I am a psychologist with a long-time interest in politics and philosophy. I have three issues with your criticism of Jewish Voice for Peace, as when you state at the end that "for a majority of Jews and Jewish organizations, it is a fringe and extreme group whose actions endanger the Jewish people it claims to represent." The first issue is using logical fallacies, the second is ignoring the elephant in the room, and the third is why so many ignore the elephant in the room.
About logical fallacies: the charge of being antisemitic has long been used to try to invalidate criticism of Israel's actions. It is the "ad hominem" fallacy, attacking what criticism a person or group makes by denigrating them personally, while avoiding evidence that might refute the criticism. An example particular to criticism by Jews is calling the critic a "self-hating Jew". A related fallacy, is conflating two concepts, antisemitism with anti-Zionism or anti-Israeli criticism. This is also known as the fallacy of false equivalence. Many ultra-Orthodox Jews have long been opposed on theological grounds the Judaism embracing the State of Israel and Zionism. These include the Satmar Hasidim and Neturei Karta. There are other Haredi Jews are do not espouse Zionism.
Ignoring the elephant in the room: what is troubling is that many reports of protests about Israel's invasion of Gaza after Oct 7 charge the protestors with antisemitism or even being pro-Hamas. The elephant in the room is what Israel has done in the past year and a half to the Palestinians. Read the 500 plus pages of three reports from Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders, and Human Rights Watch, all of which came out this past December, all of which charge Israel with genocide of the Palestinians. You'll find them on their websites.
Here is the definition of genocide from the 1948 Genocide Convention (Article II):
"Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:"
a) Killing members of the group
b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
c) Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group"
There is no "balance" when a genocide is occurring. The word means an overwhelming destruction of the living conditions, of one people by another people. With more than 50,000 Palestinians killed, a majority women and children, with more that 100,000 wounded, 92 percent of homes destroyed, with mass starvation for many because of the two-month embargo of food and water, with the destruction of all 36 hospitals in Gaza, all the water treatment plants, with no electricity, with continual forced evacuation of Palestinians from one area to another, this is genocide. Can you agree? Can you agree that protests of this genocide can be legitimate, not antisemitic?
The third issue is the why so many ignore this elephant in the room, the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The best understanding of this issue I have seen is in Peter Beinart's book "Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning". Beinart is an orthodox Jew who seeks to understand why Israeli Zionists pursue the destruction of Palestinians. His answer is in his last chapter 5. He states that Zionists are committing the sin of Korach, who appears in the book of Numbers. Korach challenged Moses and Aaron, saying "All the community are holy...", so Moses proposes a test. The result of the test is that Korach disappers, swallowed whole by God.
So why did this happen? The error Korach made is that he omitted that holiness is conditional on keeping the commandments. For the Orthodox social critic Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Korach's argument was dangerous "because it corrupted another key concept in the Hebrew Bible: choseness. For Leibowitz, it was essential that being chosen by God did not make Jews better than anyone else. It meant they had a special set of obligations -- to follow the Torah's commandments -- not a special set of virtues (p. 98)". This means Jewish wrongs can never be excused.
Beinart goes on to say Korach's heresy has continued at times though Jewish history. It is with the founding of Israel that it has become so dangerous. The Jewish Bible insists that "Jewish kings are entirely mortal. Their authority does not come from any innate superiority. It stems from their willingness to follow God's law (p. 99)." Yet "many Jews treat a Jewish state the way the Bible feared Jewish monarchs would treat themselves: as a higher power, beholden to no external standard (p. 100)."
The other rebuttal to Zionists is that they commit one of Judaism's gravest sin, "avodah zarah", meaning "idolatry". It is one of three sins that needs to be avoided, "even at the cost of our lives. In the Talmud, Rabbi Yochanan calls rejecting idolatry the essence of being a Jew (p. 101-102)." It is basically "idolatrous to worship a Jewish state, to elevate its value beyond that of the human beings under its control. And that idolatry suffuses contemporary Jewish life (p. 102)".
Beinart continues, commenting on Jews who deify Jewish supremacy: "Worshipping a country that elevates Jews over Palestinians replaces Judaism's universal God -- who makes special demands on Jews but cherishes all people -- with a tribal deity that considers Jewish life precious and Palestinian life cheap. (p. 103)"
For me Beinart's discussion helps understanding the causes of this catastrophe for Palestinians. Of course it does not excuse it in any way. It might help to challenge those Zionists and pro-Israelis with the fact they are disobeying the Torahs commandments, and worshipping a country above the lives of non-Jews, the Palestinians. Worship of a country is idolatrous, which is a grave sin to be avoided. I welcome any comments on this discussion.
As a non-Jew sometimes riled by this persistent, contentious issue that draws much of the world into stubborn, mutual hatefulness, I appreciate David Cycleback's bringing in a criticism of alleged UU antisemitism (I forgot to copy the detailed objection by a Portland area psychologist and my lengthy response) and especially your fair response to him. I like Cycleback's thinking in general, and I'm not taking firm sides, but your explanation of Zionism and how JVP and other groups similarly object to Netanyahu's militarized tactics fits the case.
