I find it fascinating that this paper will not run anything condemning Sasour While Bannon is a disgrace, Sasour has also been embraced by mainstream Dems.
4
Bret Stephens is bad for "The Jews". In some measure because he actually uses the term "The Jews".
Is there any chance that the editorial staff of the NY Times will reconsider whether this man's written thoughts are worthy of the paper? My understanding is that he did just fine at Murdoch's rag, where he belongs.
9
Steve Bannon is bad for the Jews. Steve Bannon is bad for the Christians.
Steve Bannon is bad for all religions.
What people may forget: Jesus was a Jew.
17
Steve Bannon is bad for everyone
34
I detest Steve Bannon and all that he represents. But let's be real. here. A lot of people, with good reason, say that the New York Times is bad for the Jews. And, for sure, the same can be said for the organization, "Jewish Voice For Peace".
9
Your defence of American Jews who blindly support a foreign country, Israel, in its outrages against its Palestinian neighbors deserves the same appellation as their beliefs and behavior: Treason. Of course you are merely speaking your beliefs, which I find disgusting, but you have everly right to them. Overtly acting on behalf of a foreign country against the interests of our own country and citizenry, however, should be rewarded with indictment, trial, conviction and execution.
10
Amen!
1
Actually, IMHO, Steve Bannon is pretty much bad for human beings.
11
Any man who doesn't want his kids attending school with Jewish students (per Bannon's ex-wife in her divorce testimony) is an old-fashioned Jew-hater, no matter what Zionist flag he wraps himself in later, when it suits him, when he pretends to embrace the Jews.
Bret is right to call the Zionists response to Bannon a disgrace, to which I add, "cowardly". The members are Professional Jews, who have lost sight of what the religion stands for.
12
The piece ties itself into pretzels trying not to say the one obvious thing: Bannon and the other ethno-statists love Israel because it is a successfully functioning ethno-state. They'd also love to see American Jews shipped there forever.
30
Steve Bannon Is Bad for the Jews !
Only for Jews?
Bannon is bad for the mankind, I blame trump for bringing him out from behind the underground to the surface and now we see this radio face in every news even in PBS news .
The man is an enigma all right, brought back the White Supremacist from the woods to the surface as well . Bannon is bad for all the races and religion and perhaps is also a friend for the trump`s Son in Law Jared, one orthodox self serving Jew.
12
Bannon is BAD for everyone.
He will self destruct, and his demons will devour him.
8
"Zionists love Israel because of the way in which it brings together the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization, not because of some blood and soil nationalism."
I see. Then there should be no problem with giving the occupied lands back to the Arabs! Zionism without soil/land simply does not exist as a concept.
9
Stephens's column is right on as far as it goes. But it fails to mention what was surely Bannon's role in Trump's appallingly anti-Semitic remarks in his campaign. Someone high up in it was putting a whole lot of anti-Semitic stuff in the idiot candidate's mouth and it could only have been Bannon:
From reviving the pre-World War II anti-Semitic "America First" slogan, to Hillary's picture on the Jewish star and all those $100 bills, to Trump's outrageous October 2016 speech about Hillary's meetings with international bankers out to steal American sovereignty and other borrowings from the Protocols (which Trump undoubtedly never heard of), to the final Trump campaign commercial featuring three prominent American Jews -- Soros, Yellen and Blankfein -- as representing international bankers who are robbing U.S. workers, all was Bannon's work.
As long-time Washington reporter Elizabeth Drew noted, Bannon "is believed to have been the guiding spirit behind Trump's chillingly anti-Semitic final campaign ad." As the leading student of history and promoter of white supremacy in the campaign, who else but Bannon would have been behind all this historically-phony-scholarly anti-Semitism??
Another prominent Jewish commentator, Peter Beinart, recently wrote in The Forward that "conservatives are right. Bannon really does love Jews." Fictions like that, held by Jews who should know better and Jewish groups like the ZOA, can someday lead to more attempts at final solutions:
10
I'm not sure if Bret Stephens is Jewish himself, but this is one of the most insightful articles on anti-Semitism I've seen published in the Times.
11
Bannon's a creep of the highest order - he's the eminence grise of bloodshed.
6
Bannon is bad for everyone, not just the Jews. That being said, a Jewish state is as stupid as a Christian state or a white state or a Muslim state or any state that's founded on exclusion and discrimination. One of the worst disasters in modern history was creating Israel and allowing it to drive out indigenous peoples. Short of killing every single one of those people and all of their supporters in surrounding nations there's no solution to this insanity. Jews, Jewish people, however you wish to refer to them and however they wish to be called, absolutely deserve the right to existence. They deserve to live in peace. But so do the people they drove out of the land they now occupy. The state of Israel isn't acting in the best interest of its citizens. And I think that the world and the Israeli people are beginning to see that.
11
Very disturbing to see that we Jews can be taken in by a christo-fascist such as Bannon, who insists that he is a supporter of Jews, the working class, Blacks, and other marginalized Americans in public while supporting those who are working for a white, christian America in private.
6
What a bait for an article. Hobble together a litany of perceived wrongdoings, past, present and future, eliciting the predictable avalanche of negative responses and voila, antisemitism has yet again raised its ugly head.
How simplistic, how insulting and how arrogant.
6
Is some or many Evangelicals can support trump and Moore, if some LGBT can support the Republican Party, then some Jews can support Bannon.
3
To understand the Fundamentalist and Evangelical Zionists, you need to understand the Rapture. Steve Bannon is Catholic, but Breitbart and the current administration have a largely Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christian base.
I'm going to try to summarize the 'prophesies', but if you want details you should Google the topic. I am not an expert.
The prophesies state that Jews will occupy Israel and Hebrew will be revived (fulfilled). The Arab nations will try to annihilate Israel, and will be defeated. The Russians will form a coalition with Muslim nations to invade Israel; the coalition will be destroyed by God. The Antichrist will make Israel safe and enable the Jews to rebuild their temple. The Jews will reject the Antichrist, and 2/3 of the Jews will be killed. The remaining Jews will accept Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus will gather all of the remaining Jews in Israel. Believers, evangelists and fundamentalists as well as Jews who have abandoned Judaism, will go to heaven, receive perfect bodies, and will be judged to determine their rewards. Believers come back to earth for a millennium, then go to Heaven.
Christians who believe in this version of the Rapture require Jews in Israel to fulfill their end game which includes annihilation of Judaism and eternity in a Utopian heaven for Christians. Jews are pawns, not friends.
This also might explain rejection of climate science. They expect that God will fix everything in the not too distant future.
14
Mr. Bannon is an anarchist and a conspiracy theorist. Not only is he bad for the Jews, but he is bad for the country. We need voices for unity and sanity in every public engagement.
9
I recall Bannon's ex-wife stating that he wanted his children to switch schools. He thought that the current school had too many Jews in it.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/293532-bannons-ex...
8
American Jews have a huge problem. Does support for Israel mean embracing Evangelical Right-Wing Christians, Neo-Conservatives, and white supremacists because they are “good for Israel” even if the agenda is actually anti-Jewish and even Anti-America? There was a time that American Jews were united around issues of justice and the rights of minorities. We supported fair housing and voting rights. We can love Israel and continue to fight for American ideals. What happened to us?
6
I'm wondering if Bannon buys into the "End of Times" narrative, which is key to evangelicals support of Israel. “You see God has a plan for the world
and it all centers around Israel.”
I wouldn't be surprised.
4
Anybody with half a brain has been well aware for many months that Bannon is "bad for the Jews". When Trump referred to the "very fine" folks among the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, maybe there was a clue about him as well.
5
"Repair of the world may not be the central teaching of Judaism."
Perhaps it's not the central teaching of Judaism, but it sure is close.
As a Jew, I am appalled that this purportedly Zionist organization would invite Bannon to speak at all. It's clear that Bannon has contributed to the rise of not only racial bigotry but anti-Semitism as well in the last two years.
In fact, I am thoroughly befuddled by the idea that any Jew could be ultra-right-wing, with all that implies.
Of course, I know Jews who are right wingers, who even bash me for being on the left, albeit near the center. I cannot imagine what goes on their heads. It reminds me of German Jews who thought they were sufficiently assimilated to be safe from Hitler's "racial cleansing."
ZOA is on the wrong side of history and of Judaism, both culturally and religiously.
10
The Jews should be very cautious of Steve Bannon. He wants wars with Islam (Shia or Sunni? Both?) and war with China. With Jared running to SA and the funny business there and in Lebanon, anything could happen. Who knows how Bannon and Trump/Jared relate these days either?
With Bannon on the side of the Breitbart crowd, it is more than likely than in any future Bannon fueled 'reckoning' in America, the Jews will once again find themselves used and abused maybe to the point of self-deportation.
Dramatic? Not at all, just read Breitbart. The ugly has never gone away, it's just wearing new clothes.
6
Steve Bannon looks like he got lost on his way home from the bar, and somehow conned the GOP into giving him not only a home but a platform and microphone. The good news? He's merely the latest version of blowhards to come down the pike, and his 15 minutes will be up before you can say "Who's Mike Huckabee? Who's Sarah Palin?"
Politically speaking, eschatology is never a good place to start.
1
One thing Mr Stephens fails to mention. There are right-wing parties in Israel, far from marginal, in fact growing in influence and numbers, and inhabiting the right wing of Netanyahu's governing coalition. They may either agree with Bannon's worldview or see him as a useful idiot.
They are definitely ethnonationalist and antidemocratic. Any fearful developments in the West that radicalize the diaspora and encourage them to make aliyah will go far to solve certain political and demographic problems.
5
The Russians did it.
1
Steve Bannon is a political Svengali, someone who, like the extreme Muslim clerics we read about, foments hate and promotes armed revolution with his dystopian view of the world. His desperate followers are seduced by his anti-civilization rhetoric. He will say or do anything to promote the overthrow of normal society. When one thinks of the barbarians at the gate it is Steve Bannon who is leading the hordes. He needs to be marginalized much like ISIS or the Taliban.
6
i have always maintained that one of the hidden facts of WWII was that a large number of german jews voted for the national socialist party. they wanted stability and economic prosperity and willingly ignored the rest of what the national socialists stood for. looks like history is repeating itself on so many levels.
6
I strongly disagree with this op-ed column. As an American Jew I feel much more threatened by the far left then the far right. The far left embraces a far more vile and toxic anti-Semitism that they try to whitewash as anti-Zionism than the fringe and few far right lunatics who are no danger to Jews in present day America. Stephen Bannon is no threat; Linda Sarsour and the new face of the Democratic Party is.
5
Years ago there was a dispute between my parents' condominium community and an Hasidic Jewish family who resided there. The size of their family exceeded the maximum number of residents permitted by the rules of the condo corporation for the size of their unit. Even though the family was in deed breaking the condo rules, during the dispute my mother said that she discovered within herself an internal barometer that intuitively picked up on the thinly veiled yet undeniable antisemitism within those neighbours who were most critical of this family's perceived violation. In the last few years I have discovered that same internal barometer within myself while navigating these confusing political times, especially in discussions concerning Israel. I have found the current rise in antisemitism, both blatant and festering under the surface, downright alarming and also frightening to me as a gay man because a rise in antisemitism is an indication to me that I will be next.
8
A good piece. Bannon would be feted by no Jew who is a decent human being (or is simply aware of what a poisonous enemy Bannon's alt-right is). The same goes for Muslims and Christians. May we look forward to companion pieces? Or if Mr. Stephens wants to go after bigger game, he could do some well-researched pieces on Donald Trump.
2
Steve Gannon is bad for humans, and other living things.
4
Bret Stephens: I think Bannon is one of the bad guys. I don't want the likes of him doing a single thing to influence anyone's vote in any election. He's very very bad for our nation.
But to discredit the informed opinions of Americans, like me, whose billions of tax dollars pay for Israel's terror campaign against it's non-Jewish neighbors is state sponsored propaganda.
I object to my country's support of Israel. It was a huge mistake when it was first created and it remains a huge mistake that should be immediately corrected by restoring the lands that were stolen from the Palestinians.
6
Every time the NYT has anything that touches Jews or Israel, it wakes up an explosion of Israel-Hate Fest commentaries. Stephens column is spot-on. However, I can understand why the antisemitism of the Left, which has a rich history with some of the origins in Soviet propaganda, can push a fraction of Jews into the arms of antisemites on the Right.
8
After hating on the Jews for generations, centuries, you'd think bigots could come up with a better bogeyman. It's simply gotten old at this point, dull, and so baseless as to be ugly, vulgar stupidity. I'm not sure if they should be more ashamed for hating Jews or being unable to come up with a better hatred after so long. A pox upon these empty fools who debase humanity with such beliefs.
6
Title is far too wordy... "Steve Bannon Is Bad" is both sufficient and necessary.
Has the Times no editors?
5
look, when they say Wall Street, they mean Jews.
when they say "coastal elites," they mean Jews.
when they say international bankers, they mean Jews.
when they say "the media," and "Hollywood," they mean Jews.
when they say Marxists or the left, they mean Jews.
and when they claim to support Israel, they are no different from 19th Century abolitionists who wanted to export all black American to some African nirvana and be rid of them, leaving a pure white America for themselves.
yes, there are some who believe something about the Jews, the second coming, the Rapture, the end of days. but they are also no friends of the Jews and would be only too happy to wash them in the blood of the lamb, or kill them, at the earliest opportunity.
16
Mr. Bannon is bad for American Jews because he is bad for America. He views Muslims as the Poles, Germans, Austrians, etc. viewed Jews in 1939 - as the dangerous 'other', the evil filth seeking to destroy pure White European culture. When we say "never again" we mean "never again".
7
I've only scanned a few of the comments here, but I haven't yet seen the largest Liberal argument against "Israel as a Jewish state", which is that it was only possible to create such an entity by driving out and dispossessing (and in the process murdering) a very large number of the previous inhabitants. Until there is first-class citizen status for all Palestinians, and full redress for all of the atrocities committed against them since the late Forties, no Liberal defense of the state founded upon their misery is possible.
20
Hi Bret,
Lifelong progressive Democrat here. Pretty much older than you and am with you all the way on this column. Thanks.
4
Bannon is correct that pro-Israel forces should fight to diminish the power of the Washington foreign- policy establishment – first and foremost the State Department – to empty the term pro-Israel of substance. The question is whether that fight needs to be directed at the White House or whether Trump’s team of outsiders is willing and able to stand up to that establishment and adopt a policy not based on hostility toward Israel and empower support for Palestinian terrorists and, therefore, not guaranteed to fail.
2
Not supporting the existence of Israel and not supporting the existence of Israel as a Jewish state are two different things to an American who is not Jewish. I see the perils of defining a country by any one religion because I see the kind of America those who insist that America is a "Christian" country envision. It is a country where a certain group defines and restricts the roles of those outside that group. If I am appalled at the idea of one religion defining my own country, how can I applaud another country being defined by any one religion? It endangers both the country and the religion.
13
Think of Jews as a people, or a tribe, and then reconsider. That's what we are. Judaism is not a universal religion like Islam or Christianity; it's the tribal religion of the Jewish people. Jews are more like Navajo or Tibetan Buddhists than like Protestants or Sunnis.
Also, by the way, Israel isn't legally Jewish. THERE'S NO STATE RELIGION. Itt's just that the majority is Jewish. There are non-Jewish legislators, judges, and tons of non-Jewish clerics. 25 percent of the voting population is not Jewish.
In contrast, the Palestinian Authority and just about every Arab country has Islam as its official religion. The PA's founding document reads, in part:
"1. Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Respect and sanctity of all other heavenly religions shall be maintained. 2. The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be the main source of legislation."
By the way, many of the countries in Europe are officially Christian. Have you looked at their flags lately?
8
Nixon is the one who gave green light when chips were down and those arms saved Israel in the Yom Kippur war. And that act is more important than what Nixon said or thought here or there regarding anti-Semitic words.
You Mr. Stephens when the chips were down abandoned Israel for a few more bucks at the WSJ. Acts are more accountable than words.
6
Dear Mr. Netanyahu,
As an American who prepares for bed each night by saying a prayer for the well-being of the U.S. and Israel, please allow me to to bluntly express some concerns about your relationship with President Trump.
According to what I read in the newspapers, the two of you have formed a close relationship and may have come to some preliminary agreements regarding the next steps to be taken in attempting to secure a peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This is all to the good, but it is also what has me worried.
Prime Ministers of Israel-- an endangered country if there ever was one -- have little choice but to seek the support and approval of American Presidents regarding Israel’s peacemaking with the Palestinians; while remaining at all times completely supportive of the highest interests of the American people from whom so much crucial help is being received.
Which is why your relationship with President Trump is of the utmost importance.
A reality TV star with a well earned reputation for lying up his sleeves; a snake in the grass who achieved the Presidency without securing the votes of a majority of the American people; he is a man who is known to turn against his supporters and disregard his promises without a moment’s notice.
Please act accordingly and cunningly.
With great admiration and best thanks for your devoted efforts on behalf of Israel and the U.S.
Stanton-in-Dallas
3
Evil is evil. He that lies down with dogs, wakes up with fleas. Making deals with the devil is good way to lose.
2
Linda Sarsour is not anti-Semite, no matter what the UN says. I support the right of Israel to exist. I do not support her right to indefinitely occupy Gaza or the other Palestinian areas, nor to place illegal (by her own laws) settlements in occupied territories. Neither do I support the terror campaigns of various Palestinian factions and individuals, no matter how hopeless they feel their goals of independence have become, nor the waves of intifada over the last several decades. I do not support the documented abusive behavior of the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians. Neither do I support the endless refusals of the various Arab nations to seek peace with Israel, nor their use of the Palestinians as pawns in their political games. I also do not support the efforts to marginalize and disenfranchise Palestinian and Arab citizens of Israel, nor the efforts of the Haredim to impose Orthodox religious laws on all Israeli Jews.
So please tell me, am I an anti-Semite or an anti-Zionist?
12
Doesn't seem like you're either, certainly not an anti-Zionist. Not even a little bit.
Anti-Zionists, by definition, don't think Israel has a right to exist. That's what the phrase means.
4
Proposing a one-state solution does not make a person a hater of Jews or Judaism, or Israelis as human beings. Since its founding, the nature of the Israel state has become more and more distorted from values traditional to the Jewish people, such as internationalism and anti-racism. Indeed, one could make the argument that the fundamental nature of Israel, an ethnic nationalist state, is at odds completely with the best aspects of Jewish identity. This has resulted in the tragicomedy of Benjamin and his son Yair Netanyahu resorting to anti-Semitic canards about George Soros to attack opponents of his rule and his country’s system of segregation. A completely secular, one-state Palestine under socialist rule with protected rights for a Jewish minority would do better at solving the Middle East’s most explosive conflict then the twin hates of Hamas and Likud.
13
"the Jews" what in the world might that be other than offensive.
10
vulcanelex - Don't get all upset. Brett Stephens is Jewish. "Is it good for the Jews?" is a tongue-in-cheek expression often used by Jewish people in reaction to just about anything. In the case of Steve Bannon, you have Brett Stephens' tongue-in-cheek title for a very serious answer.
10
It might be a succinct idiom used to express the conclusion of the article that is in fact immediately recognizable by many people who feel no shame in being called "Jews".
It might be a generational difference - if your parents didn't live through the Nazi Holocaust then that idiom might be unfamiliar to you and therefore seem offensive.
3
I have been waiting for someone to speak on this issue. Any Jew who thinks anyone around Trump is supportive of them is not paying attention. So why do they do it?
17
"Simply put, support for Israel is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a friend to Jews."
That is Mr. Stephens opinion.
I and many others disagree.
More and more Jews are against the settlements.
And why shouldn't the Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their homeland?
34
Because they blew it '47 by refusing UN partition plan and declared war and lost that's why
10
Not quite true.
1. Much of the future Israeli leadership (Begin, Shamir) also opposed partiton.
2. Ben Gurion wrote in private correspondence that the Partition was merely a first step to the possession of all of Palestine.
3. Even the so-called Jewish half of Palestine had a 40+% Palestinian minority that simply could not be allowed to remain within the confines of a Jewish democratic state.
The Partition plan was doomed to failure. Even Ben Gurion was not sincere.
5
Palestinians became refugees because they were murdering innocent Jews & the Jews fought back. It would be dangerous for Israel to allow the return of the same people who were murdering innocent Jews.
2
Many people with Jewish heritage such as myself have no trouble supporting Linda Sarsour because we see what Israel has become, which is a militaristic state that is annexes territory against the will of people who've lived there for thousands of years. Brett should catch up with the reality that Israel itself does not live up to the traditional standards of compassion and understanding characterizing Judaism that Mr. Stephens refers to in his column.
34
Israel offered a peace deal several times but the Palestinians rejected each
Deal. Abbas tells western audiences that he is in
Favor of a two
State solution, but he makes it clear in speaking to Arab audiences that he will never accept Israel as a home to
The Jewish people . Hamas does not hide its real intentions and makes it clear that it will use any territory Israel gives up
As a launching pad for further attacks
Until the Palestinians
Regain
All of the land. When israel voluntarily dismantled the
Settlements in Gaza, the Palestinians did not try to
Build a state
Or
Show hey we're
Willing to live
In peace. Under the circumstances, Israel
Would be committing national suicide to give
Up the West Bank. When the Palestinians end their dream of
All of israel, there
Will be peace. Until
Then,
The
Status
Who
Will remain
8
"It is a small democracy trying to uphold a set of liberal values against autocrats and religious fanatics sworn to its destruction." You're a comedian Mr Stephens! The prime minister of Israel is a would-be autocrat who care nought for "liberal values" and there are far too many "religious fanatics" in its domain of control who care little for them also. It also only rates as a "flawed democracy" and number 29 on The Economist's list of them. Therefore I think it is very easy to be anti-Israel without being anti-Semitic. That contemporary Zionists and Mr Bannon are fellow travellers should tell you something. It's not David Ben-Gurion's and Golda Meir's Israel anymore. To me it seems to have become less a source of pride than disgrace to Jewish and non-Jewish citizens of the world. I don't think its doing regard for the Jewish people any favours at all. I wish it were not so but it is so. Jews have to be at home and safe wherever they reside not just in their homeland, their sanctuary. Is Israel helping with that or hindering it in the longer term? This article is an embarrassment.
18
Number 29 out of 176 on the Democracy Index is good.
It's better than Belgium, Greece, Cyprus & at least a dozen European countries.
Name even one country that has done a better job of protecting human rights under conditions of existential threat.
4
By the way, the United States is also a "flawed democracy" on that list. And, I'm sorry to say, I think that's right.
2
Obviously Mr, Stephens knows little of Zionist history, but this is not a prerequisite for bloviating these days, especially when it comes to Israel. For the record, I am Jewish. I come from a long line of rabbis. I have always had and still have many friends who are Jews. What does "support for Israel" mean? Support for occupation? Support for bombing Gaza? Support for invading Lebanon? Support for refusal to honestly negotiate a two-state solution? Support for domestic policies which which privilege Jews over Arabs? Are these the values of "individual freedom and Jewish civilization"? By the way Bret, in your next column please explain what you mean by "Jewish civilization"? And please please please don't believe your knee-jerk obeisance to the current Israeli State is in any way "good" for the Jews.
31
Your lineage matters nothing for the vast majority of Jews who support Israel and don't understand why we can't find more than a few Muslims who will similarly analyze the discrimination and atrocities of Muslim states
4
We should support the occupation.
Remember what happened when Israel pulled out of Gaza - 2,000 Israelis killed or injured by rockets.
2
Nonsense. Nonsense to accuse someone of being "anti-Semitic" when there are valid points to debate with Mr. Bannon.
7
Steve Bannon is bad for America, the World, the Solar System, the Galaxy, the Universe and the Multi-Verse.
40
Hard to take seriously the opinions of a well-documented skeptic of climate change and its threat to human life...
