Denigrating Critics of Israel: "Everyone Is Running Scared"

[Karmadillo]

http://www.counterpunch.org/adams10302003.html

Denigrating Critics of Israel
"Everyone Is Running Scared"
By PHILIP ADAMS

As today's column will provoke accusations of anti-Semitism, let me begin with a few words in my defence. A classic philo-Semite, I've long been described as a Jew lover by the anti-Semites in organisations such as Frederick Tobin's Adelaide Institute. I've been dragged before the Press Council by the abominable League of Rights and am proud to say I'm regularly attacked in the hate pages of neo-Nazi organisations.

I'm on the receiving end of stacks of hate mail, up to and including death threats. My home was attacked by an anti-Semitic group that spray-painted racist obscenities all over it, then tried to sledgehammer their way in.

My children grew up in a home with a mezuzah, which consecrates it, on the doorpost. They were taught to respect the extraordinary contribution of Jews to science, philosophy, philanthropy, ethics, civil rights and the arts. My first daughter, named Rebecca, renounced her father's atheism and converted to Judaism. And I've lost count of the occasions when I've launched books by Jewish authors, opened exhibitions by Jewish artists or spoken at Jewish fundraisers or at Holocaust exhibitions or museums.

Yet, with growing frequency, I get letters branding me an anti-Semite. Worse still, I've lost close friends in the Jewish community. Why? Because in recent years I've found it impossible not to criticise Israel's policies towards the Palestinians.

more...

[bluesoul]

1. Nice

Great article! But those that do not want to see, won't...

[ForestsBeatBushes]

2. Perhaps the author's success has blinded him

to his having been co-opted by the majority culture.

Unfortunately, fame and fortune have a tendency to do that.

Never mind his past: what has he done for his people lately? I mean just how much have the fawning by the 'swells', the extra $$$$ and perks done to his positions?

Or, then again, I could just attack 'Counterpunch' as an easily dismissible wildly left-wing publication that has no credibility at all, as that seems to be 'de riguer' in this forum.

[The Magistrate]

3. That Last May Readily Be Done, Sir

It is a minor hobby of mine: the journal has proved itself innaccurate in reporting fact, and wildly immflamatory in rhetoric, concerning this Levantine quarrel.

As to the substance of this article: the abject terror in which critics of Israel, and supporters of Arab Palestine, must exist today is clear to any disinterested observer. They are hounded through campuses and streets, beaten bloody if caught; on occassion their bodies are found mutilated on deserted roads: they are unable to find employment, their screeds go unpublished. They are subject to the fullest ire of "The Syndicate", and will surely soon be an extinct species....

[ForestsBeatBushes]

5. Sorry, Magistrate?

From what I have read and personally observed, I wonder if you have inadvertently switched the words "Israel" and "Arab Palestine".

The only people I have seen hounded on campuses are pro-Israeli.

Please clarify. Thank you.

[The Magistrate]

7. The Impish Thing That Serves Me For A Sense Of Humor, Sir

Is dry as dust, but the straight face has brought some successes at cards....

[Karmadillo]

10. Well, while you are certainly free to criticize Counterpunch, the

article in question comes from the Australian, owned by Rupert Murdoch (not a known admirer of Alexander Cockburn). Counterpunch simply reprinted it. Whether an appearance on that website is enough to bar it from the realm of credibility is, I guess, up to the individual reader, but it would seem to me insufficient. Robert Fisk appears to have survived similar reprintings with his reputation intact.

Regardless of orgin, the article does present fairly reasonable objections to the treatment of Ms. Ashrawi.

[bemildred]

4. I trust Sir, that you are not attempting to denigrate this man.

Heh.

[ForestsBeatBushes]

6. Excellent twist on article title - loved it!

I do question his sincerity, however.

[rini]

9. perhaps all of the above

[dudeness]

8. I agree with Adams on this particular issue

Adams himself has been a victim of a recent campaign by conservative forces , namely the Howard Government, to undermine his consistently dissenting voice. This has included attempts to reduce funding on the basis that the views expressed by the broadcaster are "out of step' with widely held community positions. Regardless of your personal opinion of Ashrawi, these particular trends of vilification are becoming increasingly disturbing.