How to Criticize Israel without being Anti-Semitic: The Unofficial Guide

/34 Comments/in , , , , , /by

The news media have once again been ablaze with reports of Israel’s military attack on Gaza. The historic Israeli-Palestinian conflict has, consequently, returned as a subject of discussion at cafés, salons, and dinner tables.

The discussion, however, is not an easy one to have—unless, of course, you are foursquare behind Israel. Criticism of Israel very quickly lands the critic into trouble; accusations of anti-Semitism are fired back as if from an Uzi. What is more, these accusations can sometimes come accompanied by raised voices, red faces, bared teeth, waved fists, and even rude expletives. Sometimes, not even Jews can avoid them. So it is understandable that non-Jews desiring to avoid drama think it best to keep mum.

Noticing the problem, and apparently in the interest of free and open debate, a concerned Jewish blogger has recently made waves posting a 19-point guide on how to criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic. The Tumblr blog post has, at the time of writing, attracted 8485 notes. And the BBC deemed it so useful that they even reported it on their news website.

As TOO was created for purposes of free and open debate, including Jews and Israel, it seems pertinent that we examine the 19 points. Perhaps we will find in them the Philosopher’s Stone in our efforts to discuss important matters involving Jews without being accused of ignorance and moral turpitude. The points are meant to be considered in no particular order.

1. Don’t use the terms “bloodthirsty,” “lust for Palestinian blood,” or similar. Historically, Jews have been massacred in the belief that we use the blood of non-Jews (particularly of children) in our religious rituals. This belief still persists in large portions of the Arab world (largely because White Europeans deliberately spread the belief among Arabs) and even in parts of the Western world. Murderous, inhumane, cruel, vicious—fine. But blood…just don’t go there. Depicting Israel/Israelis/Israeli leaders eating children is also a no-no, for the same reason.

While one can understand the desire to avoid rehashings of the ancient blood libel, this seems a little paranoid in the case of “bloodthirsty”. Read more

Immigration gets on the public radar

/29 Comments/in , /by

An important aspect of immigration has been that for the most part it has occurred under the radar. Despite importing over a million mainly poor people every year and all that implies in terms of need for housing, infrastructure, welfare benefits, and medical care,  immigration and refugee policy in the US is on auto-pilot, with the pro-immigration forces steadily removing every obstacle. Most White Americans do not experience it first  hand and have no idea about the elaborate infrastructure that the pro-immigration forces have erected.

It’s probably not true that a frog will allow itself to be boiled alive if only the heat is raised slowly enough, but it’s an irresistible image nonetheless.

However, the anti-borders forces — on the left and the right — have counted on such passivity among the public to incrementally erode the American people’s ability to decide who gets to move here from abroad.

They have devised endless opportunities to appeal deportation decisions, prevented the implementation of needed control measures, pushed relentlessly to pierce numerical caps, and created strong incentives against government functionaries saying “no” to those who want to come. The motto over the doorway of the immigration office might as well be “It ain’t over til the alien wins.” (Mark Krikorian, “Hitting the boiling point over the border“)

Americans are passive because immigration, especially legal immigration, is rarely in the news. The same goes for refugee policy. According to Refugee/Resettlement Watch, the process of importing refugees is a “very quiet effort” rife with corruption (e.g., leading to chain migration of relatives; see their fact sheet). It is also thoroughly incentivized so that it’s a very lucrative business for organizations like the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (which describes the children pouring in from Central America  as “gifts,” perhaps because the job of overseeing their recruitment pays $214,000 in salary and benefits supplied by US taxpayers [“Lutherans: “The children are a gift” and we need a second lobbyist in Washington to make sure the gift keeps giving ]).

But the crisis in Texas has brought it all to the public’s attention and it’s quite clear that quite a large section of the public are not at all happy with it, to the point that, as Krikorian notes, illegals are not being resettled in states where Democratic senators are facing tough reelection campaigns. And they are being transported in the least conspicuous means possible, hoping the public won’t notice.

But the public is noticing. There have been vocal protests in a number of communities, such as Murrieta, CA, Boston (!), Tennessee, and elsewhere.  Read more

Libertarianismens bedrägeri (Swedish translation of “The False Flag of Libertarianism”)

/in /by

“Libertarianismens bedrägeri” (“The False Flag of Libertarianism” by Ian David Carlyle) is translated into Swedish at the website of Motgift, a Swedish nationalist site.

Operation Trojan Horse: Reporting on the Muslim School Plot

/20 Comments/in , , , , /by

In an earlier article, I mentioned Operation Trojan Horse, the plot by Muslim groups in Britain to take over Birmingham schools (see also Francis Carr Begbie’s “Britain baffled by Muslims being Muslims“) and possibly schools elsewhere. The matter has been in the news since March, when a document and an accompanying letter, written anonymously by a concerned citizen, emerged via the Birmingham City Council, which had been in possession of it for some time. The letter alerted the authorities about the existence of the plot and urged the authorities to take action. The document, discovered by the concerned citizen, provided a five point plan on how to take over schools, which the author referred to as Operation Trojan Horse.

Now that two separate government investigations have been carried out and the respective reports published, it is worth examining how the BBC has chosen to cover the issue. I focus on the BBC because its being a public service as well as a prestigious organization means it ought to provide excellent coverage.

Firstly, we must outline the plot.

 Operation Trojan Horse

 According to the BBC, the document

suggests targeting schools with a predominantly Muslim population, especially in poorer areas, before selecting a group of parents, which it describes as “hard liners”, to agitate at the school gate and in the playground and to raise questions about staff, the syllabus and teaching methods.

It goes on to say that after infiltrating the governing body, a policy of disruption should be carried out from within, until the leadership has been changed to one more sympathetic to the group’s religious views.

Trojan Horse, it says, is “totally invisible to the naked eye and allows us to operate under the radar. I have detailed the plan we have in Birmingham and how well it has worked and you will see how easy the whole process is to get the head teacher out and your own person in”.

It identifies four schools at which it claims Operation Trojan Horse had been successfully put into action. Saltley School, Adderley School, Regents Park Community School and Park View Academy.

A Park View governor, Tahir Alam, is named in the document as someone who was involved in the plot . . . Another school, Highfield, is mentioned as a potential target.

By the time the above lines were written in April, 200 separate complaints had already been made about 25 schools, all in parts of Birmingham with a 90% Muslim population. Read more

La Culture de Critique: Préface à la première édition brochée

/in /by

La Culture de Critique: Préface à la première édition brochée (French translation of the Preface to the First Paperback Edition of The  Culture of Critque)

Featured Video Play Icon

Roots of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Who is instigating who? Interview with Alison Weir

/in /by