7
Bret Stephens is right about Bannon. Sadly, though, he repeats deceitful right-wing canards against Linda Sarsour. Sarsour's critics often claim that she "advocates the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state" but never cite Sarsour's own words. Apparently when Sarsour criticizes the Occupation her critics hear things she doesn't actually say. Still more egregious, "publicly praising a convicted terrorist" deceitfully implies that Sarsour supports terror. In fact, the support is for Rasmea Odeh's claims that she is innocent and confessed under torture.
26
No profound interpretation of this insightful column from me... I have the same worries as Bret Stephens, he a conservative and I, a liberal. However, worry doesn't quite capture my emotions; terror is more like it.
3
I am proudly liberal Jewish American, and I don't agree with Brett Stephens on many things when it comes to U.S. policy toward Israel and the middle east. But his views here on Bannon, and the cravenness and foolishness of Jewish groups making common cause with bigots and antisemites like him, I agree with unreservedly.
However, one statement he made along the way jumped out at me as totally naive, wishful thinking:
"Zionists love Israel because of the way in which it brings together the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization, not because of some blood and soil nationalism."
That describes me and many Jews, to be sure, but to state that as if it's universally true is ridiculous. Brett, are you really not aware of the many "blood and soil" nationalists in Israel — the ones whose worldview has more in common with Bannon than Ben Gurion? The ones who constantly talk about "Judea and Samaria," as if it can be viewed only as Jewish land, and act as if the land itself is paramount above all, including peace, justice, and other core Jewish values? There are plenty of Jews in Israel of the Bannon ilk, unfortunately, as well as far too many Jews here at home who are unwilling to criticize Israeli policy, ever, and will accuse any of us who do of being antisemites (even if we are Jewish) and anti-Israeli. Bannon will continue to make common cause with this set, which I believe to be the minority view in the Jewish community.
34
Now tell me what you really think. All, too true! This spectre of white nationalism and all of its kissing cousins must be fastidiously driven back, back into their wormwood. Thanks, Mr Stephens, for rudely advising your wing of our house to the extent of this haunting.
2
it seems like the people who go berserk and shoot up places are demanding attention, even if it's odium and infamy.
Bannon is like that, but his power is political. I don't know what he would do if he were suddenly seconded to the has-been outback.
3
I subscribe to the NYT and Wapo. I also read Breitbart and Drudge. I have never felt like Breitbart was anti Jewish and I've been looking for it in their articles. I simply don't see it. Further, I don't think Bannon is a white nationalist. His economic nationalism is what draws me to his writing.
8
Like millions of other Americans, I have no use for Bannon or what he stands for. Even so, those feelings don't include the empty fiction that Israel's crushing, violent humiliations of the Palestinian people make it a pathetic little victim of the putative Islamic hatred of democracy. Israel is not a democracy in any fundamental sense. It is a hard-fisted, nuclear-weaponed, authoritarian ethnocracy with democratic features and it's ceaseless provocations all over the Middle East implicates the whole American people, thanks to our absurd lavish economic and military support. Our foolish politicians swoon over or fear Israel's American supporters who slander and smear those of us with anything like the courage to express a public doubt about this longstanding collaboration, or collusion or whatever you call it.
23
Israelis, including non-Jewish Israelis, vote & hold office.
Israel has freedom of speech, the press, assembly, religion, etc.
Israel is a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-confessional democracy.
3
Anti-Semitism is universally condemned because it attributes the characteristics of some in a group to all.
Mr. Stephens has very sensitive antenna for this particular prejudice...as does Charles Krauthammer and Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Back in 2003 when the US was considering going to war with Iraq, France opposed our efforts. The Jewish immigrant from Australia, Rupert Murdoch,
introduced the term "cheese eating surrender monkeys" to describe "the French". Not one French person...but, "the French". He used one of his "comedy" shows on FOX to introduce the term.
Clever.
Mr. Murdoch put on the cover of his paper, The New York Post" a picture of two rodents, representing France and Germany, with the headline "AXIS OF WESEALS".
Charles Krauthammer joined in the "fun"...repeating in one of his columns the term "surrender monkeys"
If Mr. Stephens, who has been employed by Murdoch, spoke out against this prejudice, I don't know. The Anti Defamation League and Mr. Potok's Southern Poverty Law Center seemed to find nothing objectionable.
I think the "ANTI-SEMITISM CARD" is played to frequently...especially by those who seem to delight in generalizations about others...the French, in particular.
Even Ronald Reagan was subjected to the charge, by the Israeli Government of Prime Minister Begin when Reagan had the audacity to sell AWACS Aircraft
to the Saudis. Check it out. Its in Reagan's Autobiography...I believe around P. 416
6
If only Israel were,"a small democracy trying to uphold a set of liberal values". It is, rather, a small tenuous democracy, increasingly ambivalent about liberal values, balanced precariously between rule by right-wing thugs Netanyahu, Lieberman, et.al., and on the verge of creating an apartheid state targeting Palestinians, and a weak and fractured, weak, and poorly managed Labor party trying vainly to remind Israelis what a democracy is.
18
Fine instructive piece and discussion. Yet, as for "blood and soil" can we think that Zionist love is unrelated to such popularization if Zionism as these words written by Pat Boon, --of our own stateside territorially focused religion-- to be sung to the stirring strains of the Theme from. EXODUS:
"God gave this land,
He gave this land to me."
5
Most of the government officials, CEO's, leaders of Wall Street firms, our upper economist priesthood, academic Cosmopolitan ideology obsessed Left neo Marxists that orchestrated the 2008 Crash and hold our whole society hostage to no rights slave-labor competition globalization ... come from Bannon's gang. But they are either Marxists or Democrats. Therefore, despite the fact that they shoved 10's of millions of Americans into poverty, they apparently according to the convoluted logic of Stephens and the NY Times editors can not be "bad for Jews".
1
Give me a break the State of Israel loves Bannon and Trump, so what Jews are we talking about?
14
You are, I hope, aware that there are many Jews who are not Israelis. Them - and the many Jews in Israel who do not believe that Bibi is good for their country.
11
Israel has a wide political spectrum. Many Israelis and its most prominent newspaper, Haaretz, loathe Trump and recognize him for the know-nothing shyster he is. The Israeli right has been in power for a long while, but the policies and viewpoints of the Israeli center and left are different from the fear mongering, xenophobic short-sighted pronouncements and policies of Netanyahu and his henchmen. Unlike even 10 years ago, American Jews recognize that they can strongly criticize Israel's policies, particularly regarding the settlements and Palestinians, and be aligned with many Israeli's hopes and dreams for their country.
4
The half who live outside Israel,and inside USA.
3
The author asserts that Sarsour praised a convicted terrorist, but the article he references as a source includes no evidence for this claim. I see no quotations attributed to Sarsour containing any direct praise for the former terrorist.
11
Jewish Voice for Peace is not anti-Semitic, nor does it deny Israel's right to exist. Mr. Stephens distorts that organization's purpose. It is an organization that has the courage to call Israel to task for the occupation of Palestinian lands and the mistreatment of the Palestinian people. Jewish Voice for Peace knows without justice there can be no peace. It is an organization that deserves support. Justice will win in the end, it always does. But, in the meantime we all suffer for its absence.
23
No that's not true. Jewish voice for peace is an anti-Israel organization passing itself off as simply anti-Zionist Sorry New York Times readers ..like it or not the vast majority of Jews support Israel and we will support Israel whatever ...so sorry and good night
5
Observer:
JVP absolutely denies Israel's right to exist. They are Jewish in name only, and if you want to know about their true character, look at their partners. I vigorously disagree with this organization but would at least respect them more if they would come clean and admit it. Hiding behind the name "Jewish" is weak. Should their hateful voice for Israel mean more because its members may be Jews?
3
I was with you until the end, Mr. Stephens. In Reform Judaism, tikkun olam--repairing the world--is most definitely a central tenet.
14
Bannon wants to have a revolution, to tear everything down. Would some some journalist please ask him what his post-apocalypse plans are? I don't mean in a general sense, specifically what is it he would set up? I'm guessing that destruction is the end of his interests.
15
Wouldn't Jews prefer being referred to as Americans? Article title reinforcing duel loyalty suspicions.
6
I agree and what's with Italians always cause cooking pasta and Irish drinking beer come on it's America!
Zion is as much part of Jewish prayers and identity as the Vatican is part of Catholic identity.
In no way affects/reduces how American a USA Jew is.
2
Unfortunately, it seems that the support of many of those in the "religious right" is based on their view of Israel and its population as just Cannon Fodder for their own war against Islam and would be happy to see Israel get sucked into another war regardless of the lives lost.
3
The halocaust survivors are dying off and with them the memory of what can happen when the far right bigots gain too much power. Anyone who gives cover for white supremacists and neo Nazis have no place in polite society.
I understand many religious people are leery of the left because they fear a secular society will undermine their own rights. But the enemy of my enemy mentality is dangerous when applied to people who don't believe in your right to exist.
The only way to keep our country from going down a path where racists and fascists are empowered is to reject their message by a large majority. That means working with and voting for candidates you normally wouldn't support. The lessons of the past can't be forgotten. We need progressive candidates right now to check the far right.
15
The day the NYT starts supporting the enforcement of immigration laws is the day Steve Bannon and Donald Trump start losing their audience.
8
The sun will rise in the West before that happens.
3
You bought the theatrics but apparently didn't read the script:
"Trump International Resort applies to hire more foreign workers"
http://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/2017/09/13/trump-international-resort-a...
2
Bret Stephens is bad for the Jews, and America too. Linda Sarsour, one of the courageous leaders of the Women's March is an American hero. Yes, she also argues that Palestinians and all marginalized communities deserve to be treated equally as human beings as everyone else? This makes her the anti-Steve Bannon. By attacking her, you have a lot more in common with Bannon. This dog won't hunt in America--take this garbage back to the Jerusalem Post.
34
Mr. Stephens says Steve Bannon is Bad for the Jews.
I would say, Steve Bannon is bad for America.
Steve Bannon is bad for the world.
But then so are Republicans. Have you seen their tax bill Mr. Stephens?
55
So why should anyone be surprised that ZOA and other right wing supporters of Israel (and, more particularly, Netanyahu and the settlements in the West Bank) have an affinity with Bannon. Both endorse, and appeal to, ethno-religious identity and tribalism at the expense of pluralism and democratic values.
92
As does Chuck Schumer: thwarting President Obama's Nuclear deal with Iran. Choosing parochial political expediency--Jewish votes--over true American Global interest.
9
Israel is a democracy.
Israel is pluralistic.
2
This article shows the power of Jewry in our country and also the flawed judgments that might issue from a culture that has suffered so much - surely this combination of power and hasty judgment is something we should fear both here and in the Middle East.
7
As John Oliver would say, how is it that Steve Bannon is still a thing?
Bannon can't create or build anything, he is just a destructive, nihilistic bomb thrower. He is self absorbed, and useless to humanity. There is no purpose in reporting what he says, it's the same thing over and over - tear everything apart and just stand back and wait to see what happens. He has no answers for anything, just a lot of destructive noise.
He is now famous for being famous, just like Paris Hilton.
Sad.
27
JVP speaks for me.
That a flaming anti-Semite like Bannon is "bad for the Jews" is so obvious that I was surprised to read that /any/ Jewish organization, of whatever political persuasion, could think otherwise. Thank you for that, Mr. Stephens.
But this column is ruined for me by the false equivalence between Bannon and the JVP. Zionism, too, is bad for the Jews, especially the Zionism that equates any criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.
(Even the word "anti-Semitism" is turned on its head by the very existence of Israel, in a region where the actual Semites are the Palestinians, and the Jews are mostly Polish or Russian, often by way of Brooklyn.)
Actually, I lied. I'm to the left of the JVP. I think the Nakba was the second-worst thing that ever happened to the Jews. Hitler could kill our bodies, but it took Jews, the Zionists, to kill our souls, making the needs of a nation-state come before the dedication to justice and progressive politics in which I was raised.
24
Thank you for that most excellent post, Brian. I wish they were more people like you in this world!
7
Palestinians started a genocidal war against the Jews & the Jews fought back.
Self-defense is moral.
2
Israel is not a "blood and soil nationalism?" It is both. This denies the very raison d'etre of Zionism and Israel. It would be a home for Jewish people, defined by Zionists as people descended from the original Hebrews. This is blood. It also wanted a home for them in their supposed original home (some 1800 years ago) in Palestine. That's soil. Of course, both are myths. But these are myths on which Israel was founded, Palestinians were cleansed and continue to be cleansed from their homeland.
26
In 1929, Palestinians ethnically cleansed Hebron & Gaza of their Jews.
In 1948, Arabs ethnically cleansed the West Bank & East Jerusalem of their Jews. ZERO Jews were left in Gaza, the West Bank or East Jerusalem. Israel could have ethnically cleansed all the Arabs from Israel, but Israel didn’t. There are now 1.6 million Arabs living in Israel.
3
Tikkun Olam - Repairing the world, IS a core tenet of Judaism.
19
Maybe, but not widely spoken about or practiced these days.
2
I am a liberal and am sick about Israel's prime minister et al. However, Larry, educate yourself about recent and current Tikkun Olam activities; the list will not be complete. Haiti's tragedy about 5 years ago, the Israeli's were among the first there with a very well equpped MASH unit. The mother of a baby delivered in the unit named her baby Israel. Victims of the Syrian battles sneak over to Israel at night to by treated by Israeli medical teams. Israel went to Nepal, etc., etc., etc.
Until Jews, Christians, and Muslims accept and admit the fact that their religions are nothing but lies and mythology, little will change in the world. The only question is which group will step up first and show some honesty and integrity.
14
Maybe mid-nineteenth century Nativists were on to something - on a case-by-case basis.
1
'Simply put, support for Israel is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a friend to Jews.'
I find this an utterly stunning statement.Here, Israel (a political entity) is put ahead of Judaism, the faith. Whose people, now and over the millennia, have given the world so much.
Where does this put opposition parties in Israel?
But as a political entity, Israel is becoming frighteningly to resemble the Nazi ashes which were its proximate womb.
Israel still has time to redeem itself. But not very long.
I say all this as someone of Catholic rather than (direct!) Jewish heritage. And someone who since childhood rooted strongly for Israel, only to find his trust increasingly betrayed.
I hate to think what my late father, as strong a supporter of Israel as he was devout Catholic, would think of all this.
13
I completely agree with Odyssios Redux when he says, "I say all this as someone... who since childhood rooted strongly for Israel, only to find his trust increasingly betrayed."
After supporting everything about Israel for a half-century, I feel my trust betrayed as well. They (through their leader) have said that they don't need our support and that they can go it on their own. I think it is time to take them up on that.
7
As much as I agree with the rest of the column, I have to take exception to one statement.
"But just as there are anti-Zionist Jews, there are also anti-Semitic Zionists. The Nazis initially endorsed the idea of getting German Jews to shove off to Mandated Palestine. Spencer calls himself a “white Zionist,” on the factitious theory that Israel is the sort of ethno-nationalist state he’d like to see America become."
Endorsing the idea that the Jews should have gone to the Mandate territory does not make one a Zionist. Believing in Zionism (for a non-Jew) is more than just allowing Jews to go to the land. It should also include a recognition that the Jews and the land are connected. For the Nazis, this endorsement was most certainly about getting the Jews out of Germany with little regard for the concept of a Jewish homeland. For Mr. Spencer, he is co-opting the concept of Zionism for his own use, even if he does show a begrudging admiration of Israel. He may identify as a Zionist, but I would hardly call him one.
Just as there are anti-Zionists who identify as Jews, there are also anti-Semites who identify as Zionists. And, sadly, there are Jews who identify as Zionists but who are also anti-Semites in the end (JVP as a perfect example).
6
"Zionists love Israel because of the way in which it brings together the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization, not because of some blood and soil nationalism."
Some Zionists do, especially North American Zionists. Other Zionists -- many of them in Israel's "religious Right" -- are pretty close to "blood and soil nationalism":
. . . God gave the land to the Jews;
. . . We have a mandate to keep it free from non-Jewish influences,
. . . and non-Jewish people.
Many rabbis in the "settler movement" take that position.
9
I'm confused. I thought Hasidic Jews were not zionist and thought that Israel shouldn't exist. I took that not to mean that Israel should be destroyed, but disbanded. Are there really no Palestinians that just want their land back, with no desire to see Jews obliterated? This frames anti-zionist Jews as demons, it seems like.
3
This is a weak op-ed, even for Bret Stephens.
"Bannon’s alt-right views — his opposition to free trade, a liberal immigration policy, “international bankers,” “corporatist global media” — are consonant with a sinister worldview that always finds a way to get back to a certain class of rootless cosmopolitans"
The “alt-right” is a racist, far-right movement based on an ideology of white nationalism and anti-Semitism, anti-immigrant, anti-feminist and anti-LBGTQ-rights, with the self-professed goal to create a white state.
Opposition to international bankers and corporatist global media isn't anti-semitism and that's not what alt-right views are.
People across the political spectrum, including many Jewish Lefties, oppose the global elites - banking, media or others - and the way they have wreaked havoc across the planet.
So the emergence now of a dynamic and coherent new leftist agenda in the US, opposed to the plutocratic kleptocracy of the global elite and the continued transfer of wealth to the .1%, is really alt-right and anti-semitic?
"Zionists love Israel because of the way in which it brings together the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization, not because of some blood and soil nationalism."
Zionists also come in all stripes, from blood-and-soil ethnic nationalists to socialists, but historically Zionists have always made alliances with the world’s most lethal anti-Semites to further their colonial project.
Like today's unholy Israel-Saudi Arabia alliance
7
Like the Republicans who detest Trump but put up with him for corporate tax cuts and anti-consumer judges, some Zionists will hold their noses and embrace anyone who claims to be pro-Israel.
BTW, it's wrong to equate people who support making Israel a secular state with anti-Semites. A religious state is inherently discriminatory against other religions. As a Jew, I always worry about right-wing politicians who want to turn the US in a Christian nation, so I can sympathize with Palestinians who don't want to live in Jewish state. It's false to say that this is call for the destruction of Israel- it's just a call for a change in policy to provide equal rights.
4
There are many countries with established religions.
That doesn't mean that they are inherently discriminatory against other religions.
3
There is an old proverb in Spanish that goes: "Tell me with whom you associate and I will tell you who you are". This describes very well the relationship between Bannon and his friends.
2
"Simply put, support for Israel is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a friend to Jews."
This is an unjustified statement, and it's quite possible that the reverse is true.
4
Bret, I support your main points. However, what do you mean by "Repair of the world may not be the central teaching of Judasim"?. It is!
8
Proven by what in the behavior of Israel toward those under its control?
2
Can you point to a country in Israel's situation for Israel to emulate regarding behavior toward those under its control?
2
"Political suport for Israel is too important to tarnish through association with the likes of [Steve] Bannon or European kindred spirits . . . "
This is why I am leery about the support Israel receives from Donald Trump. With widespread disapproval of just about everything Trump stands for and favors, I am concerned that his support of Israel will be cited as proof that being pro-Israel must be a bad thing rather than the sound policy it actually is and has been for years.
8
So many people, movements, and nations are self-destructive. I pray for the peace of Israel, as it faces both overt enemies and false friends.
3
"Simply put, support for Israel is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a friend to Jews."
What rubbish! As an American supporter of civil rights, there are plenty of reasons to oppose the Israeli agenda, as it is implemented by AIPAC and affiliated pro-Israeli organizations. Nothing about standing up to Israeli influence over American politics is inconsistent with being a friend of Jewish people.
Personally, my relationship with the daughter of holocaust survivors is as close and intimate as any love between siblings. We are like brother and sister. We are also united in opposing the primary legislative agenda item being pushed by AIPAC because it is dangerous to the First Amendment rights of American NGO's and citizens and sets a terrible precedent for strangling opposition to Israeli violations of human rights and the laws of war (none of which reflect the values of the Jewish religion or Jewish cultural traditions).
Right now, 268 members of the House and 50 members of the Senate have signed onto the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, which would impose prison and stiff fines on organizations and staff that participate in boycotts of Israel or its (illegal) settlements. This is a clear violation of American freedom and values supported by Israel. Opposing this Israeli initiative in no way interferes with loving and supporting Jewish people.
I oppose this and many policies of Israel. In no way does that equate with being anti-Jewish or anti-semitic.
10
Mr. Stephens firmly declares: "Simply put, support for Israel is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a friend to Jews." Why? On what basis? I suppose that statement should be regarded as having sterling credentials because it is uttered by Mr. Stephens.
Mr. Stephens should get out more, should read more and for heavens sake should stop parroting every nonsense that Bernard-Henri Lévy utters. There are many Jews with unquestionable integrity and intellectual honesty, far beyond Mr. Stephens' comprehension, who disagree with such a statement.
8
Bret Stephens writes: "Zionists love Israel because of the way in which it brings together the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization, not because of some blood and soil nationalism." Really? One could claim that Israel is a combination of both the higher "freedom and civilization" and the lower "blood and soil" identities. And Stephens should know this and be honest about it.
The Orthodox Rabbinate have turned Israel into a theocracy - that is why it is a "Jewish State." Israel is the specific space that the early, and later, Zionists declared as the ancestral home of the Jewish People. "Next year in Jerusalem" was not a slogan chosen for its poetic qualities. It wasn't "next year in ... wherever."
Israel is thus far a reasonably successful experiment in a non-secular democracy - if this isn't a contradiction in terms. In this sense it is no different than an "Islamic Republic" that offers some political and religious rights to non-Muslim minorities.
Israel is an island of relative modernity is a sea of civilizational backwardness. As such, it needs all the support it can get, even from those whose theology promises Jews eternal damnation. If one doesn't survive in the short run, what is meaning of the the long run?
It is the job of Israelis to decide the extent to which they accept the Bannons of the world, not the job of Jews living in relative security in the US to provide advice that neatly allows them to pose as "liberals."
3
This is a terrific and important article, especially coming from a well-known and respected conservative voice. As a Jew, myself, I am unable to take solace in the support of American evangelicals who seem to view Israel as the gateway to the Rapture. That kind of support gives me the creeps. And Bannon describing himself as a Christian Zionist is bizarre. Steve Bannon is a toxic force in our culture. The right wing of the Republican Party, which is to say the only wing of the party these days, is a public health menace. That menace will affect everyone; but Jews, who have seen the effects of fascism first had, should, above all, recognize it in its current form and stand against it. Shame on any Jewish organization that fetes Bannon & Company.
8
Jewish rightists like Adelson (and Stephens) had no problem with the Republican Party when it was heavily influenced by evangelicals and fundamentalists, who supported Israel because they saw it as the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies... which would culminate in the conversion of the Jews to Christianity. This troubled Jewish conservatives not a whit, on the grounds that "Israel needs all the friends it can get." And now they are shocked, shocked to find other kinds of anti-Jewish extremists making inroads into the GOP? Give me a break.
9
I have heard the expression as "Anti-Semitism is the socialism of idiots", but I've never heard "conservatism of creeps". If that's a phrase that you coined, then well done, Bret!
Together, the two expressions give a good sense of both the irrational and destructive aspects of Anti-Semitism, and all the ridiculous conspiracy theories associated with it.
2
Every society that values freedom of thought and value of all people must stay away from Bannon.
7
Yet another republican condemning his creation. If you are a conservative you must accept conservative values, you can't pick the ones you want and leave the rest. Racism is, and has been, a core belief of conservatives. So all the while Bret has embraced conservatives, he advances all their beliefs, anti-Semitism being just a form of racism. Racists believe white people are superior, Bret, duh?
10
Sorry, but advocating a united, democratic Palestine in which Jews, Muslims, Christians and other live together peacefully is not anti-Semitism, no matter what the UN Secretary General may say. This was the late Tony Judt's position, and he was not an anti-Semite or a "self-hating Jew."
Israel was established by force in 1948; Arabs had their property taken from them; to this day Arabs in Israel are second-class citizens.
