December 20, 2011, 3:37 AM
| Comments (18) | | |
 |
| |  |
For decades New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman balanced his substantively anti-Israel positions with repeated protestations of love for Israel.
His balancing act ended last week when he employed traditional anti-Semitic slurs to dismiss the authenticity of substantive American support for Israel.
Channeling the longstanding anti-Semitic charge that Jewish money buys support for power-hungry Jews best expressed in the forged 19th century Protocols of the Elders of Zion and in John Mearshimer's and Stephen Walt's 2007 book The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, Friedman denied the significance of the US Congress's overwhelming support for Israel.
As he put it, "I sure hope that Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, understands that the standing ovation he got in Congress this year was not for his politics. That ovation was bought and paid for by the Israel lobby."
It would be nice if Friedman is forced to pay some sort of price for finally coming out of the closet as a dyed-in-the-wool Israel hater. But he probably won't. As he made clear in his column, he isn't writing for the general public, but for a very small, select group of elitist leftists. These are the only people who matter to Friedman. And they matter to him because they share his opinions and his goal of indoctrinating young people to adopt his pathologically hostile views about Israel and his contempt for the American public that supports it.
It doesn't matter to Friedman that overwhelming survey evidence, amassed over decades, show that the vast majority of the American public and the American Jewish community support Israel. It doesn't matter to him that the support shown to Netanyahu in Congress last May was a reflection of that support.
As he put it, "The real test is what would happen if Bibi tried to speak at, let's say, the University of Wisconsin. My guess is that many students would boycott him and many Jewish students would stay away."
Embedded in this statement are two key points. First, Friedman assesses that the prevailing view on US college campuses are his own radical views. And he is convinced that college students share his views.
As he sees it, if college students share his views, then it doesn't matter that Congress supports Israel today. Through the youth, he and his anti-Israel colleagues will own the future.
THE KEY question then is is Friedman right? Do he and his friends on the Israel bashing Left own the future? Are their efforts to convince young Americans in places like University of Wisconsin to embrace leftist dogmas, including rejection of Israel's rights working? Is support for Israel diminishing?
A plethora of data indicates that while the picture is mixed, the dominant trends do not favor Friedman's views. This is true not only in the US but in Israel as well.
For instance, last week the Washington Examiner's senior political commentator Michael Barone noted a massive deterioration of US President Barack Obama' support levels among voters under 30 years old. Whereas Obama won this demographic in the 2008 elections by a 2-1 margin, two recent surveys show that if elections were held today, he would receive the support of just over a third of young voters.
Barone hypothesized that young Americans' disenchantment has to do with their generational individualism bred of their limitless ability to express themselves through technology. This individualism has nothing in common with Obama's economic and foreign policy collectivism.
As for young American Jews, according to a study published in August 2010 by Brandeis University's Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, the ratio of young American Jews who feel attached to Israel - while lower than that of older Jews -- has remained constant over the past twenty years. Moreover, Brandeis's researchers told the Forward that "Every generation goes through a normal 'lifecycle,'...in which attachment to Israel grows as people get older."
Even more notable than the consistency of support levels over time is the fact that researchers discerned no difference in levels of support for Israel across the political spectrum. As the study reported, "We found that conservatives were no more likely than liberals to feel connected to Israel or regard Israel as central to their Jewish identities. These findings are remarkable given that liberalism is associated with reduced support for Israel in the broader American population."
So not only have Friedman and his colleagues on the far Left failed to convince the general public to give up support for Israel, they have failed to get young American Jews to give up support for Israel.
THE FAILURE of Friedman's fellow radicals to convince university students to abandon support for Israel or to water it down to the point of meaninglessness was demonstrated last month by Berkeley's Jewish Student Union.
In recent years, Berkeley's Hillel has come under withering criticism from pro-Israel activists on campus and countrywide for its leadership's willingness to accept anti-Israel groups as members of its community of sponsored organizations.
Hillel-sponsored groups like Kesher Enoshi have welcomed the virulently anti-Israel Jewish Voices for Peace group into the Hillel tent. Hillel groups have participated in Israel Apartheid Week activities and supported university divestment from Israeli-owned firms. So too, Hillel's leadership has held dances on Memorial Day for Fallen Israeli Soldiers, published fliers demeaning observant Jews and discouraged students from flying Israel's flag at demonstrations.
