an accurate understanding of how they, as a people and a society, are being portrayed in the rest of the world. And as a result, they think they are pushing back righteously on issues with their own government and don't realize how their hyperbole and sided arguments are being weaponized.
Yes, Kapos collaborated hoping to spare actual lives. But as Tauber says, it’s a case of “slandering your own nation with blood libels to prove your moral worth”. I think it’s because of our ideologically polarized cultures - anyone talking in public seems to have to throw themselves on one of two pyres and all the “cool kids” are on the far left. Nuance and complexity are beyond these folks and actively discouraged.
Why do we expect performers to comment on current affairs? Why does Patinkin think his voice (which was silent for days after October 7 and then made a mushy ‘all lives matter’ comment, is meaningful?
I think it’s the performers and anyone in public life who think their opinions matter and are deserving of attention! Why am I even commenting on Israel in a public space when I’ve only been there once? Oh right, it’s because all Jews are affected by the world’s reactions and antisemitism, whether we realize it or not.
How many international authorities, experts, organisations, is it going to take before you can admit to yourself that Israel IS committing genocide?
Even the icj is there saying plausible case and their bar is pretty high.
Israel is going to have to face this you know? Denial isnt going to cut it. At some point some other people are going to get into Gaza and see all the rest of the evidence. All those dead children’s remains aren’t going anywhere soon. Especially the ones under all that rubble.
Bari Weiss certainly seems to be contributing to the problem of US Jews being excessively focused on unfair criticism of Israel to the neglect of its significant internal problems, foremost among them being that lunatics and racists are in charge of policy?
I don't think Bari is a fan of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir by any means. She interviews people like Lucy Aharish, Naftali Bennett, and Yoav Gallant. I don't think Bari would ever conflate Yair Golan with some random far-left academic.
Ehud Olmert is a corrupt guy in his 80s trying to stay relevant. The issue with Kariv is that he is woke and attacked Abigail Shrier, so I don't think he would get along well with Bari.
As a gentile in England I've much love for Israel and I'm glad you're fighting back against the murdering Arab Palestine folks. Its basically good against evil and I wish I'd been born a jew so I could fight with you. Long live Israel 🇮🇱 xxx
Omer Bartov may be a putz but Free Press reading American Jews are sticking their head in the sand about the direction Israel is headed in. *Likud* PM Ehud Olmert, Yesh Atid, The Democrats etc have been sounding the alarm on this literally Kahanist government and the harm it is doing both to Zionism and to innocent Palestinians. I think those who care about Israel should focus less on unfair coverage and more on Israel’s internal problems.
Omer Bartov lives in the US and is a professor at Brown. I am not sure I would call him the Israeli left anymore, just a useless jackass. Whatever his reasons he gives succor to the Jew haters because they can now Jew-wash their antisemitism. Listen the entire Left is responsible for the judicial reform debacle and everything that has come since then. They have used the hostage issue to try to unseat Bibi and do not care how it effects Israel in general. They are traitors to the Jewish People. Full stop.
Thanks for that clarification! I’m glad he is not in Israel.
Too bad here is here though.
Appreciate use of the term "Jew-wash." Never saw it before but it works to allow anti-semites to express positions hostile to Israel and to the survival of Jews generally, and then claim they are not anti-semites because "many" Jews take the same positions. I've seen the term "as a Jew" used to describe such people, Jew-washing also works.
Actually its a play on the term pink-washing which is decades old. It was coined by a professor (who only had a BA at the time) of gender studies at CUNY to say Israel by treating the gay community exceptionally was using that to cover up its treatment of Palestinians-hence pink-washing. (And you thought CUNY just became an Islamo-Marxist-Nazi hell hole since Oct7?) So advocates of Israel and those who fight antisemitism, mock her ridiculousness by using the term Jew-washing for those antisemites who like to seek out the few "As a Jews" who support Israel's enemies so they can say heck- I cant be an antisemite a Jew agree with me. Hence Jew-washing their antisemitism.
😊
I found particularly repugnant that Bartov actually admits that no amount of stretching can extend the definition of genocide to Gaza - so he discards it summarily, in a sad attempt to appease the chorus of people who still won’t allow his existence past his utility as a traitor
Well that’s interesting I can’t bear to read this type of utter shit.
Amen…
EKB - and certainly Brown U is no picnic!
Judicial reform debacle protests and how it was handled. As we all know now, especially with the reporting, it was the Biden administration that funded these protests and used it to try to unseat Bibi. (There was huge speculation about it during the time but with the opening up of the books of USAID, we now know where the money for the protests came from)
So yes, the left is responsible for the debacle of how it was handled and what happened afterwards, because among other things, what it did was cause Israel's enemies to think that it was so divided it could attack on oct 7 and the country would not respond. Remember how reserve pilots said they would no longer serve if the judicial reform bill was passed? I remember. So maybe just maybe, the left needs some introspection, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that matter.
If someone can explain how allowing the elected representatives to choose the judges in the country as opposed to an unelected legal guild is somehow undemocratic I would like to know.
