At Mondoweiss, Philip Weiss writes:
DailyKos has acted to ban commenters from linking to Mondoweiss, charging me with anti-Semitism. It is a disgraceful smear and hides DailyKos’s real anxiety: it cannot deal with the issue of Palestinian human rights, any more than the Democratic Party can, and so Israel supporters are striking at me.
Their point of attack is my repeated insistence on talking about the large Jewish presence in the American establishment and the importance of Jewish money in the political process. Such an attack was inevitable, and in that sense I welcome it. For while these are delicate issues, they are important ones. I have often expressed my own discomfort with them, and yet I advance them in the discourse because as a journalist I recognize that they meet an ancient test of what is newsworthy: these issues are new, true, and important. Were they merely new and true, I would ignore these issues. But their importance has put them in my road, and I can’t shy away from discussing them, and DK’s smear gives me an opportunity to revisit my thinking.
Why is the Jewish prominence in the American establishment an important issue? For a few reasons. 1, it is a development I witnessed myself and celebrate as a Jew. When I was growing up, we were excluded from the turrets of the American system by anti-Semitism. Today that is not the case. Jews should recognize this new reality, celebrate it, and yes, allow it to affect our consciousness of our unfolding historical position in western society. 2, It deeply affects Middle East policy, which is the true source of my difference with Daily Kos; I believe you cannot talk about the Israel lobby without addressing the Jewish presence in the establishment. And following directly from that, 3, the Jewish presence is not neutral– no, sadly (and because of the Holocaust), my community has been indoctrinated with Zionism.; as J Street’s Steven Krubiner said the other night, Jewish identity education includes Loving Israel. Well, I think Zionism is a form of anachronistic nationalism that has served to oppress the Palestinians and helped lead my own country into war, and in seeking to uproot Zionism inside Jewish life, I have repeatedly pointed out that the ideological basis of Zionism is the idea that we are unsafe in the west, a claim that is patently absurd in the face of our achievement in the United States and our prominence in the establishment– which everyone knows about and accepts, but DailyKos finds it anti-Semitic even to mention.
What the hell is this “Daily Kos” thingy. I’ve never even heard of it, but the name certainly sounds very neo-fascist. I’ll bet they all wear Doc Martens.
P.S. The Norway Shooter’s Zionist Streak
Anders Breivik’s embrace of Israel is the latest sign of a shift among reactionaries in Europe—with fascism and Zionism going hand in hand, fueled by Islamophobia, says Michelle Goldberg.
LINK – http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/25/norway-shooter-anders-breivik-s-zionism-in-line-with-pro-israel-european-right.html
There is a shocking censoring hard edge/dull blade character to some liberal activists that reminds of their leftist roots, like NEOCONS. In the end: MONEY TALKS– except for brave truth-ists like Mr. Weiss and a few courageous others that we all can easily identify. For many ACTIVIST (as they were called in the old Red Bloc) bloggers orientation is to the olfaction of cash and censorship is not “I don’t like you” but rather slanderous “anti-Semite.” GENEROSITY= MEDIA POWER in a democracy, especially one where 95% of population doesn’t give a damn. So, one might ask, where else has the DailyKos to go to live in the style accustomed but to Liberal Zionist money shed so generously so long as pro-Israel? Such liberal Daddy Warbucks are admirable for their generosity, though it be anti-democratic. They get what they pay for: SYCOPHANCY, which can reverse on a dime, literally!
HUFFPOST too seem to accept any and all raging attack on anyone…to point of slander and no fact-check involved….so long as target is not Israel. But God forbid the SACRED (CASH) COW, Israel is criticized; then BOOM: CENSORED!
All this pro-Israel cash and Israel still needs ~$10 billions/year from us “dumb goyim.” Maybe if Israel had the courage to seek to get at the front of the ARAB SPRING rather that throw rocks at it hiding in the bushes, all this liberal-Zionist cash-censoring wouldn’t be necessary. Israel might then become a truly independent leader of Mideast rather that a perpetual beggar.
Teodoru is absolutely correct. There is rampant censorship on many sites of any criticism of Israel, BUT even more so of any discussion of the actions of the “israel-firsters” in our country.
Phillip Weiss is one of the few jewish Americans that actively works to avoid Israelis committing suicide. It is a measure of how little loyalty to the principles of American democracy they have that so many of the “israel firsters”are involved in massive censorship. Who knows, in the end zionist abuse may lead to pogroms in the US (and Britain). Wouldn’t be the first time that abuse by “god’s chosen people” ended up in jews having to “schlepp”. One would think that the majority of jews should have by now learned the lesson that their fanatics cause disasters over and over and….. for the majority of jews.
From what I know of Daily Kos it seems like a group of writers who beg for attention from the Democratic Party and desperately want to be taken seriously. Also just like the Democratic Party, there is nothing left-wing about them. Supporting either corporate controlled party in the US would be against any genuine left wing beliefs.