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53828 |
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Date: April 16, 2024 at 05:35:43
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: We Israelis are the biggest Holocaust deniers |
URL: We Israelis are the biggest Holocaust deniers |
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We Israelis are the biggest Holocaust deniers
The Jewish state learned that it can commit its own Holocaust in Gaza and
deny that it exists.
BY JONATHAN OFIR APRIL 6, 2024
I remember how our Israeli Prime Minster, Benjamin Netanyahu, told
Holocaust survivors at an elderly home, “The Holocaust happened because
there was no State of Israel. If there had been a Jewish state before, there
would have been no Holocaust.”
Later, he would tell the whole world while speaking from the Yad Vashem
Holocaust Museum that “the Jewish state has learned the lessons of the
Holocaust. Has the world learned the lessons of the Holocaust?”
What lesson has the Jewish state learned?
That we, ourselves, can commit a Holocaust in Gaza in 2024, and then deny
that it exists. Indeed, we have even decried sober UN appraisals of our
genocide as an “obscene inversion of reality.”
We haven’t even seen the worst of it. As Palestinian-American author Susan
Abulhawa reports from her visit to Gaza, “the reality on the ground is
infinitely worse than the worst videos and photos that we’re seeing in the
West.” Israelis generally avoid seeing any of it — what do we care?
“People first resorted to eating horse and donkey feed, but that’s gone. Now
they’re eating the donkeys and horses,” Abulhawa writes. “Some are eating
stray cats and dogs, which are themselves starving and sometimes feeding
on human remains that litter streets where Israeli snipers picked off people
who dared to venture within the sight of their scopes. The old and weak have
already died of hunger and thirst.”
“What I see is a holocaust.” she summarizes. “The incomprehensible
culmination of 75 years of Israeli impunity for persistent war crimes.”
I second that.
But most Israelis are holocaust deniers. Oh, how we hate the Holocaust
deniers, so oblivious to the total destruction of European Jewry. How could
they be so utterly callous in questioning the numbers, saying that it was “just
a war?”
That’s what we do. We downplay it, call it a war of self-defense, and erase
history — it all started on October 7. Over 13,000 dead children, some
starved to death, do not seem to alter our perception. It’s just collateral
damage.
This is possible because the Palestinians are Nazis now. If you ask about
“civilians,” Israelis will, in the words of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennet,
say: “What is wrong with you?!” Or, like Israeli President Isaac Herzog, they
would assert that there are no “uninvolved” in Gaza.
They’re all Nazis.
But you know what? We are the Judeo-Nazis now. It’s never been so clear.
Oh, yes, there are right-wing Judeo-Nazis, who have spoken of “wiping out”
Huwwara before October 7, but now there are the many kibbutzniks who
openly speak of wiping out Gaza. Two-thirds of us, including nearly 40% of
the “left wing,” literally want to deprive Gazans of the most basic
humanitarian aid (it’s 80% on the right wing, by the way, and they constitute
about two-thirds of Israeli voters).
In other words, most of us literally want to starve Palestinians.
Others opt for a more “proportionate” genocide, simply bombing them by the
hundreds, ostensibly for the purpose of killing one Hamas leader.
We have learned nothing. Our morality is dust.
Should I be more nuanced? Yes, perhaps there were some more sensible
Nazis. I hear Hitler was generally quite polite in his familiar circles. But not to
the human animals. They could be exterminated, and the world would be a
better place without such vermin.
Now the Palestinians are the “human animals,” in the words of our Defense
Minister, Yoav Galant. I haven’t heard many Israelis rebuff his words. After all,
he’s been critical of Netanyahu from inside the government — he’s nuanced!
The depths to which we have sunk leave me wondering how there still are
countries on our side. What the hell is wrong with them? Don’t they see that,
by supporting Israel economically and militarily, they are abetting a
genocide?
Clearly, Israelis aren’t the only ones who haven’t learned the lessons of the
Holocaust."
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Responses:
[53832] [53846] [53866] [53833] [53835] |
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53832 |
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Date: April 16, 2024 at 09:57:11
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Mondoweiss: LowCred/Hate/Misinfo/propaganda/anti-zionist |
URL: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/mondoweiss/ |
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Overall, we rate Mondoweiss as Left Biased and
Questionable due to the blending of opinion with news,
the promotion of pro-Palestinian and anti-zionist
propaganda, occasional reliance on poor sources, and
hate group designation by third-party pro-Israel
advocates.
