I AM A JEW (PART XXIV - Dershowitz Again)

As the title shows this is the 23rd part (actually the 24^th, if you count the Special Bulletin) of the series. If you haven’t read the other parts I urge you to do so. They are, after all a continuum. Easy access to the others can be obtained by clicking on Part I and then scrolling upwards or by accessing the label I Am A Jew.

Alan Dershowitz appears to have taken it upon himself to be the principal spokesman or apologist for anything and everything that Israel does. He used to be a spokesperson for liberal causes in the great tradition of Judaism, but that Desrshowitz is no more.

As recently as May of 2013 he denounced Right Wing Jews:

…who believe that retaining the entire West Bank is more important than trying to make peace with the Palestinians.

But that was before prominent Israeli leaders began advocating for retaining the entire West Bank.

Now Dershowitz joins the apologists for all that resembles Israeli policies by becoming a spokesperson for those who try to equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. Now he finds anti-Semites under every rock, and in doing so joins the Right in smearing leading Jews.

In an article appearing on March 11, 2014 in the Right Wing magazine Newsmax entitled "Europe's Alarming Push to Isolate Israel" he lashes out at all critics of Israel and labels them “the grandchildren of Nazis and Nazi collaborators” which is rather startling in its sweep.

What is his evidence – and one might expect some evidence from the noted lawyer. It is true that there were many non-Germans complicit in the Holocaust, not just Germans. Yes, what else is new? How does that take us from the fact that Nazi supporters were not all Germans to his conclusion, or rather to his smear? He lumps Voltaire, Karl Marx, and Levrenti Beria to prove that the Left is as bad, or worse, than the Right. 

Well, now that he finds himself in good standing as a member of the Right (he appears to be writing a regular column for the Right Wing publication Newsmax) he has the nerve to lump Voltaire with the leaders of communism, or for that matter Marx with Beria.    

Voltaire was the founder of the enlightenment. In that capacity he was very anti-religion since it was religion that gave legitimacy to “the privileges of the nobility, and in the infallibility of the Church.” In doing this he “preferred to concentrate his attacks on the Old Testament and its followers, the Jews” but according to the Jewish Virtual Library, he did this “primarily a(s) a result of his hatred for the Church” and the Jewish Virtual Library goes on to say, “Voltaire's outlook was a powerful contribution to the creation of the mental climate which made possible the emancipation of the Jews…” emphasis added (Ibid) 

But the further exploration of this point is rather ridiculous because the views of people who lived in a world where anti-Semitism was the norm is hardly of import today. Whether there is anti-Semitism in today's world can hardly be doubted, but to conclude from this, that criticism of Israel has its basis in anti-Semitism, is far-fetched, to say the least. 

Dershowitz mentions the persecutors of Alfred Dreyfus, but somehow omits mention of Zola’s ringing defense “J'accuse.” If Zola were alive today and criticized Israeli policy, would Dershowitz smear him too with the brush of anti-Semitism.

But the extent of Dershowitz’s descent from any kind of liberalism is his own anti-Semitism, for he joins the Right in smearing prominent Jews. Thus we read his mean-spirited attack on Gertrude Stein and her companion, Alice Toklas, when he says that they: “collaborated with the Gestapo”. This is a gratuitous smear on one of the great Jewish intellectuals, which shows how low Dershowitz has sunk. For the background of this smear see the Jewish web site Tikkum's "Why the Witch-Hunt Against Gertrude Stein?." As to Gilad Atzmon, why publicize a nut few people have ever even heard of. See what the Arab press has to say about him. 

Will Dershowitz soon join the Right in smearing George Soros? It is such smears against fellow Jews that reveal the inanity of the new Dershowitz.

Following the demise of the Nazi regime we have had a long period where anti-Semitism, at least in Western Europe and the US, was at one of its lowest ebbs in recent history. It is only, the outrages of Israel, and its attempt to equate criticism of its policies with anti-Semitism, that has stoked the very thing that Israel should have been instrumental in preventing.

People like Dershowitz share the blame for this new outbreak of anti-Semitism, irrational, like all prejudices, including those against Blacks and Muslims, which are raging, at least as much as anti-Semitism. He asks:

Where are your demonstrations on behalf of the oppressed Tibetans, Georgians, Syrians, Armenians, Kurds, or even Ukrainians? Where are your BDS movements against the Chinese, the Russians, the Cubans, the Turks, or the Assad regime?

But demonstrations in those cases are unnecessary, since the governments of the West have been actively engaged in opposition. Do we need demonstrations to denounce the Russians in Ukraine, when the West has applied sanctions? If sanctions were in place against Israel it is highly unlikely that there would be demonstrations.

When Iraq tried to occupy Kuwait, George H.W. Bush declared:

This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait. 

The Cubans?

Does Dershowitz think that the US aught to be doing more against Cuba than what it has been doing all these decades?

Have the Western nations not made their concern with Tibetans clear by receiving the Dalai Lama in all the capitals. What more can reasonably be done?

No, the anger about Israel is because Israel has been given a free pass, to do as it will with the Palestinians. If there has been any favoritism it has been in favor of Israel, not against it. American aid to Israel in the last two years has exceeded 6 billion dollars. Since 1949 aid to Israel has exceeded 120 billion dollars, and to help Israel keep Egypt friendly, the US gives Egypt an additional “annual $1.3 billion military assistance package… “ 

Israel has been given a free pass because of the world’s guilt about the Holocaust. But the reliance on that guilt is wearing thin.

The prejudices of the world have always been around. Unfortunately they will always be with us. But to use them to intimidate legitimate criticism of any country, or of any policy, is a disservice to the very values for which Dershowitz used to be known.

It is sad to see a figure of such renown fall to such depth.

Except for comments received, my summation, and possibly a debate preceding the summation, this concludes my analysis of the Israeli/Palestinian tragedy. I now welcome any comments readers care to make and will publish same, with or without attribution, as the contributor wishes.