Last month, Berkeley's Jewish students took a step to regain control over their community from the anti-Israel radicals running Hillel. On November 16, Berkeley's JSU voted to deny membership to J Street U, the college wing of the anti-Israel lobby J Street.
Speaking to the local Jewish paper j.weekly, Jacob Lewis, co-president of the pro-Israel student group Tikvah explained, "J Street is not pro-Israel but an anti-Israel organization that, as part of the mainstream Jewish community, I could not support."
Hillel's leadership is up in arms. Rather than respect the decision of the JSU, Hillel's professional "grown-ups" are urging them to reconsider.
In a letter to Haaretz and to the j. weekly, Berkeley Hillel's board president Barbara Davis and its executive director Rabbi Adam Naftalin-Kelman wrote, "We respect the right of the Jewish Student Union...to make its own decisions, but we encourage JSU to reconsider its vote and include J Street U as a member."
The two then pledged that despite the verdict of Berkeley's Jewish students, Hillel will continue to find J Street U's programming.
THE SITUATION on Israeli college campuses is similar. Here too, Israeli students are in revolt against post-Zionist and anti- Zionist academics. Here too, the best efforts of radical professors to convince their students to abandon Zionism seem to be faltering. A poll of young Israelis taken last year by Dahaf for the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation indicated that young Israelis are far more politically conservative than their baby boomer parents and professors. And this disparity is apparent on university campuses.
Last year the Im Tirtzu student group published a report on the state of Political Science studies in Israeli universities. In a follow-on report, it placed a spotlight on the situation at Ben Gurion University's Politics and Government Department.
Both reports were attacked by the media and by the professoriate as cheap, academically shoddy attempts to harm academic freedom.
Im Tirtzu's reports were based on an analysis of course syllabi at all university departments and they concluded that there was a clear far left ideological bias inherent in course materials. Pro-Israel and non-hostile books and research were almost entirely absent from the curricula, they alleged.
As for Ben Gurion University's Politics and Government Department, the Im Tirtzu report claimed that aside from political bias reflected in the course curricula, the department's faculty is dominated by anti-Zionists. It charged that nine out of 11 permanent faculty members were involved in "radical left-wing" political activities and that six signed a letter supporting refusal to serve in the IDF.
While the media and the professorate pilloried their reports, the group's charges caused the Council for Higher Education to form a blue ribbon committee last November comprised of seven political scientists - three from Israel and four from abroad -- to conduct a study of all of the political science departments in Israeli universities. Last month the committee presented its conclusions to the CHE. And they were devastating.
The committee's general recommendations involved requiring professors at all universities to make a distinction in their classrooms between facts and their political opinions. It also called for a more theoretical approach to political science with emphasis on research methods rather than activism and ideology. University departments were urged to use more politically balanced curricula.
As to Ben Gurion University, the commission said the Politics and Government Department needs to clean up its act or be shut down. Not only is it giving short shrift to the academic foundations of the discipline in favor of activism, its instructors use the classrooms to indoctrinate students.
So too, due to the department's academic inadequacy, the committee claimed its master's program's "value...is doubtful," and said that the faculty could not adequately educate doctoral students.
On November 29, the CHE unanimously adopted the committee's findings and recommendations. It gave Ben Gurion University until April to enact the required changes in its Politics and Government Department or shut its doors.
It will be interesting to see how events progress at Ben Gurion in the coming months, but one thing is clear enough, like Friedman and the Berkeley Hillel, its professors will no longer be able to pretend that they are fair and balanced professionals.
Their bluff was called.
On December 7 Politico's Ben Smith published a detailed report about how two of the Democratic Party's core institutions, the Center for American Progress and Media Matters are waging a concerted, continuous campaign to diminish left wing Democratic support for Israel. Media Matters official M.J. Rosenberg acknowledged that given the depth of popular support for Israel in the US, chances are remote that their efforts will pay off in Congress today. He explained that his goal is to shift the Democratic Party's position on Israel through its younger generation.
As he put it, "We're playing the long game here."
Happily, to date, they are losing the long game as well as the short game both in Israel and the US. While it is important to remain on guard against radicals like Friedman and Rosenberg and their fellow travelers on campuses, it is also important to recognize that despite their powerful positions, they remain marginal voices in both Israel and the US.
