The sickness is that there is a desire not only to allow unlimited anti-
Semitic expression, but it to suppress those with differing opinions, indeed to vilify and cancel anyone who supports Israel. It won't stop there. The BLM movement and transgender rights ideology are being made sacrosanct. Any defense of historical values will be condemned.
By the way, has anyone figure out what constitutes the Palestinian race? Is there something identifiable in DNA that classifies someone as Palestinian? Too bad 23 and me is going out of business.
My mother was born in Jerusalem in 1929 and had a Palestinian passport issued by the British Mandatory authority. I'm assuming that makes me Palestinian. (It's easy to ignore that before 1948, that when you were talking about Palestinians, you generally meant Jews.)
Funny thing in Wired Magazine some time back: Mohammed did 23 and Me and was perturbed to find the results said his DNA is mostly from Arabia and somewhat from Egypt. He asked “why doesn’t it say Palestinian?” Even Palestinians don’t realize their national identity (they are ethnically Arabs) is fake. My Jewish ancestors were Palestinian before a single Arab showed up in the land.
We live in California and regularly have the where can we go conversation. Since October 7 it’s painfully clear that Canada is no longer safe. What happened up there? Is it from massive Islamic immigration? Something changed in the last 20 years.
That may be part of the issue. There is also a larger narrative of hypocrisy around approaches to Jews that fits a global approach to antisemitism. I'll write about that more soon!
IF the USA or just California becomes unlivable and we have to put the parrots in the car and just leave… where do we go? If it’s just the Bay Area we have a house in Visalia. If it’s California or the USA all we’ve got is Mexico. Where would you go?
Nancy Friedberg, you're posing a legitimate question. Historically, when Jews were oppressed in a particular country or region, they would pull up stakes and move elsewhere. Our plight is unprecedented. We face global antisemitism of a particularly venomous kind. Democracies are falling across the globe. In Europe, centrist governments are being usurped by far-right nationalist regimes. Radical Islamists, many sponsored by massive oil wealth, have become a presence everywhere. The only option I've considered is Israel.
Can’t help wondering how many of these useful idiots have actually read the IHRA definition of antisemitism. It actually says (paraphrasing here) ‘legitimate criticism of the Israeli government is fine, as long as it’s truly political and of a nature that could be levelled at any other government’. It then goes on to give examples, such as criticizing policy vs using Nazi comparisons. It’s so very clear and common sense. The complainers are either mentally deficient or so up-to-their-earlobes in antisemitic beliefs that they can’t accept something that denies them the right to express their hatred.
I live in Ottawa. My city council just voted to direct city staff to study a 'bubble bylaw," like the one in Brampton. Like you, I believe that the way to combat hate speech is with more speech. But the Jewish community in Ottawa, as well as the centrist mayor whom I typically support, believe the bylaw is a good idea, putting bubble zones around places of worship, community centres, schools, and hospitals. Am I missing the point?
Hey Raphael ... Oh, I absolutely support bubble legislation! Free speech does not grant people the right to scream their speech in the faces of victims. Go ahead, speak. BUt physical intimidation and overt harassment is not free speech!
Part of the reason for this, I am convinced, is that these hypocrites regard freedom of speech as nothing more than a means to an end, with some people’s freedom of speech rights being, as George Orwell would have called it, “more equal than others.” But there is an even worse part of it that blurs the distinction between words and deeds, with some going so far as to equate “offensive” speech with bullets coming out of a gun, thus creating situations whereby if party A offends party B with words, party B cannot be condemned for responding with bullets.
The sickness is that there is a desire not only to allow unlimited anti-
Semitic expression, but it to suppress those with differing opinions, indeed to vilify and cancel anyone who supports Israel. It won't stop there. The BLM movement and transgender rights ideology are being made sacrosanct. Any defense of historical values will be condemned.
By the way, has anyone figure out what constitutes the Palestinian race? Is there something identifiable in DNA that classifies someone as Palestinian? Too bad 23 and me is going out of business.
My mother was born in Jerusalem in 1929 and had a Palestinian passport issued by the British Mandatory authority. I'm assuming that makes me Palestinian. (It's easy to ignore that before 1948, that when you were talking about Palestinians, you generally meant Jews.)
Fathi Hammad, a member of the Hamas politburo, said on an Arabic language broadcast, “half of Palestinians are Egyptian and the other half are Saudi.“
Funny thing in Wired Magazine some time back: Mohammed did 23 and Me and was perturbed to find the results said his DNA is mostly from Arabia and somewhat from Egypt. He asked “why doesn’t it say Palestinian?” Even Palestinians don’t realize their national identity (they are ethnically Arabs) is fake. My Jewish ancestors were Palestinian before a single Arab showed up in the land.
We live in California and regularly have the where can we go conversation. Since October 7 it’s painfully clear that Canada is no longer safe. What happened up there? Is it from massive Islamic immigration? Something changed in the last 20 years.
Hey Nancy,
That may be part of the issue. There is also a larger narrative of hypocrisy around approaches to Jews that fits a global approach to antisemitism. I'll write about that more soon!
what do you mean by the where we go for conversation?
IF the USA or just California becomes unlivable and we have to put the parrots in the car and just leave… where do we go? If it’s just the Bay Area we have a house in Visalia. If it’s California or the USA all we’ve got is Mexico. Where would you go?
No one is going anywhere :-)
Nancy Friedberg, you're posing a legitimate question. Historically, when Jews were oppressed in a particular country or region, they would pull up stakes and move elsewhere. Our plight is unprecedented. We face global antisemitism of a particularly venomous kind. Democracies are falling across the globe. In Europe, centrist governments are being usurped by far-right nationalist regimes. Radical Islamists, many sponsored by massive oil wealth, have become a presence everywhere. The only option I've considered is Israel.
Can’t help wondering how many of these useful idiots have actually read the IHRA definition of antisemitism. It actually says (paraphrasing here) ‘legitimate criticism of the Israeli government is fine, as long as it’s truly political and of a nature that could be levelled at any other government’. It then goes on to give examples, such as criticizing policy vs using Nazi comparisons. It’s so very clear and common sense. The complainers are either mentally deficient or so up-to-their-earlobes in antisemitic beliefs that they can’t accept something that denies them the right to express their hatred.
I live in Ottawa. My city council just voted to direct city staff to study a 'bubble bylaw," like the one in Brampton. Like you, I believe that the way to combat hate speech is with more speech. But the Jewish community in Ottawa, as well as the centrist mayor whom I typically support, believe the bylaw is a good idea, putting bubble zones around places of worship, community centres, schools, and hospitals. Am I missing the point?
Hey Raphael ... Oh, I absolutely support bubble legislation! Free speech does not grant people the right to scream their speech in the faces of victims. Go ahead, speak. BUt physical intimidation and overt harassment is not free speech!
Part of the reason for this, I am convinced, is that these hypocrites regard freedom of speech as nothing more than a means to an end, with some people’s freedom of speech rights being, as George Orwell would have called it, “more equal than others.” But there is an even worse part of it that blurs the distinction between words and deeds, with some going so far as to equate “offensive” speech with bullets coming out of a gun, thus creating situations whereby if party A offends party B with words, party B cannot be condemned for responding with bullets.