Comments on Quick Takes: Missed Warnings on Killers, Yale Plans Science Expansion, Ex-Coach Awarded $229K, Charges and Countercharges at Carolina Coastal, Publishers Settle Suits, Anti-Semitism Seen in British Universities

• Concerning anti-Zionism and antisemitism
• Posted by Grover Furr , Associate Professor of English at Montclair State U. on June 14, 2007 at 8:35am EDT

• It's not just Lady Deech who confuses anti-Zionism with antisemitism. The Zionists deliberately confuse the two -- to try to make criticism of Israel appear illegitimate, no doubt.

  Let's look at this paragraph from today's "Inside Higher Ed" newsletter (above):

  "Britain’s House of Lords was briefed Wednesday on increasing incidents of anti-Semitism at universities, The Guardian reported. Lady Deech, Britain’s independent ajudicator for higher education (sort of a nationwide ombudswoman) told the lords that on campuses, Jewish students are presumed to be supporters of Israel, and that protests that start off against Zionism end up being against Jewish students."

  That of course is wrong -- if it happens. No specific examples are given.

  You'd have to be very politically ignorant to assume Jewish students are automatically "supporters of Israel." Lots of Jews, students and others, are NOT supporters of Israel, and this is very widely known. That's why I wonder whether this statement is true.

  Nevertheless, it is in the interest of Zionists to confuse the two.

  Zionism thrives on antisemitism. It would not have existed without it, and in fact can't survive without it. Therefore, it is in the interest of the Zionists to promote antisemitism.

  Zionists wan to make Jews believe that their surest defense against antisemitism is Israel, Zionism, etc.

  In reality, Zionism promotes antisemitism, which in turn promotes Zionism.

  The statement continues:

  "She also noted that during recent periods in which Israel’s policies have been unpopular, the buildings attacked in Britain have housed Jewish organizations, not Israeli organizations."

  This is an example of "weasel words" -- the use of language to change the subject and avoid the issue.

  Lady Deech is pretending something is true that everybody, including she herself, knows is NOT true: that only "Israeli" organizations are "Zionist".

  Many Jewish organizations are Zionist organizations.

  Therefore, when people protest Zionism, they are usually going to be protesting Jewish organizations.

  The level of dishonesty promoted in discourse by Zionists, and apologists for Zionism like Lady Deech here, is bound to confuse people. No doubt that's what it is intended to do.

  But to repeat a very important point: Zionism thrives on antisemitism, and therefore Zionists promote antisemitism. They only pretend not to do so.

  Grover Furr
  Montclair SU

• Posted by A. Roberts , Missing the point on June 14, 2007 at 9:25am EDT

• I think you may be missing the point of the article. While she does confuse the two ideas and you yourself point out how easy it is to do so as the two overlap, that is not the point.

  The point is that there is growing antisemitism in British universities. Whether or not that is geared toward Zionists in particular is not the point. The point is it is there and the government needs to device strategies to confront and deal with it. It is a hate crime and it is going on now, that is the point.

• Lady Deech and anti-semitism in British Univs
• Posted by A W Fox , Dr at UC San Diego on June 14, 2007 at 11:55am EDT

• The two comments above have mistaken statements made in a British vernacular. A British reader (me) reads this as Lady Deech drawing attention to the distinction that ought to be made between Jewish (i.e., cultural) and Zionist (i.e., political) organizations, she is certainly not conflating the two, and she is defending civic freedoms while opposing crimes of hate.

• please explain, Grover Furr
• Posted by unapologetically tender on June 14, 2007 at 1:20pm EDT

• ...or was that Grover Fu(h)r(e)r? Your comments sound critical of zionism; are you taking a position against the establishment of a Jewish homeland (zionism), or are you using the term zionism more broadly (sloppily) to mean merely anything related to Israel? You are correct, historically: "Zionism thrives on antisemitism," so let us affirm that zionism would have less urgency if there were no antisemitism. Do I understand you to suggest that zionism deliberately cultivates or encourages antisemitism? You seem to confuse acknowledgement of the fact of antisemitism with the promotion of it.

• Lady Deech had more to say...
• Posted by David Irons at American University in Cairo on June 14, 2007 at 1:40pm EDT

• The Guardian has a much fuller quote from Lady Deech:

  "'Zionist' has become a word of opprobrium - all Jews are so labelled - and attacks on Jews rose with the occurrence of the Lebanon war - attacks on Jews in this country and elsewhere, not attacks on Israeli buildings," Lady Deech told peers.

  She added: "Once the equation is made between Zionism and Jews, anti-semites then feel free to attack all Jewish students without distinction. Protests start as attacks on Israel and conclude with threats to all Jews."

  Calling on vice-chancellors to act, Lady Deech said: "It should be made plain that there is a right to speak and assemble but that hate crime and incitement to commit illegal acts will not be tolerated on campus under the cloak of freedom of speech.

  "But students cannot be expected to act in a spirit of dialogue and tolerance if their lecturers do not do so. There are ongoing attempts by the University and College Union to initiate a UK-wide boycott of Israeli academics. Such a biased and unhelpful response to events on the ground in the Middle East cannot be tolerated or supported. There is no justification for such action, which would seek to punish some of the world's finest intellectuals and academic institutions for no good reason," she said.

  Lady Deech concluded: "Academic freedom is the first target of tyrannies, and those who ignore attacks on academic pursuits are cooperating with tyranny. They must ask themselves why Jewish students and Israeli academics, alone in the world, are chosen as the targets.

  "As my father sadly bore witness, as early as 1923 Vienna University was the focus of assaults on Jewish students and curbs on Jewish professors and on the right to learn; followed by Warsaw University which imposed racial restrictions in the 1930s. British universities have to learn from the history of pusillanimity in the face of racism."

• Posted by Unapologetically Tender on June 18, 2007 at 7:35am EDT

• Thank you, David Irons.
  Eric Kandel, Nobel Laureate, describes that horrific attack on Viennese Jewish academics (and his family store) in his autobiography IN SEARCH OF MEMORY.