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.
| Comments (18) | | |
|
Friedman's slurs are nothing new... This quote is from 2004:
http://www.MidEastTruth.com/friedman.jpg
Thomas Friedman's contribution to the Israel-US relationship: http://www.mideasttruth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9636
Freidman ,the mouthpiece of his fellow elite Fourth Reich Globalist cadre sets the tone and agenda against Israel.
Deep in their hearts these vile creatures hate God and by extension the Israel of God even more than C. Hitchens did.
The evil elite see the UN vote in 1948 to create ISRAEL as a major mistake and to appease their Arab/Islamic partners in crime they use the peace process to dismember it in planned stages. A bloody sacrifice,appeasement gift to the the demon god of Isalm by the latest sinister Haman- Mein Kampf gang.
They are angry that Israel does not go along more quickly with their state to corpse agenda and this is why Tommy boy is always bashing Israel and never his evil partners in their devious and diabolical two state final solution agenda.
I wonder how hard was it to find their little Tommy, unJew boy traitor ?
The good thing about this cosmic war against Israel is that God has the last say,not treacherous tommy.
Although Tom Friedman and his Leftist friend have not convinced American and especially young American Jews to give up their support for Israel they have made threatening inroads. Jewish leaders must get more involved in educating our Jewish youth about Israel, both as an ally and as the wondrous place it is. Unfortunately there will always be Jew haters like Friedman. It is up to us to neutralize his poison.
"he employed traditional anti-Semitic slurs" - One should give him credit, though, for his impeccably groomed Mustachios. Not every anti-Semite can brag of such.
It's shocking and upsetting what goes on in college campuses regarding hatred of Israel, and indeed among so-called Jews. One such glaring incident illustrates clearly, this situation-several years back a rabbi no less, a so-called "spiritual" leader, one Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller of UCLA's Hillel, attacked physically, and kicked and bit a woman who was protesting Hillel's anti-Israel stance. Apparently, little was done to discipline this oaf, as he is still the head of Hillel. One of Hollywood's shallow "elite", Richard Dreyfus, came to his defense. I suppose Jewish communities have always had unsavory elements within them-even those that were and are inimical. On the brighter side, the Birthright programs are excellent teaching avenues to instill support for Israel among young American Jews, and the programs do it simply-by exposing the young Jews to the truth.
Another trenchant, precise, and decimating article by Caroline Glick. Bravo! One can only hope it is widely read in the American Jewish "macherhood" — those grossly overpaid 'Jewish leaders" who neither lead nor are particularly Jewish in any way, shape, or form.
The insidious assault on Israel doesn't simply belong to Friendman and the NY Slimes. It should also be noted that j.weekly — the SF Bay area Jewish weekly — has been consistently biased in its reporting about Israel down through the decades. That's why it's print version floundered: subscribers bailed en masse. As well, the local JCSF program has been adamant in keeping pro-Israel programs and speakers to an absolute minimum — while paying it's "misleader-in-chief" upward of $300,000 a year to run a Jewish community center which is cowardly to the core but has funds enough for bodyguards at every entrance — and then some.
What Tom "Thumb" Friedman and his ilk have never grasped — because spiritual insight is utterly alien to them — is that the story of Israel and the Jewish people is ALWAYS the story of David versus Goliath. That's how it's always been: and so it shall remain.
Jews either stand up for themselves fearlessly, or get smashed to bits by the genocidal Goliath who arises from the mire of man's darkest impulses each generation.
It is amazing that anti-Israel sentiments even exist among liberal American Jews. It is though they are against their own heritage and history. Without historic Israel, would there be a Jewish race today? Without Israel existing today as a Jewish nation, what would be the state of Jews worldwide? Would they have any identity, any common purpose?
Caroline Glick taking on Tom Friedman is bit of a mismatch. Friedman is probably the most respected public intellectual in the US. Accusing him of being anti-Israel will not be taken seriously by people here.
Tom Friedman is dreamer if he thinks he can betray his race and get muslim praises. The muslim "holy books" have already proclaimed a Fatwa on all Jews so it is no use for him to pretend he can get special privileges under muslim rule. For the muslims if you can betray your own race ,you are worse worse than the faithful Jews. This guy Tom Friedman is a BIG coward and a traitor to his race. He lives in NY and enjoys the safety & comfort of the USA . He should move over to Israel to experience how one would behave being surrounded by enemies whose holy books have clearly scripted death for Jews.