(Respectful back-and-forth is what I used to admire about UU doings. Estranged from it for other recent dogmatic pressure tactics, I haven't followed what UUs are doing with this topic.)
If Palestinians are also of Semitic origin, Netanyahu is antisemitic. I add this accusation to him in addition to his writing a pro-Jew/anti-Palestinian script that will generate antisemitism for generations. N Olsen's reply here exemplifies the sort of humanitarian and respectful argumentation I had admired Jews for practicing.
I also value David Cycleback's usual attempts to think beyond bias, but read his recurring emphasis on this as influenced by his own. Perhaps that applies to me, too. I've often liked Jews and see their defensiveness as understandable. I wouldn't want to hurt them. But when I see free speech constrained and outlawed, threatening universities, students, and judges while ignoring and excusing rampant slaughter, setting AIPAC funds against any they deem wrong, and the continued U.S. funding of obvious war crimes, I don't feel like shutting up for fear of being accused of being anti-Semitic. That charge/evasion is wearing thin.
"Us and them, and after all, we're only ordinary men." As my president struts in the opulence of murderous, theocratic countries, I can only hope his supposed abhorrence of war can help make peace. As is, more and more weapons for more and more war. Prisons and bombs - this is leadership? Jewish Israel could help rescue us from WWIII by treating Palestinians with respect and creating safety and opportunity for those currently at each other's throats. That would tell a better long-term story than the one currently offending justice and peace.
I’ve done considerable research on JVP. They are both disingenuous and dangerous. My work is curated on LinkTree. Be sure to take the quiz “Who Said It: David Duke or JVP?” If you get less than a 100 percent correct, you’ll discover what drives JVP. And even then, you’ll be disturbed by their quotes, all of which are documented.
You need to understand, David, that JVP joins a world majority in stating the obvious - that the Zionists had no moral right to seize the territory of Israel, much of it at gun point, from its residents (the Palestinians), let alone to declare itself a Jewish state. This was an act of pure colonial power, often characterized as Western vs Eastern.
The ethnic cleansing and apartheid subjugation of the Palestinians characterized this Zionism from the very beginning. The only reason that the terror of the Zionist militias was only partially successful in the beginning (1948) was because of the military intervention of Transjordan. The only reason that the ethnic cleansing has continued to the point of genocide is because of US financial and military support.
I am a psychologist with a long-time interest in politics and philosophy. I have three issues with your criticism of Jewish Voice for Peace, as when you state at the end that "for a majority of Jews and Jewish organizations, it is a fringe and extreme group whose actions endanger the Jewish people it claims to represent." The first issue is using logical fallacies, the second is ignoring the elephant in the room, and the third is why so many ignore the elephant in the room.
About logical fallacies: the charge of being antisemitic has long been used to try to invalidate criticism of Israel's actions. It is the "ad hominem" fallacy, attacking what criticism a person or group makes by denigrating them personally, while avoiding evidence that might refute the criticism. An example particular to criticism by Jews is calling the critic a "self-hating Jew". A related fallacy, is conflating two concepts, antisemitism with anti-Zionism or anti-Israeli criticism. This is also known as the fallacy of false equivalence. Many ultra-Orthodox Jews have long been opposed on theological grounds the Judaism embracing the State of Israel and Zionism. These include the Satmar Hasidim and Neturei Karta. There are other Haredi Jews are do not espouse Zionism.
Ignoring the elephant in the room: what is troubling is that many reports of protests about Israel's invasion of Gaza after Oct 7 charge the protestors with antisemitism or even being pro-Hamas. The elephant in the room is what Israel has done in the past year and a half to the Palestinians. Read the 500 plus pages of three reports from Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders, and Human Rights Watch, all of which came out this past December, all of which charge Israel with genocide of the Palestinians. You'll find them on their websites.
Here is the definition of genocide from the 1948 Genocide Convention (Article II):
"Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:"
a) Killing members of the group
b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
c) Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group"
There is no "balance" when a genocide is occurring. The word means an overwhelming destruction of the living conditions, of one people by another people. With more than 50,000 Palestinians killed, a majority women and children, with more that 100,000 wounded, 92 percent of homes destroyed, with mass starvation for many because of the two-month embargo of food and water, with the destruction of all 36 hospitals in Gaza, all the water treatment plants, with no electricity, with continual forced evacuation of Palestinians from one area to another, this is genocide. Can you agree? Can you agree that protests of this genocide can be legitimate, not antisemitic?
The third issue is the why so many ignore this elephant in the room, the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The best understanding of this issue I have seen is in Peter Beinart's book "Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning". Beinart is an orthodox Jew who seeks to understand why Israeli Zionists pursue the destruction of Palestinians. His answer is in his last chapter 5. He states that Zionists are committing the sin of Korach, who appears in the book of Numbers. Korach challenged Moses and Aaron, saying "All the community are holy...", so Moses proposes a test. The result of the test is that Korach disappers, swallowed whole by God.
