If YOU have issues with Cornel West-well, what are they?

[Ken Burch]

28. Medea Benjamin is not an antisemite.

She just went to a conference some people didn't approve of(for the record, I wouldn't have gone to it).

But it goes without saying that, as a Jewish person herself, she cannot hate Jews or wish them collective harm.

I found a couple of quotes online, from a site(http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/186201/medea-benjamin-iran) where Todd Gitlin was questioning her presence at the event, in which she wrote a response to a person who had written her a letter questioning her presence at the conference in question:

First, this

I certainly heard things I didn’t agree with—over-the-top conspiracy theories and statements that I thought were anti-Jewish, homophobic, or anti-immigrant. I brought up my concerns to the organizers after the first day and during the second day as well. Some of my issues were addressed, such as clarifications from the podium by the organizers that the conference is not anti-Jewish or anti-Semetic [sic] and that it’s important to make a distinction between Judaism and Zionism. This was reiterated several times.

Then this

I was definitely uncomfortable, with some of the people in the conference, but I’ve been in many situations where I feel uncomfortable with attendees from a variety of political backgrounds, from AIPAC conferences to Tea Party gatherings to Muslim Brotherhood-sponsored rallies to Thanksgiving meals with extremely right-wing family members. I’m a big supporter of talking to all kinds of people, learning their perspectives, and sharing mine. During the conference days I was up until the wee hours of the morning engaging in heated debates with some of the attendees about their conspiracy theories, their homophobic views, and their rigid value system. Sometimes I felt like I was among people who were closer in ideology to right-wing conservative Christian groups, like Focus On the Family, who were railing against attacks on family values and have concocted the most elaborate and zany conspiracy theories.

Then this, which may explain why she attended the conference:

We should talk to our adversaries whenever we can [you write]. That means traveling to Iran. That means going to conferences with different kinds of people—listening to their views and having them hear mine. I think some of the people at the conference were moved by some of our late-night discussions. And I learned a lot, particularly from the Iranians attending the conference, that will be very helpful to me as a peace activist. Peacemaking is all about dialogue, Todd, with people who see the world from very different perspectives.

Having read these words, do you STILL feel justified in calling Ms. Benjamin what you called her?


The real issue, as I see it, the real reason some people are obsessed with using her attendance at this conference to anathemize Medea Benjamin, is that she doesn't accept the idea that being Jewish obligates her to be a Zionist. And really, whatever you can feel about the I/P issue, why SHOULD she feel such an obligation?