Jimmy Carter, the Anti-Defamation League, The New Anti-Semitism and YOU.

[Poll_Blind]

Moderators/Skinner. Please read the whole message if you're thinking about moving this to another forum. If you do move this, please PM me so we may discuss.

  This morning I was reading about Michael Savage calling Jimmy Carter an anti-Semite in another thread. Michael Savage is a marginalized kook, and that's putting it charitably. I was interested to see what a mainstream internationally-recognized organization like the Anti-Defamantion League would have to say about Carter's book. From Abe Foxman's (National Director of ADL) Nov. 13th statement:

One should never judge a book by its cover, but in the case of former President Jimmy Carter’s latest work, “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid”, we should make an exception. All one really needs to know about this biased account is found in the title.

  From the opening sentence I gather he does not find the book balanced. Ok, fair enough. Reading on down we get to the third paragraph:

In some ways, Carter’s book reminds me of the outlandish paper on “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” by professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, though he doesn’t go to their extremes. Like them, his examination of almost every issue concerning the conflict results in blaming Israel for most or all of what has gone wrong.

  Ok, so it reminds Mr. Foxman of something he has previously-described as anti-Semitic, but maybe not quite as anti-Semitic as Mearsheimer and Walt's paper. Will he go further? He does:

As disturbing as Carter’s simplistic approach is, however, even more disturbing is his picking up on the Mearsheimer -Walt theme of Jewish control of American policy, though in much more abbreviated form and not being the focus of his work. Referring to U.S. policy and the “condoning” of Israel’s actions, Carter says: “There are constant and vehement political and media debates in Israel concerning its policies in the West Bank but because of powerful political, economic, and religious forces in the U.S., Israeli government decisions are rarely questioned or condemned, voices from Jerusalem dominate our media, and most American citizens are unaware of circumstances in the occupied territories.” In other words, the old canard and conspiracy theory of Jewish control of the media, Congress, and the U.S. government is rearing its ugly head in the person of a former President.

  That last sentence. "In other words..." In other words, Jimmy Carter is spouting anti-Semitic propaganda as well, apparently.

  Michael Savage is a two-bit radio host who panders to a conservative audience as far to the right as NeoCons, or arguably farther. The number of people who listen to his show or even take it seriously are very, very small.

  However this is not the case with the Anti-Defamation League. It's a $40-million dollar a year organization with around 30 offices located in the United States and a few offices in other countries as well. It is not the Michael Savage show. It is, in fact, a mainstream organization which works closely with the police forces around the world to combat bigotry and has been recognized as such. Mr. Foxman (who's been the chairman of the ADL for 30 years now) has been given awards several times by organizations and statesmen, recently including France's Legion of Honor award.

  So these allegations, when made by the ADL against president Carter, are much more serious and worthy of note. Also of note is a term and the ideology behind it, which are responsible for accusations such as the one above: The New Anti-Semitism. "The New Anti-Semitism" sets out to prove that conventional anti-Semitism around the world has been augmented by a sort of "coded anti-Semitism" which is not as easy to detect because it does not follow the conventional rules of anti-Semitism. The main tenet of this ideology is that criticism of Israel, in many cases is, in fact, coded or thinly-veiled anti-Semitism. Something which the ADL's National Director accuses Jimmy Carter of.

  In the case above, Mr. Foxman deviates a bit from his publicly-defined view but the reasoning works as follows:

:bluebox: Jimmy Carter states that because of "...powerful political, economic, and religious forces in the U.S., Israeli government decisions are rarely questioned or condemned" which Mr. Foxman interprets as a statement indicating that Israel exerts undue control over the U.S. Government

Knowing that, and the following:

:bluebox: That one of the tenets of anti-Semitism is that Jewish people exert undue control over the U.S. Government

The resulting similarity between these two points, when using the arithmetic from Mr. Foxman's formula is:

:redbox: "In other words, the old canard and conspiracy theory of Jewish control of the media, Congress, and the U.S. government is rearing its ugly head in the person of a former President." (from Mr. Foxman's analysis)

  Why is this important to bring up? Well, war and peace in the Middle East are on all of our minds for the last six years at least and I think it's likely that many of us at DU are likely to speak about those issues. I think that it's also likely that you're familiar with what constitutes anti-Semitism but The New Anti-Semitism contains much broader criteria (as well as relationships between different words and ideas, forming a "code") for defining and classifying what is or is not anti-Semitic and I think that if you do speak, you should be familiar with this new arithmetic.

President Carter's words are not immune from charges of promoting anti-Semitism from this major organization. What will this new arithmetic reckon from your words?