So why did this happen? The error Korach made is that he omitted that holiness is conditional on keeping the commandments. For the Orthodox social critic Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Korach's argument was dangerous "because it corrupted another key concept in the Hebrew Bible: choseness. For Leibowitz, it was essential that being chosen by God did not make Jews better than anyone else. It meant they had a special set of obligations -- to follow the Torah's commandments -- not a special set of virtues (p. 98)". This means Jewish wrongs can never be excused.
Beinart goes on to say Korach's heresy has continued at times though Jewish history. It is with the founding of Israel that it has become so dangerous. The Jewish Bible insists that "Jewish kings are entirely mortal. Their authority does not come from any innate superiority. It stems from their willingness to follow God's law (p. 99)." Yet "many Jews treat a Jewish state the way the Bible feared Jewish monarchs would treat themselves: as a higher power, beholden to no external standard (p. 100)."
The other rebuttal to Zionists is that they commit one of Judaism's gravest sin, "avodah zarah", meaning "idolatry". It is one of three sins that needs to be avoided, "even at the cost of our lives. In the Talmud, Rabbi Yochanan calls rejecting idolatry the essence of being a Jew (p. 101-102)." It is basically "idolatrous to worship a Jewish state, to elevate its value beyond that of the human beings under its control. And that idolatry suffuses contemporary Jewish life (p. 102)".
Beinart continues, commenting on Jews who deify Jewish supremacy: "Worshipping a country that elevates Jews over Palestinians replaces Judaism's universal God -- who makes special demands on Jews but cherishes all people -- with a tribal deity that considers Jewish life precious and Palestinian life cheap. (p. 103)"
For me Beinart's discussion helps understanding the causes of this catastrophe for Palestinians. Of course it does not excuse it in any way. It might help to challenge those Zionists and pro-Israelis with the fact they are disobeying the Torahs commandments, and worshipping a country above the lives of non-Jews, the Palestinians. Worship of a country is idolatrous, which is a grave sin to be avoided. I welcome any comments on this discussion.
This comment is filled logical fallacies on the definition of logical fallacies
As a non-Jew sometimes riled by this persistent, contentious issue that draws much of the world into stubborn, mutual hatefulness, I appreciate David Cycleback's bringing in a criticism of alleged UU antisemitism (I forgot to copy the detailed objection by a Portland area psychologist and my lengthy response) and especially your fair response to him. I like Cycleback's thinking in general, and I'm not taking firm sides, but your explanation of Zionism and how JVP and other groups similarly object to Netanyahu's militarized tactics fits the case.
(Respectful back-and-forth is what I used to admire about UU doings. Estranged from it for other recent dogmatic pressure tactics, I haven't followed what UUs are doing with this topic.)
If Palestinians are also of Semitic origin, Netanyahu is antisemitic. I add this accusation to him in addition to his writing a pro-Jew/anti-Palestinian script that will generate antisemitism for generations. N Olsen's reply here exemplifies the sort of humanitarian and respectful argumentation I had admired Jews for practicing.
I also value David Cycleback's usual attempts to think beyond bias, but read his recurring emphasis on this as influenced by his own. Perhaps that applies to me, too. I've often liked Jews and see their defensiveness as understandable. I wouldn't want to hurt them. But when I see free speech constrained and outlawed, threatening universities, students, and judges while ignoring and excusing rampant slaughter, setting AIPAC funds against any they deem wrong, and the continued U.S. funding of obvious war crimes, I don't feel like shutting up for fear of being accused of being anti-Semitic. That charge/evasion is wearing thin.
"Us and them, and after all, we're only ordinary men." As my president struts in the opulence of murderous, theocratic countries, I can only hope his supposed abhorrence of war can help make peace. As is, more and more weapons for more and more war. Prisons and bombs - this is leadership? Jewish Israel could help rescue us from WWIII by treating Palestinians with respect and creating safety and opportunity for those currently at each other's throats. That would tell a better long-term story than the one currently offending justice and peace.
I’ve done considerable research on JVP. They are both disingenuous and dangerous. My work is curated on LinkTree. Be sure to take the quiz “Who Said It: David Duke or JVP?” If you get less than a 100 percent correct, you’ll discover what drives JVP. And even then, you’ll be disturbed by their quotes, all of which are documented.
https://linktr.ee/researchonJVP
You need to understand, David, that JVP joins a world majority in stating the obvious - that the Zionists had no moral right to seize the territory of Israel, much of it at gun point, from its residents (the Palestinians), let alone to declare itself a Jewish state. This was an act of pure colonial power, often characterized as Western vs Eastern.
The ethnic cleansing and apartheid subjugation of the Palestinians characterized this Zionism from the very beginning. The only reason that the terror of the Zionist militias was only partially successful in the beginning (1948) was because of the military intervention of Transjordan. The only reason that the ethnic cleansing has continued to the point of genocide is because of US financial and military support.