“It was never about Palestinians, or Muslims. Far more Muslims have been killed by Assad, by Saddam, in Pakistan and Yemen and China, than have in Israel. And I — like all the Leftists and Muslims in Western streets protesting against Israel — could not care less. They are just an instrument to sanitize our antisemitism with.”
Thank you very much for recommending this article to me. First of all, the quality of the writing is superb. Second of all, it has been YEARS since I looked at the book of Job, but I remember being very intrigued by it as a child.
As for the article itself: I only have the deepest sympathy for Jews who woke up and discovered that their "friends" were delighted with the mass murder of Jews. I imagine that Jews in Germany felt the same way in the 1930s, as teachers, doctors, professors, and other "respectable" people swore allegiance to Adolf Hitler and promoted his doctrines.
I am personally not surprised by this treachery. It hasn't escaped my notice that these "friends" all appear to have signed onto the ideology of identity politics, critical theory, and progressivism. Without getting into any partisan politics, I think it is fair to say that there is something profoundly wrong within these ideologies. Something within those ideologies has allowed people calling themselves progressives to take the side of the most evil savages since the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese army, not to mention the more recent Islamic State. Something within these ideologies has made these people incapable of distinguishing between a flawed, yet advanced country fighting for its independence, and an organisation committed to endless war and genocide. Something within these ideologies has swindled them into believing that Islamic totalitarians are brave "resistance fighters"; that people seeking the annihilation of the Jews merely desire a state.
I am not saying that it is inherently wrong to be left-wing. But something has gone profoundly wrong within the political left over the last few decades. This is no longer a case of merely disagreeing with Israel's policies, or expressing sympathy with Palestinian suffering. The political left has become a malign tool in the war to destroy Western civilisation by getting civilised people to agree with savagery, barbarity, and evil, and to hate, despise, and isolate those who fight that evil. The political left has become a key agent in helping Hamas survive by outrageously demanding Israeli "restraint" after Palestinian terrorists violate all moral norms, condemning Israel's heroic rescue of hostages, condemning the killing of Palestinian war criminals like Ismail Haniyeh, forcing Israel into untenable ceasefire agreements that don't guarantee a full return of the hostages and allow Hamas to continue in power. When academics appear at events calling Hamas "moderate" and publicly refusing to call October 7 a terrorist attack (true story-- the British Foreign Office hosted an event where this occurred), we see the depth of this intellectual and moral rot.
What I personally think happened is that many left-wing Jews went along with these alleged social justice movements, believing that they would be protected from antisemitism. After all, racists are very often notorious antisemites. So why not join the so-called (in my opinion) "anti-racist" movement? And didn't Jews march alongside Rev. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights era? Weren't prominent feminists like Betty Friedan Jewish?
Tragically, these Jews found out that their "allies" weren't willing to apply the same support or even courtesy in the reverse. Because these so-called social justice movements have been polluting the minds of several groups in America, including and especially ethnic minority groups, by teaching them not only to hate Israel, but that Zionism is the root cause of social injustice.
Thus BLM, when allegedly protesting the death of George Floyd, quickly turned their anger into a justification for antisemitism by blaming Israel for training the police force. Not long afterwards, Jewish synagogues were vandalised with pro-Palestinian terrorist slogans. For decades, the black American community has been brainwashed into treating the Jews as a "white privileged" oppressor, based on a fundamental ignorance of history, oversimplication of reality, the foolish belief that the Arab and Islamic world are its friends (thanks to Soviet-backed propaganda), and plain old antisemitism.
When we consider the possibility that these social justice movements are less interested in helping their alleged constituents and more interested in making Zionism the unifying factor that causes all social injustice, and approaching that theory from multiple angles (Critical Race Theory, Marxist theory, feminist theory, etc.), then we can understand why these "progressives" were so quick to cheer for Hamas and turned with such ferocity on the Jews.
I bet there are many Jews who will find it difficult to part ways with these movements. But if my theory above is correct, then it looks like they will have no choice. I myself parted ways with these movements long before knowing of the depths of their malignant antisemitism. I had other reasons. But it is certainly possible to support justice and equality without subscribing to critical theory and without self-describing as a progressive. And there are those on the left and centre-left, who are standing up to the antisemites, like the great Jerry ("You just gave money to a Jew!") Seinfeld, Bill Maher, Ben Stiller, and others.
It is absolutely crucial not just to condemn the moral frauds and accessories of evil who dare to claim they support "social justice", but also to expose, condemn, and refute the malign aspects of the ideologies that led down this path.
This mirrors my experience. Heartbreaking.
Wow.
Wow. Quite a group of (former) friends. Thanks for sharing this. ... (So far it's only happened to me once. Still maddening.
https://outofbabel.substack.com/p/stfu )
“It was never about Palestinians, or Muslims. Far more Muslims have been killed by Assad, by Saddam, in Pakistan and Yemen and China, than have in Israel. And I — like all the Leftists and Muslims in Western streets protesting against Israel — could not care less. They are just an instrument to sanitize our antisemitism with.”
