Yes. Yes. You "hit it on the nose" time and time again. Peter Beinart, I would not have thought I would live to see the day that someone with your intelligence, ability to articulate, and accurate moral compass would see the world of Israel-Palestine in precisely the way I do. I have just finished "Being jewish after the Destruction of Gaza," and it is a gem of thoughtful reasoning and research.
Thank you for this. I have always said if Palestinians looked less like me (I am African American) the debate would be different. I have said this since the 80s.
Today’s video is so dangerous. Antisemitism is real. BUT placing antisemitism and anti-Palestinian racism in the same register, as if they are in competition(!), is “both-sides-ism,” and doing so obscures the oppressive reality at play. The actual problem: even though antisemitism is real, virtually *none* of these pro-Israel students making accusations of so-called “antisemitism” are actually reporting anything even remotely resembling real antisemitism. What they are reporting is what is defined as antisemitism UNDER THE IHRA, which is actually anti-Zionism, not antisemitism! (Outrageously, these students are very often making these reports as gestures of anti Palestinian racism themselves!)
What you have is *not* “people reporting or combating antisemitism” but rather, what we see today is people using the guise of reporting or combatting “antisemitism”, (but really, anti-Zionism) … as a SMOKESCREEN for anti-Palestinian racism, anti-Arab racism, anti-immigrant sentiment, xenophobia, and Islamophobia!
With a title like that, you would expect the report to contain disturbing information about how Jews in the United States are under attack. But such information is simply not there. The report decries "the commission of blatant acts of antisemitism specifically targeting Jews", but gives no specifics. It says that "In 2023, The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) tabulated 8,873 antisemitic incidents across the United States", but says nothing about the nature of any of those tabulated incidents, where they happened, who the victims were, or how those victims were harmed. What's wrong with "say their names"? Oh, I see there is a footnote to the paragraph reporting the ADL's numbers. But the *only* info in that footnote is about Hamas's 1988 covenant and its 2017 statement of principles; there's nothing about anything that has happened in the United States.
Peter is always standing up for justice! I am reading your book "Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning". Powerful! I wish anyone with the slightest interest in this topic and who cares for justice would read it.
As per this evening's breaking news, I accuse Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner or his Zionist masters of ordering an IDF assisted settler-terrorist attack on one of "No Other Land"s Palestinian filmmakers, followed by his kidnapping by IDF uniformed terrorists AS PAYBACK for Meiner's defeat by a constitution-supporting SE Florida public at Wednesday's Miami Beach Commission meeting of his item to defund O Cinema for showing the film.
Gabor Mate has the right diagnosis- narcissism + trauma = endless re-trauma/re-traumatizing. Buddhism sums it up as "suffering begets suffering." Until a person steps out of their own ego to evaluate the true cause-and-effect cycle, then they just keep looping. We know this pattern from child abuse, domestic abuse, substance abuse, etc. People will re-traumatize themselves and/or others as a reaction to what they experienced when they were victims. But now we have institution/state-sponsored public policies codifying the right of victims to traumatize others... This is just crazy. These people need therapy at a mass scale. How to get them that help...but at a mass scale??? And then you gotta turn around and give that help to all the Palestinians who have been traumatized... just madness. Just stop, people. Take a look at all the suffering you keep creating pointing fingers outward, but never looking inward.
I had a post on X flagged because it referred to Israeli terrorists leading the war effort - a reference to Ben Gvir who was a former member of the Israeli terrorist group Kach which was declared a terrorist organization in March 1994 by the Israeli Cabinet under the 1948 Terrorism Law. I’m sure the ‘Israeli terrorist’ term is what was identified as sensitive and caused the flag, but I feel quite sure if the word Palestinian was inserted instead it would have been fine. I appealed and will see if it goes anywhere.
Love you Peter. What has happened to American polical discourse in the main stream context that expresses these obvious values of justice and mutual respect for human life?
Peter B.: "The only reason that people that you have this push to be so draconian in terms of academic freedom, in terms of rights to protest, is precisely because no one ever imagines that these principles might be applied to students who are accused of anti-Palestinian bigotry."
A writer for Quillette did imagine exactly that, and wrote about it in an article published on 11 Oct 2024. It reads like a parody, but I suspect that's unintentional.
"A New Kind of Racism: An expansive new definition of anti-Palestinian racism could stymie free and open discussion of the Israel–Palestine conflict."
The article begins: " “Anti-Palestinian Racism” (APR) is a term that does not seem to have been widely in use before 2022. It began to be popularised when Dania Majid, co-founder and president of the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA), issued a report on the existence of this new form of bigotry. "
The writer, Dr Mika Hackner, is "senior research associate at the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values." I've never heard of her or her Institute before, but I recommend inviting her as a guest on your newsletter call, because I'm sure the two of you would have an interesting conversation about what she calls "the attempt to normalise this expansive idea of anti-Palestinian racism."
YES! The racism is so explicit and should be called out!
Yes. Yes. You "hit it on the nose" time and time again. Peter Beinart, I would not have thought I would live to see the day that someone with your intelligence, ability to articulate, and accurate moral compass would see the world of Israel-Palestine in precisely the way I do. I have just finished "Being jewish after the Destruction of Gaza," and it is a gem of thoughtful reasoning and research.
