Back in 2003, not long after the invasion of Iraq, the Labour MP Tam Dalyell was trying to explain why Tony Blair, then Labour Prime Minister, had dragged the United Kingdom into yet another Middle East war.
Dent Coad, perhaps intentionally, confuses kinship (feelings like collective pain) with collective responsibility. Most Diaspora Jews feel kinship with Israel and Israeli Jews. We sympathize and identify with Israel. It would be wrong to say though that we should share collective responsibility for Israel's actions or the actions of any other Jew. In any other area of life this is obvious: If my brother is killed, my family feels pain. If my brother kills someone, nobody would suggest putting me or my Mum in prison.
It’s obviously true that if you are not physically an accomplice to murder you would probably not be charged as an accomplice but if you or any witness, Jew or not, stands by and says nothing while the Israeli army murders thousands of Palestinian families you abet those crimes by your silence and history will not find you innocent of that, nor will the many Israelis who speak out now, against the genocide.
What is being done to legally charge the likes of David Miller? How is anti-Zionist a "philosophical belief"? Is anti-Semitism a "philosophical belief"?
It hasn't been posted to the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism's YouTube channel yet, but on Wednesday, March 27, the Centre hosted a two hour discussion featuring James Murray and John Strawson, regarding the outcome of Miller's appeal of his dismissal to the employment tribunal, what a poor case the university presented in its defense and other issues. If you're interested, you might check in a week to see if it's been uploaded. https://www.youtube.com/@LondonAntisemitism/featured
I'm not Jewish, but I consider myself an ally of a small minority in Britain who are under unprecedented attack. I am also the kind of ally who asks difficult questions and challenges dubious assertions. In other words, I'm the kind of ally who's a pain in the rear end. I'd like to think that, in the long run, I'm the only kind of ally that's worth having.
"It gets applied to Jews... because antisemitic conspiracy myths... seem to make sense in a way that similar conspiracies levelled at other minorities wouldn’t." Is that, in fact, correct? The Conservatives have repeatedly been attacked for accepting generous donations from Russian expatriates and, so the inference goes, they have returned the favour by turning a blind eye to Russian oligarchs laundering their dirty money in London (https://www.politico.eu/article/britain-tories-russian-money-oligarch/). Is this a conspiracy theory? Yes, I think it is. What's more, this article, published two weeks after Putin attacked Ukraine, opens the door to the idea that political bribes would induce the Conservatives to look the other way about naked aggression in Eastern Europe. Is the Politico journalist a Russophobe? Now that's a bit strong, I'd say.
So was the lady antisemitic? I don't think it's as clear cut at Dave Rich imagines. She did not use the term 'Zionist', which is of course a figleaf for 'Jewish'. She was precise in her language, using the term 'Israeli'. She was peddling a conspiracy theory, but not necessarily an antisemitic one. Whether or not the lady is antisemitic would depend on other evidence, and on the context of the debate.
For what it's worth, I might be inclined to think she was antisemitic, but I would be willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. As I hope we would all want to get the benefit of the doubt, if we should find ourselves in that lady's position.
Dent Coad, perhaps intentionally, confuses kinship (feelings like collective pain) with collective responsibility. Most Diaspora Jews feel kinship with Israel and Israeli Jews. We sympathize and identify with Israel. It would be wrong to say though that we should share collective responsibility for Israel's actions or the actions of any other Jew. In any other area of life this is obvious: If my brother is killed, my family feels pain. If my brother kills someone, nobody would suggest putting me or my Mum in prison.
It’s obviously true that if you are not physically an accomplice to murder you would probably not be charged as an accomplice but if you or any witness, Jew or not, stands by and says nothing while the Israeli army murders thousands of Palestinian families you abet those crimes by your silence and history will not find you innocent of that, nor will the many Israelis who speak out now, against the genocide.
So refreshing to read this. Social media and especially X, is one big morass of all this stuff and worse, reporting it however does no good whatever.
What is being done to legally charge the likes of David Miller? How is anti-Zionist a "philosophical belief"? Is anti-Semitism a "philosophical belief"?
It hasn't been posted to the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism's YouTube channel yet, but on Wednesday, March 27, the Centre hosted a two hour discussion featuring James Murray and John Strawson, regarding the outcome of Miller's appeal of his dismissal to the employment tribunal, what a poor case the university presented in its defense and other issues. If you're interested, you might check in a week to see if it's been uploaded. https://www.youtube.com/@LondonAntisemitism/featured
I'm not Jewish, but I consider myself an ally of a small minority in Britain who are under unprecedented attack. I am also the kind of ally who asks difficult questions and challenges dubious assertions. In other words, I'm the kind of ally who's a pain in the rear end. I'd like to think that, in the long run, I'm the only kind of ally that's worth having.
"It gets applied to Jews... because antisemitic conspiracy myths... seem to make sense in a way that similar conspiracies levelled at other minorities wouldn’t." Is that, in fact, correct? The Conservatives have repeatedly been attacked for accepting generous donations from Russian expatriates and, so the inference goes, they have returned the favour by turning a blind eye to Russian oligarchs laundering their dirty money in London (https://www.politico.eu/article/britain-tories-russian-money-oligarch/). Is this a conspiracy theory? Yes, I think it is. What's more, this article, published two weeks after Putin attacked Ukraine, opens the door to the idea that political bribes would induce the Conservatives to look the other way about naked aggression in Eastern Europe. Is the Politico journalist a Russophobe? Now that's a bit strong, I'd say.
So was the lady antisemitic? I don't think it's as clear cut at Dave Rich imagines. She did not use the term 'Zionist', which is of course a figleaf for 'Jewish'. She was precise in her language, using the term 'Israeli'. She was peddling a conspiracy theory, but not necessarily an antisemitic one. Whether or not the lady is antisemitic would depend on other evidence, and on the context of the debate.
For what it's worth, I might be inclined to think she was antisemitic, but I would be willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. As I hope we would all want to get the benefit of the doubt, if we should find ourselves in that lady's position.
Words are the matter or substance of which ideas are made
and our ideas are both the glory of our species and its curse.
Intellectals are animals whose lives revolve around ideas
some of which are useful but as the good book says
if we speak with the tongues of men or angels and have not love
our words are but the sounds of cannons and machine guns
that drown out the cries of children and the grief of mothers and fathers.
Those who revel in mere ideas and have not love are simply part of the Human Problem
and their words will be lost in the ashes of this agony that intellectuals call civilization.