Posted by David Bernstein: When Are Discussions of Anti-Semitism Important?: http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_08_16-2009_08_22.shtml#1250773352
There are several prominent left-leaning blogs by Jewish authors that write a lot about anti-Semitism, or, more precisely, are very quick to denounce what their authors see as exaggerated or false claims of anti-Semitism made against critics of Israel. So I find it interesting to notice how these blogs have covered, or more precisely, not covered, the story of the leading Swedish left-leaning newspaper that published ridiculous, and rather obviously anti-Semitic (given first, the history of blood libels against Jews, and second, that the basis for the "credibility" of the article is that one Jew in New York City was arrested for being involved in an organ black market), allegations that the Israeli military is kidnapping Palestinians to harvest their organs. (The newspaper, by the way, continues to stand by its story.) Of course, no individual blogger has an obligation to blog about any given story. But it's rather remarkable that despite international headlines and [1]thousands of blog posts on the Swedish story, none of the lefty Jewish bloggers who take the time, to, say, [2]denounce Jews [3]who criticized the award of the Medal of Freedom to Mary Robinson, or to [4]defend Mearsheimer and Walt from charges of anti-Semitism, [5]attack the ADL for its ([6]largely justified) [7]criticism of Joe Klein, and to [8]generally complain about "neoconservative Israel-fanatics" who are said to promiscuously accuse critics of Israel of anti-Semitism, has had anything to say about the fact that the highest circulation newspaper in a Western country is unapologetically spreading blood libels. It's almost as if discussion of anti-Semitism is only important when it fits the "Progressive" political agenda, which amounts to being anti-anti-anti-Semitism to undermine supporters of Israel. Acknowledging real anti-Semitism when it is entwined with hostility to Israel doesn't fit the narrative. References 1. http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&safe=off&um=1&scoring=d&ie=UTF-8&q=swedish+organs+palestinians&btnG=Search+Blogs 2. http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/is-mary-robinson-bad-for-the-jews.php 3. http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/05/marty_peretz_a_jew_hater_in_the_white_house_is_lea/ 4. http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=01&year=2009&base_name=jon_chait_is_right#112375 5. http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/06/27/adl-chief-smears-joe-klein/ 6. http://volokh.com/posts/1217108478.shtml 7. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-levy/on-joe-klein-and-the-jewi_b_115999.html 8. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/20/goldberg/ _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [email protected] http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