A state founded on ethnic, racial, or religious lines is an anachronism in the 21st century. That it was established through war and expropriation was a criminal act, whether we care to call it so or not. The people of Palestine should not have been made to pay for the crimes of Europeans. The establishment of modern Israel is a stain on the perpetrators, a stain that can only be washed away by the establishment of a united, democratic Palestine for all the peoples who live there.
22
Israel was established by its declaration of independence.
That Israel was attacked doesn't mean that Israel was established by force.
10
in the aftermath of the Holocaust, and at a time when it was prohibited for Jews (along with other minorities) to legally even buy property in select areas of our fair city of LA, it was not at all unreasonable to establish a homeland to which they could try to escape when threatened or expelled by every country where they had established residence, including England, Spain, Germany, and all the rest. Jews were longtime parts of these wonderful Christian nations... until they weren't.
what's to say that won't happen in the USA? it didn't seem likely in prewar Austria or Germany, either, and then arouse figures like Spencer and Bannon and the curtain of doom fell fast.
2
Steve Bannon is a thoroughly odious personnage with thoroughly repugnant views on any subject you care to name. He talks about about wanting to “throw things up against the wall to see what sticks,” but that’s no mystery -if it’s connected to Bannon it’s “slime” and it splatters and sullies all those within its reach. The ZOA just “slimed” itself by honoring him.
19
No more odious, actually dovish compared to Israeli Zionist butchers particularly Netanyahu.
4
The ZOA, though when it originally began over one hundred years ago, was helpful to the Jewish people, has become an outlier, with increasingly diminishing members, and views that most Jews find repugnant! So, Bannon gets an hooray from them! So, what?!
8
Benjamin Netanyahu is the Robert Mugabe of Israel. Sara Netanyahu is the Grace Mugabe.
Israel will continue to be an ultra-orthodox Jewish, racist state or it will become a democracy. It can't be both.
20
You are absolutely right
Israel cannot continue to be an orthodox state leaving the largest number of Jews on the outside.
December 3 at Temple Em-El there will be three weddings of Jews that are not recognized as Jews to be married in the Jewish State, in spite that the live there
We all know that some day we or our children might have to leave USA with
The Anti semitism that is taking hold
I hope I will not live to experience such
Barbara
83 years
2
Israel is a democracy.
It's rated "Free" by FreedomHouse. Free is the top category.
4
It is a democracy for citizens of the Jewish faith, not for Israeli Arabs
3
During the 2016 Presidential Campaign, the New York Daily News reported that Steve Bannon didn't want his "twin daughters attending the Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles because many Jewish students were enrolled at the elite institution."
Why would the Zionist Organization of America...or any pro-Israel association honor this man?
8
Because Zionists and Real Jews are two different things. Zionists at best honor no more than seven of the Ten Commandments. Real Jews honor all of the Ten Commandments. Real Jews also practice the core teachings of Rabbi Hillel. Zionists don't.
4
Bannon bad for Jews? What about the rest of us?
Bannon's not good for anyone but himself, the latest (since November 8, 2016) trend.
9
"not some blood and soil nationalism..." ????
Seriously! What about the West Bank???
9
In order to criticize the Zionist Organization of America and its courting of Stephen Bannon and the you feel the need to trash Jewish Voices for Peace. Is that your red badge of courage that allows you to speak out against the viral antisemitism that has always infected the Right.
JVP along with many other Jewish organizations seek an end to the occupation of the West Bank and recognize that Palestinians, displaced by war have rights to return to their homeland as do Jews. Fifty more years of occupation and endless conflict is not a solution.
5
Israel's pulling out from Gaza enabled Gazans to fire rockets killing or wounding 2,000 Israelis. If Israel pulls out of the West Bank, Palestinians will fire rockets & mortars from the West Bank killing or injuring even more Israelis.
7
JVP masquerades as a Jewish organization interested in peace, but underneath it all it is a virulent anti-Semitic organization that rejoices every time Jewish civilians are murdered by Palestinian terrorists. It says it wants Israel to make unilateral concessions in the naive hope that will lead to peace, but the real aim is for the destruction of Israel and its the slaughter of its Jewish inhabitants.
4
Israel needs all the support it can get. Israel is a democracy which provides all of its citizens with right to vote. An Arab Moslem sits on its high court. Contrary to the anti-Zionist Left Israel has been the victim of a both by never ending military and terrorist confrontation. It's Arab neighbors including Hezbollah, Hamas, PLO Iran and others seek the total destruction of Israel.
Since the destruction of the Jewish State by Rome and the dispersal of the Jewish people, there has been a Jewish presence in the land. The Jewish people have been victims of Christian, Muslim attacks on the Jewish people eg. Spanish expulsion of Jews 1492 and the final culmination in the mass genocide promulgated by the Nazis with the assistance of many and the indifference of all..
The US fought with the Soviet Union against Germany. Israel under siege should accept support from all those who for whatever reason who are willing to help her against the Islamic terrorist who oppose her very existence.
1
Let's not forget that America First was the slogan of Nazi sympathizer in America in the 20's and 30's. Bannon knows this. He is their kindred spirit. Once you understand that Bannon's politics are based on early twentieth century nationalist isolationism, everything else falls into place. Just because he's not outwardly genocidal does not mean he does not share the general worldview of history's greatest villains.
10
WOW - forget trying to parse a person's spoken words in order to interpret them into what you want to hear. OK - but don't the people from the Zionist Organization of America read Breitbart. Don't they know the kind of people who are drawn to it? If the average Trump voter was proud to be known as 'deplorable' during the 2016 campaign, they certainly found a home at places like Breitbart and InfoWars. It's rampant with anti-semitism.
To my fellow politically correct, 'elite', cappuccino sipping, liberal, NY Times and Bret Stephens fans... if you have never done so, I challenge you to periodically peek at a few Breitbart stories and especially read the follow-up user comments. Hardly a story passes without someone blaming the Jews. Even the ongoing Ray Moore Alabama debacle is a Democratic, Liberal, George Soros, Jewish conspiracy in the eyes of many readers.
The political motivations of an average Breitbart reader is essentially no different than the political motivations behind the average NY Times reader, in that we are drawn to those publications that best represent our core beliefs. Neither Breitbart nor the NY Times would exist without its audience and advertisers, and the audience is drawn in because the views expressed in the content presented to them are attractive to them.
As for Sheldon Adelson suddenly waking up with regards to Bannon? You made a deal with the devils (that includes Trump) who are working to divide America, so in my eyes you don’t get a pass.
9
Yes, Bannon is a political arsonist. And his reason for supporting Israel is ONLY about the blood and soil argument of white supremacists. It is absolutely guaranteed that he despises the Jews, but he loves the idea of Israel.
Bannon is Machiavelli gone mad. Beware the groups who shake his hand.
And by the way, I'd love to see the non-disclosure agreements that Bannon's ex-wives signed. Child support and alimony = shut up about domestic abuse.
7
Who is Bannon anyway? Nobody elected him to anything. All I know about him is he is somehow affiliated with Breitbart. I've never gone onto their web site. I know nothing about it except I have heard it is a far right news site. Is it supposed to be required reading? Is Bannon some kind of a self ordained Guru? Another wacky nut job? I just don't get who he thinks he is!
What's missing in today's politics, and what Stephens is essentially pointing out, is the difference between tactical alliances and common cause. In politics, you often ARE forced to work with unsavory characters. The enemy of your enemy is sometimes your friend, at least temporarily. As Churchill remarked after Hitler invaded Russia, "if Hitler invaded hell I would at least make a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons".
But there's a big difference between working with bad people for a common goal and selling your soul to them. When you honor somebody like Steve Bannon (or Linda Sarsour), you aren't just cooperating on your common agenda. You're giving support to their whole agenda, and you become complicit in everything that is wrong with that. That's a lesson that goes far beyond anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism, and culture wars. When your political, ethnic, or ideological loyalties get to the point that you ignore or excuse the crimes of your allies, then you're part of the problem, not part of the solution.
5
I guess Bret Stephens had to take a perfunctory shot at Jewish Voices for Peace and at Linda Sasour to establish his conservative and pro-Israel credentials before taking on Bannon’s anti-Semitism, but curiously not Brietbart’s consistent anti-Semitism towards Jews that don’t agree with their version of pro-Israel (including attacking Stephens), and ZOA celebration of Bannon. In terms of Linda Sasour supporting a terrorist - should be universally wrong - some perspective:
Menachem Begin - headed terrorist Irgun (never repented his terrorism), Israeli PM, Nobel Peace Prize winner
Yasser Arafat - headed terrorist PLO (never repented his terrorism), PA President, Nobel Peace Prize winner
Yitzhak Shamir - headed terrorist Stern Gang (never repented his terrorism), Israeli PM
Avraham Stern - founder of Lehi/Stern Gang, died as a terrorist, reached out twice to Nazi Germany to form alliance to defeat the British. Mentor for Shamir, who was mentor for Netanyahu. Israeli senior officials visit his grave annually, stamp made in his honor, town named in his honor. Founder of Revolutionary Zionism that has growing support in Israel.
8
Steve Bannon is bad for everyone, a virus without a cure. It's impossible to conceive of any Jewish group honoring Bannon, and even more, that Bannon would accept. I can only believe Bannon wants all American Jews to migrate to Israel, hence his connection to a right wing Zionist organization. Then his hope would be the destruction of Israel, problem solved.
3
It has been clear for a long time that you can be pro-Israel and anti-Semitic at the same time. It is even unclear who won WW2 when we look exclusively at ethnic-cleansing as a measure. Germany and much of Europe has effectively eliminated its Jewish population. One could argue that the establishment of Israel was part of the final solution envisioned by the Nazis. With an established Jewish homeland, even though in an already populated region, it is now possible to ship off the offending population. It is only that much better for the entrenched racist colonialist policy makers that the establishment of Israel has thrown an entire region into eternal conflict. The irony is that the jewish population in Israel is dependent on the military and financial support of the very same governments that formerly persecuted them.
Recently, French President Macron stood with Netanyahu and sang the praises of Israel. Is this because emigration to Israel from France remains extraordinarily high allowing the government to avoid confronting growing anti-semitism at home?
3
Didn't take long for Bret to use the favorite RW tool, "What about...?"ism.
To say "What about Linda Sarsour?" who is barely recognizable to anyone by MSNBC junkies (like me) to Steve Bannon, the Rasputin of our times who holds the President's ear and influences Senate and House races, is truly reprehensible. As a Jew, Linda Sarsour poses no realist threat to me. Steve Bannon does, have unleashed and encouraged the rise of deliberate violent provocations by the "alt-Right", and even calls his Breitbart (named for its founder, a fake news perpetrator) their platform.
But with a monster like Bannon holding SUCH sway over the GOP, the right NEEDS an equivalent boogieman (or woman) so much so they have to create one, so they grossly exaggerate Sarsour's influence and sometimes brainlessness. But Bannon doesn't say stupid stuff off the top of his head. No, every word is carefully thought out to be clear-cut coded anti-Semitism.
"Ghetto" comes from the Italian area in Venice, which was the only place Jews could live. It is clear that to Bannon and Spencer, Israel serves the dual purpose of being the world's "Ghetto" for Jews (so we're all nicely crammed into one easily destroyed area) and, as Lenin (a hero of Bannon) put it, as "Useful idiots" -- our best foothold in the Middle East.
So, yeah, it's pretty obvious that Bannon is really bad for Jews. But he's, astonishingly, even worse for non-white, non-Christian Americans.
3
We can all thank Trump for bringing this slime into the White House.
Why are other ethnic or religious groups addressed as individuals but Jews are 'the Jews.' Subtle but discriminatory.
1
The idea that JVP is totally invalidated because they at times work with Linda Sarsour is so silly. Your point is incredibly simplistic for someone that writes as though they have a deeper understanding for Judaism and anti-semitism.
Also, dude, you can't stop writing about Jewish things constantly. You could you know at points consider writing about a different oppressed group.
4
Of course, Steve Bannon an his alt-right, white supremacists are bad for Jews! They're bad for Hispanics; they're bad for Muslims; they're bad for gays and transgender people; they're bad for African-Americans; they're bad for women. They're just plain BAD!! But, this is the American that Steve Bannon has brought to us in Donald Trump and Roy Moore. It's the dark-side of America that seeks to close the "golden door;" that no longer has tolerance for all--races and religions; and rejects Lincoln's "with malice toward none, with charity for all." It's an America with no moral center and with no sense of decency and human dignity.
3
"It’s a disgrace because no organization that purports to represent the interests of the Jewish people should ever embrace anyone who embraces anti-Semites."
This is the only reason Bannon should not be embraced by Zionist Organization of America?
1
If I had a choice between Steve Bannon and Linda Sarsour, I would chose Bannon, I see the alternative as a bigger threat to my "Jewishness", both in the short AND long term, and in context to my relationship to, and opinion of Israel. As a "Cohen" I believe I do not have to explain why, because people with little minds will not open theirs to any opinion that does not conform to their point of view, and one of those people who fits that description to a "T" happens to be Sarsour. Moreover, I do not need the liberal editorial staff of the New York Times, of all the people in the world, to tell me who is more or less Jewish. BTW, as a final note, I was once "liberal". However, another reader noted that the world is a complicated place, and simple-minded people of any political persuasion shall most easily fail to survive in such a world.
3
Honoring Bannon by a group with "Zionist" in their name probably reveals their attitude to the Muslim community in the sense that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend+ - a disastrous assumption in so many ways. It's a shame that this got started.
2
Steve Bannon is a disaster for the Republican Party. As head of Trump's "strategy" he appears to have gotten nothing done; in fact, he put the new administration immediately back on its heels with the unnecessary, ham-handed ban on people coming over from parts of the Middle East. His stupid nationalist ideology is too narrow for the American people, as we saw in the recent election. Trump got elected because too many people trusted his empty promises, which are personified by Steve Bannon. The promises have not been kept, and lots of voters now realize they were duped. Now, Bannon's main contribution is having gotten behind a child molester for a Senate seat. No wonder David Gregory refers to him as "all hat and no cattle." Why the ZOA or any other group would align itself with this guy is a mystery to me. He's a walking train wreck.
3
Steve Bannon is bad for the Jews and bad for Israel. There have been Christian Zionists. Mr. Bannon is not one.
Linda Sarsour is bad for the Jews and bad for Israel.
Jewish Voices for Peace is bad for the Jews and bad for Israel.
"Repair of the world may not the central teaching of Judaism."
It certainly is, Mr. Stephens:
le-taqen olam be-malchut shadai - to repair the world (i.e. make it perfect) under the reign of the Almighty is repeated in Jewish prayer in the aleinu prayer 3 times a day, every day. (Earlier versions read: le-taken, i.e. to establish).
6
A good summary by Stephens of the issues around unprincipled alliances. However, there's one thing he delicately avoids mentioning. Israel's ruling coalitions are not building democratic structures, they're erecting an apartheid state, much to the discomfort of Israeli and Zionist democrats. Bannon's outfit is currently dreaming of the Israeli model of Apartheid-- in the USA. Also, the current form of Nazism is more anti-Islam than anti-Jew, possibly because their alliance with Crusader Evangelism is opportune.
3
Apartheid???
Where are the separate bath rooms & water fountains?
Why are there Arabs in the Israeli Parliament & on the Israeli Supreme Court?
3
Hallelujah! Great column although not strong enough. As a rule of thumb minorities, even when they're on the "good" side, should stay clear of people and/or ideologies preaching division and/or race/religious preferential treatment. Remember the fate of Ukrainians, Czechs, Slovaks, Bulgarians and Croats who eagerly collaborated with Nazis but at the end were send en masse to concentration camps? I would also disengage from Christian conservatives who, for the most part, are sympathetic to Jews and Israel because of some twisted eschatological beliefs.
1
As a Jewish person, it blows my mind that any Jew could possible support Steve Bannon let alone host him at gala. He is a fascist who is actively working to transform the US into a fascist state. He helped Roy Moore win the Republican primary in Alabama (where I live) against a regular far right candidate. Bannon is looking to do the same in primaries all across the nation. Somehow a segment of the Jewish population has become so fearful of Islam that they have lost their ability to think rationally.
5
I'm glad to see Bannon go, but I find it somewhat hypocritical that there is so much concern about the poor Jews when it comes to someone like Bannon who may be liked by white supremacists, yet when Mahwah, New Jersey, right in the NY Times back yard, has openly discriminated against certain Jews for months now in an overt effort to keep them out of their town, there isn't a single editorial expresses outrage.
2
The fact that Bannon and other white ethnic nationalists have positive views about Israel is eagerly welcomed by the ZOA but a great embarrassment to other Zionist Jews such as Mr. Stephens.
The reason for the embarrassment is that Israel itself is founded upon the same principle of ethnic nationalism as espoused by the alt-right. Only in the case of Israel, it’s not white but rather Jewish nationalism.
Stephens has this view of Israel as a “small democracy trying to uphold a set of liberal values” – his words. He cites a web page which claims that Israel’s development is “for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex”.
Such high-sounding terms stand in stark contrast to the reality which is that by its very own Basic Laws privileges Jews over other races and religions. The majority of non-Jews living in Greater Israel do not even have the right to vote. They live under military occupation. Stephens knows this. He should grasp that most of his readers know this also.
Notice the irony that by Stephens’ own definition of “anti-Semite” - denying Israel’s right to exist as a state - Bannon is most certainly NOT anti-Semitic. He is fervently pro-Israel, which is of course why the ZOA embraces him.
Submitted 07:07am ET Nov 16, 2017
5
That quote ("for the benefit...race or sex.") is not from "some web page," but from Israel's own declaration of independence -- honored in the breach in modern Israel. And you are correct about the Basic Laws, which serve in lieu of the constitution that was to have been written by 1949. How could they now write a constitution guaranteeing all that the declaration of independence promised? Tricky.
And then there's the corrosive and oppressive occupation, which has gone on far too long out of a desire to claim the West Bank for a "Greater Israel" -- while 80% of Israelis live on just 20% of their own self-chosen land within the Green Line. That's reality, too. The West Bank is just more "convenient" (more centrally located, more fertile) and the Palestinians are simply in the way.
1
The occupation continues because the Palestinians refuse to sign a peace treaty.
Arafat’s net worth was $1 billion. Abbas’ met worth is $100 million. Hamas’ Khaled Mashaal net worth $2.6 billion. Ending the conflict means ending the money.
1
There is no Greater Israel. The people in the West Bank live under military occupation because they attacked Israel & refuse to live in peace with Israel.
Why should they be allowed to vote in Israel? Should France have allowed Germans to vote in French elections when France occupied Germany after World War 2?
2
STeve Bannon is a despicable creep. And I fail to see why I should ever change my opinion of Sheldon Abelson, who has always supported ant-semites, as far as I can see. As to Linda Sarsour, Kevin Rothstein is right, the world IS a complicated place. We do know, though,that it would be a better place without the alt-right.
3
i will admit i am not well informed with all the daily nuance's of the middle east. reading this article i kept returning to the headline. i think Bannon is dangerous to a larger part of humanity. not just Jews but americans and life seem to tick this bannon off. Hubris +Overreach= Bannon
2
"It is a small democracy trying to uphold a set of liberal values."
Levi Eshkol Israel Prime Minister in 1967. "Eshkol expressed the hope that, “precisely because of the suffocation and imprisonment there, maybe the Arabs will move from the Gaza Strip,” adding that there were ways to remove those who remained. “Perhaps if we don’t give them enough water they won’t have a choice, because the orchards will yellow and wither,”
read more: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.823075
"Israel to cut off Palestinian village from water supply to take control of farming land."
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.823113
4
People complain that Gaza is a prison, that Gazans are NOT allowed to leave.
Your quote says Israel wants the Gazans to leave.
?
Israel delivers 800 truckloads of food & supplies to Gaza every day - even during the war.
Obesity is a major problem in Gaza.
2
The author of this piece fails to recognize that Zionism itself is basically fascistic and always has collaborated with Fascists, such as the notorious Transfer Agreement with the NAZI government in the 1930s.
Also most German Jews voted for Hitler in the 1933 election.
Jewish elites instinctively support autocrats.
Zionism in Israel is characterized increasingly by its dominance by Jewish religious fundamentalists and extremists.
People like Bannon welcome this since it justifies their own autocratic tendencies.
Bret Stephens is hopelessly out of touch with the true nature of Zionism and the cultural degradation of middle America.
2
Zionism means that there should be a majority-Jewish State in Zion.
There's nothing about fascism in the definition.
Besides, Israel is a democracy. Democracy is the opposite of fascism.
3
"I chose you because you are among the least of the peoples of the earth." "You are a people sanctified unto the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Hillel: "If I am not for others, who shall be for me? If I am not for myself, who am I? If not now, when?"
To be a Jew is to live always a life of paradox; always has been, always will be.
1
An anti-semite is still an anti-semite even if he says he supports Israel. Jewish organizations need to vet their "friends" better. Bannon's true motive is to make it so uncomfortable for Jews in the US that they move to Israel, thus leaving the US for the approved "white" folks. This is different from some Evangelicals who support Israel because they think that Jews moving there will hasten the coming of the Messiah.
There has been a huge increase in anti-semitic incidents in the US since Trump's rise to power because he made it socially acceptable for his followers to be violent. Bannon is feeding off of that. He is not a friend of the Jews or Israel; it is all a delusion of some short-sighted Jewish organizations.
6
Hm. Did not the West embrace the anti-semite Stalin when it suited us? Did not the sainted Roosevelt deny entry to boatloads of Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler's Europe? Eisenhower was willing to leave the Israelis in the lurch in the
1950s were it not for a Congress much more involved in foreign affairs than the lifeless paycheck-collectors we suffer with nowadays. Could not your journalist predecessors termed any of this "bad for the Jews"? Try a bit more precision than your new masters require when ordered to continue this daily attempt at undoing an election result you detest. It just might make you seem...rational.
1
And beware the enfolding arms of the evangelicals, who believe their stairway to heaven runs right through Israel by way of the rapture.
Stephens makes a false eqivalency with the left, who see the possibility of an apartheid state emerging from a circle the wagons mentality, that will eventually lead to the same fate as the Africaner South African model. Simple demographics ensure this unless accomodations are made to create a Palestinian state.
2
Bret, if it is O.K. for Israel to be a Jewish state, is it O.K. for the US to be a Christian state?
6
And the Vatican a Catholic state?
Jews had been persecuted for centuries in majority-gentile countries. Even when not actively persecuting the Jews, the majority-gentile countries refused to give refuge to the Jews when they needed it. There would have been no Holocaust if majority-gentile countries would have allowed in Jewish refugees who were escaping from the Nazis. The idea of Zionism was that Jews would return to their homeland & have a majority-Jewish country because majority-gentile countries had failed to provide safety for the Jews.
Americans have not been persecuted for centuries so there's no need for the US to be a Christian state.
Or Aphrodite forbid a Mormon state? They are the fastest growing religion, IIUC.
When you drink the cool-aid you loose your soul and destroy any positive attributes that might have been associated with your beliefs. This goes for Christians and Jews alike.
2
No kidding. Why would anyone think that Bannon, or Republicans in general, are good for the Jews? Jews who think Republicans are good for them are deluding themselves and utterly unaware of recent history.
1
Dems are against everything good for Israel for example and the Republicans just the opposite that's why.
this is the 'make no waves' philosophy' that paved the way to the gas chambers...pay attention people...bannon is not a friend...
Agree.. There should be no Jewish organization willing to let Steve Bannon walk through its doors. When he comes through the front, he brings Richard Spencer and his ilk through the side door. We must be much more careful who we chose to be our "friends".
1
One must remember that the "Christian" fundamentalist have a beyond unhealthy obsession with the Book of Revelation and The End Times.
In their perverted understanding of scripture, in order for the nightmarish events of Revelation to take place, there must be a Jewish ethno-state.
This is the reason that in the same breath, those who identify as Fundamentalist Christians are able to malign Jews and praise Isreal. They hate the Jews but they are willing to use them to accomplish their goals.
