Still Think There's No Anti-Semitism On The Left?
To be honest, I can't tell whether the guy who runs the website for Canada's New Democratic Party bloggers (Robert "Fuck The Jews" McClelland) is: 1. A full-bore anti-semite, or 2. Somebody who is completely paranoid about Jews, and is incapable of seeing unambiguous anti-semitism when it's staring him straight in the face.
Where it matters, there's no meaningful difference anyway. After all, he's capable of writing this (scroll down, in comments):
When next they come for the Jews I doubt I’ll even be able to muster up a “what a shame”.
And then he justifies his statement this way: Oh well, I simply don’t care about anti-semitism any longer. I’ve written several Jewish lobby groups asking them to address the topic of how conservatives and rightwing liberals are falsely accusing people of being anti-semitic simply for political purposes and not a single one even bothered to respond. And I’m not the only one in the anti-racism movement that feels that way.
It's no surprise that he's not the only one in the "anti-racism movement" who doesn't care about anti-semitism these days, but did you notice his justification? It's because Jewish groups don't bother answering the ridiculous letters he writes them.
And it's no surprise that a guy with attitudes like that would occupy such a prominent position in the leftish blogosphere.
Here a difference that does matter, at least somewhat: The website he runs (where you will read expressions of outrage at McClelland's comments as well as expressions of support; I've had my own run-ins with this crowd, here for example) is not officially NDP-affiliated, and NDP president Anne McGrath has written the Canadian Jewish Congress (pdf) to make that clear.
She also says the NDP is thinking about setting up an official NDP blogroll thingamajig. A pity you'd need to enforce party discipline to dispel appearances of Jew-hatred, though. Shouldn't be necessary, should it? Which speaks volumes about the moral and intellectual slovenliness on the left these days, which I keep getting in trouble for pointing out.
Good on Warren for noticing the fracas.
Where it matters, there's no meaningful difference anyway. After all, he's capable of writing this (scroll down, in comments):
When next they come for the Jews I doubt I’ll even be able to muster up a “what a shame”.
And then he justifies his statement this way: Oh well, I simply don’t care about anti-semitism any longer. I’ve written several Jewish lobby groups asking them to address the topic of how conservatives and rightwing liberals are falsely accusing people of being anti-semitic simply for political purposes and not a single one even bothered to respond. And I’m not the only one in the anti-racism movement that feels that way.
It's no surprise that he's not the only one in the "anti-racism movement" who doesn't care about anti-semitism these days, but did you notice his justification? It's because Jewish groups don't bother answering the ridiculous letters he writes them.
And it's no surprise that a guy with attitudes like that would occupy such a prominent position in the leftish blogosphere.
Here a difference that does matter, at least somewhat: The website he runs (where you will read expressions of outrage at McClelland's comments as well as expressions of support; I've had my own run-ins with this crowd, here for example) is not officially NDP-affiliated, and NDP president Anne McGrath has written the Canadian Jewish Congress (pdf) to make that clear.
She also says the NDP is thinking about setting up an official NDP blogroll thingamajig. A pity you'd need to enforce party discipline to dispel appearances of Jew-hatred, though. Shouldn't be necessary, should it? Which speaks volumes about the moral and intellectual slovenliness on the left these days, which I keep getting in trouble for pointing out.
Good on Warren for noticing the fracas.
posted by Terry Glavin at 4:40 PM
4 Comments:
Good post Terry, as for Warren K -Well he had to be informed of it actually. I have no respect for him personally - why has he never discussed the Anti-Semitic Smear Job that was done on Bob Rae and his wife at the Liberal Convention?
Unfortunately the racism and hatred of Jews has been openly celebrated by the Left for some time now. It often comes under the pretence of Anti-Zionism. Rabble a "progressive" news site and its forum (Babble) founded by Judy Rebick is fertile home for such bigots.
Here is a thread: http://tinyurl.com/2shrqk
Where a "progressive" poster claims that the encouragement of the pursuit of Nazi War criminals by the CJC was described as "its one last chance to drag out the Holocaust for public display, so it can be milked to justify the Zionist cause." Furthermore when posters accused this author of antisemitism the "moderator" vigorously defended him! Incidentally Moderators on Babble openly defend the Palestinians right to murder Israeli soldiers (wherever they are) as a valid form of "resistance."
http://tinyurl.com/33jdhy
That site is an example of why the Left is now indistinguishable from David Duke et al when it comes to its smear of Zionists, Jews and Israel.
I agree Ndude, Rabble is a prime example of the very worst of the left.
I agree anti-Semitism exists in a few pockets of the Left, and I am concerned by it. There are extreme cases where criticism of Israel leads to paranoid anti-Semitism. That is fortunately rare - and Bernie Farber of the CJC has made it clear that there is a difference.
For "blazing cat fur" and "ndude" to claim that anti-Semitism is rampant on the Left or in the NDP is absurd. McClelland is a nobody and doesn't speak for real New Democrats. He was rightfully condemned by the party.
There are plenty of pro-Israel voices in the party, including Jack Layton, Ed Broadbent, Stephen Lewis, Pat Martin and Judy W-L. They're far more representative of the NDP than is McClelland who isn't even a member.
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