— Amir Pars, “Confessions of a Former Antisemite”
Thank you very much for recommending this article to me. First of all, the quality of the writing is superb. Second of all, it has been YEARS since I looked at the book of Job, but I remember being very intrigued by it as a child.
As for the article itself: I only have the deepest sympathy for Jews who woke up and discovered that their "friends" were delighted with the mass murder of Jews. I imagine that Jews in Germany felt the same way in the 1930s, as teachers, doctors, professors, and other "respectable" people swore allegiance to Adolf Hitler and promoted his doctrines.
I am personally not surprised by this treachery. It hasn't escaped my notice that these "friends" all appear to have signed onto the ideology of identity politics, critical theory, and progressivism. Without getting into any partisan politics, I think it is fair to say that there is something profoundly wrong within these ideologies. Something within those ideologies has allowed people calling themselves progressives to take the side of the most evil savages since the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese army, not to mention the more recent Islamic State. Something within these ideologies has made these people incapable of distinguishing between a flawed, yet advanced country fighting for its independence, and an organisation committed to endless war and genocide. Something within these ideologies has swindled them into believing that Islamic totalitarians are brave "resistance fighters"; that people seeking the annihilation of the Jews merely desire a state.
I am not saying that it is inherently wrong to be left-wing. But something has gone profoundly wrong within the political left over the last few decades. This is no longer a case of merely disagreeing with Israel's policies, or expressing sympathy with Palestinian suffering. The political left has become a malign tool in the war to destroy Western civilisation by getting civilised people to agree with savagery, barbarity, and evil, and to hate, despise, and isolate those who fight that evil. The political left has become a key agent in helping Hamas survive by outrageously demanding Israeli "restraint" after Palestinian terrorists violate all moral norms, condemning Israel's heroic rescue of hostages, condemning the killing of Palestinian war criminals like Ismail Haniyeh, forcing Israel into untenable ceasefire agreements that don't guarantee a full return of the hostages and allow Hamas to continue in power. When academics appear at events calling Hamas "moderate" and publicly refusing to call October 7 a terrorist attack (true story-- the British Foreign Office hosted an event where this occurred), we see the depth of this intellectual and moral rot.
What I personally think happened is that many left-wing Jews went along with these alleged social justice movements, believing that they would be protected from antisemitism. After all, racists are very often notorious antisemites. So why not join the so-called (in my opinion) "anti-racist" movement? And didn't Jews march alongside Rev. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights era? Weren't prominent feminists like Betty Friedan Jewish?
Tragically, these Jews found out that their "allies" weren't willing to apply the same support or even courtesy in the reverse. Because these so-called social justice movements have been polluting the minds of several groups in America, including and especially ethnic minority groups, by teaching them not only to hate Israel, but that Zionism is the root cause of social injustice.
Thus BLM, when allegedly protesting the death of George Floyd, quickly turned their anger into a justification for antisemitism by blaming Israel for training the police force. Not long afterwards, Jewish synagogues were vandalised with pro-Palestinian terrorist slogans. For decades, the black American community has been brainwashed into treating the Jews as a "white privileged" oppressor, based on a fundamental ignorance of history, oversimplication of reality, the foolish belief that the Arab and Islamic world are its friends (thanks to Soviet-backed propaganda), and plain old antisemitism.
When we consider the possibility that these social justice movements are less interested in helping their alleged constituents and more interested in making Zionism the unifying factor that causes all social injustice, and approaching that theory from multiple angles (Critical Race Theory, Marxist theory, feminist theory, etc.), then we can understand why these "progressives" were so quick to cheer for Hamas and turned with such ferocity on the Jews.
I bet there are many Jews who will find it difficult to part ways with these movements. But if my theory above is correct, then it looks like they will have no choice. I myself parted ways with these movements long before knowing of the depths of their malignant antisemitism. I had other reasons. But it is certainly possible to support justice and equality without subscribing to critical theory and without self-describing as a progressive. And there are those on the left and centre-left, who are standing up to the antisemites, like the great Jerry ("You just gave money to a Jew!") Seinfeld, Bill Maher, Ben Stiller, and others.
It is absolutely crucial not just to condemn the moral frauds and accessories of evil who dare to claim they support "social justice", but also to expose, condemn, and refute the malign aspects of the ideologies that led down this path.
Anyways, an excellent, if heartbreaking, article!
Oh friend, SFF people have been the worst. A good chunk of fandom is dead to me, and I don't know whom I can trust among the rest of them.
Excellent article. I’ve lost more friends and acquaintances than I can count. Nearly every person I knew turned out to be antisemitic.
Yeah. I'm grateful to my leftist friends who called out this bullshit. They are few and far between