Detailed Report
Reasoning: Propaganda, Hate Group, Misinformation
Bias Rating: LEFT
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY
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Responses:
[53846] [53866] [53833] [53835] |
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53846 |
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Date: April 17, 2024 at 09:27:59
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: how come ya never post mediabiasfactcheck when they approve source?(NT) |
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[53866] |
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53866 |
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Date: April 18, 2024 at 10:49:03
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: how come ya never post mediabiasfactcheck when they approve... |
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53833 |
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Date: April 16, 2024 at 10:10:51
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: CJR- redhart's amateur site is prone to bias, inconsistencies |
URL: http://earthboppin.net/talkshop/international/messages/53772.html |
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...and in this case, serious, slanderous error.
Redhart is known for erroneously equating opposition to Israeli policies with
antisemitism, an incredibly destructive yet prevalent in commercial and social
media today. This is the mistake Dave Van Zandt's mediabiasfactcheck.com
makes in this analysis.
Redhart refuses to do any research regarding this problem, and continues to
use a sometimes-right, sometimes-wrong website, without a concern for the
misinformation she is spreading or who she might be harming in the process.
It shows a lack of integrity, intellectual curiosity and worst of all, it
misrepresents organizations and individuals to the level of slander.
from Columbia Journalism Review, regarding
mediabiafactcheck.com:
"The armchair academics
Amateur attempts at such tools already exist, and have found plenty of
fans. Google “media bias,” and you’ll find Media Bias/Fact Check, run by
armchair media analyst Dave Van Zandt. The site’s methodology is
simple: Van Zandt and his team rate each outlet from 0 to 10 on the
categories of biased wording and headlines, factuality and sourcing, story
choices (“does the source report news from both sides”), and political
affiliation.
A similar effort is “The Media Bias Chart,” or simply, “The Chart.” Created by
Colorado patent attorney Vanessa Otero, the chart has gone through several
methodological iterations, but currently is based on her evaluation of outlets’
stories on dimensions of veracity, fairness, and expression.
Both efforts suffer from the very problem they’re trying to address: Their
subjective assessments leave room for human biases, or even simple
inconsistencies, to creep in. Compared to Gentzkow and Shapiro, the
five to 20 stories typically judged on these sites represent but a drop of
mainstream news outlets’ production."
see the link from recent example below...
From the Mondoweiss website:
About Mondoweiss
Mondoweiss is an independent website that informs readers about
developments in Israel/Palestine and related U.S. foreign policy. We provide
news and analysis that is unavailable through mainstream media regarding
the struggle for Palestinian human rights.
Founded in 2006 as a personal blog of journalist Philip Weiss, Mondoweiss
grew inside the progressive Jewish community and has become a critical
resource for the movement for justice for Palestinians. We continue to follow
debates over the role of Israel and nationalism in Jewish American life while
seeking to reflect a diverse community of views on issues of international
importance. We recognize that Jewish voices are often prioritized in
discussions of Israel and seek to challenge that dynamic by bringing a
universalist focus to an issue that is commonly dominated by narrow points
of view.
We publish original on-the-ground reporting, analysis by scholars, and
personal stories. As the site has grown, we have developed a large group of
regular contributors who are committed to high journalistic standards of
documentable evidence and reliable sourcing.
Mondoweiss editors select content for the site based on our shared
commitment to news professionalism and justice for Palestinians. We do not
have a single editorial position on specific issues but aim to build a diverse
online community, with a special focus on viewpoints generally ignored by
large media outlets. Writing published on Mondoweiss represents the views
of its authors and does not necessarily represent the site’s or its editors’
opinions.
Mondoweiss maintains complete editorial independence from donors and
financial supporters, who have no influence on the direction or content of our
reporting.
Annual Reports
2023: “October 7 forced everyone who works on Palestine to respond to the
urgency of the moment. For Mondoweiss, that meant expanding our
reporting.” – Adam Horowitz
Support Mondoweiss’s independent journalism
Mondoweiss is only able to continue with the support of its readers. The
website is part of The Center for Economic Research and Social Change, a
501(c)(3) organization, and contributions to which are tax-deductible to the
extent provided by law.