There have long been Jews who hate Jews, and Americans who hate America. It is more gratifying for them to identify as halo-shining leftists than to identify as Jewish people. Many people derive satisfaction by going against the grain; going with the flow is too easy. Inhabiting he left side of the spectrum seems to be a default position for Jews, most notably in New York City where they support an avowed antisemite. Well-stated piece, Dena
Thank you Fred
I spend a couple of hours almost every morning writing on people's Facebook pages with variations of your essay here. . It is so very aggravating. It is hard enough talking to people who are not Jews and aren't informed or educated, but I truly have lost patience with the Jewish left... Which of course is a long tradition among Jews for understandable reasons as our core liberal and social justice values seem like it should be a good fit.... But the ideological stance Is, as you say, dangerous. I subscribed to haaretz at first so that I could get real news about Israel. But I am stopping my subscription because it is horrific in its rabid criticism of anything and everything going on in the Israeli and Jewish world. And the phenomenon of it being intellectuals and academics who are the most vociferous and vile and ultimately it is so self-destructive. Thanks for writing.
Thank you Rikki
Yes, as I wrote above, Rikki, Jews who hate Jews are a psychological breed that I do not fully understand. You and I are not going to change their minds. To keep your blood pressure down and your sanity intact, avoid conversations and people - Jews and non-Jews - the uninformed who will never get-it.
There is something about these people, Norman Finkelstein,
Gabor Mate among others that feels biblical in their evilness
Agree. It’s some kind of illness.
It seems to me that Israelis in general (from every political party) do not have an accurate understanding of how they, as a people and a society, are being portrayed in the rest of the world. And as a result, they think they are pushing back righteously on issues with their own government and don't realize how their hyperbole and sided arguments are being weaponized.
I agree.
Maybe now that the USA is looking into the NGOs financing of the Israeli traitors it will get better.
Let’s hope.
You hope that an authoritarian right wing government will make things better for Jews? Got it!
Excellent piece, Dena! Just another “elite” university I can cross off my list 😊!
Thanks Steve!
“It is worth mentioning that the kapos were not spared in the end.” 💯
Kapos had a reason to collaborate. Spare their lives or their families. What’s his reason?
Yes, Kapos collaborated hoping to spare actual lives. But as Tauber says, it’s a case of “slandering your own nation with blood libels to prove your moral worth”. I think it’s because of our ideologically polarized cultures - anyone talking in public seems to have to throw themselves on one of two pyres and all the “cool kids” are on the far left. Nuance and complexity are beyond these folks and actively discouraged.
Why do we expect performers to comment on current affairs? Why does Patinkin think his voice (which was silent for days after October 7 and then made a mushy ‘all lives matter’ comment, is meaningful?
I think it’s the performers and anyone in public life who think their opinions matter and are deserving of attention! Why am I even commenting on Israel in a public space when I’ve only been there once? Oh right, it’s because all Jews are affected by the world’s reactions and antisemitism, whether we realize it or not.
How many international authorities, experts, organisations, is it going to take before you can admit to yourself that Israel IS committing genocide?
Even the icj is there saying plausible case and their bar is pretty high.
Israel is going to have to face this you know? Denial isnt going to cut it. At some point some other people are going to get into Gaza and see all the rest of the evidence. All those dead children’s remains aren’t going anywhere soon. Especially the ones under all that rubble.
“The Israeli left needs to find its moral compass”?
The left, whether in Israel, the Uk, the US, Canada -wherever- has no moral compass.
The title of this article is garbage. The “Israeli left” is Yair Golan, not some random far left academic who lives in the US.
Typical of Free Press addled American Jews
Perhaps. I'm an American Jew and I like The Free Press but I'd never make this mistake. I don't think Bari Weiss would either.
Bari Weiss certainly seems to be contributing to the problem of US Jews being excessively focused on unfair criticism of Israel to the neglect of its significant internal problems, foremost among them being that lunatics and racists are in charge of policy?
I don't think Bari is a fan of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir by any means. She interviews people like Lucy Aharish, Naftali Bennett, and Yoav Gallant. I don't think Bari would ever conflate Yair Golan with some random far-left academic.
Does she ever interview people like Yair Golan, Yair Lapid, Gilad Kariv or Ehud Olmert? Why not?
Yes she interviewed Yair Golan.
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/honestly-with-bari-weiss-1971579/episodes/the-free-press-in-israel-part-202862054
She interviewed Lapid back in her NYT days too. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/opinion/netanyahu-israel-yair-lapid.html
Ehud Olmert is a corrupt guy in his 80s trying to stay relevant. The issue with Kariv is that he is woke and attacked Abigail Shrier, so I don't think he would get along well with Bari.
Have any of you reading this read any well written, thoughtful explanations, trying to clarify this disturbing phenomenon?
Yes . The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul
Book by Yoram Hazony
As a gentile in England I've much love for Israel and I'm glad you're fighting back against the murdering Arab Palestine folks. Its basically good against evil and I wish I'd been born a jew so I could fight with you. Long live Israel 🇮🇱 xxx
Omer Bartov may be a putz but Free Press reading American Jews are sticking their head in the sand about the direction Israel is headed in. *Likud* PM Ehud Olmert, Yesh Atid, The Democrats etc have been sounding the alarm on this literally Kahanist government and the harm it is doing both to Zionism and to innocent Palestinians. I think those who care about Israel should focus less on unfair coverage and more on Israel’s internal problems.
I hope so….
👏🏽👏🏽