This idiot had praised China when he visited it before the Olympic Games, saying that America should follow their way of administering ......meaning the communist way. This idiot visits countries run by tyrants and regimes and loves the "window dressing orderliness" ,the robotic behavior of people desperately seeking the same freedom that this arm-chair slob enjoys.
Glick vs. Friedman is indeed a mismatch. Caroline's understanding of politics, economics, and history is something that Friedman can only dream about, and her appreciation of the basic principles of liberty, security, and religious freedom far surpasses anything ever written by the despicable, far-left Friedman.
Mr. Mason, do you really think that "Friedman is probably the most respected public intellectual in the US?" I think it's time for you to turn off MSNBC, throw away your NYT, and join the real world.
"Friedman is probably the most respected public intellectual in the U.S." - now, THAT's funny!
For T. Mason to declare Friedman "probably the most respected public intellectual" is beyond preposterous: it's ridiculously absurd.
Friedman's sole claim to his sumptuous salary and putative fame is his continued employment by the New YOrk Slimes (the slur is intentional). Like lemmings the NYC based publishing houses release his books knowing for that reason alone they will get sales. And on that front, his books are shallow, second rate commentaries by an "intellectual" flyweight.
Honestly, Caroline Glick has more integrity and courage in one paragraph than this color-blind interior decorator.
"Friedman is probably the most respected public intellectual in the US."
If that were true it would say more about the (low) intellectual level of the US public then about Caroline Glick.
As a parent whose five children attended high school and college in NY, I know what Caroline Glick is saying is true. They had to learn early on to not express an opinion at school contrary to the liberal agenda. Sadly, that liberal agenda includes liberal Jews, who control expression in NY. But conservative, pro-Isreal thought does exist. The out-of-control liberals may have gone too far, because we reached critical mass in the economy. Having planes fly into buildings and leftist excuses went deep and still is felt. Who knows if liberal thought, finally put into practice by Obama, actually worked, then maybe Friedman, et.al. would find traction outside NY for ideas. But he does not, except in urban enclaves. The country as a whole supports Isreal, grounded in Biblical teaching(they don't get that). I don't understand why liberal Jewish parents are not teaching their children the truth about where their future and safety lie. To not tell them puts them in danger. As a parent, I don't understand.
Ah - dear old Freidman - bless the old boy!!!
Personally I've always thought that perhaps his tailored projected rants againt Israel (and by implication his own race) over the years, has been as a result of his own deepest rooted unresolved inadequacies, inferiorities and delusions. bolstered by his clear ability to project his opinions through a command of words. He hides his failings in inaccuracies and psuedo-intellectualism, which may fool many people, but not those who pursue fact and truth.
His literary efforts clearly don't cut it with his own Jewish people at large, who I suspect regard him as a "Nebish" (ineffective, a loser). I suspect the dedicated anti Israel / Jewish lobby welcome a turncoat like him as an amusing court jester, yet deep down detest him for his ethnic origins.
Such a shame. If only he'd get a proper job!!!!
"A plethora of data indicates that while the picture is mixed, the dominant trends do not favor Friedman's views. This is true not only in the US but in Israel as well."
Ah but Caroline, They are attempting to control both information distribution and content as well as the discussion of the same. It seems that their arguments and points of view cannot withstand those liberties and so they seek to limit them and if possible destroy any other point of view and of course, those who dare to speak them. World wide.
But there is no conspiracy or collusion, no no, everything is simple happenstance or, accidental cohesion and mutual support.
I've tried to understand Jewish Israel-haters for years. I don't understand them. I think they are inexcusable by any standards of reason and morality. The New York Times, which has launched artillery blasts at Israel for decades *as a matter of deliberate policy* is degraded beyond belief. The only rational explanation is Saudi oil money, but I don't even believe that. It's some kind of neurotic disorder, combined with a media monopoly. Until recently the Israeli left had the same kind of monopoly over the major media in Israel. By normal standards of adult behavior it comes down to criminal collusion.
Jewish Israel-haters are easily understood in light of scripture. "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." (Luke 21:17 & Mark 13:13)
The good news is recorded in Rev. 20:4-6.
Al Olson