We, the moderates and liberals of the world, should never trust the so called "Religious Right" and their empty support for Isreal and the Jewish community.
2
I don't know how anyone could even look at this wasted person, Steve Bannon, let alone interview him and give him media time.
I never fully understood Hitler's rise to power, but now in light of our present situation, I understand a lot.
2
There’s an old chestnut: Jews are like everyone else...only more so.
The stereotype that all of us are smart and knowledgeable is like all stereotypes: more often wrong than right. Most Irish are not alcoholics; most people whose name ends in a vowel are not associated with organized crime;
most Muslims are decent human beings who want their kids to have a better life; and Jewish people who support Mr. Bannon are neithe smart nor knowledgeable.
I agree with your points, Bret. Bannon has gleefully embraced and encouraged outright Jew haters like Spencer via his perch at Breitbart, all the while declaring that the alt right fringe he fostered is not really anti-Semitic, you don't get it, blah blah. Shame on the ZOA for inviting him, and good for Sheldon Adelson for finally figuring out that Bannon is not a good guy nor friend to the Jews. It sounds like Bannon is desperate if he's suddenly reaching out to a crowd that he basically disdained a few months ago as establishment coastal elites.
2
Jews in ZOA, AIPAC and the Israeli government are not just profoundly unJewish,
they are suicidal.
Zionism is morally bankrupting Judaism, and
Israel is endangering the Jews of the Diaspora.
3
My uncle, Daniel Frisch, was President of the ZOA, when Israel won independence in 1948. My father and mother were life members and officers of the ZOA and Hadassah. Both of them lost most of their family during the Holocaust, which began its gruesome acceleration during the 1920's when "Populists" drummed the "Us vs. The Others" fanaticism, as Bannon, Herr Drumph and Moore do.
The ZOA's invitation of Steve Bannon, who while proudly parading his Jewish staffers at Breitbart, panders to the Roger Moore political, religious and sexual criminal deviants of this country.
Obviously, Sheldon Adelson's embrace and funding of nearly all things right-wing, including today's ZOA, is a major driver of the current ZOA leadership. But, who are they going to invite next? Sebastian Gorka? Marine Le Pen? David Duke, Mel Gibson?
The Zionist Organization of America in 2017? A shanda.
3
Steve Bannon supports Israel in the same way the early National Socialists supported Jews in Germany by lauding the creation of a place, Palestine, to which they could all be dispatched. In the unfortunate way tribes make alliances--"the enemy of my enemy is my friend"--dispensationalists and other purveyors of eschatology seek to support Israel because it supports their end-time belief system.
We would do well to stop support for those who would tear everything down, whatever their motive. Steve Bannon's worldview has not and will not make a better world, just a Hobbesian one where life is "solitory, poor, nasty, brutish and short".
Well, it appears that "the Jews" don't agree with our author.
Enough said.
1
This is complete smear job full of innuendo and guilt by association against someone who has Jewish friends who say he's not anti Semitic. You've contrived to make his close relations and ideological compatibility with a faction of American and Israeli Zionists evidence of his anti-Semitism. By your logic, the elected prime minister of Israel and the majority of Israeli Jews are anti -Semites. You also seem to find anti-Semitism in any group that opposes unlimited immigration or advocates enforcement of existing immigration laws. That's way too broad a brush - many Jews and friends of Jews in America and around the world share those views. Meanwhile you seem to give a pass to the growing anti-Semitism and virulent anti-Zionism of the Left. You also felt no need to mention the direct threats and actual attacks on Jews by Radical Islamist terrorists and their apologists and sympathizes. You should focus your charges of anti-Semitism on those who actually do or say something overtly bigoted and hostile to Jews, not against someone being honored for his friendship to Jews and Israel.
3
Christian Zionism has a redemptive aspect that requires the return of Jews to Israel before the Second Coming can occur. In certain political circumstances this could awaken interest in the ethnic cleansing of American Jews, a possibility, still very remote, that could grow. Bannon's declaring himself a 'Christian' Zionist plants that seed.
1
Shame on the ZOA.
3
And rain is wet.
The truth is, Steve Bannon is bad period.
4
There are leaps in logic and huge guilt by association leaps in this article which is just another NYT screed intended to demonize Mr. Bannon. First, both Bannon and Trump have tried to make it clear that they are NOT traditional for the rich only GOPers. I'm not sure if either of them is sincere in their proclamations on behalf of the working class, but at least they have acknowledged our existence, which is more than anyone in EITHER party has done for decades. As far as immigration and open borders are concerned, Cesar Chavez was against open borders. Was Cesar Chavez a racist? Was he a "right winger"? Numerous economists and realists the world over have pointed out that the fastest way to destroy the government social benefits (and natural environment) that Dems CLAIM to cherish is to open the borders, creating millions if not billions of new beneficiaries who never contributed ANYTHING towards those programs. This is math, not political spin, and is part of the reason for anti immigrant "fever" in Europe. Thirdly, if guilt by association applies to Bannon, why does it not apply to anti semitism and hatred from the left?? Or do this writer and NYT actually want to claim there is no anti semitism on the left??? Remember the Black Muslims and Louis Farrakhan?? Why is it fine to bash Bannon for his supposed associations, but somehow it's not ok to point out the signs reading "More Dead Cops" at BLM rallies??
3
Too late for this advice.
Zionists have decided who their friend are.
Zionists have chosen Israel over at least three of the Ten Commandments.
Zionists have chosen Israel over Judaism.
Bannon is their perfect friend. He and the alt-right want Jews out of the U.S. Zionists want all people deemed Jewish in Israel. Of course Bannon and the alt-right don't care where Jews end up, or in what condition. But Israel is not the United States, and that meets their minimum demand.
At least for now.
Zionism is, at best, Self-Ghettoization. At worst? Self-Destruction.
Unless you're a Christian Zionist, of course. As Steve Bannon is.
2
This is coming from a site that supported President Obama who was by far the worst president we have had for Israel since they were founded. The only thing that kept him from throwing them under the bus was the congress, I mean he did after all fund the opposition to a sitting prime minister, a violation of US law, send his election team to Israel to try to unseat him (I have to wonder, how would have the DNC felt if Bibi had sent over a team to Romney and the GOP to unseat Obama? We all know the answer to that). Besides, after looking at articles coming from NY Times, I would say they are extremely anti-Zionist, they support BDS which at its core is a anti-Semitic group, support the Palestinian claim without bothering to vet out their claim, I must ask, can one person PLEASE show me one historical mention of a sub group of Arabs with their own distinct culture known as Palestinians prior to 1900, been asking this for 35 years, to date in all these years I get screamed at, called a Islamophobe (not sure how asking a question makes me have a phobia of Muslims), a racist, but you know what no one can do? They can't show one historical mention, they can't show one census prior to 1900 that mentions a "Palestinian", they can't show a documented eye witness account (unless they are speaking of Jews who they called Palestinians prior to 1900), they can't even show one archaeological find, the simple truth is there are none, that is why the Museum of Palestinian History sites empty
1
"The Jews"? Come on, Bret. Which Jews are you talking about? American Jews? Israeli Jews?
Can we simply drop this farce? The Vice President of the United States is an evangelical "Christian". He professes to believe that the "Anti-Christ" will come to dominate Israeli politics, that Jesus will then come back to Earth to have a battle known as "Armageddon" and a seven year period of "tribulations". Israelis and their American counterparts have known this for many years, and regularly exploit this dopey, anti-scientific, and thoroughly nonsensical and childish belief.
Evangelicals like Pence, Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Jerry Falwell Jr, and millions of others are actively hoping for the destruction of the state of Israel, so that their precious Jesus will return to Earth. Nefarious and foolish leaders like Bannon in turn exploit them, for his own twisted ends. That's all this is about, that's all it's ever been about in America.
1
Anti-Semitism is both the socialism of fools and the conservatism of creeps. If the past century holds a lesson for Jews, it’s to beware every form of illiberalism, including the illiberalism of those who purport to be on our side. Repair of the world may not be the central teaching of Judaism. But it’s always wise to stay far from those who wish to tear it asunder.
___
Steve Bannon doesn’t deserve spitting upon when aflame in controversy, he redefines ANTI-semantic. Just the same, is it worthy of noting the former executive of NBC Universal David Zaslav, where he worked to help launch CNBC and MSNBC, is now the current President and CEO of Discovery Communications, Inc.?
Discovery Communications, so what?
Discovery Communications, Inc., is the holding company of 13 Channels (wiki) one of which includes AHC – American Heroes Channel. Any day of the week, esp. on weekends, there are countless programs about Hitler and WWII. Anti-semantic?
“Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.”
- Benjamin Disraeli
Steve Bannon, like Elmer Gantry, is another false prophet who is bad for everyone, not just Jews. While he considers himself some sort of "intellectual warrior" sticking up for the little people, he is actually a somewhat slovenly Goldman Sachs alumnus, backed by the billionaire Mercers, with a vastly inflated opinion of his own importance. A few more Roy Moores and Michael Grimms on his resume will consign him to welcome obscurity.
1
"Simply put, support for Israel is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a friend to Jews." Wow. This overreach would take one's breath away if it were sustained on even slight examination. It isn't. Nor does Stephens's description of why "Zionists love Israel" hold water: Does anyone anymore believe that the colonists in the West Bank, and their foreign supporters of the Adelson-Mosvovitz-[David] Friedman ilk, are "Zionists" because Israel "brings together the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization, not because of some blood and soil nationalism"? It has become tiresome to hear from American Jewish pundits views that would be laughed at by mainstream Israelis.
Oh, and the past tense of "sing" is "sang".
2
And let’s not forget the SELF PROCLAIMED sexual predator who is still at the Whitehouse and who also proclaimed...
“I am the least anti-Semitic person you will ever know in your entire life”.
1
Steve Bannon is bad for anyone who is not a white, male Christian.
1
He’s no friend of the vast majority of them either.
What a disgusting article. Devoid of facts and a running lie about Bannon.
Bannon may be a lot of things, but anti-Semitic is not one of them.
Bret Stephens is a disgrace.
1
Bannon is not only bad for Jews, he is bad for any sane, decent human being. He is a poisonous person and poisonous people spread poison. Corporations are very quick to identify poisonous personalities in their ranks because they recognize that those people ultimately "infect" the organization and fragment it which ultimately left unchecked will not allow the corporation to achieve its goals. Bannon is one of those people and decent people should shun him and his hateful view of the world born of the fact that he is self-loathing loathsome person.
1
Bannon's pretty bad regarding Eskimos too, but more Jewish NYT subscribers, means more cherished column space devoted to a demographic making up less than two percent of U.S.
3
for almost two thousand years Jews have been playing "hide and seek". pander to the ruling government in the hope of protection, and run to anywhere when the government falls and they blame the Jews. now Jewish people have a homeland. a strong and proud Israel. there is no reason to kiss anybody's ...... just do the right thing and let the chips fall where they may.
1
Why do you not discuss Bannon’s well known desire to keep his kids out of a school with “too many Jews”? Why do you avoid that? His anti-Semitism at the root level is obvious.
1
Who cares? What if you are not Jewish nor white? Only 2% of Americans are Jews.
Since World War II Israel has been the number one recipient of American aid. Gary Cohn, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Stephen Miller and Steve Mnuchin are all white Jewish and beholden to Steve Bannon and Donald Trump. There are three Jews on the Supreme Court. The House is 5.1% Jewish. The Senate is 8.8% Jewish.
Bannon and Trump are bad for Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Mormons, agnostics and atheists. About 52% of Americans are Protestant and 24% are Catholic. About 10% are agonistic/atheists. About 2% of Americans are Mormon. Bannon and Trump are a disaster for the 13.2% of Americans who have African and Jewish, Christian and Muslim heritage.
Is it good for the Jews does not matter to me as much as is it good for black African American Christians like me. Charles Blow and Yamiche Alcindor "know" me and mine.
3
Stephens is correct. The ZOA is a troubling organization for most American Zionists given its out of touch leadership, its moralistic rantings, and its frank Arab baiting and hating. Its association with both Bannon and Gorka--both honored at this week's ZOA "gala" --should be appalling to all but the most far right people and should give pause to any Jewish citizen who wishes to support Israel.
The presence of the US Ambassador to Israel, the unqualified Friedman (who has financially supported communities in the occupied West Bank/Judea/Samaria--choose your word) is adding further fuel to the garbage heap that ZOA wishes to stoke. Just great bedfellows, the US government, anti-Semites, Arab haters, supposed Zionists.
1
Linking Steve Bannon to extremist anti-semitic views by way of BuzzFeed is dangerous and inappropriate. Bret needs to meet a real anti-semite to understand the difference. Whatever editing Bannon did for Milo does not make him a Nazi. This opinion paints with too broad a brush and is the reason the mainstream has stopped caring about being called “anti-semite” or “racist.”
11
I've read Breitbart. Plenty there not to like. "real" anti-semites (and racists) come in many guises.
When the master of Breitbart condones his journalist Milo praising Neo-Nazis like Richard Spencer as an intellectual founder of the alt right - a label Bannon has explicitly embraced as representing Breitbart - it may not make him a Nazi, but it DOES show that he is willing to pander to Nazis to get their support for his own use - and to me that's a distinction without a difference. See: http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/03/29/an-establishment-conservatives-...
1
I’ve never heard of the ZOA and I hope I never do again. Just as Jews collaborated with the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto in the vain hope that it would save them, there are always traitors in our midst.
So you wrote a whole piece about how bad Steve Bannon is for Jews? How about how really bad he and his policies are to millions of Americans and that should be alarming enough on it's own? You are not much different than ZOA in that both of you are willing to ignore the evil of someone as long as they are willing to support Israel no matter what that might cost to everyone else. May be Richard Nixon had a point!
3
What a joke! Bannon’s “Breibart” routinely prints pro-Israeli articles. Just read some of the Jackie Mason pro-Israel diatribes regarding the Palestinians. To portray Bannon as an anti-Semite is truly “fake news”! Breitbart glorifies Zionism and the oppression of the Palestinian people. Of course the NYT does as well, just more obtusely and discreetly.
3
there are not now, nor have there ever been "Palestinian people" These are Jordanians, slaughtered by 10's of thousands by arabs, now being used as a weapon against isreal
Read a book, from who were the west bank and Gaza captured? Hint: not Palestinians
2
Try reading some history yourself. All of the people who moved to what is now Israel did not displace any indigenous people? They are "entitled" to displace those who lived there because of some historical mythological text?
I assume that you are prepared to give up your property to descendants of native people who lived in the NW hundreds of years ago?
4
No one would have been displaced if Palestinians had not been murdering innocent Jews.
1
Those like Bannon are dedicated to destroying established order by pitting people against themselves, as this article exemplifies. That the Zionist organization of America is a willing patsy for such manipulation speaks volumes about how gullible they are in welcoming a dangerous crackpot who talks out of both sides of his mouth.
2
And I'm strangely at peace with that. When an imperialist country like Israel flouts international law with the unlawful occupation of another country, they surrender their right to my support.
7
I don't think you understand what is involved in imperialism.
2
The occupation is legal because Israel was attacked.
1
The idea of Zionist anti-semitism also reminds me of Jerry Falwell in the 1980s who advocated strong US support for Israel so as to bring on the ultimate world war with the Soviets (who supported the Arabs) and hasten the coming of the messiah.
You are right Mr. Stephens; it is important to see people through their true motivations.
12
Reflexive antisemitism is an old Republican trait, as Stephens shows, and country clubs demonstrated for generations. What is sadly new is an Israeli government that cozens up to people like that, thereby alienating what have been its natural allies among national Democrats and other minorities. There will be a reckoning, but one hopes it will be in the form of the return of the prodigal son. Meanwhile how vulgar of Stephens to shake his head about bannon, while he encourages giving an honorable platform to the racism of the odious Charles Murray.
2
Befriending Bannon reminds me of an old New Yorker cartoon in which the cannibal leader has a big smile on his face and his arm around the complacent white hunter while the big pot comes to a boil in the background. Bannon is very bad news not only for Jews but for all Americans who hope that the US will come to its senses and once again become the leader of the free world and a beacon of light to all humanity.
1
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is not now, nor has it ever been, a philosophy to live by. More important is "know thine enemy." The people who Bannon cavorts with are enemies of the Jews. Until he disavows those "well meaning" bigots who marched in Virginia, he can never be a friend of Israel.
Thank you Mr. Stephens for your eloquent statement of fact.
7
I'm not sure that finding Nixon's "knee-jerk, atavistic anti-semitism" different from Bannon's isn't making a distinction without a difference. Is hatred better because it is reflexive and primitive?
1
To be sure Bannon is trouble and that is putting it nicely. But, is Bannon worse than our last President who made his fist international trip to Egypt, apologized on behalf of the US to the Muslim world (and for what, the 911 attack on the US?), and then made it a point of not going to Israel. He showed the world where he stood as to Israel. And, then he let his spokespeople push the idea that Israel fomented the wars in Iraq and that Israel was pushing the US into a war with Iran. This is anti-Semitism writ large. So, if some group sees Bannon as just possibly better for Israel and for Jews than our last President, maybe there perception is understandable.
1. Obama visited Israel in 2013..
2. No apologies were made despite the propaganda you consume.
3. he is no longer president. and you will do anything but address who is president
3
You are absolutely right. Bian has a real problem with fact checking. He doesn't.
1
Anti-Semitism is alive and well in the world. Being an American I was blissfully unaware of it as I lived my life in the tolerant society I was lucky enough to live in (many thanks to the grandparents who emigrated from Russia).
While I've experienced some little episodes when I was younger, they were mostly of hearing the phrase "Jew him down" from some people. Now however, since Trumps election, I feel much more exposed to being Jewish. I've had people decide they did not like me, even though there was no personal or societal connection. I've had people, who I admit were drunk, make jokes about myself and an oven. I believe the anti-Semitism was always there but held internally as it was not considered acceptable to give it free rein. Now however, Trump and his minions, are slowly but surely allowing this hatred to be expressed or at a minimum be dressed up as white nationalism. I also find the drive to make this Country a Christian state very alarming.
For the first time in my life, I am afraid of being who I am. I use to always let people know I was Jewish as soon as I met them so they would not say or do something foolish. But now, I hold back, worried about what I say and to whom I say it.
1
for the first time? how is that possible? Now that you understand, did you arm yourself? What good is awareness without preparation?
There are very few of us. We need to be able to take as many with us before we go down as possible.
Any other thinking leads to victimhood
Steve Bannon's danger to society, not just Jews, apart - this article hits all the wrong points.
Mandating a support for Israel as being a necessary element of support for all Jews is a bit like observing that a support for Saudi Arabia is a necessary element of declaring respect for all Muslims. Support and respect for any entity is very local. By ditching that, Bannon simply showed that he has no respect for human beings let alone Jews, Muslims, African Americans, Hindus, Hispanics, Gays, Lesbians etc. That is what you should be condemning, i.e. his lack of respect for common human decency, not some chauvinistic display of meaningless support for some entity which then solicits some equally meaningless award by yet another lobbying agency.
Giving credit points to Sheldon Adelson simply because he decided not to attend a gala dinner is odious. He has gone out of his way to promote a racist and hostile environment against African Americans and Muslims in the last few years and in doing so laid the groundwork for people like Bannon and Trump to exploit their way into the current situation.
6
Uh......I dont follow Steve Bannon too closely....but......what specifically has Mr. Bannon screamed at the world that is actually "anti-semitc"??
Please dont go into that long shrill diatribe about how Bannon has the audacity to "criticize Israeli policies" or to note that, just like other UN-taxed lobbying groups, the Israeli Lobby has undo influence on US Foreign Policy. Please. stop it.
That's not anti=semitism. Thats "america first".
I find it encouraging that the Zionist Organization is willing to hear Mr. Bannon out......seems like an attempt to establish a dialog, even if no one is yet agreeing with each other. There is no doubt that America is Israel's strongest ally.....and that, grudgingly, Israel is America's ally. America has been extremely generous and unwavering in our Support for Israel......and now the time has come for America to demand more from Israel.
2
We all have our burdens to bear. As an Irish Catholic, I am ashamed to the likes of Steve Bannon, Pat Buchanan, and Bill O'Reilly who are fanatics who embrace a kind of conservatism that our Pope condemns.
I am not sure the Jews quite get it. They view Israel as the birthplace of Christianity, sort of an old Testament begot the New Testament. The rock upon where Peter built the Church. It's a unique American type perspective that denies the real landowners of America were Native Americans. Trust me, they'd push Jews out of there if they could take it over.
Beware of Greeks bringing you gifts, it's a Trojan Horse.
2
I find it interesting, if not odd, that Jews, living in cosmopolitan, mixed societies around the world, feel that an exclusionist, walled nation state, i.e., a new Jewish ghetto, (self-created - mind you), in the Middle East, is either acceptable or an improvement for anyone involved. Is it a religious entity or not? A truly democratic one, or not? A diverse one, or not? Does it treat all citizens equally, or not? Do minorities (natives) have full rights, or not? All are valid questions that need to be answered, both within and outside of Israel.
4
There are 1.6 million Arab-Israelis.
1
Jewish Voice for Peace is opposed to all forms of bigotry, whether anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, or anti-Palestinian. Here is the FAQ from their website--
https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/faq/
I post this because Stephens equated them with the white nationalists--in fact, he uses JVP as some sort of measuring rod of evil. The logical implication of his remarks is that if you think Palestinians have equal rights alongside Israeli Jews, you must be a vicious antisemite. Think about that for a moment. It only makes sense if you regard Palestinians as inferior beings. It is no longer acceptable to say so outright, so what Stephens does is slander a group that favors equal rights for both sides and has the temerity to say that Palestinians have the right to live in their own homeland.
This column is not about separating Israel from rightwing extremists. Rightwing extremists often hate each other. Islamic jihadis are rightwing extremists. So are many Israelis. So are many Trump supporters. This column is about separating Israel from one particular set of rightwing extremists in favor of the more presentable sort.
3
Yet more perfection from Bret Stephens. Well done! Stay fearless!
1
When I was a kid in Sunday School, Zionism was this great idealistic Jewish movement we celebrated. It is pretty clear now that all idealism has gone down the tube if an American booster of Zionism supports a man committed to overturning everything people like me believe in and organizing our worst enemies against us. The thinking is unbelievably narrow and sends me running in the opposite direction.
The author states: "Zionists love Israel because of the way in which it brings together the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization, not because of some blood and soil nationalism."
Seriously? Mr. Stephens must speak to a very small group of Zionists. What about: "This land is mine, God gave this land to me?" ; "A land without a people for a people without a land?" and other central myths that most Zionists hold? Hasn't "blood and soil nationalism" been the essential justification for Israel's construction of settlements in the West Bank, under all Israeli governments including Labor and Likud? What about the forced displacement of Palestinians in 1948? How was that predicated by "the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization?"
Mr. Stephens seems to subscribe to the comforting myth of the folk dance school of Zionism, where all Israelis dance the hora around the campfire after a hard day toiling in the fields of their kibbutzim.
4
Palestinians started a genocidal war against the Jews.
Wars create refugees.
1
All sorts of ideas get conflated when we talk about Israel, the Jewish state.
One is that to be against Israel's current government is anti-Semitic. One can disapprove of a Jewish leader and the leadership's actions, and still have no animosity to Jewish people. One can approve of the Israeli state and be completely anti-Semitic. If an American President can praise Duterte, then surely we can allow for the illogic of anti-Semites being pro-Israel.
Today, we allow our Machiavellian propensity to let the end justify the means supersede moral courage, personal conviction, and just actions. Who cares if we collaborate with neo-Nazis as long as we get our way? Who cares if we elect pedophiles as long as we get our way? Who cares if we have to put up with Steve Bannon if it means we get the money and political action we need?