You can make an online tax-deductible donation here, or if contributing by
mail, make your check payable to “Mondoweiss” and send it to:
Mondoweiss
P.O. Box 442380
Detroit, MI 48244
If you have any questions or want other donation options, please see our
Ways to Give page or contact us at (240) 516-6636.
Staff
Contact an individual staff member or email the proper department using our
general contact form below.
Michael Arria, U.S. Correspondent
Email: michael@mondoweiss.net
Twitter/X: @michaelarria
Mohammed El-Kurd, Culture Editor
Email: mohammed@mondoweiss.net
Twitter/X: @m7mdkurd
Sofia Farah, Development Director
Email: sofia@mondoweiss.net
Faris Giacaman, Managing Editor
Email: faris@mondoweiss.net
Tareq S. Hajjaj, Gaza Correspondent
Email: tareq@mondoweiss.net
Twitter/X: @Tareqshajjaj
Adam Horowitz, Executive Editor
Email: adam@mondoweiss.net
Twitter/X: @mondowitz
Khader Jabber, Digital Director
Email: khader@mondoweiss.net
Qassam Muaddi, Palestine Staff Writer
Email: qassam@mondoweiss.net
Twitter/X: @QassaMMuaddi
James North, Editor-at-Large
Twitter/X: @jamesnorth7
Yumna Patel, Palestine News Director
Email: yumna@mondoweiss.net
Twitter/X: @yumna_patel
Angela Newsom, Finance and Operations Manager
Email: angela@mondoweiss.net
Dave Reed, Product Manager & Podcast Producer
Email: dave@mondoweiss.net
Twitter/X: @davemreed
Philip Weiss, Founder and Senior Editor
Email: phil@mondoweiss.net
Twitter/X: @PhilWeiss
Contributing Writers: Haidar Eid, Nada Elia, Yoav Haifawi, Hebh Jamal, David
Kattenburg, Jonathan Ofir, Mitchell Plitnick, Alice Rothchild, Jeff Wright
https://mondoweiss.net/about-mondoweiss/
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53835 |
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Date: April 16, 2024 at 10:42:46
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Conflating antisemitism and anti-zionism emboldens the far right |
URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/israel-palestine-gaza-antisemitism-anti-zionism-fears-far-right-aaron-winter/ |
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HOME: OPINION
Conflating antisemitism and anti-zionism emboldens the far right
"Antisemitism and other racisms are on the rise. A focus on pro-Palestine
activism undermines the fight against these
Aaron Winter - 19 December 2023
Since the horrific Hamas attack in Israel on 7 October and Israel’s assault on
Gaza in response, I have heard a great deal about how Jewish people in
Britain, as well as other places, are intimidated, afraid and under threat.
According to Justin Cohen of The Jewish News, “the Jewish community at
the moment is full of dread, full of fear, like I've never seen before”. According
to the Campaign Against Antisemitism, British Jews felt “forced to hide”
during “anti-Israel” protests in London. Havering Council in London even
cancelled its annual Hanukkah menorah display out of fears it could “inflame
tensions”, though subsequently reversed the decision. We have also seen
similar cancellations in the US.
I am Jewish and, although I have not experienced this, I am greatly
concerned about the rise in antisemitism, as well as other forms of racism
and hate. Many of these have been on the rise for almost a decade, most
identifiably in the context of Brexit and Trump, and the mainstreaming of
racism and the far right more broadly.
The targets of much of this hate have been migrants and Muslims – not only
from the far right, which has also long targeted Jews and continues to be a
threat, but also from wider mainstream politics and the media.
What also concerns me about the increased political and media focus on and
understanding of antisemitism is that it often conflates anti-zionism and
antisemitism (as well as Jews and Israel); operates in defence of Israel in
general, and its assault on Gaza in particular; and claims antisemitism is
primarily coming from Muslims, the left, and pro-Palestinian solidarity and
anti-zionist activists.
It also feels as though the fears about antisemitism, particularly in relation to
such marches and solidarity, are being stoked by political figures and the
media. This was evident when former home secretary Suella Braverman
called ceasefire protests “hate marches”.
A similar accusation that has gained particular traction is her claim that the
slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” may be “genocidal”.
Elon Musk even banned the phrase from X/Twitter and was thanked by
Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.