PB

Further reading:

Promotion of the ideology of "The New Anti-Semitism"

The New anti-Semitism, by Forster and Epstein (officials of the ADL) (1974)
Never Again? : The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism by Abraham Foxman (National director of the ADL) (2003)

Arguments against the validity of "The New Anti-Semitism"
A Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen Thesis and Historical Truth, by Finkelstein and Birn (Professors) (1998)
Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History by Finkelstein (Professor) (2005)

[bryant69]

1. I think the fact that they are trumpeting this more than they used to

hints that they don't think they can get away with it for much longer. The truth is pretty obvious on the face of it - Israel and her allies here in the states exert a lot of power on the United States government - that's not anti semite, that's a fact. And it's a readily verifiable fact. So how long can they go on claiming the opposite?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[ThomCat]

3. Exactly.

When it gets to the point that Jimmy Carter is speaking up then it's time for people to sit down and start listening.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Deep13]

4. Is this an example of a straw man argument?

[cali]

5. Honestly, what did you expect from the ADL?

I often disagree with you, but I think this is a very, very thoughtful and well done post, and I sincerely hope it isn't moved. On the other hand, the ADL is a private organization, and Foxman has the right to say whatever he pleases as regards President Carter's book. In fact, his comments are more subdued than I would have imagined.

[Poll_Blind]

7. The main thing here (in contrast with the article about Savage) was...

...that Savage is a really marginalized character and it's expected that he's going to say, well, nutty things. The point I felt was important to make is that the ADL is an internationally-recognized organization with alot of clout. They, as I believe I mentioned in the post, really do work with dozens if not hundreds of different police forces in the United States and (IIRC) internationally to combat hate and bigotry.

  They ADL has done a great deal of work and spent an awesome amount of time tracking and identifying hate groups and then passing that information to law enforcement. I can't remember the name of the network, but the ADL was instrumental in forming a network between police organizations in the U.S. to help identify and keep tabs on well-known, dangerous hate groups.

  To sum up: They've got "street cred" when it comes to identifying, tracking and (pertinent to my post) qualitatively defining what is a hate group/hate speech. This is not the only criteria they use, because they do work on tracking a number of different types of hate groups. However, I felt it was important for people to know that their criteria for identifying anti-Semitism, specifically, is different than what they are likely to think it is.

  This case with Carter, who has spent his whole life becoming essentially a known quantity in Middle East politics, highlights sharply how a major organization like this views what many would consider "uncontroversial" as propagation of hate-speech.

  Again, the ADL has not made its name just in fighting anti-Semitism but in working to become the authority on hate groups/hate speech in America.

  I think the last week has shown that there are some really differing viewpoints on what constitutes anti-Semitism and I felt that it was important to get something out to DU that said "Here's the other side of the coin. This is how many American Jews look at some criticism of Israel. 'The New Anti-Semitism' has been adopted by some big players in the realm of understanding and combating bigotry and here is (briefly) how that ideology works."

PB

[cali]

11. OK, I understand what you're saying

but I think the ADL's work on hate groups and hate crimes is distinctly separate from Foxman's comments about the book. In addition, and it's a minor point, but I believe premier authority on hate groups is the SPLC. Nor do I see that one can fairly state that Foxman accuses Carter of hate speech.

[Violet_Crumble]

6. Great post, Poll Blind!

Carter says: “There are constant and vehement political and media debates in Israel concerning its policies in the West Bank but because of powerful political, economic, and religious forces in the U.S., Israeli government decisions are rarely questioned or condemned, voices from Jerusalem dominate our media, and most American citizens are unaware of circumstances in the occupied territories.”

While Foxman interprets that as saying Jews control the US govt, I think the folk Carter is likely to be referring to are the Religious Right and the immense power they wield. I saw a documentary on the BBC about it a few months ago and the way they control US foreign policy matters on the Middle East is appalling...

[Jcrowley]

8. I hope people will read Jimmy's words

and listen to his speech over at Dem Now!

Historical background and essential reading:

The complete text of
The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict

Published by
Jews for Justice in the Middle East

As the periodic bloodshed continues in the Middle East, the search for an equitable solution must come to grips with the root cause of the conflict. The conventional wisdom is that, even if both sides are at fault, the Palestinians are irrational "terrorists" who have no point of view worth listening to. Our position, however, is that the Palestinians have a real grievance: their homeland for over a thousand years was taken, without their consent and mostly by force, during creation of the state of Israel. And all subsequent crimes—on both sides—inevitably follow from this original injustice.

This paper outlines the history of Palestine to show how this process occurred and what a moral solution to the region's problems should consist of. If you care about the people of the Middle East, Jewish and Arab, you owe it to yourself to read this account of the other side of the historical record.

http://www.washington-report.org/jews_for_justice/index.html

[dogday]

9. Just knowing Carter, it is hard to believe that this

man is anything but a just and caring man and there is not a biased bone in his body... He has gone beyond the call of being a President, ex-President, and all around Great Human Being.... I thought the post was very good.....

[Behind the Aegis]

12. Everyone is biased, that is simply human nature.

[dogday]

13. So say you, I guess you must be as well..... nt

[Behind the Aegis]

14. Of course I am...just like you are.

[dogday]

15. I am biased against people who like to tag others

with labels... Too many labels I think, too much manipulation and magnification of words and phrases. Too much policing of policies and postings... Yep I am biased....

[Behind the Aegis]

16. It was as I said.

Therefore, Carter, being human, is also capable of bias.

[dogday]

17. Of course he is capable, but his actions show

he is not that type of person... Do they not?

[Behind the Aegis]

18. No, they do not.

His actions clearly shows he has a bias. I think you are confusing 'bias' with 'bigotry.'

