, 23 tweets, 5 min read Read on Twitter
A few thoughts on that awful long-form opinion piece by @NathanThrall masquerading as reportage (I won't link to such garbage).
1. I am generally center-left on these issues and sat down to read it with much interest—after all, if it was good enough for my @nytimes (which I spend countless hours defending in my circles), it would surely be nuanced and thoughtful. Disillusionment set in by the third 'graf.
Thrall describes the trio that Sanders sent to shape the Dem platform as "fearless crusaders for civil rights" and HRC's reps—15-term Rep. Howard Berman, diplomat Wendy Sherman, and trailblazing CEO Bonnie Schaefer—as "a bunch of kikes" (I'm paraphrasing, but see for yourself!)
2. The "divide" Thrall cites over which source of anti-Semitism is worst doesn't really exist (except perhaps in the fever swamps of Twitter). American Jews are concerned about ALL anti-Semitism: from the far-left, the far-right, or jihadis.
(Incidentally, I've never heard anyone seriously claim that John Hagee is an anti-Semite.)
3. Honestly, this paragraph could just be replaced with "It's all about the Benjamins, baby."
4. Anyone who goes to Mort Klein of the far-right ZOA for their pro-Israel quote, instead of any number of other organizations that make up the mainstream either a) doesn't know what they are doing or b) knows EXACTLY what they are doing.
5. Thrall bizarrely cites a prime minister of apartheid South Africa saying The Jews “took Israel from the Arabs after the Arabs had lived there for a thousand years. In that, I agree with them. Israel like South Africa is an apartheid state.”
First, after some brief online research, that quote can only be found on anti-Israel sites arguing that Israel is an apartheid state. But suppose it IS real. So what? This apartheid PM was no expert about Israel and was himself an anti-Semite. Why introduce him as authoritative?
6. Similarly, Richard Spencer is an anti-Semitic troll and his claims that he hates Jews but likes Zionism should not be taken seriously. (See @AdamSerwer's "Nazis Have Always Been Trolls": theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…)
7. This is a smaller thing, but facts matter: it is not (yet) correct to say that there are fewer Jews than Arabs between the Jordan and the Mediterranean.
8. This is actually anti-Semitic: "Of the dozens of personal checks greater than $500,000 made out to the largest PAC for Democrats in 2018, the Senate Majority PAC, around three-fourths were written by Jewish donors."
Want to not be anti-Semitic? Do some journalism. Look up these Jewish donors. Find out how many of them are expressly involved in pro-Israel advocacy. Then cite THAT number.
(At this point in the reading, my Shabbat is thoroughly ruined and I'm beginning to hate the Times.)
9. @DanielBShapiro says that the claim that the Obama administration controlled the timing of UNSC Res. 2334 is a flat out lie. As Obama's Ambassador to Israel, he would know better than...the anonymous source Thrall cites.
10. The way Thrall tells the Mich story is disturbing, noting the size of the Hillel building (which is mostly used for religious, not political, purposes), and again making the anti-Israel students out to be the true, liberal, good guys against the powerful Jews.
11. He cites several instances of Jewish groups trying to block anti-Israel speakers, but none of the many, many more times when anti-Israel groups have shouted down pro-Israel (or even just Jewish) speakers, or gotten them disinvited.
12. Thrall casts this perfectly normal quote from @RepTedDeutch as vaguely sinister:
13. "Few charges are as politically toxic as that of anti-Semitism," says Thrall. But those on the left would NEVER express sympathy for people who earn the title "racist" or "homophobe" or "misogynist." Why is Jew hatred different?
14. "There is a long list of black politicians, from Keith Ellison to Hank Johnson, who have suffered political setbacks or worse after confrontations with pro-Israel groups."
HANK JOHNSON CALLED JEWS TERMITES!!!!
15. [Now follows paragraph after paragraph of softly-lit treatment of the usual garbage claims that Americans of color must oppose Israel.]
16. "After [a BDS vote at Stanford], the white Jewish Agency Israel fellow at Hillel was replaced by a black one."
Israel Fellows serve 2-3 year terms. A few each year are Black. If anything, their desire to represent Israel is a REFUTATION of claims of racism against Israel.
17. Shaun King had his 15 minutes of fame. Now he is irrelevant and has turned to siccing Twitter mobs on innocent people who he thinks committed hate crimes and vomiting out anti-Semitism to try to keep a following. He is best ignored. Like @NathanThrall's article. The end.
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