This occurred despite widespread criticism of Musk’s expressions and
platforming of antisemitism, including in attacks on the ADL itself.
Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has labelled war
crimes investigations into Israel “pure antisemitism”. And there have also
been crackdowns on academic freedom and student organising critical of
Israel and in support of Palestinians in the UK, US and elsewhere.
In Germany, protesters, including Jewish ones, have experienced a great deal
of state suppression. We are even seeing attempts there to undermine
academic and artistic freedom, and migrant and citizenship rights, for those
critical of Israel. It is a great and tragic irony that the country responsible for
the Holocaust – which, among other guilty European powers, supported the
establishment of Israel and displacement of Palestinians – is enacting
authoritarian measures that target Jews and vulnerable minoritised people,
and enable those committing genocide.
All this is not to say that there is not a rise in antisemitism – we know there is
– or that some of it is not linked to what is going on in Israel and Gaza. But we
need to disentangle these; address fears; challenge misconceptions,
misrepresentations and politicisation; and fight antisemitism itself, instead of
targeting and delegitimising critics of Israel and the fight against other
racisms, occupation and genocide.
This is particularly serious as it occurs in the context of Palestinians suffering
what is now widely described by experts as a genocide, with warnings from
politicians, human rights organisations, medical professionals and UN
officials about the situation in Gaza. According to NBC, the death toll as of 18
December stood at almost 20,000 Palestinians, with mostly civilians,
including children, killed, and more injured and displaced, as well as vital
medical and educational infrastructure targeted and destroyed.
But the attack on Palestinians goes back much further, to the establishment
of Israel and the Nakba, and extends beyond Gaza to the West Bank and
wider occupied territories. Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims are also targeted
elsewhere, such as the shooting of three Palestinian students wearing
keffiyehs in Vermont in November.
Despite claims that Israel is acting in self-defence and only targeting Hamas,
the eliminationist and expansionist nature of its behaviour is clear. Former
head of the Israeli National Security Council Gloria Eiland has said explicitly
that Israel “has no choice but to turn Gaza into a place that is temporarily or
permanently impossible to live in”. This is accompanied by dehumanising
genocidal language from Israeli officials such as references to Palestinians as
“human animals” and “children of darkness”. Yet when Palestinians and
others protest what is occurring, they are accused of being antisemitic, even
genocidal, themselves – because of the Hamas attack that they are accused
of supporting, or the bad faith reading of “from the river to the sea”. This is
despite the fact that Likud's own original 1977 platform states "between the
Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty". Netanyahu’s son
Yair even recently added “from the river to the sea” in reference to Israel on
his X/Twitter profile without widespread condemnation.
Something that gives me hope, however, has been the solidarity expressed
by communities around the world – among them Jewish groups such as If
Not Now, Jewish Voice for Peace, Na’amod, the Black-Jewish Alliance, and
Jewdas. Staff from more than 100 Jewish organisations in the US also called
on American president Joe Biden to support a ceasefire, something most
western governments and oppositions have been loath to do – including the
UK Labour Party.
On the one hand, our presence in these movements as Jewish people can
help offset accusations that opposition to Israel is antisemitic. On the other,
many of us are accused of being self-hating, kapos, Judenrats, and not
Jewish anyway. And, of course, opposing Israel does not become antisemitic
just because someone who is not Jewish does it.
It is upsetting to me that fears expressed by some Jewish people about such
protests are taken more seriously than what Palestinians are going through in
terms of racism, occupation and genocide. This response allows for the
minimisation of Palestinian experiences and suppression of protest against
the attack on Gaza, which can help enable its continuation and greater
harms. It also serves to divide and rule communities, such as Palestinian,
Muslim and Jewish, who share a common experience of racism that could be
the basis for wider and more effective solidarity and resistance. In some
cases, we not only see the minimising or denying of the racism and harms
another community experiences, but the explicit expression of it.
This operates clearly in the writing of Jewish Chronicle editor Jake Wallis
Simons, who claims that Palestinian solidarity marches are antisemitic and
threatening to Jews. Simpson has also argued that “much of Muslim culture
is in the grip of a death cult” and that the concept of Islamophobia is “bogus”
and “profoundly anti-Jew”.