I am not naive, but jeez, I'd really like to believe that the people who populated old films were part of real life. We'd have Gary Cooper facing down Bannon or Spencer at high noon. We'd have Mr. Smith in Washington. Henry Fonda's 12 Angry Men would be deliberating in our courts.
But we don't have Copper, Stewart and Fonda; we have Bannon, Spencer and the whole White House and Congress. Our loss.
Allegiance to Israel should not conflict with allegiance to the US. Without the support of the US, Israel may not continue to exist. But if the values of the US are destroy by men like Bannon and Trump, what will be left of the US will not be supporting Israel, but using anti semitism as a scapegoat to further their aims.
Shameful action on the part of the ZOA.
1
In his column, Brett Stephens claims that Palestinian-American Linda Sarsour publically praised a convicted terrorist (Rasmea Odeh) and provides a link to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency article dated April 3, 2017, to prove it.
However, the article contains no such statement, as I discovered when I read it. On the contrary, it states that Sarsour “… recently raised thousands of dollars to repair anti-Semitic vandalism at three U.S. Jewish cemeteries …”. It seems to me that Stephens has unjustly impugned the integrity of Ms. Sarsour.
4
"Political support for Israel is too important to tarnish through association with the likes of [Steve] Bannon or European kindred spirits such as Holland's Geert Wilders or Hungary's Viktor Orban."
Might I suggest adding Donald Trump to the list of people whose support Israel would be better off without?
4
Bret,
I agree with your article. Jewish organizations should not embrace an anti-semite merely because they are the hot topic of the moment. Bannon supports many racist and openly anti-jewish people. Spencer and his ilk are anathema to good American values. The enemy of your enemy can still be, simply, the enemy. His efforts will not end well.
Mr Stephens said:
“Israel is not a latter-day Crusader kingdom holding out against a 21st-century Mahometan horde”.
Still, Israel is marketing itself to the EU (especially) and to the US along very similar lines with the ones that Mr Stephens just decried. Israel tries to pose as the West’s bulwark against ‘radical Islam’. I quote Netanyahu in late 2016:
“The world already understands that Israel is not the enemy, but rather a partner in the war against the evils of radical Islam. It is time Europe understands that as well. We are not just protecting ourselves -- we are protecting you” [Thank you, Benjamin!]
…
“All over the world -- in China, India, Africa -- nations understand the world is changing rapidly and that radical Islam seeks to overrun [the West], and they ask, what is the only country that remains safe, true to its values, and prospering? Israel”.
“We are prepared to work with our friends in Europe in our effort in the war against terrorism and in our successful effort to have our state, our democracy, and, at the same time, afford security to our citizens. I think that Europe is very interested in this”.
The sort of talk that augments Trumps, Le Pens , Alt-Right et al -- the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, in my country.
4
MY WIFE'S Late father was a syndicated Jewish political cartoonist, which incidentally made him a rara avis in his own right, twice voted for Richard Nixon, in the belief that he would be better for Israel. He did rue the day when Nixon had to resign for the high crimes and treason he perpetrated against the US Constitution. Nixon, in his Saturday night massacre clearly placed himself above the law. Trump has changed Saturday night massacres into the massacre du jour. The pace of his destruction of the Constitution he is sworn to uphold is horrifying. Steve Bannon was at his side during the presidential campaign and for the first months of his deadly presidency. Now Bannon has consigned himself to the role of throwing as many political hand grenades as he can publicly, by foisting the most dictatorial candidates to be found on the unsuspecting GOPpers. As the late Robert Mac Namara stated in the documentary, The Fog of War, it is impossible to see things clearly while fighting the conflict. It is precisely the Fog of War that Trump uses to disorient people. Tony Schwartz who "co-wrote" Trump's book, The Art of the Deal, has predicted that Trump will not complete his first term in office. Trump's latest guerrilla warfare tactic was to tweet his criminally suspect Attorney General to initiate a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton. That way lies madness. Ask not when the devil will knock on your door, as he is already at the center of power in the US!
1
This article sounds like much ado about not too much. If ZOA has embraced Bannon there's a good reason. They are not stupid. Yes he embraces the neo-nazis but so does Trump. Most of what we see are various groups simply playing off of each other.
WWII notwithstanding, the Jews in the DSA have much less to be concerned about than, say, the blacks or the immigrants. With as much financial influence as they wield in Congress, once they give their marching orders to their respective Congressmen and Women, they walk a relatively smooth path. Not so, for most other citizens.
Bannon is a link between the dregs of humanity, through Spencer, and the White House, but only insofar as he can use them to continue to stir up the anti immigrant agenda. He understands that a little anti semitism is but a small price to pay short term for his otherwise misanthropic intentions.
With Israel as attached to the hip of the Divided States as it as, there's hardly cause for concern over the Middle East's true powerhouse.
While all of us seem to be at risk with Trump in the White House, The Jewish citizens of the DSA should have relatively fewer concerns given the fact they are better organized than most other citizens.
2
All this about politics, political parties, Israel, ZOA, and whatever Bannon may be to history is entirely beside the point. Racism, hate, and intolerance must be opposed and stamped out everywhere, before it gets, and it can get, much uglier. As for the enemy of your enemy, I refer you to the Niemoller poem:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
I never thought I would write these words, but you're being a little tough on Bannon. He dumped Milo when the extent of Milo's Nazi links became apparent. In the famous Breitbart article these views are actually downplayed. Bannon's brag about the 'the platform for the alt-right' was said before 'alt-right' meant 'Nazi'. The only real evidence of Bannon's antisemitism is in a divorce hearing (where both parties often lie). Bannon's famously supported many Jewish writers at Breitbart, which is fanatically pro-Israel and often seems to engage in every right-wing prejudice *except* antisemitism.
The larger question of whether any sort of populism is necessarily bad for the Jews is another one. I concede that Jews are disproportionately represented in the sort of liberal elites (media, academia) and not-so-liberal elites (investment bankers) that populists, particularly of the right-wing sort, love to complain about, so any rousing of ire against them has the possibility to turn into antisemitism.
Unfortunately, I also have to say that globalist elites *have* sold out the working man! The banks wrecked our economy and pocketed the proceeds, and immigration has soared past levels much of the country feels comfortable with. As for the media and academia...well, not everyone is as liberal as the Times, and liberals seem more interested in microaggressions than workers' rights. The country may need some (non-Trump) populism, and it's not all about the Jews; we're 2% of the USA.
1
Israel needs powerful friends where it can find them. The left, with its support of bds, Israel bashing and antisemitism in academia, and booing at the Democratic convention, is surely not a friend. African Americans are not friends of Israel. Given America's political polarization, there isn't much of a mainstream middle. So rejecting Brannon, and also by association Trump's support, seems unwise.
1
Points well taken, but a minor quibble. "...not because of some blood and soil nationalism." perhaps you should explain that to Netanahyu and many of the right wing Jewish settlers in the West Bank. This is what the anti Zionist Jews object to.
Dear Brett,
I love your writing. I cannot help however but be disappointed by the implicit bias in your views whenever you approach anything related to Israel-Palestine. Denying Israel's right to exist is as you say, modern anti-semitism. That is fair. Would you agree denying Palestine's right to exist is similarly racist ? Israeli government policy, occupation, settlements, and resource grabs are de-facto practically denying a people a right to exist. I wonder, why this never features in your work ?
Your silence is deafening.
3
Israeli government policy, occupation, settlements, and resource grabs are NOT de-facto practically denying a people a right to exist. It's the Palestinians' refusal to live in peace that's the problem.
1
"Tikun Olam" is the central concept of Judaism. Everything else is, as they say "Talmud". That being clarified, Bannon is an anarchist and quite possibly a fascist. That has never been a good combination for Jews or democracy.
1
The most important task for American Jews who support Israel right now is to reduce the number of immigrants from cultures that hate Israel, immigrants who will try to turn the United States against Israel. If that means cooperating with the likes of Steven Bannon, I'll hold my nose and cooperate.
The important question isn't "Who wants to kill the Jews?" The important question is "Who wants to kill the Jews and is likely to be able to do it?" If the choice is Breitbart or Hezbollah, I'll take Breitbart.
I long for the good old days, when no one knew Seve Bannon's name, few people read Breitbart, and someone else was president.
Even Haaretz doesn't agree with you about Mansour. In a long article discussing her, they say nothing about her not accepting Israel's right to exist but they do talk about the wild accusations made about her. It's a reality based article. Here's their lead in to the story.
Sarsour is a flawed figure. She shouldn’t be leading a discussion on anti-Semitism. But the political pile-on she's enduring - branding her as Jewish Public Enemy #1 - is hysterical and vicious, and we Jews shouldn’t be participating in it
read more: https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.822880
You are part of that pile on.
4
Just as American Republicans are off in an intellectual wilderness, claiming that they are not racist by virtue of voting for Trump, so too are many Jews kidding themselves. Trump is anti-Semitic, obviously so is Bannon. We know this by listening to what they say. What better evidence does one need? Ivanka marrying Jared does not change any of this. Moreover, Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is a force of destruction for not only the Jewish people but all supporters of Israel. He is abhorrent. The company that you keep defines you. Stop selling souls for promises of political gain.
1
Mr.Stephens,
My world has been turned upside down. There was a time I was proud to call myself A Liberal & a Zionist, Well I’m still a Jewish Moderate but I have left or rather have been pushed out by the Liberals & the Zionists,
two extreme groups of Jews.Let me preface my comments by saying I love the State of Israel & will do whatever I can to see it exist. But there are limitations.The first and foremost limitation I cannot support a theocratic Israel, the Israel I love deeply must be guided by Democratic policies. Occupying 2,000,000, Palestinians against their will, falls beneath the values of a Democracy.Israel must either bring them into Israel as equal citizens or cut them loose.As far as, Bannon is concerned he is the most devious of Anti Semites. Jews fall mall over themselves when Gentiles come out for Israel, & they disregard their motives, Bannon is a conservative Roman Catholic who despises POPE Francis for his Liberal positions.He truly believes that Christ will only come if the Jews occupy all of the Land between the Jordan Rivet the Mediterranean Sea, We demean ourselves by adhering to the likes of Bannon & Trump.Zionists believe the end justifies the means, and we must support Israel at all costs. They are on the wrong side of History which will eventually lead to disaster.
1
If Israel ends the occupation, Palestinians will fire rockets from the West Bank killing or injuring thousands of Israelis.
Bannon is bad for everyone, for America.
His prominence is a sign of something rotten, and you don’t have to know anything about the politics of Jewish organizations to see that. I don’t like to judge on appearances but bannon is either suffering from health problems or consciously presents himself as seedy and degenerate. Maybe both.
1
I'm very sorry to hear that any of my fellow Jewish people thought it appropriate to host Bannon.
2
Just because U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said that <> does not make it The Truth. Let's look at what this "denial" really means. Israel can be a Jewish state, or a democratic state, but it is demonstrating quite ably on its own behalf that it cannot be both. Israel insists on being a Jewish state, as well as an Occupier state, no matter how many Palestinians are displaced and denied human rights in the process. To equate criticism of Israel (as it *actually* exists) with anti-Semitism makes a mockery of true anti-Semitism, such as that of Bannon and the racist far right. It is no accident that Bannon expresses admiration for Israel as an example of the ethnostate he envisions for poor oppressed white folks. That he does so should give us great pause. What is he seeing that Zionist Jews refuse to acknowledge?
No, support for Israel is *not* necessary but insufficient for not being anti-Semitic. Sorry, you don't get to define anti-Semitism for all of us Jews.
Editorial note: the organization you hate is called Jewish Voice for Peace, not "Voices."
3
Israel has to continue the occupation otherwise if the IDF pulls out, Palestinians in the West Bank will fire rockets killing or injuring thousands of Israelis just like what happened when the IDF pulled out of Gaza.
There certainly are those nationalists who would not refuse at least the POLITICAL support of a group called "Anti-Semites for Israel," were such a group to exist.
Jews are notorious for waking up too late. As a Jew I am usually loath to criticize my tribe. But, in this case awareness should lead to action. But it won't. Not until its too late. The Jews saw the coming of the Nazis. They saw the pogroms of Russia and Poland. They knew of the inquisition of Spain and the Ghetto of Rome. Because of their uniqueness of generally being ostracize, ridiculed, slaughtered and condemned the Jews have a special awareness of anti-Semites and anti-Semitism. The radar is always engage. But sometimes it just doesn't sound the alarm. Steve Bannon is the worst kind of anti-Semite. He is associated with a popular (or un-popular) branch of a national political party. The ultra-right wing of the Republican party is not going to vote for a war to save Israel. It won't speak out against torch bearing marchers chanting the Nazi slogans "The Jews will not replace us" and "Blood and soil". Bannon never said a word. His special student, Donald Trump, failed to offer criticism as well. And no member of the Republican party Alt-Right said a word. For the record no one said a word about Richard Nixon's well known anti-semitism either. Not even his Jewish secretary of State, Heny Kissinger would speak out.
Steve Bannon and his supporters are wolves but not in sheep's clothing.
Israel is at risk because of Hezbollah, Syria, Russia and Iran. American Jews are at risk because of the Alt-right of the Republican party. Must Jewish blood soak the soil of America?
115
Nixon didn’t trust Jews? How did that explain his support of Israel and having Kissenger as his most valued adviser? Was he frustrated dealing with Israel? Johnson according to those around him as one put it used the n word more than a black person did more for civil rights than anyone before him. He behaved ignorantly but he wasn’t a fascist.
The same unspeakable moral catastrophe that has descended on the US when it elected Trump is at work when the ZOA cozies up to Bannon. It is rooted less in a deep right-wing yearning among the masses than in the emerging worldwide phenomenon of billionaire activists (including Russian oligarchs). A tiny amount of people with obscenely deep pockets are holding democracies hostages to their rotten interests dressed-up as half-baked ideologies (the US Congress is a prime target). Adelson has been corrupting the press in Israel as Mercer has been polluting the moral landscape with his Breitbart. As Thomas Friedman said recently : "Trump is a brain-eating disease". Unfortunately, that disease is now rampant around the world. A probably fake Leonardo painting was just sold for close to half a billion dollars to... whom? Obviously to somebody who didn't mind transferring such an amount to a Russian billionaire. How many politicians can you buy with this kind of pocket money?
5
"Zionists love Israel because of the way in which it brings together the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization, not because of some blood and soil nationalism."
"Blood and soil nationalism" and Judaism are radically antithetical. The Bible goes out of its way to portray the Israelites, who were in fact indigenous to Canaan/Palestine, as immigrants whose territorial rights were founded and conditioned on accepting and fulfilling a moral covenant with a universal God. That Judaism (or any form of ethical monotheism) and any form of racism (including "blood and soil nationalism") are radically inconsistent is the one point upon which Jews and Nazis might agree.
1
It is notable that the author cannot seem to be able to condemn anti-Semitism without also opportunistically attacking avowed opponents of anti-Semitism. Wouldn't it have been more effective - if the goal is to warn against the ZOA's collaboration with anti-Jewish white supremacists - to simply do that? Why muddy the waters?
2
I think we can all agree that Bannon is bad for everybody, not just Jewish people. But, while I'm no expert on the history of Israel, it seems to me that Stephens is somewhat overwrought here in saying that anyone who questions the right of Israel to exist is, by definition, an anti-Semite.
It seems to me, my lack of knowledge of the history of Israel notwithstanding, that the modern state of Israel was established in the years after World War II with the support of Western powers, including the United States. Absent this support, the state of Israel would not exist. At the risk of over-simplifying things, why shouldn't the same standard be applied to Tibet? Or the Lakota tribe here in the United States? Or a bunch of other folks who have had their lands taken from them by powers that were stronger than they could defeat?
This is what it looks like to a lot of folks in flyover country who, believe it or not, have no ax to grind against Jewish people. Leave it to a poorly educated African American man with substance abuse issues to make it plain: Why can't we all just get along? That, to me, seems the essential question, and the more folks on both, or all, sides of the issue say this, that or the other thing about the other side to bolster their case and cast blame, the less I am impressed.
Discrimination is wrong. Racism is wrong. Sexism is wrong. But it seems to me that we're missing forests for trees when we debate who showed up where to give a speech.
3
"But, while I'm no expert on the history of Israel, it seems to me that Stephens is somewhat overwrought here in saying that anyone who questions the right of Israel to exist is, by definition, an anti-Semite."
You're quite right, August. I have known many Conservative and Orthodox Jews who use scripture to question Israel's right to exist I don't recall the passage in question, but it has to do with timing: Israel shouldn't exist as a nation before the coming of the Messiah. That's their interpretation, at least, and they're sincere, just as they're sincere in their practice of Judaism in places far from Jerusalem.
1
Let's be clear. Although Christian-fundamentalist "love" for Israel seems now to be taken for granted, the roots of that love reveal something less than true affection. Things were not so friendly 50 years ago. I know because I lived in the Midwest (Missouri and Iowa) at the time and spent Sunday mornings wading through the horde of fundamentalist television preachers . Jews were hated as Christ-killers. More to my surprise, Catholics were also hated, with the Pope the incarnation of the Beast from Revelation.
For Jews, things began to change when it became standard fare for the preachers to argue that the Second Coming was dependent on the existence of a Jewish state: Jesus would return to Jerusalem to raise the dead and extinguish non-believers (which, by the way, included all Christ-denying Jews). While the Second-Coming would be nasty for Jews, it depended for its timing on the existence of a Jewish state in Jerusalem. Theologically, the fundamentalists needed the Jewish state.
Over time, the origins of the fundamentalist dedication to Israel have receded. But that dedication is not borne of affection; it is an accommodation to the theological belief that Israel is necessary to a Second Coming which, ironically, will see Judaism finally vanquished.
There are millions of Christians who genuinely love Jews and love Israel. But Christian fundamentalism owes its allegiance to Israel to what it perceives as doctrinal necessity.
I am not deceived.
3
Uh… Newsflash. It is ATHEISTS who are the targets of the greatest venom. From all quarters. Especially in the Midwest and the South in this country. Those who choose to be rational, base opinions on fact, reject the very notion of "faith" (belief without evidence) and reject mythology and tribalism are the greatest threat to most of humanity. This, in turn, gives us The Donald, Bibi, Bannon, and a panoply of miscreant and zealot "leaders", as well as "learned" influencers who clog our information sources. Did I mention Brett Stephens?
1
One must not rule out the possibility of right-wing Zionists whose politics are authoritarian and bear the same animosity toward Palestinians and other Muslims that white supremacists in Europe and America bear toward Jews. Such people are not likely to be worried about keeping company with the likes of Steve Bannon. Like Bannon, they are radicals, not conservatives. And like the alt-right in the US, there is a danger they will normalize extremist positions and nudge mainstream politics further to the right.
3
Ok, Bret Stephens, consider this historical fact: South African Prime Minister John Vorster made a state visit to Israel on 9 April 1976, at the invitation of Shimon Peres. I'm not sure that this was the action of a small democracy trying to uphold a set of liberal values. It rather had the effect of some sort of nuclear weapon co-operation between the two countries leading to the development of the 'apartheid bomb'. I'm not sure your argument stands up in the face of this fact - that the Israeli government itself associated with someone like Vorster who was interned in South Africa during the second world war for pro-Nazi sympathies, somewhat similar to Mr Bannon's. What are the implications of this? I would say that it is foolish to try and draw ethical lines around the actions of any group of whatever ideological stripe when it comes to the complexity thrown up by Israel. This is not a cop-out - it rather recognises that there is no Archimedean point from which to 'qualify' or 'disqualify' anyone from engaging with the Israeli complex.
2
How long before we see the fall of steve bannon? It will happen and it will be happening soon. He'll soon be on the American political garbage heap where he belongs.
Does anyone else remember that Tom Lehrer ditty listing various groups that hate other groups and ends with "... and everyone hates the Jews"?
I fear for my Jewish children and grandchildren. The world has become dramatically more perilous for everyone, but perhaps especially for Jews.
Steve Bannon will have his 15 minutes of fame. He'll soon burn out and join others like him on the American political garbage heap. Our country is so strong that we can weather him, trump, palin, gingrich, and a whole bunch of others I cant think of. The sludge always rises to the bottom!
SUPPORT BANNON TO DESTROY DONOR-DRIVEN REPUBLICANS
Bannon's support for anti-Semetic ideologues is horrible; but his effectiveness in splitting and thereby destroying the Republican Party (less taxes for the rich, less public goods for all) is uniquely valuable.
We should pay the price of ideological commentary to get the value of destroying the donor-driven partisanship of the Republican Party.
1
It’s not a matter of being a Jew or not being a Jew. Bannon’s promulgation of divisiveness and hatred is bad for everyone. To see that clearly, you just have to open your eyes. The problem is that too many of us didn’t do that when it really counted.
We don’t have the luxury of letting that happen again – because we never did in the first place.
2
I don't know Bret Stephens' religious views except to have learned from Wikipedia that he is the child of secular Jewish parents, as am I. One of Mr. Stephens' opinions of an appropriate view of Israel is to support its identity as a "Jewish state". He condemns Jewish Voice for Peace, which is an organization to which I contribute, and bemoans and conflates the alleged fact that it “makes common cause with someone like Linda Sarsour — the Palestinian-American activist who advocates the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state and publicly praised a convicted terrorist” as being tantamount “to deny[ing] Israel’s right to exist. Would be happy if this United States were to declare itself to be a "Christian state"? If, like me, Mr. Stephens is a secular Jew, he should be outraged at the extreme power over secular affairs that is exercised by a body of Orthodox rabbis in Israel. If I lived there I couldn't have gotten married to my wife without having to do so officiated by a rabbi whose beliefs and ceremony were alien to me.
5
This bit: "support for Israel is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a friend to Jews" worries me.
It seems a like a dangerous standard for being a friend to Jews. Is blind support of Isreal required if one is able to claim being a friend to Jews?
Isreal has a terrible leader right now, many problems, and although I support it's right to exist, I also support the rights of a Palestinian State to exist. And I expect Israel to support that right too. I am a friend to Jews.
3
"Simply put, support for Israel is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a friend to Jews."
I personally reject Stephens' apparent assertion that to criticize Israel = anti-Semitism.
While I agree that to go so far as to advocate the dissolution of Israel is certainly motivated at least in part by anti-Semitic feelings, I find it a bit insulting, a bit myopic, and a bit silly, really, to try to paint any criticism of Israeli action or policy as anti-Semitic.
5
There is nothing anti-semitic about advocating that the State of Israel cease being explicitly a Jewish State but rather a country where all its citizens have equal rights and status. In fact, supporting the Jewish State as such is like supporting "France for the French", "Hungary for the Hungarians", "Russia for the Russians", etc. In other words, Bannonism. So, Bret Stephens, you should embrace the ZOA, because the ZOA, like you, is Bannonist to the core.
6
I detest the whole idea of support of Israel, a Jewish state, carte blanche.
2
Politicized Christians and zealots on a mission to foment conflict between religions for their own political purposes like Steve Bannon are no friend to Jews.
They have their own agendas, and when the time comes, their loyalty will only be be to themselves and their causes. Alliances are temporary; when allies are no longer useful, they will be discarded, and if deemed necessary, betrayed.
There are many friends to Jews, both religious and secular, but Steve Bannon is not one of them.
1
there's no such thing as good for Jews or bad for Jews, because there are as many different Jews in America as there are different Christians in America (assuming Bret is Christian). A Zionist Organization embraces Bannon, Trump embraces Duterte, Ecuadorian president Correa embraces Julian Assange, Hannity embraces Moore - it's a regular lovefest.
2
Interesting but with Israel itself far right, what difference does the stateside optics make? Bad PR is what this hardliner hates.
1
There are so many things wrong about that drunken slob that it wouldn't occur to me to get this far down the list of them.
Bannon is is not just bad for the Jews: he’s bad for immigrants, he’s bad for minorities, he’s bad for women, he’s bad for democracy, and, since he purports to represent the views of white male Christians, he’s especially bad for them. On the bright side, however, he’s also very bad for the Republican Party. Given his druthers, the party, as it is currently constituted, will be dismantled. In other words, maybe if he succeeds in that undertaking, he will be good for the country.
