“Jew Haters.” Nasty language, right? Absolutely.
But it can get worse. How about “Jew hating anti-semite?” The double-whammy. That’s the language that came out of the mouth of Morton Klein, President of the Zionist Organization of America.
Klein directed that language at Barack Obama. Obama’s offense in Klein’s addled mind? In 2016, then President Obama had abstained on a UN Security Council vote that criticized Israel for expanding settlements in the Israeli occupied West Bank. The measure passed 14-0. One would have to assume that Klein’s opinion of the leaders of the 14 countries that voted to criticize Israel, including Theresa May of the UK, was something worse than a “Jew hating anti-semite”… whatever that might be.
How about charging someone with “betrayal and anti-semitism?” Sounds like a pretty nasty individual that would warrant that description. It happens to be the language used by Menachem Begin, former Prime Minister of Israel, to describe President Ronald Reagan.
Ronald Reagan, for Pete’s sake…are you kidding me?
What could Reagan, of all people, have done to incur the wrath of the Prime Minster of a country, Israel, that, at that time and now, is the recipient of the lion’s share of US Foreign Aid? Reagan wanted to do what American Presidents are supposed to do…manage the foreign policy of the USA.
Specifically, Reagan wanted to take a step towards normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia by selling unarmed advanced radar equipped aircraft called AWACS to the Saudis. To close the deal, Reagan had to win a vote in the US Senate.
Reagan worked the issue hard. Prime Minister Begin, breaking his word to Reagan, worked the Senate, the US Senate, to defeat the deal. Reagan won on a 52-48 vote. After the vote, the Israeli Government of Menachem Begin released a statement accusing Reagan of “anti-semitism and betrayal.” Look it up. It’s on page 416 of Reagan’s autobiography.
Why bring that up now? It’s old news. Not necessarily so. The practice of smearing and sliming those who take exception to Israeli behavior proceeds apace. And will pick up in earnest soon, when the right wing of the Israeli Lobby (The Adelson-Bolton-Netanyahu Wing) brings full scale pressure to rip up the Iran Deal and go to war…if they get their way…with Iran.
Israel, as usual, will hold our coats.
CONCLUSION
A week ago, the term “Jew Haters” appeared in a column by Roger Cohen, a Jewish columnist with the Times who is, in my opinion, a reasonably fair-minded commentator on matters involving Israel and Iran. Cohen’s column was about Israel’s overreaction to the citizens of Gaza throwing stones at Israel’s soldiers.
At the time of the column, Israel had killed 35 Gaza citizens and suffered no casualties. Cohen concluded that the brutality of Israel’s response would bring out the “Jew Haters.”
My reaction to Cohen’s piece was that he seemed to be suggesting that the only hate that really matters is when Jews are the victims. He admitted that Israel’s reaction to the Gaza rioting was way over the top but couldn’t quite get to the place and say the obvious…Jews are fully capable of being haters themselves.
C’mon Roger, you can say it. Jews can hate. They showed it in Gaza.
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