As an anti-racist, anti-fascist Jew, and grandchild of Holocaust survivors, it is
disturbing to see how support for Israel has co-opted opposition to
antisemitism to justify racism, colonialism, occupation and genocide. This
undermines the fight against antisemitism and harms Jews too, as we can
see in the menorah cases, Germany, and where we have our Judaism
questioned or attacked.
What is more, it is often our own communal organisations and media that
have chosen to defend Zionism over antisemitism and Jews. Biden made this
clear on Hanukkah when he reaffirmed his support for Israel’s actions
because “[w]ithout Israel, there’s not a Jew in the world who’s secure”. This
conflates Jews and Israel, implying that only support for the latter stands in
the way of antisemitism, and also indicates that Jews are not safe in the US
or elsewhere. It is also not only antisemitism that is exploited in this way, but
the Holocaust, to which 7 October is often compared, and which has been
co-opted by Israel (with the help of guilty European and American powers) in
its guise as the protector of Jews. The Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Gilad
Erdan, even wore a yellow star to a Security Council meeting.
In light of this, it is unsurprising the accusation of genocide directed at Israel
is framed by critics as antisemitism or even Holocaust minimisation. This not
only serves genocide denial and spits in the face of the promise ‘Never
Again’, but also corresponds to the redemption of the Nazis and the actual
minimisation of the Holocaust.
It was only in March this year that Gary Lineker argued that Braverman’s
Illegal Migration Bill was “an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most
vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany
in the 30s”. In response, he was criticised for making such a comparison and
minimising the Holocaust by Holocaust Educational Trust CEO Karen Pollack
and Braverman herself.
Yet more recently, some have tried to make the case that the 7 October
attack was possibly worse than the Holocaust, and that Hamas is worse than
the Nazis. This includes Douglas Murray in the Jewish Chronicle and Andrew
Roberts with “What Makes Hamas Worse Than the Nazis” in the Washington
Free Beacon. It is something that Netanyahu himself has been arguing for
years.
It is not only the Nazis of the past who are being redeemed, either. Over the
past decade, as I have argued alongside Aurelien Mondon in our book
Reactionary Democracy, we have seen the mainstreaming and emboldening
of the far right, as well as the radicalisation of the mainstream, around
immigration and Islamophobia.
This is most evident in the way traditional far-right ideas, tropes and
narratives make it to the mainstream to both stoke fears and justify policies
such as deportation. An example of this mainstreaming is Murray’s popular
The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam, which has echoes
of the antisemitic far right ‘great replacement’ theory – but, as with other
more contemporary and mainstream iterations, has migrants and Muslims
replacing Jews as the threat.
We also see an increasing convergence of government rhetoric and policy
and far-right activism – as seen at a hotel housing asylum seekers in
Merseyside prior to the launch of Braverman’s bill, and in response to
Palestinian solidarity marches.
In this context, Braverman’s dog whistle about hate marches on Armistice
Day presented an opportunity to the far right. Not only did it appeal to the
Islamophobia and professed patriotism of far-right activists; it also offered
them an opportunity to exploit the supposedly counter-extremist, pro-
Jewish, anti-racist image that the English Defence League (EDL) in particular
had constructed in recent years to target Muslims, fend off criticism and
become more acceptable to the mainstream.
Former English Defence League (EDL) leader Tommy Robinson (aka Stephen
Yaxley-Lennon) led a mob to the march whose members stormed the
barricades and confronted both pro-Palestine protesters and police while
claiming they were there to defend the Cenotaph. The events indirectly led to
Braverman’s sacking, but did not stop Robinson and others from promoting
and attending the 26 November March Against Antisemitism, organised by
the Campaign Against Antisemitism in self-proclaimed solidarity.
Robinson was arrested and charged with failing to comply with an order
banning him from the area around the march. But the fact that the far right
felt entitled to attend, and were not prevented or disavowed, should be a
wake-up call for Jews worried about antisemitism, along with the attempted
redemption of Nazism and minimisation of the Holocaust.
I am very worried by this, particularly as a Jewish person. It not only
threatens us directly, but undermines the fight against antisemitism and
other racisms, our collective memory, and the lessons of the Holocaust – and
does so most shockingly in the service of the racist dehumanisation and
genocide of Palestinians.
What I am not fearful of is showing support for, and solidarity with, the
Palestinian people."
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