1
Hard to fathom that Louis Brandeis founded ZOA. It has been years since it lived by its former values. Hopefully the Bannon episode will destroy it. The Conference of Major Jewish Organizations should expel them immediately.
2
In Kushner we trust. Not. Beware of false profits (sic).
Who is good for the Americans?
I can sympathize with Jews not wanting things that are not good for the Jews.
But can Jews sympathize with Americans not wanting things that are not good for the Americans?
Implicit in the notion of not good for the Jews is the reaction that Jews shouldn't support things that are not good for the Jews.
By the same token, Americans shouldn't be expected to support things or people who are not good for the Americans.
1
It could also be said that Mr. Bannon is bad for friends of Jews who, like in Germany during WWII, had to either hide them or expose them. It could be said that Mr. Bannon is bad for all of us, including WASP's, who he tries to represent, but makes them out to be anti so many people. It could also be said that Mr. Bannon is bad for humanity as he strives toward destruction of our country and our friendship with countries around the world.
1
I would like to begin by saying that Israel has a right to exist, a denial is a blatant form of anti-semitism. The beliefs however of some secular Jews that criticism of Israel is anti-semitism is a form of silencing freedom of speech. My best friend is Jewish and I admire their contributions to the world community.
I do however consider labeling Israel as a ''liberal state'' is simply complex. Israel has a history of troubling behavior such as justice minister Ayelet Shaked beliefs that ''there is no co-exitance with cancer''.
Liberal states Mr. Stephens do not forcibly give their Ethopian Jews birth control a form of racial engineering. http://forward.com/opinion/196719/israel-s-uncomfortable-history-of-raci...
Israel was also a great ally of South Africa when it was an apartheid state arming hem with Uzi's as well as providing nuclear weapons technology and biological weapons.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2010/05/24/israels-most-illicit-affair/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/23/israel-apartheid-south-afr....
As I said Israel has the right to exist, however labeling it a ''liberal'' state is a fallacy and not allowing criticism of the actions committed by Israel is also not conducive to creating peace.
3
Just a clarification:
"repair of the world," (tikkun olam) actually is a (if not "the") central teaching of Judaism.
Thank you once again, Bret. You remind me a bit of Christopher Hitchens at his best.
1
Israel will do best without the support of as-if liberals like the author of this article who because of their need to retain a fantasy of a Jewish state to their liking enable the blood and soil aberration it has become. Israel should be the country of the people who live there, not of other people who feel some kind of perverse right over it, whether right or center or left. Leave us alone.
2
The sentiment here is better expressed in the subjunctive:
Israel SHOULDN’T BE a latter-day Crusader kingdom holding out against a 21st-century Mahometan horde. It SHOULD BE a small democracy trying to uphold a set of liberal values against autocrats and religious fanatics sworn to its destruction. Zionists SHOULD love Israel because of the way in which it brings together the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization, not because of some blood and soil nationalism.
Unfortunately, since the last intifada, far too many supporters of Israel (not just the ZOA people, but among the AIPAC crowd too) have come to reject these ideals. They may still deploy these ideals for propaganda purposes, but they do not believe them.
Israel’s true friends must reckon with this fact and reclaim Zionism from the ethnonationalists. One important step is to stop expressing these ideals in the indicative mood, as though Israel were already what it should be: a democratic state and homeland to the Jewish people.
4
Let's flip the Headline. (And unlike the Headline, make it a question.) Is Bret Stephens (and by association the New York Times) Bad for the Gentiles? Now we bring up the rarely used phrase anti-Gentilism. A phrase that has no common identification. But, again, a question. Are American Gentiles being improperly lead into a political and military situation in the Middle East that is not in their best interest? Is a label of anti-Semitism being used to cower a public from opposing manipulation? Once again, a question. But one well overdue to be asked.
2
Bannon's long term game plan is to eject any one he deems not white enough and not European enough. Period. Ejection occurs after as many as possible have "voluntarily" left and after as many as possible in need of healthcare have died. He is simply evil. Trump is the trojan horse. Wake up.
162
You are so wrong on this. Bannon has spent his life among a diverse crowd. Just because he wants a melting pot over multiculturalism doesn't mean he's a racist.
1
Follow the money...all of it...to Bannon and, by the way, his "protégé" Miller, who appears to write the texts that Trump reads as speeches.
Miller resembles Roy Cohn, who was a disgrace to both the legal profession, this nation, and Jews.
This column by Bret Stevens is a brave, penetrating, and much-needed statement of principle.
10
Extremist fundamentalists of all stripes are looney & dangerous. Fanatics willing to kill for ethnic cleansing are Nazi-esque.
Bannon claims to support American citizens against immigrants but has never embraced any civil rights position for citizen minorities- ethnic, disabled or LGBTQ.
Israeli settlement hawks mirror Palestinian terrorists. Trump & Bannon fetishize thug demagogues for their 'strength'- but they require hate-based rabid followers. Alas- not all Jews are rational supporters of democracy.
9
I agree. Americans should be able to criticize the behavior of America and American extremists and not labeled un-American or Blame-America-Firsters, and Jewish people should be able to criticize the behavior of Israel or other Jewish people without being labeled self-hating Jews. It is an attempt to prevent valid criticism through labeling people unqualified to express their opinions.
Israel denies Palestine's right to exist every day, and continues to take more and more land from the people who have lived there for many centuries. It should be possible to criticize these actions. It should be possible to resist these actions until they stop. Israel's behavior in the West Bank is not making Israel more secure. People should recognize this. Israel should convince the Palestinians they will get all of the West Bank back as soon as Palestinians have sufficiently demonstrated that Israel will not be threatened by a Palestinian state (even if this takes a generation). Demonstrating the intent to create a Palestinian state (by stopping the settlements, for example) could precede actually giving full control back to Palestinians by several decades even. There is a way, if there is a will.
1
Kind of like the GOP is bad for most Americans.
8
This reminds me of a strange phenomena I've encountered on twitter. Because it says in my profile that I am the son of a Holocaust survivor, I was followed by a number of people who post sympathetic stories about victims of the Holocaust. But in all other respects they are very far right- Trump supporters with a zeal you usually get from the alt. right. When I questioned one of them he viciously attacked me. In all ways he seemed like a prototypical racist. I don't get it.
6
Here's the thing, Mr. Stephens. Steve Bannon isn't only bad for the Jews -- or, did you somehow manage to overlook that?
I don't know how.
Mr. Bannon's free-range spewings of hatred and bigotry leaves very few left unscathed, and his mission to take down not only the Republican party, but this country, is proof of it.
This is something that should be of great concern to both Jews and non-Jews alike.
And that's the real message, Mr. Stephens.
31
In the context of the ZOA's having honored him, I think it's fair to just discuss his pseudo-Zionism. But you're right. The column was a lot about helping American Jews see our self-interest more properly. Simpy put, just because someone supports the state of Israel, it doesn't mean they care one bit about Jews and Steve Bannon is the avatar of that. To reference Fiddler on the Roof, as Bannon and the other alt-right anti-Semites might say, "God bless and keep the Jews...far away from us!"
It's ok to to address one topic at a time.
@nyer
It's not OK to address one topic at the expense of another -- and let's face it, Steve Bannon is "Bad", period.
I agree with this excellent statement. Here in Germany, there are, disastrously, even some right-of-center Jewish intellectuals who are allying themselves with alt-right circles which are, in turn, allied with Nazis. These intellectuals discursively tolerate Nazis by putting forward the argument that the worst anti-semites are Muslim immigrants. What is so striking when one reads Breitbart is how careful their editorial board is to not have anti-semitic statements in any of their articles (after August 2016), yet the COMMENTS section is teeming and overflowing with crude expressions of hatred against Jews, along with many other hatreds. The readers in the Breitbart scene are hate-mongers, but Bannon has his "deniability." "We are just ECONOMIC nationalists."
15
I’ve begun to suspect that the comments section is the best indication of a given publication’s true Editorial slant and political intent. Breitbart’s reader comments—which feature endless invective, name calling, and racist/sexists rants—are an excellent example. Birds of a feather tend to roost together.
I would agree with Stephen that the denial of Israel's right to exist is a form of anti-semitism. I would also like to applaud and thank the Jewish people for their efforts throughout history in building a moral world. I do however find it troubling and scary to label criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism, this is a modern phenomenon that is supported by neoliberals and conservatives. The truth is throughout Israel's existence it has allied itself with far-right fascist groups and nation states. Labeling Israel as a ''liberal'' nation is complex when members of the Israeli cabinet such as the justice minister Ayelet Shaked has called for labeling all Palestinians as ''enemy combatants''.
12
Bret Stephens probably has kept closer track of these things than the rest of us, but it is mystifying to most people who are neither Jewish nor conservative how someone can support a champion of white supremacists and neo-Nazis and claim, in the same breath, to be a friend of Israel.
It does not require great intellectual analysis to see the incompatibility of these views. That is one reason why fans of Bibi Netanyahu often are people with the worst ideas about what is best for the long-range survival and success of Israel.
Steve Bannon is the antithesis of what Judaism has meant to western civilization for centuries as our conscience and moral beacon.
9
Aha. You are a wise person. You get it. Take it from me ( i have the Kahane gene) a Jew from way back, That is the way is was supposed to be. God's "chosen" people is a responsibility. I knew that a fellow Clevelander would have it right!
2
The US right-wing Jewish establishment is acting as if in parallel with current, hard-pressed, right wing Christian Alabamans. If someone vociferously champions your pet cause, then their obvious moral shortcomings don’t matter. No matter the risk to their cause through association with such people. How such stupefyingly self destructive beheavior has become almost normalized says lot about the cultish politics evolving on the far, and not so far right. Trump’s loyalists are just another example of this sorry phenomenon.
9
Two quotes worth remembering:
Bannon: "I’m a Leninist. Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal, too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment."
Lenin: "There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience."
Jews - and, in fact, Americans in general - embrace Steve Bannon at their peril.
15
Well said, Mr. Stephens. If I may add, the current administration in Israel has made a major mistake in so aggressively courting the extreme right in the US over the last decade. Their efforts have included throwing signicant elbows at mainstream center-left American supporters of Israel, creating unnecessary resentment and hurt feelings. This is not in the interests of either country and certainly not in the interests of our shared values of Enlightenment liberalism.
11
I'm sure to be tarred as an anti-Semite, but let's talk about Palestine.
The behavior of Israel towards the Palestinians over the last seventy years is not without fault. I still remember Arafat speaking at the UN in 1974. What were you, Mr. Stephens, a one year old? You ought to re-read his speech with an open mind.
I'm a peacenik. I expect people and nations to all work hard to get along. I don't take sides on this issue, but it's clear that the vehement anti-Palestine sentiment of Israel is equal to or even greater than the anti-Israel sentiment of Palestine. What it says to me is this: Israel will do anything, and align themselves with anybody, to "win." The high-minded principles and egalitarianism of Judaism or Israel has nothing to do with this conflict anymore. It's become only about winning.
Sound familiar? We had an entire Republican Congress unwilling to denounce the candidacy of Donald Trump because they rubbed their hands together with glee, thinking, "now we're going to win." How's that winning going, Bret?
Jewish people everywhere should be asking themselves how far they're willing to go to "win."
To close, some words from Arafat's speech at the UN, so long ago now:
"Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. I repeat: do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."
Maybe it is time to add "repairing the world" to the central teachings of Judaism.
14
Ararfat was just another version of Bannon. An opportunist. I do however agree with some of your sentiment. In fact, "tikkun olam" need not be "added". It has endured for thousands of years.
Even Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia (certainly not a Zionist) said that Arafat’s refusal to accept the January 2001 offer was a crime. Thousands of people would die because of Arafat’s decision & not one of those deaths could be justified.
As Clinton later wrote in his memoir:
It was historic: an Israeli government had said that to get peace, there would be a Palestinian state in roughly 97 percent of the West Bank, counting the [land] swap, and all of Gaza, where Israel also had settlements. The ball was in Arafat’s court.
But Arafat would not, or could not, bring an end to the conflict. “I still didn’t believe Arafat would make such a colossal mistake,” Clinton wrote. “The deal was so good I couldn’t believe anyone would be foolish enough to let it go.” But the moment slipped away. “Arafat never said no; he just couldn’t bring himself to say yes.”
1
Historically, when Jews fail to "win," what is it that they lose?
1
Both liberal and conservative presidents have armed and supported Israel since its founding. Liberals in America and Israel have supported the idea of trying to find an agreement with the Palestinians. This liberal desire has not endangered Israel as it has always been backed by hard headed realism. How can any agreement be reached with the Palestinians when a dedicated portion of them remain dedicated to the destruction of Israel? Unless the Palestinian People are willing and able to enforce peace within their own State there can be no settlement between them and Israel.
8
How large a portion of Israelis are dedicated to taking more and more of the desirable parts of the West Bank forever, creating facts on the ground so they can't be given back? Even if it isn't 10% it is still large enough to control their government. How can Palestinians be convinced to wholeheartedly support a peace process, and Israel's right to live in peace while watching what the settlers are doing every day? It goes both ways, and stopping the settlers would only increase Israel's moral standing in the world and their security. It would be win-win for Israel.
Bannon is just plain bad for humanity. People that spew hatred, that castigate others for the way they look or think, don’t belong in society. Best for all of us, including, centrally the media, to ignore him and maybe he’ll fade into history as a grain of sand in the receding tide. The sad thing is that Trump hung his hat on Bannon, ingnorantly so, and while he’s seemingly dissociated himself from the alt-right, there’s still the slime that infects everything the President does.
9
I’m surpised Stephens didn’t mention how Bannon didn’t want to send his kids to school with Jewish children because they were whiners.
I am Jewish. I am proud of my groups accomplishments; but many of us do whine. I like that while many groups speak of how great they are, at its core the Jewish people attribute their success to the power of god and adherence to the principles of right and wrong that are inherent in that faith.
I also love Western civilization and the cantankerous nature of made in America Christians. The rugged individualism. The hard love that says quit your whining, you are not entitled to anything; pick yourself up and get to it.
That is for me what Bannon is saying.
Missing in western culture and most cultures for that matter is a fuller word for original sin. By that I mean the reality that there are differences between people, between groups, between species. Some are blessed others struggle. Some have things we desire; if we are suppose to help others how is it fair to deny them anything.
Right now a large segment of the Democrats choose to blame others success for the failures of others. That historically has been the biggest threat to Jews and sadly it is the Democrats who have made a science of it. That thinking is the biggest threat to Jews and Israel.
4
Reading this comment i understand why the US has gone bezerk.
Support for a unified non-sectarian democratic Israel/Palestine with equal rights and responsibilities for all if its citizens is not anti-Semitic.
2
Please, name something, anything, that he is GOOD for.
Thanks, GOP.
4
There is no such entity as "The Jews." There are simply people, like me, who are Jewish. We are citizens of the USA and dozens of other nations around the globe. We come in all colors and from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. In the more liberal forms of Judaism, we embrace change and often adopt new customs from our co-religionists. The degree to which we are religiously observant varies widely; some of us are simultaneously atheist, agnostic or Buddhist.
In my opinion, anyone who lumps us under one label has a personal agenda they want "The Jews" to serve, be they Christian Zionists or neo-Nazis or ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlers and so on ad nauseum. I, for one, am heartily sick of being labeled, defined and used by others.
Steve Bannon is bad for everybody. He represents some of the ugliest aspects of our nation, and I am disgusted that the ZOA invited him to speak. I love our country, despite its flaws, and I love Israel, despite its flaws. I cannot and will not will support any organization that embraces extremists of any sort.
Unfortunately, one person's extremist often is another person's hero/ leader/ patriot. Beware of "true believers," and speak out against prejudice and hatred in all of its manifestations, overt or subtle!
34
Bannon is bad for everyone, especially for Trump, the GOP, and the moral character of this nation.
4
Conservatives created these situations. Neoconservative now want us to fawn over their 'courageous' condemations? The very thin line between their initial guffaws on right wing election night victories and utter failures like Bannon, the tax plan of Kansas they still want to foist on us, and the "private behaviour" of our (their) President that only would affect a mogul's career, is.....sad.
The State of Israel does NOT call itself The Jewish State of Israel. Every nation can choose to call itself whatever it wants - that is that nation’s choice. People within that nation will have different views on what that nation should call itself. There are wide, divergent views within Israel: a secular, democratic state with a Jewish majority with minority rights that is safe haven for all Jews in the world (the dominant and historical view in Israel), a state with a Jewish slight majority or slight minority that undemocratically rules over non-Jews as second class citizens or with Apartheid-like/Jim Crow-like laws (a growing view in Israel and the current Netanyahu ruling coalition view), a Jewish theocracy - Temple rebuilt, Eretz Israel (all of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, part of Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia - between Nile and Tigris rivers - Yahweh’s Promised Land to the Jews). I fully support the first view, but not the other views. I admire Israel within ‘67 borders - an ally and remarkable country, but not it’s occupation. I fully support a 2-State solution - still. Palestinians must recognize the State of Israel, like PA did, and Israelis should recognize Palestinian right to a State (Likud never has). There is no requirement to recognize a Jewish State, that’s up to Israelis to determine.
6
The 1967 borders are the 1948 cease fire lines. Both Arabs & Israelis said that these were not to be considered permanent borders.
People used the results of World War 2 to reset the borders of Europe. No one said let's ignore World War 2 & let's ignore World War 1 & let's go by the results of the Franco-Prussian War. However, when it comes to the Jewish State, people say we should ignore the Yom Kippur War, we should ignore the Six-Day War & we should ignore the 1956 War. Why do people treat Israel differently?
1
Yes, I know 1967 borders refer to "the armistice lines from before the Six Day War, when Israel captured the Gaza Strip from Egypt and the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, among other land, expanding its territory beyond the "Green Line" borders delineated by a 1949 (not 1948) armistice between Israel and its Arab neighbors." The Six Day War was a pre-emptive war, with Israeli intelligence and leadership openly admitting at the time that there was no existential threat from Egypt or Jordan, with Israeli PM Eshkol resisting the pre-emptive attack. However, "the 1967 borders have long been considered the probable contours of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement." Basis for peace deals from Rabin, Barak and Olmert, with inadequate counter-offers from Arafat and Abbas. Basis for 2-state solution. I agree with Obama: "The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps." Likud and Netanyahu have never agreed - they have always wanted all of Palestine or more.
1
Six Day War background:
"Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin acknowledged that 'In June 1967, we again had a choice. The Egyptian army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.'"
"Yitzhak Rabin, who would also later become Prime Minister of Israel, admitted in 1968 that 'I do not think Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent to the Sinai would not have been sufficient to launch an offensive war. He knew it and we knew it.'"
"General Chaim Herzog, commanding general and first military governor of the occupied West Bank following the war, admitted that 'There was no danger of annihilation. Israeli headquarters never believed in this danger.'”
"Israeli Minister of Housing Mordechai Bentov has also acknowledged that 'The entire story of the danger of extermination was invented in every detail, and exaggerated a posteriori to justify the annexation of new Arab territory.'”
https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2010/06/17/top-ten-myths-about-the-...
2
Anti-Semitism is both the socialism of fools and the conservatism of creeps. What a great line. I know I can use it. I just need to figure out what it means. Keep in mind, I am not suggesting it doesn't strengthen the argument that hosting Bannon is like inviting a fox into the chicken coop, it does, I think. But I know, if I try to tell you what I think it means the recently woke will attack me.
1
"It is a small democracy trying to uphold a set of liberal values against autocrats and religious fanatics sworn to its destruction. "
The nation of Israel is rather small by international standards, but it a religious-based parliamentary "democracy." In Israel "you're Jewish" or "you're not Jewish." Their government may consist of everyone spanning the political spectrum, but it is too often beholden to tiny, ultra-conservative (in the rest of the world, we call them fanatics) religious political parties like Shas, which contain two or three members, and hold disproportionate power in the Knesset. It is the support from these tiny fanatic factions that sometimes make or break the forming of a governing body.
I agree with your opinion that Bannon is vile and would go further to say he's a crackpot masquerading as a 19th century political philosopher. But you should be careful when you bring autocrats and religious fanatics into the discussion. One definition of an autocrat is: Someone who insists on complete obedience from others. Israel, while small, has more than its fair share of Jewish autocrats and Jewish religious fanatics. Israelis don't seem to be much worried about that though, especially the politicians who court the support of these time to time. Israelis might see that as ok, as good for them. But it's really not. Just like Bannon and his ilk, no matter how much they appear good for Israel, they're really not.
2
Thank you for this column. Perfect pitch. I am an American Jew. The Jews of the world should know that they must the remain the conscience of mankind. The consequences for everyone are far too great to pass this off. We have always supported Israel's right to exist. We don't need RW Zionists. The entire concept is an oxymoron.
3
Good column. Ride the tiger and ultimately you get eaten. It has always been short sighted for Jews to support fascists. And this goes back a ways. There were plenty of Italian Jews who supported Mussolini. Fast forward to Israel's welcoming of right wing, American Evangelical support. The Evangelicals support the State of Israel because they see the existence of Israel as a harbinger of the end of days -- when Jews and all other non-Christians will be extinguished in an apocalyptic end-of-time fire. Some friends.
5
Poor judgment by ZOA, but perhaps inevitable. The right supports Israel, and the left by and large doesn't. In theory, this would be tied to other issues, but--given that Israel has a demographic future and American Jews don't--can we really blame people for forgetting this?
1
As with Roy Moore, whom Steve Bannon openly supports, Mr. Bannon’s boosters seem to fear more from those who oppose Messrs. Moore and Bannon than from the gentlemen themselves.
“If the past century holds a lesson for Jews, it’s to beware every form of illiberalism, including the illiberalism of those who purport to be on our side.”
Far from being aware of illiberalism, right-wing Jews (particularly in Israel) now ally with Evangelicals in the US against liberal Jews and certainly against President Obama. This position is made very clear by online publications such as “United With Israel”. They see liberal Jews as being soft on Palestinians and therefore a threat to the existence of Israel. They also believe that Israel now has more to fear from the “left” than from the “right”.
But – there’s a point here. The UK’s Independent newspaper published the results of a YouGov poll last August, concluding that “over 80 per cent of British Jews believe (the) Labour (Party) is too tolerant of anti-Semitism within its ranks and that a further 65 per cent of respondents believe the (British) Government does not do enough to protect British Jews, while 52 per cent said the Crown Prosecution Service could do more.”
So - Jeremy Corbyn (UK Labour Party’s leader) from the left or Steve Bannon from the right? Who’s your friend? Not an easy call – but maybe it’s a question of choosing/rejecting friends wisely – regardless of their political hue.
3
In my advocacy against involuntary male circumcision, I have come up against a parallel situation. Although Jews themselves (including me) are among the most energetic and committed opponents of male genital mutilation, the genital-autonomy movement has also attracted, unfortunately, alt-right types and anti-Semites who are only too happy to have yet another club with which to beat up on Jews. Consequently, I have occasionally had to disassociate myself from "allies" in the cause of the right to grow up with one's genitals intact on account of their anti-Semitism. With friends like that, who needs enemies? The obverse of this, of course, is that the anti-Semites who are infiltrating the intactivist movement are ultimately providing ammunition to those proponents of involuntary circumcision who are only too happy, in turn, to point to the anti-Semites in our ranks as proof that intactivism is fundamentally anti-Semitic. (It isn't, of course. See Beyond the Bris and the many other Jewish organizations and individuals who oppose all genital mutilation of all children regardless of sex, religion, nationality or ethnicity.) Just as "support for Israel is too important to tarnish through association with the likes of Bannon," so support for the right of bodily autonomy is too important to tarnish through association with anti-Semites. It seems no matter what the cause, we Jews always seem to find ourselves squeezed between enemies on both sides. That seems to be our lot in life.