[dogday]

20. And I think you are just confused period

This is an honorable man.. I stand by that statement... You however seem to have a problem with him... Do you think he is anti-semitic as the article states? Is this the bias of which you keep insisting we all have?

[everythingsxen]

22. I didn't see BTA say Carter was an anti-Semite...

He said Carter was human and all humans are biased.

[dogday]

24. I did not either, I asked the question?

What did he think? I did not say that is what he thinks....

[Behind the Aegis]

27. You can think whatever you want.

I said nothing about his being less than honorable, I simple said he, like all other humans, is prone to bias. I think his bias is against Israel. I don't think being biased against Israel is the only thing needed to say someone is anti-Semitic.

[cool user name]

10. Kick and recommending ...

[trof]

19. I dunno. Is THIS anti-semetic:

"A forthcoming edition of Fortune magazine ranks the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as the second most powerful interest group in Washington...The pro-Israel lobby, which the magazine called 'calculatedly quiet,' has for years been successful in encouraging members of Congress and the administration to support U.S. foreign aid to Israel and other issues related to the U.S.-Israel relationship."—Daniel Kurtzman, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 1997.

For two generations American diplomats in the Middle East have listened to the same complaint. "How is it possible for a lobby, based upon only two percent of the American population, to take over U.S. Middle East policy completely and also to have a strong and sometimes decisive influence on U.S. foreign policy in the rest of the world?"
http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0198/9801065.htm

Or this:
American Jews recognize the importance of support for Israel because of the dire consequences that could follow from the alternative. Despite the fact that Israel is often referred to now as the fourth most powerful country in the world, the perceived threat to Israel is not military defeat, it is annihilation. At the same time, American Jews are frightened of what might happen in the United States if they do not have political power.

As a result, Jews have devoted themselves to politics with almost religious fervor. This is reflected by the fact that Jews have the highest percentage voter turnout of any ethnic group. Though the Jewish population in the United States is roughly six million (about 2.3% of the total U.S. population), roughly 89 percent live in twelve key electoral college states. These states alone are worth enough electoral votes to elect the president. If you add the non-Jews shown by opinion polls to be as pro-Israel as Jews, it is clear Israel has the support of one of the largest veto groups in the country.

Jewish congressmen are naturally expected to be supportive of Israel and, with the exception of occasional odd votes, this is true. Historically, however, few Jews have held elective office or primary positions of power, even though they have always been politically active. In the past decade, however, this has gradually begun to change. Today, Jews occupy more positions of influence than ever before. For example, in the 109th Congress, 11 Senators are Jewish (11 percent) while Jewish members comprise almost 6 percent of the House.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/lobby.html

Interesting statistics.
2.3% of the population, 11% of the senate, and 6% of the house.
:shrug:

BTW, I see nothing anti-semitic in PB's OP.

[Selatius]

25. That's not anti-semitism. That's fact.

Anti-semitism would be saying they control the government. That's different from saying 11% of the Senate is comprised of Jews.

[Behind the Aegis]

29. DING DING DING! We have a WINNER!

Thank you!!!

It really isn't that difficult to understand. I always use the example:

40% of US prisons and jails are filled with African-Americans. FACT
Based on the above fact, AA's are more likely to be criminals. RACISM (basically due to a false conclusion)

[oc2002]

21. I am going to pick buy Carter's book this weekend, looks like a great read.

For many it is shocking what goes on in Israel, but nobody here know jack shit about it. The media like it that way, they are muzzled when covering anything to do with Israel, its like they own the media.

[sentelle]

23. anti-isreal != anti-jewish

I am kind of confused.

1. Statements critical of isreal are not neccesarily the same as statements critical of the jewish religion or those that practice it.
2. Statements critical of the pro-isreal PACs in the US are not the same as statement critical of the jewish religion or those that practice it.

3. Why would the ADL criticise Mr. Carter for a statement critical of those that are pro-israeli? Could it be that the ADL is pro-israeli.

The statements of the ADL and Mr. Weiner (dba Michael Savage) are what is classicly thought of as a strawman. Jimmy Carter made statements critical of Israeli policy, not statements critical of Jews.

To be precise, to equate one with the other is like saying "if you support the troops, you support the Republican(t) Party"

It seems like an error in logic.

[trof]

26. Well said, and welcome to DU.

:hi:

[mitchtv]

28. It's about time an American of stature

spoke up for the Palestinians.Sorry, I don't read any anti semitism into it( I also saw the interview on Larry King). It seems all criticism of Israel is interperted like that. Israel has two choices land, or peace.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

30. I'm going to lock this.

Due to continuing problems, discussion of Israeli/Palestinian issues is limited to the Israel/Palestine forum, and is governed by a special set of rules which are available in that forum. If a discussion is primarily about US policy in Israeli/Palestinian affairs, it is sometimes allowed in other forums. Discussion of other Middle East issues is also sometimes allowed. If a thread is on a different topic, but later goes off-topic and becomes a discussion of Israeli/Palestinian issues, the moderators may move the thread to the Israel/Palestine forum.

best,
wakemeupwhenitsover
DU Moderator