I read with interest RK's long quote from the Encyclopedia Judaica, from
which most parts have been snipped below. There appears to be a common
tendency in many Jewish circles to muddle the concepts anti-semitic (or
anti-Jewish) with anti-Israel (or anti-Zionist). In non-Jewish circles
the tendency is to consider these as two separate issues. There is an
interesting contrast between the first and third paragraph of what I
have preserved. In the first, "Older people tend to be more
anti-Semitic;" in the third, "...younger people are more likely to be
unfavorable to Israel." Do others see a contradiction here?
The second quoted paragraph illustrates a transition in the article.
What does Andrew Young's dismissal have to do with the other clearly
more extremist positions cited. Young was dismissed because he took a
position contrary to the stated views of his government; that does not
justify extrapolating his act of meeting PLO officials into some form of
anti-semitism. It is great that American blacks and Jews should find
common cause about problems in the United States, but how does one get
from that to the security of Israel just because it is "significant to
Jews". It is irrelevant to the issue. If it's relevant then so too is
the security of Liberia where blacks went to escape oppression just as
Jews went to Israel to escape oppression... but Liberia is right off the
radar screen.
Ec
Robert wrote:
WHO IS ANTI-SEMITIC?
From the Encyclopedia Judaica.
. . .
Older people tend to be more anti-Semitic than younger
individuals. This might be explained by lower educational
level, by the fact that anti-Semitism was more prevalent
when the older people were themselves young, and by the
possibility that the aging process might have led to
greater feelings of insecurity and intolerance.
. . .
That confrontation has taken the form of disputes over
political goals and the exercise of power. But also the
dismissal in 1979 of Andrew Young as American ambassador to
the United Nations for meeting with a PLO official, the
abusiveness of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan's
remarks about Judaism as a "gutter religion" and his
declared admiration for Hitler, the references to New York
City as "Hymietown" by presidential candidate Jesse Jackson
in 1984, the injection of Black-Jewish animosity into the
1988 Democratic party primary in New York, have all
inflamed passions on both sides. Blacks hold about 10% less
favorable attitudes to Israel than do whites. Jews and
blacks have strongly differed on questions of open
enrollment in New York City colleges and, above all, on the
issues of quotas for employment. Yet, the old black-Jewish
liberal coalition, with its mutual support for electoral
office and for policies favoring integrated schools, civil
rights, and vitality of urban areas on the one hand, and
issues significant to Jews, especially the security of
Israel on the other, has not broken down.
. . .
Two other major problems remain. Black anti-Semitism,
stemming from religious teachings and economic stereotypes,
exacerbated by the politics of confrontation and, to a
lesser degree, a rise in adherence to Islam, is a troubling
issue. The issue of Israel, support for its policies, aid
for its security, and Jewish relations with the state has
not yet led to an increase in anti-Semitism. But about a
quarter of non-Jews are highly unfavorable to Israel, and
young people are more likely to be so than are older
people.