On Any Answers, a caller reacting to the subject of The Chief Rabbi's anger at the CoE's decision not to invest in Caterpillar which provides machinery used for Israeli destruction of Palestinian houses: First he said the issue is nothing to do with what Israel does to Palestinians, but rather, that one can not punish an international company like Caterpillar for what it's machinery is used for in one place. We should then, he added somewhat cynically, logically look at who provides hammers to Israel or who provides fertilisers to Palestinian bombers. He finished by saying this is an excuse for antisemites. So, in under two minutes, he managed to contradict his first statement.
Another example of an unwavering supporter of Israel attempting to censor any criticism of Israel with the use of the irrational fear of antisemitism.
Ah, he cries anti-semite, does he? It's the final death rattle of a dead argument. When all else fails, cry anti-semite. Paging Dr. Norman Finkelstein:
RépondreSupprimer" In the United States [and Britain, apparently] among those people who call themselves supporters of Israel, we enter the area of unreason. We enter a twilight zone. American Jewish organizations [and British ones, apparently], they're not only not up to speed yet with Steven Spielberg, they're still in the Leon Uris exodus version of history: the “this land is mine, God gave this land to me," and anybody who dissents from this, you can call it, lunatic version of history is then immediately branded an anti-Semite, and whenever Israel comes under international pressure to settle the conflict diplomatically, or when it is subjected to a public relations debacle, such as it was with the Second Intifada, a campaign is launched claiming there is a new anti-Semitism afoot in the world.
There is no evidence of a new anti-Semitism. If you go through all the literature, as I have, the evidence is actually in Europe, which is Dr. Ben-Ami's half-home ground, Spain, but throughout Europe, the evidence is, if you look at like the Pew Charitable Trust surveys, anti-Semitism has actually declined since the last time they did the surveys. They did it in 1991 and 2002. They said the evidence is that it's declined. And the same thing in the United States. What's called the “new anti-Semitism” is anyone who criticizes any official Israeli policies."
No, chief rabbi, you are absolutely wrong. Were the aid sent or the products manufactured were being used by Saddam Hussein to manufacture SCUD missiles to launch at Israel, you would claim that the manufacturers and/or policies to sent the materials were antisemite. Simply put, I am saying that we all know the chief rabbi would be a hypocrite on this matter.