1
Making a pact with Bannon is a little like making a pact with the devil. He gains strength but he will turn on you when it serves his purposes. Then he will view your outrage at his perfidy with amusement. He has no loyalty to you and views your support for him with contempt.
5
As a long, long time activist in African American/Jewish coalition workings, we have disagreed more than we agreed on the best way to achieve specific goals in the political economy; but we’ve never disagreed that racism, sexism and anti-Semitism are all the same thing. When the issues are ambiguous to one side, the side that is most affected makes the call especially if distinctions are undefinable outside of direct personal experiences.
All of our decisions involving racism, sexism and anti-Semitism are being made more difficult since the man-at-the-top has crossed the line on too many occasions.
It is going to take some time, and many relationships are going to be damaged, before we reach a collective conclusion that the man at the top cannot be trusted, ought not be listened to or followed for any reason.
11
A propos of this subject, I have been concerned that the very targeted tax increase proposed by the Republican Congress for professionals such as doctors and lawyers combined with the curtailment of mortgage interest deductions and state and local tax deductions will have a disproportionate effect on Jews that given my knowledge of history may not be accidental. A lot of these proposals reflect a policy consensus within conservative circles but some of these proposals seem targeted.
3
One of your commentators suggests that Mr. Stephens commentary is superficial. Not so; his column is brief and to the point, which is as I understand it is "Beware of anti-Semites bearing gifts".
That applies to Christians, especially the "Last Days" crowd whose friendship for Israel appears predicated on a belief that a powerful Israel will lead to the Last Judgement. With friends like that, Jews, usually excluded from the saved by such pastors, encounter a form of anti-Semitism which disguises itself by proclaiming support for Israel.
As others note, criticism of Israel is not per se evidence of anti-Semitism. Mr. Stephens notwithstanding, there is nothing "liberal" about Netanyahu's version of the Jewish state nor in his treatment of Palestine.
238
Mr. Stephens op-ed piece is cogent, but it would have been far more effective if it had been written in plain English rather than in the florid, inflated rhetoric that passes for clear exposition these days.
1
the was bank was captured from Jordan
Gaza was captured from Egypt
how did those places suddenly become Palestine?
Pali's are nothing but a weapon aimed at jews
1
Israelis are lynched if they mistakenly take a wrong turn to Arab village.
Israel's Arabs have highest standard of living from those in the region.
Same hospital best treatment, everything you're hostage to fake news.
1
The "White on White Voting" analysis is more to the point. The white male population feel under the gun, and are trying to turn back the tide of minorities who are mainly immigrants. Mobility and the internet are causing an increase in the fear of the white males. If this group feel that Trump and Roy Moore are their rescue, they are mistaken. As to theZionists, it is not clear what they think Trump and Roy will do for them. To me, the Zionists have made a tremendous error in recognizing Bannon. Bannon is not even to the level of Robespierre.
6
As a member of the "white male population" who is not coastal, I can tell you support for Trump did not come from antipathy towards minorities. It came from feelings of neglect, alienation, and poverty. Most Trump voters knew Trump wouldn't deliver. They just wanted to throw a wrench into the Bush/Clinton machine and scream an obscenity at an economy and political system that at best took them for granite, at worst holds them in contempt. Not very productive, but also not based in intolerance or racism.
2
I am at a complete loss for words, as well as frightened that not only has anti-Semitism never gone away but it is now seeing a resurgence and my fellow Jews are embracing it. Yes, the left (no, not the far left, The Left) has absolutely embraced an anti-Israel platform but so has the far right. Whatever happened to the moderates?! Remove the Jewish part from Israel and you have a country that is a beacon of light in a region that oppresses and tortures and slaughters gays and women and anyone else who doesn't agree with the government's policies.
I am scared for what the future may hold but cannot completely lose hope.
12
I think that it is a sincere profile in courage to follow Sheldon Adelson's lead here. I am looking forward to when you stop giving Bibi Netanyahu a free pass.
14
Israel could also maintain mainstream support by actually pursuing an agreement with the Palestinians rather than perpetuating as an occupying power. How much easier it would be to support Israel if every statement of support did not have to qualified by a rejection of how they treat the Palestinians.
23
Former President Bill Clinton said that he went to great lengths to secure a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians while he was in office, but that the Palestinians rejected the offer.
“I killed myself to give the Palestinians a state. I had a deal they turned down that would have given them all of Gaza, … between 96 and 97 percent of the West Bank, compensating land in Israel, you name it,”
When Arafat called Clinton a great man, Clinton responded, “The hell I am.”
“I’m a colossal failure, and you made me one,”
1
Brett, thanks for educating your readers about ZOA's gala, both the honoring of Stephen Bannon and the standing ovations he unfortunately received. We are all judged by the company we keep, and ZOA and its admirers should not be admiring Bannon.
Also, thanks for a great line to remember: "Zionists love Israel because of the way in which it brings together the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization, not because of some blood and soil nationalism." Well put, if only the right wing of our country and theirs took it to heart.
13
Extraordinary piece...Everybody ought to read it ....
8
I've always struggled to understand the political contrasts within the Jewish faith. In conversation, I've consistently found these cataclysmic differences of opinion that are somehow linked by an undefinable commonality. The only common denominator is faith so I assume faith must have something to do with the experience. However, we also need to recognize the vast diversity of interpretation within the Jewish religion as well. In the end, the contrast might not be so remarkable after all. I'm not sure.
In any event, I think the Jewish community frequently misinterprets the rhetoric of Christian Zionists. Not all Christian Zionists are necessarily anti-Semitic but they're coming from a very different place than Jewish Zionists. The words may sound the same but the world view is dramatically different. I happen to live in a place founded on Zionist principles and I still struggle to wrap my head around the underlying theology. The thought process certainly doesn't resemble anything I've ever encountered in the Jewish religion.
Inviting Steve Bannon to a ZOA dinner was obviously a mistake. However, I think there is a greater misunderstanding still out there. Religions with a long tradition of deep self-reflection seem to assume the same quality in other faiths. I think this is a second mistake. Not everyone is capable of internal analysis, criticism, and disagreement in the same way as our oldest religions. Beware drawing mental parallels too quickly.
2
Let's not forget that Sebastian Gorka also attended the Bund Gala.
10
Stephens' seems sadly unable to call out problematic right wing behavior without first smearing the left. Is it necessary to smear JVP and Sarsour to make this point about the ZOA and Bannon. On one side you have Sarsour who, as a Palestinian should not be expected to go light on Israel, but who embraces all Jews and who embraces Israelis who call for equality. On that same side you have Sarsour working for equality for all which is explicitly not the aim of Zionism. On that same side you have JVP, which is critical of Zionism and its exclusivist, nationalist tendencies, working for equality between Palestinians and Israelis. JVP works for racial justice, gender justice, LGTBQ rights, etc. On the other side you have Bannon who created a platform for the worst of the alt-Right. He has given platforms to racists, anti-Semites, Islamophobes, homophobes, misogynists, and those opposed to equality for people. Those things don't balance and are not moral equivalents.
28
As an american jew, this article illustrates to exactly my problem with organizations such as ZOA and AIPEC as well as the current regime in Israel. Discussion, dissent, and criticism are essential aspects to the jewish experience.
The author states that "Simply put, support for Israel is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a friend to Jews." This argument is no different than those who blame jews around the world for the policies of the israeli government.
I am a jew, but I am not israeli. My history and my religion are essential to who I am, but a country run by the orthodox who would not accept my converted relatives and who support an occupation mirroring our own historical oppression is no country of mine.
Do not conflate anti-zionism or anti-israel with being anti semetic. Every time someone equates judaism with israel they are both excluding and insulting those of us who hold our religion dear but reject the oppressive and exclusionary policies of the government.
Ones Jewishness should not lead to blind support for policies of a government that you would find morally repugnant at home.
79
Why is it important that you are Jewish to make your comments? Do they hold more weight because you are Jewish? That's my big problem with Jewish Voice For Peace--which is neither Jewish in nature nor for peace. JVP--like you apparently--are for a single state solution and dissolution of Israel.
Why do you have to be anti-Zionist or anti-Israel? Can't you be Zionist, yet oppose the occupation? or be Zionist yet critical of the Orthodox influence on Israel religious policy? Of course you are not Israeli. You are American but it doesn't mean you can't support Israel's right to thrive in its region, even if it demonstrates policies that are against our better wishes.
1
It's simple. For a people who have been oppressed and persecuted throughout their history to align with forces that advocate doing the same to others is shameful.
6
"Bret’s [Stephens] ... is only relevant to [pre-Bannon] assumptions that held when our current political parties still were relevant to most Americans. They ceased being relevant on 8 November 2016." -- Luettgen
First, what exactly occurred in November 2016 that so changed the course of political parties in the US? Presumably the reference is to President Obama. If so some explanation is required. Is the sin that of race, or what?
Second, that Bannon will be successful in dismantling the US political system reminds me of Marx, who, not incidentally, ultimately turned out to be wrong about the ultimate demise of government. Indeed, Bannon's backing of legal losers (lawbreakers) such as Roy Moore and Michael Grimm suggests a peculiar view of what nations should be.
However, American political parties do need change (note the effects of The Southern Strategy and the excuses by many Republicans for Trump), but the guidelines for any truly democratic metamorphosis are ill-served by Bannon and his Trump conduit, both of whom seemingly favor something more authoritarian (a la Putin?).
Dems aside for the moment, it's probably true that Republicans are going to have to decide if they're to be a Trump/Bannon party, or something less Leninistic ("There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel").
1
The gratuitous criticism of Jewish Voices for Peace was totally unnecessary to make Stevens' point. The Israeli settlements and land grab in the West Bank have, in the opinion of many, made the "one state solution" the only viable solution. If there is to be an end to Israel as a Jewish state, the cause will have been the actions of the Israelis themselves and not those of a Jewish-American advocacy group.
26
@LennyM. Really? If Israel ceases to exist it might have something to do, just a little, with a bunch of countries (along with their enablers) that have been swearing to wipe it off the face of the earth since 1948.
1
"Repair of the world may not be the central teaching of Judaism. But it’s always wise to stay far from those who wish to tear it asunder." So writes Bret Stephens.
Maimonides promulgated "The Thirteen Principles of the [Jewish] Faith", which sets out his version of the fundamentals of Jewish belief.
Number One will suffice:
" I believe with perfect faith that God is the Creator and Ruler of all things. He alone has made, does make, and will make all things."
It's always wise to stay far from true believers, those who believe that only god can repair the world, or tear it asunder, be they Jews, Christians, or Muslims. Religion itself is the problem.
9
Steve Bannon is a white supremacist. Anyone who supports him must support his stance. Anyone who believes in the equality of all human beings must oppose him.
Opposition to some of the policies of the current administration in Israel is not anti-Semitism. The far right is using the concerns of some Jewish people in the same way that slave owners used the concerns of poor whites to oppose the end of slavery.
Peace in Europe only came after two world war proved that war could not solve the perceived problems between European countries. Peace in the Middle East will come when those countries realize that they. too, must coexist. The world must listen to the voices that promote peace over war.
10
"Zionists love Israel because of the way in which it brings together the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization, not because of some blood and soil nationalism."
I agree with the main points made by Mr. Stephens in this piece. However, it never mentions the socialist political views of most of Israel's founders, which valued collectivism (Remember the kibbutz?) over "individual freedom," and which was secular in nature. This socialist/labor brand of Zionism has been mostly vanquished by the present religious and conservative political parties, who, to an extreme degree, value, literally, Israel's soil and the blood of it's citizens, the biblical "Promised Land." (ignoring the almost one-fifth of its Arab citizens, Muslim and Christian alike). Today, a Zionism of democracy and liberal values struggles with a Zionism of religious and racial intolerance, a blood and soil tyranny of the majority. Israel does not need to look abroad for fascist, nativist influences on its society. It has enough home-grown varieties as it is.
6
A few points...
1. Israel is a democracy for Jews living in Israel. Palestinians living there are second or third class citizens at best. And treatment of the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories by the Israeli Defense Force is anything but democratic, with its arbitrary searches, daily humiliations at checkpoints, midnight raids, house demolitions, etc.
2. For those who say that it is anti-Semitic to question Israel’s right to exist, let’s be more precise in language and meaning.
First, the question is should Israel exist as a Jewish State, not should exist at all. (That was a question for the early 1900s up to 1948; today’s facts-on-the-ground have decided that question.)
So the question is about Zionism, not being against Jews. And since Palestinians are Semitic people also, it seems more accurate to speak of anti-Zionism and anti-Jewish. It is possible to be anti-Zionist (against Israel as a solely Jewish State) and not anti-Jewish. Palestianians I’ve met over there fall into that category.
Demography is not on Israel’s side. Over time, it can be a Jewish State or a Democratic State, but it cannot be both. And already isn’t democratic in so many ways.
3. Finally, for those who firmly believe that Israel has a right to exist (on formerly Palestinian land, with continued settlement expansion into current Palestinian land), what are your thoughts about the right of a fully independent, self-determined Palestine to exist?
26
First, thank you for defining your terms; so few people do anymore. Second, where have you gotten this definition of anti-Zionism as being opposition to “Israel as a solely Jewish State.” This seems to me a quite novel way of defining the term; novel to the point of appearing to be an effort to “save” a skunked term by repurposing it from its actual meaning.
I am left to wonder what you mean by your shiny new definition. You imply that you mean that Israel should not have an established faith (as many countries such as the UK, Sweden, Japan, etc. do) and should instead maintain a separation of religious tradition from civil life as the US and France strive to do. You imply, but you don’t actually say, leaving me to suspect-given your commitment to us in the term “anti-Zionism” that this is not what you really mean.
As you say, since 1948, the question of Zionism is resolved. A Jewish State exists. Arguments before that about the wisdom of th plan or the location for the state, etc. are historical. To be anti-Zionist today means to call for the abolition of the state which is the home, shelter, and protector of nearly half of al Jews in the world. A still quite hostile world, with a few exceptions. To suggest that such a scheme is not anti-Semitic is laughable on its face.
2
Jews had been persecuted for centuries in majority-gentile countries. Even when not actively persecuting the Jews, the majority-gentile countries refused to give refuge to the Jews when they needed it. There would have been no Holocaust if majority-gentile countries would have allowed in Jewish refugees who were escaping from the Nazis. The idea of Zionism was that Jews would return to their homeland & have a majority-Jewish country because majority-gentile countries had failed to provide safety for the Jews.
1
Maybe try a telethon like the comedians?
Jews have often been treated as pariahs. And pariahs often have to turn to the least admirable for friendship.
Israel (despite being at war with Syria) provides medicine and medical care to the Syrians who are fighting on Israel's border. Israel does the same with Palestinians in Gaza. These are the actions of people concerned with morality and doing what is right.
Yet the Israeli government (itself no paradigm of virtue) continues to cleave to some of the worst actors on the world stage--much to its detriment.
Bannon is just another of the sometimes bad choices Israel is forced (some would say willing) to make in order to maintain its connection with a world that hates Jews and the idea of a Jewish homeland.
2
“…to maintain its connection with a world that hates Jews and the idea of a Jewish homeland.”
This phrase is a perfect example of clouded and conflated thinking. Yes, there are certainly people who hate Jews. (I would call them anti-Jewish rather than anti-Semitic, since Palestinians and other Middle Eastern people are Semitic also.) As for a Jewish homeland, there may be some who object to any religious state, but I think it is more the case that people object to a Jewish homeland that was created out of land appropriated from Palestinian people, and whose Jewish citizens now oppress Palestinians and treat them as less than human beings. If – in an admittedly ideal world – Israel had been created in a place that did not result in dispossession of another people, I can think of no logical argument to object to such an Israeli state.
The difficult irony is seeing a people who suffered so horribly in the Holocaust dehumanize another people – the Palestinians – using the world’s harsh treatment of Jews to justify their oppression. Or, as my mother would say, “two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Frankly not a very convincing piece.
Moreover the "bad for the jews" arguments actually contribute to anti-semitism by demonstrating that SOME Jews view the world primarily from a ethnic perspective rather than an American or just plain human being perspective.
7
He is just bad, period!
Some of my heroes are Jewish but there are also Jews who are bad for the Jews.
Ultimately, if you are good for humanity, if not all beings, then you are good for the Jews... and the Palestinians, Americans, Chinese etc. But you got the message. If anyone who chooses to scapegoat another person, another race, another gender, then you know deep down that person is no good.
89
Some Jews are your heroes? So what? Do you really think one group of people is made up of heroes and there are no bad people? Christians? Hah! Muslims? Ha! Dentists, left handed people, burger flippers or whatever - these groups are made up of humans who are all essentially and morally the same.
Your point is great and your attitude is to be lauded but "Jews who are bad for the Jews' sounds pretty prejudicial to me. If a Jew does something horrible it doesn't reflect on my mom, just as if my mom were to do something terrible it doesn't reflect on moms.
Bret’s analysis today, like that of Charles in his screed on religion in the GOP, is superficial.
Steve Bannon will be remembered by history as a major force in the destruction of both major political parties, forcing them to arise Phoenix-like from the ashes of burnings compelled by the people that have rejected them into something new, whose contours we can’t yet discern. But history will not remember whatever specific positions Bannon took on the issues of the day, when such positions are even understood – on Jews or anyone else.
Bret’s analysis comes from within the burnings, and is only relevant to assumptions that held when our current political parties still were relevant to most Americans. They ceased being relevant on 8 November 2016.
And the issues that today are splitting Israel in two and questioning their relevance as a nation and as a Jewish state are QUITE complex enough without bringing a pin-prick Steve Bannon into the equation, who doesn’t affect the resolution or even the clarification of those issues one whit.
Bret would be far more productive if he turned that fine mind to analyzing Israel’s real problems and on what those re-born American party Phoenixes might look like when the burnings are done and the re-emergences are complete.
Forget about Bannon. Someday, he’ll be … history.
11
Bannon is relevant now because there is the possibility that his views may influence Trump. He will return to the shadows where all extremists lurk once Trump is out of the way. And I am not sure at all that the few thousands in four states that upended the election in 2016 can undo party structures permanently.
34
Are, the clairvoyance of those motivated to find a reason to do nothing and lave it to others because “it will all work out.” So soothing. So convenient.
Richard, your current comment is David Brooks- like; so many words, but ultimately saying nothing. The parties have not yet collapsed in an ash heap, and I have no idea where you get the Phoenix allusion. It is to be hoped, that the "conservative" movement ( read "radical animus") will destroy the Repuglican party, and the country will be left with centrist Democrats (read "moderate Republicans" - ah nostalgia), and left of center Democrats (read "progressives"). Once this happens real (true?) discussions can be had about real (not "fake") problems.
"Zionists love Israel because of the way in which it brings together the values of individual freedom and Jewish civilization, not because of some blood and soil nationalism."
I am afraid that while this statement may once have been true it may longer be entirely so. Whether from fear of annihilation or religious fanaticism the zealous supporters of Israel who would go so far as to make common cause with the likes of Bannon have embraced something which is, in effect, all too close to "blood and soil nationalism".
116
What a foolish and short-sighted action on the part of the ZOA. I myself give monthly contributions to the Anti-Defamation League in "honor" of Steve Bannon, in the same way that many of us donate to Planned Parenthood to honor Mike Pence.
I think it's well past time for Bannon to stagger offstage and join his mentor, Andrew Breitbart.
103
"In honor" of Steve Bannon, I like that!
I am with you!
1
It seems you have the wrong villain(s)! Or at least just a subset.
Bannon ACCEPTED the award from the ZOA. The ZOA, which gave him the recognition, are the villains in this story! Hold them to account. Or, just keep on deflecting. Bannon is a monster. So too, the ZOA leadership.
Thank you for calling out those hypocrites who would destroy democracy by preaching white supremacy. You singled out one of the individuals who only seeks white power. Good column I concur.
21
Guilt by association isn't so black and white. I too have friends of friends of friends who have different views than mine, and while I may not agree with their views, it's often better to be mature about it and work with them. The American tendency of trying to simplify everything, including trying to categorise groups of people into "them and us", whether it's "Democrats and Republicans" or similar, isn't always constructive.
Anyway, I'd probably rely more on the ZoA to understand who are the supporters of Israel and actively manage the situation for their stakeholders over a period of years, if not decades, than the opinions of one journalist whose involvement ends after he submits the story.
6
And who are you to say where the journalist's involvement ends? And do you know what it means to "actively manage" a "situation" for "stakeholders over a period of years"? Surely it depends on who the stakeholders are, what active management entails, and which years we are talking about. These, for example, are not good years for people of good will, although they may be the best years of all who wish harm, not only to Jews. Or maybe "good" and "harm" are not part of your value-free world. Are you human?
I'm going to assume you're simply a bit emotional rather than trolling, so I'll try to explain a bit better.
First of all, regardless of our personal views, an organisation such as the ZoA is likely to be in a better position to protect the interests of their stakeholders over the next few decades than one person.
Secondly, if they feel they can do this better by "working with" people such as Bannon who are close associates of the President of the United States (i.e. Trump), perhaps there is some sense in that. Working with such people is often more constructive than thowing insults at them.
How telling that, in his manipulative attack on Ms Sarsour and JV4P, Mr Stephens performs precisely the sort of duplicitous stance which he (rightly) attributes to Bannon. It is possible to criticize Israel's constitution "as a Jewish state" without denying Israel's "right to exist". To do so is to dream of, and work for, an Israel that is truly a home for all those who live within its territory. Sadly, this is a dream that conservatives -- in the styles of Bannon and Stephens alike -- find very dangerous. If there must be two sides on the question of Israel, they will be the side of those who believe in a pluralist, non-racialized, democracy in that country (the side that Mr Stephens would label "anti-Semitic"), and the side of those who do not.
66
I agree with you but I have to go back to what my mom told me many years ago. Before, during and after WWII Jews tried to get out of Europe but few countries accepted them (including the US, which knew they were being slaughtered). Israel is seen as the place Jews can go when they face danger.
What I would like to see in Israel is representative democracy with guarantees of religious freedom but I can't see that happening.
Israel is multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-confessional.
Khaled Abu Toameh, the journalist who reports for the Jerusalem Post, U.S. News & World Report and NBC News, put it: "Israel is a wonderful place to live ... a free and open coun¬try.
Arab women in Israel live longer than Arab women in any Arab country.
Arab babies in Israel have lower infant mortality than Arab babies in any Arab country.
Hadassah University Medical Center in Israel established a registry for Arab donors of bone marrow and stem cells to facilitate life-saving transplants. The registry at Hadassah Hospital is the only one in the world for Arabs and will no doubt save the lives not only of Arab Israelis but also of some citizens of Arab countries, not a single one of which has a registry of its own.
2
The folks that currently run the state of Israel and those that virulently support them are a lot like the folks down in Alabama who remain all in for Roy Moore. They have abandoned the moral and ethical framework of their faith for the short-term gain of power. Some, naturally, are true believers and they can be forgiven their failings. They are delusional. The rest, however, will have some explaining to do in the next life.
135
Great comment. The Israeli government gives into the orthodox in order to get their votes. The orthodox controls the acts of marriage, divorce and who can pray where at the Wall amongst other activities that should be a civil matters. Typically their control is at the detriment to women.
As a purchaser of Israeli bonds in the past, I have begun to rethink these investments until things change in Israel.
1
"Some are true believers and they can be forgiven their failings. They are delusional." No, most Nazis, leaders and followers alike, were true believers, and that can't be a basis for forgiveness.
Netanyahu deserves a big portion of the blame. He overtly supported the GOP during Obama's presidency and the 2016 campaign. Whatever the GOP has morphed into, Israel, thru Bibi, is wedded to it I'm afraid.
He meddled almost as much as the Russians.
293
His command performance before Congress was a major insult to Obama, and directly injected his politics into the election.
1
The story is so old it barely has the strength to be told.
When a group that hasn't had power finally gets some, there is an unfortunate tendency to seek revenge and/or recycle the tendencies of those who previously oppressed said group.
