Following the hilarious review of My Israel Question in the Australian Jewish News, the following letters appear in this week’s edition:
SELF-DESTRUCTIVE INVECTIVE
Antony Loewenstein’s pathetic diatribe (AJN 4/8) against the so-called “censorship” of the “Zionist lobby” smacks of the same self-destructive invectives of Mel Gibson.
The publishers who commissioned Loewenstein to write about “his Israel question” are to be equally pitied with him for their pursuit of a vendetta against their community. It is not about critical analysis or their claims of censorship, but more about their inability to accept the verdict of the majority of right-thinking people – Jews and non-Jews alike.
Wanting to join the ranks of those who wish to destroy the Jewish people is not a capital offence and no-one will cause them any harm. It is obvious that what they miss most is acceptance by their community. “Methinks thou protesteth too much.”
In the meantime they are laughing all the way to the bank at the expense of their own community – but this acceptance will certainly continue to elude them. The forces of those who wish us harm once more will make sure of that.
MALVINA MALINEK
South Yarra, Vic
ENTICING REVIEW
Your review (AJN 4/8) of Antony Loewenstein’s My Israel Question stops just short of attacking the author’s choice of breakfast cereal.
Jeremy Jones accuses Loewenstein of slipshod research, megalomania, evil intent, covert antisemitism, lack of insight, ultra-leftism and lots more. He says AJN readers should avoid it like the plague.
Sounds like my kind of book. Now I’ll have to buy it and read it.
STEVE BROOK
Elwood, Vic
I’ve now been accused of being pro-terrorist, akin to Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitism, anti-American, pro-Hizbollah, anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, un-Australian, a traitor and a host of other compliments. I look forward to any future examples of such vivid imagination.
The more these pathetic creatures rant and rave, the more they claim they represent the Jews of Australia, the more the book proves just how necessary it was for it to have been written.
Also the better the publicity and sales. Jeremy Jones and his ilk love the expression “far-left” and are also very fond of describing us as anti-semitic Jews.
I am not sure how Jews can be anti-semitic. They can be anti-Israel since Israel has shown itself to be a client state of the USA. The next announcement from the Israeli government will surely be “We have no further territorial ambitions!” – except the waters of the Litani River just for starters.
Congratulations, Antony, keep up the good work – you are getting to them, as evidenced by their pathetic book reviews and criticism!
I can understand the term ’self-hating Jew’, and I can also understand that someone born a Jew could become anti-Jewish aka anti-Semitic. I am perplexed that many Jews often use the argument that they could not possibly be anti-Semitic because they are Jews.
The way I see it, it is an issue of identity, and most anti-Zionist Jews consider it as a battle of perception revolving around the ownership of the Jewish identity. Jewish social politics has been corrupted, and since the creation of Israel, Zionist’s have effectively corraled Jewish public opinion and shut out dissenting voices. The result is that they monopolize the perception of others about Jews.
So, if you are Jewish, then you either struggle to win the battle of perception, or you give up on your identity and denounce what Judaism or Jewishness appears to have become. The former is a form of resistance, the latter anti-Semitism. Many Jews consider anti-Semitism to be a moral imperative, but resistance undoubtedly is by far the preferred option.
I might add that many groups find themselves in a similar predicament from time to time – lest I be accused *gasp* – of anti-Semitism, this time under clause 6 of Article XI of the Prohibition of Jewish Hatred Act 1996 dealing with the singling out of Jewish Persons for behaviour in common with others.
I think it’s very ironic and very telloinig that this term was borrowed from WWII Germans who questioned the Nazi policies.
Captian, Comical and company have often asked for an example of University academics ebign censored with regards to Israel. Well, here is an extreme an example as you are ever liekly to come across:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1843543,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12