r/JewsOfConscience Zionism is a waste of Judaism Sep 07 '24

News Jake Tapper tweets that people protesting his colleague Dana Bash are antisemitic. Max Blumenthal absolutely eviscerates him in response

https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1832196541735657532
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u/kimonoko Reconstructionist Sep 07 '24

This particular exchange to one side, it depresses me that Max Blumenthal/GZ gets airtime in this sub. We've got to be more discerning than that, folks. We're not going to find liberation by allying with a guy who denies China's oppression of the Uyghurs, denies chemical attacks by Assad, and spreads misinformation in Russia's favor with regard to Ukraine (in addition to regularly appearing on RT).

Blumenthal is not our friend.

(Side note: honestly had no idea Dana Bash is Jewish.)

1

u/lilleff512 Jewish Sep 10 '24

On top of all of the other problems with Blumenthal, he's now gotten to the point where he's trafficking in neo-nazi style antisemitism: https://x.com/PostLeftWatch/status/1822824456840204668

"I used to think 'Zionist Occupied Government' was an antisemitic term. Now I'm forced to see it as a pretty accurate description of the reality we live in as one nation under ZOG."

If we want to be taken seriously when we say that "anti-Zionism is not antisemitism," then we can't be platforming people who are engaging in such blatant antisemitism.

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u/ArmyOfMemories Jewish Anti-Zionist Sep 11 '24

'Zionist Occupied Government' was an antisemitic term

This is actually the reason I quit all my subs on my old account.

A Palestinian friend of mine and co-mod conveyed this expression in another way (I think he said our government was occupied by Zionists) to me directly in a hostile comment that opened with 'the difference between our people' and blah blah blah.

I had wondered aloud whether the al-Ahli hospital bombing might have been caused by an errant Hamas rocket. I was just spitballing, and it was a very stream-of-consciousness comment in which I also said 'but then again, the Israeli government lies constantly' and made a reference to the Qana massacre.

Still, that was't enough to allay whatever anxieties he was having - but I later found out he had lost family in Gaza. He only said so after I cursed him out.

My so-called friends didn't say a damn thing. Actually one of the other people in our shared Discord did say something, 'the audacity!' (directed at me, for accusing this guy of being antisemitic for saying a dogwhistle).

The person who took his side is a White woman, who knew nothing about this issue 6 months prior (at the time this was Oct. 2023) despite pushing 50.


That being said, all this time later, I really don't think antisemitic canards make sense forever. Some certainly stand the test of time, because they are so archaic and/or cartoonish in their logic (i.e. religious-motivated antisemitism). Some are repeatedly misused by pro-Israel advocates (i.e. criticizing Israel is blood libel with extra steps).

Is it anti-[insert religious identity] to think America has 'puppet governments'? Is it anti-[some combination of American and Israeli identity] to think the PA is a bantustan of America and Israel?

How is 'puppet government' fundamentally different from saying a nationalist political ideology dictates our government? It can be wrong and simplistic but 'hateful'? It's primarily an ugly thing to say because it's connected to a hateful group.

When I reflect upon my ex-friend's comment to me, I don't know if he meant it in an antisemitic way. I think he and I weren't getting along and he saw an opportunity to lash out. I felt it was antisemitic, because of everything else he had written in his comment and because it was directed at me - one of the most openly anti-Zionist Jewish moderators on Reddit at that time.

I added him to rPalestine, pushed for him to be on rPublicFreakout, etc. and he knows how much shit I got for speaking up for Palestinian human rights. So, when he opened his comment with 'the difference between our people' - I lost all patience.

In any case, I don't think Max is a Nazi for using that expression.

Antisemitism to me is prejudice against Jewish people because they are Jewish. That's why I felt my ex-friend's comment was antisemitic.

The canard he conveyed adjacently was the trigger, but the more I read his comment, it was simply the fact that he'd say anything like that to me at all.

I think canards are a good way to 'take the temperature' (to borrow a phrase from Dr. Kenneth Stern) - but I don't know if they are, in and of themselves, always accurate (aside from the aforementioned, cartoonish/simplistic/archaic examples).