So is increasingly the case with Israel, in which the dominance of right wing political thought makes it almost impossible to contemplate a two-state solution, an non-apartheid integrated one state solution, or even tolerance for those viewpoints when held by current Israeli citizens.
It's why American Jews increasingly look at their Israeli counterparts askance. While acknowledging Israel's existential exigencies, it's become increasingly difficult to support the nation's political behavior.
People who support Judaism are not necessarily supportive of Israel. Conversely, people who support Israel for certain reasons (such as Bannon) may not be supportive of Judaism. (I suspect Bannon and his followers' reasons have more to do with East/West cultural tropes and fear of Islam--I don't think they have any great sympathy towards Jews or Judaism.)
So Jews with consciences need to be very careful of the company they keep. To trot out that hoary shibboleth, what is good for Israel is not necessarily good for the Jews.
400
A one-state solution would make more sense if the one state were Gaza, the West Bank & Jordan - same language, same religion, same culture.
While it is impossible to think of a two state solution with gerrymandered borders, one all powerful the other emasculated, it is not impossible to dream of a one state solution, not an apartheid-like one state solution but a bi-national state with equal rights for Jews and Palestinians. If South Africa did it, so can moral leaders in Israel and Palestine.
1
If Bannon is a certain flavor of fundamentalist Christian, he might acknowledge the Jews as God's chosen, destined for heaven based on Old Testament commitments, independent of their belief in Christ as the savior. Some Christians subscribe to this train of thought.
"Simply put, support for Israel is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a friend to Jews."
Simply? I guess it depends upon what you mean by "support". I consider myself to be a friend to Jews. I see no quibble or hedge in my heart when I say that. I support the right of Israel to exist. And yet, I can't support Israel's brutal occupation of Palestine.
Somehow, alone among nations, supporting Israel seems to boils down to supporting everything Israel does. Personally, I can't extend that level of support to any nation.
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I question your statement Tansu. While I agree that the political situation needs to be resolved, and the Occupation needs to end, Israel cannot do this by itself. Israel has a track record of withdrawing from S. Lebanon and from Gaza and each got Israel rockets, fire, and wars in response.
Israel offered everything the PLO wanted in 2000, again in 2007, and rumored to in early 2014. Each time, the PLO leadership under Arafat and then Abbas walked away and/or didn't respond. So, you place all the blame on Israel here for its Occupation, but how can you absolve the Palestinian leadership here? Israel needs a partner, and your criticism comes off as blind.
Friendship doesn't mean supporting everything the Israeli government does by any means, but flat out false inflammatory comments also shows a severe lack of understanding, and friendship like yours isn't worth much to Israel.
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Friend of the Jews? Why can't someone be friend of all people?
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In your piece you say : "Simply put, support for Israel is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a friend to Jews."
That might not be true depending upon your definition of "support for Israel" means. If it means blindly following the Likudniks, the answer is probably no. The interests of a Jewish person in the United States and one in Israel are not necessarily the same. Some of the time- probably. All of the time- not so quick and not so sure.
I have a real problem with divided loyalties. When Sheldon Adelson said he wished he had not served in the United States Army and wished he had served in the Israeli Army, I as an American and veteran of the US Army took great offense and would be happy to escort him to the nearest port where he can be on his way out of our country.
George Washington advised us in his Farewell Address about this very thing:
"Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all...nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded...The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest."
No hyphenated Americans, Mr Stephens. Either the US or another- it matters not which. A time for choosing.
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Powerful article; thanks for writing it. But, this "small democracy trying to uphold a set of liberal values against autocrats and religious fanatics sworn to its destruction" needs to embrace those liberal values more actively and openly, and reject the pressures from its own autocrats and religious reactionaries that continue to make a practical reconciliation with Palestinians impossible. Israel could take the lead in creating the ground for peaceful co-existence, but so far it has not done so, thereby playing into the hands of groups like those led by Bannon, Spencer and their ilk.
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Israel pulled out of Gaza leaving behind thousands of green houses to jump start the Gaza economy. Gazans destroyed green houses & fired rockets at Israel.
In 1947, the scholars at Al-Azhar University (The highest authority in Sunni Islam.) declared holy war to return Palestine to Islamic rule. Therefore, as long as most Palestinians are devout Muslims (89% of Palestinian Muslims want sharia law.) and as long as the Jewish State controls even one square inch of land, how is peace possible?
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I realize this isn't of any concern to Bret Stephens, but what's good for the Americans?
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How about a reliable and democratic ally in the Middle East that does not support terrorism, reward terrorists, or try to take civilization back a millenium or so.
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To characterize Israel as "a small democracy trying to uphold a set of liberal values against autocrats and religious fanatics sworn to its destruction" says far more about Bret Stephens' overwhelming biases towards Israel than anything else. Indeed, this characterization of Israel borders on the delusional. Today, the "religious fanatics" who are the greatest danger to Israel are the religious Jews within Israel who push for the continual settlement of Palestinian land. Moreover, for Mr. Stephens to take this position says a great deal about what he chooses to ignore concerning Israel's brutal treatment and dispossession of the Palestinians. The reality of the matter is that the alt-right in the US actually recognizes the many similarities that it shares with Israel. Its idolization of the Israeli state is easy to understand. The alt-right may hate Jews but it loves Israel because that state represents all that it wants the US to be: an ethnocratic state that openly touts its preference for people of particular religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds and does so unapologetically and with the encouragement of most of the Western world. It is not difficult to connect the dots here. As horrible as the ZOA may be, it is at least honest in what it is encouraging and supporting, both in Israel and the US.
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Your post with a few edits:
Today, the "religious fanatics" who are the greatest danger to the USA are the religious Christians within the USA who push for the continual erosion of individual rights. Moreover, for Mr. Trump to support this position says a great deal about what he chooses to ignore concerning The USA's future brutal treatment and dispossession of the non-Christians. The reality of the matter is that the alt-right in the USA actually recognizes the many similarities that it shares with Nazi socialism. Its idolization of the Nazi state is easy to understand. The alt-right may hate Jews but it loves the USA because that state could represent all that it wants the USA to be: an ethnocratic state that openly touts its preference for people of particular religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds and does so unapologetically and with the encouragement of most of the world. It is not difficult to connect the dots here. As horrible as the Trump may be, he is at least honest in what it is encouraging and supporting white Christian supremacy, both in the USA and the world.
Official borders are set by treaty. There is no border-setting treaty between the Palestinians & the Israelis so no one knows what's Palestinian land & what's Israeli land.
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I agree with Stephens but he is missing something. I have relatives who live in Israel. They have a saying that I hear often. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. This ancient proverb suggests that two opposing parties can or should work together against a common enemy. Who is the common enemy for ZOA? The Democrats, liberals and progressives. They don't care if conservatives win as long as liberals lose. You'll hear another saying in Israel. We must be flexible on tactics but unyielding on principle. This view is borne of necessity when you are one war from being destroyed as a country. Tactically ZOA has much to gain with aligning themselves with Steve Bannon. Bannon has power, influence & can help them achieve their goals. This doctrine was used during the Cold War between Western Bloc nations & the Soviet Union. The Soviets & the Chinese aided North Korea during the Korean War as well as the Viet Cong/North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War to oppose American foreign policy goals. Likewise, the United States and its allies supported the Afghan Mujahideen after the Soviet invasion in the hopes of thwarting the spread of Communism. In the Third World, both superpowers supported regimes whose values were at odds with the ideals espoused by their governments. In the Middle Eastern the United States backed the Iraqi government during the Iran–Iraq War. Right or wrong throughout history enmity between adverse groups evolve & alliances develop in response to common threats.
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Hello Mr Brown
You said "You'll hear another saying in Israel. We must be flexible on tactics but unyielding on principle. This view is borne of necessity when you are one war from being destroyed as a country".
Given that this propagated by Israel delusion of an Israel allegedly facing an existential threat is what ultimately allows Israel to become more and more assertive and intransigent in its regional policies and to also justify very illiberal practices (from the blackmailing of Palestinian gays so that they become informers, to house demolitions of Palestinian attackers, to the attempted silencing of of human rights orgs such as Breaking the Silence, i would urge that the truth voiced by Israel's Security Forces be heard. Mossad's ex Director Efraim Halevy has characterized Israel as 'indestructible', and this belief is a widespread belief in the Israeli establishment.
1
So which enemy do they choose? Sunni or Shiia?
All well said, but when one yields way too much on tactics, people begin to wonder about the principles you stand for? That, in a nutshell, is the dilemma facing Trump’s Republican Party today. If there is one overarching reason that a majority of American Jews remain committed Democrats, it is because of “conservatives” like Steve Bannon and Donald Trump.
"It is a small democracy trying to uphold a set of liberal values against autocrats and religious fanatics sworn to its destruction." -- If only.
Stephens is correct about Bannon and his followers. No quibbles with that.
But what should we say about Israel? It was a dream, a promised land to be. It might still have that potential, but with Bibi acting like his own Breitbart, with corruption and criminality among its leaders, with its siege mentality justifying all sorts of injustices, with its former soldiers and intelligence agents serving corporate interests as mercenaries, the luster is fading, it's dream is becoming remote if not a nightmare. Anti--Semitism has no place in our world. That's for sure. But its existence is no excuse for imitating its worst features. By anyone.
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Israel was ranked 29 out of 167 on The Economist's Democracy Index.
That's better than Belgium, Greece, Cyprus & at least a dozen other European countries.
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Colonel Kemp:
Gaza. During the conflict many politicians, UN leaders, human rights groups, and NGOs called on the Israelis to take greater action to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza. Yet none of them suggested any additional ways of doing this. I conclude that this was because Israel was taking all feasible steps. I believe Israel to be world leaders in actions to minimize civilian casualties, and this is borne out by the efforts made by the US Army, the most sophisticated and powerful in the world, to learn from the IDF on this issue. In my opinion, Israel is also making strenuous efforts to investigate incidents where civilians were apparently unlawfully killed, wounded, or ill-treated, and where civilian property was unlawfully damaged or stolen. I am not aware of any nation that has conducted more comprehensive or resolute investigations into its own military activities than Israel during and following the 2014 Gaza conflict.
Ryvchin, Alex. The Anti-Israel Agenda: Inside the Political War on the Jewish State (Page 164). Gefen Publishing House. Kindle Edition.
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During the 2014 Gaza War, Israel warned Palestinians to evacuate before bombing their homes thereby saving the lives of thousands of enemy civilians.
2
The resurgence of open anti-Semitism in the USA in 2017 is a profoundly saddening development, and one that is stupefying besides.
But why am I stupefied?
I have to acknowledge that in our long and glorious history as a nation, which group has not come in for its share of hatred and prejudice, beginning with our indigenous peoples, the Irish, catholics, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and on and on and on?
It's funny, sort of, because in college, I was taught that the notion of progress was no more real than any other idea . . .
Yet, call me an optimist, still I continue to believe, in the face of all evidence to the contrary . . .
So, Resist, Oppose . . .
At this moment, I choose to recall the famous funeral oration of Pericles of Athens : " . . . having judged that to be happy means to be free, and to be free means to be brave, do not shy away from the risks of war".
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Writing about an American polemicist, the article subtly equivocates between interests of Jews and interests of Israel. Isn't it more important to discuss who is important for AMERICANS, as an aggregate, without reference to race or religious confession?
And I mean, *without* reference, because since the end of Jim Crow it has usually been the left which references those subjects (for example, by crying, "DOG-WHISTLE WORDS!").
(NB: I quite deliberately said "religious confession" as opposed to "religion." I will agree the religious right brings up the latter far more often if the left will acknowledge that it is more concerned with calling out the *identitarian* aspect of religious adherence.)
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The enemy of my enemy is my friend. That unfortunately describes political relationships in the middle east, and in America. Saudis, white nationalists, even evangelical Christians, with friends like these, who needs enemies.
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Inviting Bannon as an honored guest anywhere demonstrates tacit approval for his retrograde and racist agenda. This man should be a pariah for any organization that espouses truly democratic values, regardless of its basis for existence. Not only the Jewish community, but all of us who support a progressive vision for America, should roundly condemn Bannon's master plan to disrupt our society, and deny him a platform to promote his vision.
It is clear that anti-Semitism is an intrinsic part of the Bannon blueprint, as was demonstrated in Charlottesville and elsewhere by supporters of his scheme. The same could be said for the racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic invectives that are constantly printed as headlines on the pages of Breitbart News. Rather than solely taking the ZOA to task, this column deserves a much broader attack at all organizations who might welcome Bannon into its midst.
I hope that there will be a follow up article by Mr. Stephens in which he exposes the rest of the organizations who are willing to support Bannon's hateful "deconstruction" of our democratic ideals.
He could begin with an analysis of the speech that Bannon delivered at the 12th Annual InterEthnic/InterFaith Leadership Conference in Tokyo on Tuesday:
https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t42.9040-29/10000000_373652483085295_831...
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Whether it's the theology of politics or the politics of theology one best watch your back.
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It appears that with the Trump admin, Netanyahu and Kushner may be contemplating Putin as a closer ally than the US. To support this idea, consider that Putin would have no issue with single state solutions and unfettered development of the WB and Gaza, etc. Putin has also moved to bring Saudi Arabia into his sphere of influence, and seems to be abandoning Iran. Iran competes with RU by being many years ahead with LNG infrastructure, that is vulnerable to General Flynn's "on notice" threat last February. LNG threatens RU gas pipelines used to extort and embargo the EU. A few US missiles could cripple LNG equipment in Iran, spike short term fossil prices and allow Putin to protest too late, and act as "rational" mediator escalating RU global prestige.
Putin is supporting the Taliban, likely with eyes on the 59 trillion cu/ft of nat gas reserves Exxon and Friend of Russia, Tillerson have been eyeing since Ronald Reagan invented Al Queda.
Perhaps the Bannon type of anti-semitism would seek to "encourage" American Jews to move to a newly expanding Israel as events in the US become more and more uncomfortable. By firming up Russian influence, and mixing up global influence, Putin and Xi benefit, while democracy leans on the ropes.
When in doubt think hard about Strategic Energy (state controlled wealth) and the insatiable thirst for prestige from the ruling sociopaths. Eventually there may be enough distractions for Putin to safely invade Ukraine.
Many pieces on the board.
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Anti "anybody" is not "human". Jewish people are no more special than Christian or atheists. Just because Jewish people live in Israel does not make it more holy than any other place. God does not prefer one human being to another, favor one, punish another, the Universe does not work that way, why should human beings do that to each other, that too in the name of God. The bottom line is muddied motivation will only yield muddy outcome, it does not matter who treads in the mud.
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Bannon's self-label as a "Christian Zionist"--that image should make all of us cringe: http://www.newsweek.com/steve-bannon-jews-sebastian-gorka-alt-right-zion... . The vast majority of the American Jewish population would not support the ZOA's endorsement of Bannon's ugly brand.
Many people do not understand the diversity within the American Jewish community, whether or not they are observant: http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-american-beliefs-attitudes-cul... . That Pew report is from 2013, but still holds.
Within that report: "Jews think several other minority groups face more discrimination than they do. Roughly seven-in-ten Jews (72%) say gays and lesbians face a lot of discrimination in American society, and an equal number say there is lot of discrimination against Muslims. More than six-in-ten (64%) say blacks face a lot of discrimination."
I do not know what might cause Sheldon Adelson to have a change of heart. It is possible that his wife, Miriam Adelson, is a factor. They are hard-core supporters of Senator McConnell. This is a curious situation, given that she was a past recipient of the ZOA's Brandeis Award.
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Steve Bannon is more guilty of manipulative opportunism than philosophical anti-Semitism I have heard him twice ridicule the White nationalist movement, and Breitbart News was founded by (reactionary) Jewish Americans allegedly during a visit to Israel ten years ago. Breitbart is both a vehicle for the "Alt-Right," Donald Trump and Bannon's ambitious, and perhaps delusory, agenda for re-inventing America. Personally, I don't think these pieces fit together and will become unglued by incompetence, hubris and the march of events.
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For so long as Palestinians in the West Bank are forced to raise whole generations of their children under repressive military law and then face more ‘restrictions’ on virtually every aspect of their lives for their resistance, we will never have any solutions. Further, people designated as non- chosen and consequently viewed as less equal then others, are another tool to spread hatred and division.
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Palestinians in the West Bank are under military law because of the Jordanian/Palestinian attack against Israel & the Palestinians' continued refusal to live in peace with Israel.
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When he has exhausted the ploys of anti-globalism and nationalism Bannon may very well let loose the insanity of antisemitism waiting in the wings. That always works.
Bannon is a power-addicted opportunist who may, when the time is ripe. use antisemitism to access more power. Neither rational thought nor conscience compels him so much as his lust for power, the king maker pulling the strings in the shadows. He will aim his appeal to whatever segment of the population presents the quickest route to that power, those who are historically, invariably, the most aggressive.
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The lack of true allies for liberal democracy is not solely a Jewish issue. It is a global one: a tide of ethno-nationalism rises on the right as the left elevates sympathy for victims of historical oppression over democratic values.
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Whoops! And if Steve Bannon is against it.... well you know!
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One hesitates to generalize, but... If Steve Bannon is for it, I'm against it and if Steve Bannon is for it, I'm suspicious!
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Steve Bannon has come out FOR: 1. higher taxes on the rich 2. ending endless US world cop involvements. 3 controlling immigration ie no open borders. I would point out that none other than Cesar Chavez was against open borders. Was he a bigot? Did Cesar Chavez hate Mexicans??? Steve Bannon is in fact AGAINST today's GOP to the extent that it benefits only the wealthy, and he has stated this many times. Does that make him a bad guy?
1
The world is a complicated place. I clicked on the link regarding Sarsour and as I scrolled down I read that the woman raised thousands of dollars to repair a vandalized Jewish cemetery. The female terrorist did indeed kill two people in a bombing of a hotel.
Then I recalled how my distant cousin, Menachem Begin, was also a terrorist and who also killed innocents in a hotel bombing.
The world is a complicated place.
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yes it is a complicated place. Thank you Bret for trying to help make sense of it.
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As of July 30, 2017, the charity that Sarsour touted had not turned over a dime of the money raised. And your statement that "Sarsour raised thousands" is pretty charitable. She was on the letterhead of a charity that claims to have raised thousands. None of it was actually turned over, at last look. Sound familiar? It's like a Trump Foundation promise.
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It's true; the world is a complicated place and there are rarely good guys and bad guys, pure right and wrong.
Bannon and his band who practice "arsonist politics" are close to being pure wrong, but there are kernels of truth even in what they advocate. It's hard to understand how "right-of-center" Jews can align with the alt-right.
It's also had to understand how so many can excuse injustices against the Palestinians who were evicted when Israel was created. Yes, it was a long time ago. Yes, politicians among the Palestinians have allowed problems to fester.
Yes, there are people who want to kill Jews and destroy the Jewish state. Some of those issues are religious, but most have deeper roots.
I'm not sure what the "woke-left" means. From where I sit, it seems that groups that are truly left have been discredited and have lost much of the power they once had.
It may be that what replaces them are as vicious and ruthless as the politics advocated by Bannon, but it seems clear to me that, at this moment, his followers are more dangerous and threatening to democracy everywhere.
"Personal and national reputations alike always depend on the company one keeps. Not every would-be supporter deserves consideration as a friend."
Great column, Bret. Your arguments are on point.
Politics may make for strange bedfellows, but a nation devoted to one set of values should tread carefully by closely examining the long-range agendas of new supporters itching to hitch a ride on protecting the Jewish state.
To put it bluntly, if Bannon seeks destruction of the GOP, changing its end game to embrace the notion of making the US a white Christian state, Israel should watch out.
Because, when white supremacy rears its ugly head, can antisemitism be far behind?
Israel must beware Bannonites bearing gifts, including support for the Jewish state as long as it resides an ocean away.
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But it cuts both ways. If Israel can see and preserve itself as a majority-ethnic/religious Jewish democracy, why couldn't the United States see and preserve itself as a majority-European/Christian democracy?
"Because, when white supremacy rears its ugly head, can antisemitism be far behind?"
White supremacists are bigots against any but "the pure race". Germany in the 30's once again, and the danger is that the Trump phenomenon is, at its heart, embracing the trend to fascism. Congress is complicit. The 'head' is raised.
Some of this can be attributed to ignorance, as in the white people interviewed by Kimble who agreed that Clinton needed to be impeached. Edsall states: "At the point when the percentage of whites in a municipality in the chart reaches 85 percent, Trump’s margin begins to soar, hitting its highest point in those municipalities that are close to (but not quite at) 100 percent white."
So, we are already there.
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My right-wing sister-in-law provides me with insight into thinking of those who share her politics. Years ago, when she was working for a conservative Republican politician, she started attending an evangelical church. Curiously, she also began to talk about the affinity of evangelical Christians with Israel.
After 9-11, she said something to the effect that being attacked would make the US more sympathetic to Israel.
She was also a big fan of those "left-behind" novels about the Rapture. I realized that some evangelicals see what's happening in the Middle East as fulfilling prophecy.
She couldn't stomach Trump, but I don't think it made her more tolerant of Democrats. I suspect she still thinks that they are the greater evil, even when the rottenness of the Republican party is made obvious.
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"Israel is not a latter-day Crusader kingdom holding out against a 21st-century Mahometan horde. It is a small democracy trying to uphold a set of liberal values"
The Israeli right has brought that into question. It was true. Now? It is a question, not a certainty.
Likewise, Jewish Voices for Peace is not anti-Semitic except in the extreme views of that right which is putting into doubt the democratic values of Israel.
How? Because "Jewish state" and democracy are not always the same things. They can be a choice, one or the other. If there are not quite enough Jews, which is it to be?
There are enough Jews now to have both. But if the Greater Israel project brings in a lot more land as permanently Israel, then the extra people will bring that choice into the center of the debate. A smaller Israel can be both without discussion.
The larger Israel of the annexationists cannot be both. One state can be Jewish only if there is another state for the others.
Jordan as that state raises a whole host of issues. The US treatment of its Indians and Turkey's treatment of its Armenians are not things that Israel can contemplate, not if it is to survive in the modern world with any support from the US, even from US Jews.
So how is Jordan to become that Palestinian state? Confronting that explains why Jewish Voices for Peace is not anti-Semitic, it is seeking survival for Israel.
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The greater question that has to be answered is whom has a legal right to the West Bank, Gaza is already given up.
If the Palestinians have a legal right, care to show it? And if they have a historical right, mind showing us when they ever had sovereignty of the land? I find this always intriguing, the fact that there has never in the history of this world been a nation called Palestine, what you instead have are two sets of migrants, the Arabs that migrated to the land from the early 1800's to the 1940's seeking a better life for themselves, this was actually investigated by the British with their royal naval inquisition in 1913, although to be frank, it was more a seizing up of the area for possible seizure if they went to war with the Ottomans, which at the time was looking like a possibility. The British after investigating the history came back and said this:
"The area was under populated and remained economically stagnant until the arrival of the first Zionist pioneers in the 1880's, who came to rebuild the Jewish land. The country had remained "The Holy Land" in the religious and historic consciousness of mankind, which associated it with the Bible and the history of the Jewish people. Jewish development of the country also attracted large numbers of other immigrants - both Jewish and Arab.
- The report of the British Royal Commission, 1913 –
This was backed up by further reports.
So you have two migrants, who has the legal claim? Look to the Mandate of Palestine.
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JVP is a misguided bunch. Its politics, the ones you try to spin positively, are naïve and nearly suicidal. It is also uniformly self-hating (thinking that this will somehow place it on the right side of history). Restoring cemeteries is a great gesture, but it is undone by a politics that will result in the need to build many more.
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tbenton -- They live there now. They have for a long time. What are you going to do? That is my question.
You are changing the subject to "sovereignty." So what if it is all one state, that still leaves all those people and the problems I outlined.
4