I am absolutely sure that you're not goin' there.

But... Let's talk about it once every ten years. So long as I'm right, you can buy me a martini. Soon as I'm wrong, I walk out.

:)

I'm not anti-semetic. I'm just anti-throwing-Palestinian-families-out-of-their-homes.

Al Jolson records? The original 'Jolie'? He's a fount of all this crazy BS? Naw... Peretz and the boys author this hysterical gibberish - sounding for all the world like they expect zombie Hamans to pop out of their overnight bags - not because they believe this stuff, but because accusations of anti-Semitism have always been effective in shutting down all debate. Gentiles squelch even legitimate criticism and differences rather than get tagged with that canard. But this acquiescence by intimidation is ebbing; the ploy has been employed too cheaply, too often. This new arrangement will be a good thing, not a bad thing. Silence has made any issue regarding Israel wildly one-sided. And it's helped create the monster that is the Mideast today.

ARMCHAIR G

Yes! They are those who remember the joyous exhilaration at the UN Resolution that established a Jewish state in Palestine, in 1948. They felt they lived at the beginning of a new age in which Jews from around the world and, in particular, from war-torn Europe would find, at last, a sanctuary and peace. They assumed that the new state would honour the specific requirement in the Balfour Declaration not to damage or harm the existing indigenous peoples of Palestine – the Muslim Arabs who had lived there continuously for over a thousand years. Instead, the new state became an arrogant caricature of a Jewish homeland that exists in co-operation with its neighbors. These are they who are consumed with the moral failures of Herzl's once proud vision. They are both angry and bitterly ashamed at the war crimes of the Likud government.

Happy Birthday, and don't worry. Every geezer doesn't become paranoid. I'm a geezer and I'm not paranoid. Everyone really is out to get me. (Except Marty Peretz--he doesn't know I exist, so please don't tell him).

I've been reading the New Republic for forty years. I didn't renew my subscription this year as I was tired of helping fund Peretz's ranting irrationality. Pity...I'll miss Stanley Kauffman's film reviews.

Takedown from Matt Yglesias?

Here's what Yglesias wrote:

These are some pretty serious accusations, particularly the idea that Obama has fallen under the influence of someone in his entourage who “has it in . . . for American Jews, too.”

That's, er, it.

Rarely does one witness such a thorough dismembering of another person's argument. It'll be amazing if Peretz ever shows his face in public again.

Sarcasm aside, notice how, as usual, MJ Rosenberg, like Yglesias, doesn't actually argue anything himself.

Whether or not Obama has being "led astray" by someone in the White House (and I tend to think not - he knows exactly what he's doing), this bit of hyperbole on the part of Peretz is obscuring a larger, more important debate, which is whether the treatment of Israel by the Obama Administration is productive towards the promotion of peace. I think there is a serious argument to be had about that, especially the question of whether the outreach to the Muslim world (which so far has yielded very little - but of course its early days) should be accompanied by an equivalent outreach to Israel, for the purposes of making an argument to Israelis on why a settlement freeze is a good idea and in their interest.

As for the fooferaw over Mary Robinson's Medal of Freedom, I agree with Peretz that her involvement with that disgusting UN conference on racism alone should disqualify her from such an honor. Whether it's worth making a stink about is another matter. But the important thing is that it is an unnecessary distraction.

For the Zionist nutbags, the world is becoming a very small place indeed

They're going after Jews - again

Do you know what it's like to be called a "virulent anti-Semite" simply for defending the rights of Palestinians?
Chances are that you do.
We know what it's like too.
Upset about the inclusion of a film about Rachel Corrie at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Koret--one of California's largest Jewish foundations--issued a statement calling movie sponsors Jewish Voice for Peace and the American Friends Service Committee (yes, pacifist Quakers) "virulently anti-Israel, anti-Semitic groups."
Sydney Levy
Chapters and Campaigns Director
Jewish Voice for Peace

First they came for Tutu but I wasn't Anglican....

I'm confused.
Wasn't it the GOPers who said, "If you're not for us, you're against us" ?

I wonder if Josh is aware of the anti-Israel ragtag follower that follow MJ like groupies?

Josh, who has noted the fact that the birther mentality is a stalking horse for unstated racist attitudes, surely understands that many of the unbalanced, virulently anti-Israel comments on this thread (and many other MJ threads) are motivated by anti-Semitism.

MJ has effectively (and correctly) policed out the anti-Arab racists, but for some reason tolerates the anti-Israel anti-Semites. This reflects badly on TPM, which should not be tainted in this way.

Josh - is there anything you can do - maybe have a water-cooler discussion with MJ? I'm assuming you care about the integrity of the project you are developing, and that if there were an uncontrolled, ragtag group of commenters that constantly said that Africa was evil or that China was evil, you would see it as veiled racism. This is no different.

MJ: "Mythbuster hates Israeli policies. He does not hate Israelis or Jews."

So true. And the day, I start hating Jews--or even Israelis (although I already hate the IDF because of Gaza)--is the day that My Dream for Palestine dies. If all this turns into is a grubby land fight between bigoted peoples, then that cause is finished. I just want my wife's Palestinian Christian family to be able to travel from Bethlehem to Ramallah and onto Amman without having to ask permission from some IDF nitwit with a Russian accent. Is that so terrible?

P.S. Note how TPC's last redoubt is guilt, not logic. He/she will hate the rest of the 21st Century.