Thank you for this. I have always said if Palestinians looked less like me (I am African American) the debate would be different. I have said this since the 80s.
Today’s video is so dangerous. Antisemitism is real. BUT placing antisemitism and anti-Palestinian racism in the same register, as if they are in competition(!), is “both-sides-ism,” and doing so obscures the oppressive reality at play. The actual problem: even though antisemitism is real, virtually *none* of these pro-Israel students making accusations of so-called “antisemitism” are actually reporting anything even remotely resembling real antisemitism. What they are reporting is what is defined as antisemitism UNDER THE IHRA, which is actually anti-Zionism, not antisemitism! (Outrageously, these students are very often making these reports as gestures of anti Palestinian racism themselves!)
What you have is *not* “people reporting or combating antisemitism” but rather, what we see today is people using the guise of reporting or combatting “antisemitism”, (but really, anti-Zionism) … as a SMOKESCREEN for anti-Palestinian racism, anti-Arab racism, anti-immigrant sentiment, xenophobia, and Islamophobia!
Yes, take a look at the Heritage Foundation's "Project Esther: A National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism" (October 7, 2024):
https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/report/project-esther-national-strategy-combat-antisemitism
With a title like that, you would expect the report to contain disturbing information about how Jews in the United States are under attack. But such information is simply not there. The report decries "the commission of blatant acts of antisemitism specifically targeting Jews", but gives no specifics. It says that "In 2023, The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) tabulated 8,873 antisemitic incidents across the United States", but says nothing about the nature of any of those tabulated incidents, where they happened, who the victims were, or how those victims were harmed. What's wrong with "say their names"? Oh, I see there is a footnote to the paragraph reporting the ADL's numbers. But the *only* info in that footnote is about Hamas's 1988 covenant and its 2017 statement of principles; there's nothing about anything that has happened in the United States.
Peter is always standing up for justice! I am reading your book "Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning". Powerful! I wish anyone with the slightest interest in this topic and who cares for justice would read it.
Peter,
Critical thinking is so essential to have a sense of fairness.
Freedom of speech is the reason we have so much freedom
Thanks for speaking out.
As per this evening's breaking news, I accuse Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner or his Zionist masters of ordering an IDF assisted settler-terrorist attack on one of "No Other Land"s Palestinian filmmakers, followed by his kidnapping by IDF uniformed terrorists AS PAYBACK for Meiner's defeat by a constitution-supporting SE Florida public at Wednesday's Miami Beach Commission meeting of his item to defund O Cinema for showing the film.
Gabor Mate has the right diagnosis- narcissism + trauma = endless re-trauma/re-traumatizing. Buddhism sums it up as "suffering begets suffering." Until a person steps out of their own ego to evaluate the true cause-and-effect cycle, then they just keep looping. We know this pattern from child abuse, domestic abuse, substance abuse, etc. People will re-traumatize themselves and/or others as a reaction to what they experienced when they were victims. But now we have institution/state-sponsored public policies codifying the right of victims to traumatize others... This is just crazy. These people need therapy at a mass scale. How to get them that help...but at a mass scale??? And then you gotta turn around and give that help to all the Palestinians who have been traumatized... just madness. Just stop, people. Take a look at all the suffering you keep creating pointing fingers outward, but never looking inward.
I had a post on X flagged because it referred to Israeli terrorists leading the war effort - a reference to Ben Gvir who was a former member of the Israeli terrorist group Kach which was declared a terrorist organization in March 1994 by the Israeli Cabinet under the 1948 Terrorism Law. I’m sure the ‘Israeli terrorist’ term is what was identified as sensitive and caused the flag, but I feel quite sure if the word Palestinian was inserted instead it would have been fine. I appealed and will see if it goes anywhere.
Excelllent! Thank you. This has needed to be said for a long time.
Love you Peter. What has happened to American polical discourse in the main stream context that expresses these obvious values of justice and mutual respect for human life?
Peter B.: "The only reason that people that you have this push to be so draconian in terms of academic freedom, in terms of rights to protest, is precisely because no one ever imagines that these principles might be applied to students who are accused of anti-Palestinian bigotry."
A writer for Quillette did imagine exactly that, and wrote about it in an article published on 11 Oct 2024. It reads like a parody, but I suspect that's unintentional.
"A New Kind of Racism: An expansive new definition of anti-Palestinian racism could stymie free and open discussion of the Israel–Palestine conflict."
https://quillette.com/blog/2024/10/11/a-new-kind-of-racism-anti-palestinian/
The article begins: " “Anti-Palestinian Racism” (APR) is a term that does not seem to have been widely in use before 2022. It began to be popularised when Dania Majid, co-founder and president of the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA), issued a report on the existence of this new form of bigotry. "
The writer, Dr Mika Hackner, is "senior research associate at the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values." I've never heard of her or her Institute before, but I recommend inviting her as a guest on your newsletter call, because I'm sure the two of you would have an interesting conversation about what she calls "the attempt to normalise this expansive idea of anti-Palestinian racism."
Would you share your book tour schedule?
Thank you.