Friday, September 25, 2015

The Very Old News of Jews Versus Jews

The phenomenon of Jews who despise other Jews on ideological grounds is nothing new in our long history, and it transcends borders, including the 49th parallel. In a review of a new book examining the actions and thinking of Jew-hating Jews, Gabriel Schoenfield writes this (I've added the links):
In the 20th century and especially in our own, the self-repudiation of earlier Jewish apostates has taken a novel turn. Even while retaining its trademark spite against the Jews, with the state of Israel most frequently serving as a convenient stand-in, it often does so while waving the banner of Judaism or Jewish “values” themselves. Alexander quotes Cynthia Ozick’s pithy summary of the phenomenon: whereas “the Nicholas Donins and Pablo Christianis of ages past ran to abandon their Jewish ties even as they subverted them, . . . the Nicholas Donins and Pablo Christianis of our own time run to embrace their Jewish ties even as they besmirch them.”
I would venture that, for many leftist Jews, Israel is more than "a convenient stand-in" for Jewry and Judaism, which they deplore. Rather, it epitomizes everything they deplore--"colonialism," "imperialism," Likkudism, and what's more, it isn't nearly "tikkum olam"-y enough for their taste. And because Israel is Jewish and they, too, are Jewish, they feel the need to broadcast their scorn for Israel as loudly as they can so that other leftists won't mistake them for (shudder!) Zionists, and cast them out of the club.

No comments: