tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781379104401133933.post4674828510838499465..comments2024-03-22T22:27:18.642-07:00Comments on The Hasbara Buster: Why don't they talk about Russia -- or the Tamils?Ibrahim Ibn Yusufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839484683464457225noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781379104401133933.post-81984412441281008222011-02-09T04:37:54.182-08:002011-02-09T04:37:54.182-08:00The phrase "we've got the most moral army...The phrase "we've got the most moral army in the world" has been ritually repeated by all Israeli Prime Ministers and Presidents since I have use of memory.Medical Bloghttp://insodr23.paidtoblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781379104401133933.post-9981665799707940452008-10-06T22:42:00.000-07:002008-10-06T22:42:00.000-07:00I think it's a bit naïve to deny that attacks on J...<I>I think it's a bit naïve to deny that attacks on Jews attract disproportionate attention as compared to those on other groups, like the Roma.</I><BR/><BR/>I wrote "It isn't just a matter of the victims . . ."<BR/><BR/>Anti-Semitism does get more attention than other sorts of prejudice. The Western World (and now the Global Village)has considerable self-interst in paying attention to anti-Semitism as a phenomenon as it contemplates its more self-destructive urges. The more extreme forms of anti-Zionism fit in there somewhere also.Yitzchak Goodmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13478596798458473250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781379104401133933.post-8073050020888892192008-10-06T17:48:00.000-07:002008-10-06T17:48:00.000-07:00Some good points, Yusuf, comrade.The response to a...Some good points, Yusuf, comrade.<BR/><BR/>The response to accusations that antizionists don't condemn other countries' human rights violations and the like is that, in reality, we do. The answer to, 'Why don't you condemn Russia's invasion of Georgia?' is, 'Why don't you condemn Georgia's shelling of Tskhinvali and Israel's arming and training of the Georgian military?'<BR/><BR/>Another point I often make is that the Saudi government never claims to be acting on my behalf, while the Israeli government does. This entitles me - in my view impels me - to speak out against the atrocities purported to be committed in my name.Ernie Halfdramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06463362099448607727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781379104401133933.post-28286258106182437542008-10-06T17:09:00.000-07:002008-10-06T17:09:00.000-07:00Yitzchak, remember the deranged young woman on a F...Yitzchak, remember the deranged young woman on a French train a few years ago? She wasn't even Jewish, but she claimed to have been attacked by thugs shouting antisemitic slogans. The world automatically believed her story.<BR/><BR/>I think it's a bit naïve to deny that attacks on Jews attract disproportionate attention as compared to those on other groups, like the Roma. Or did you even hear about the Democratic Alliance of Hungarian Gypsies deputy chairman Ernő Botos’s house in Tiszaroff being set on fire by neo-nazis?<BR/><BR/>Andrew, there are multiple possible explanations, but the evident conclusion is that if you're more reported on when you're the victim, you can't complain of being more reported on when you're the perpetrator. You can't have the cake and eat it.Ibrahim Ibn Yusufhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09839484683464457225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781379104401133933.post-56540990030349334022008-10-06T03:00:00.000-07:002008-10-06T03:00:00.000-07:00Buster, I've considered many of the same things yo...Buster, I've considered many of the same things you have in countering Israel-gets-criticized-too-much arguments. Your post put them all in one place and made me wonder why "Jewish" issues are paid more attention in official society. And why is no attention paid to the Gypsies who are more persecuted today than Jews in Europe (argh, it's that stupid whataboutery again)?<BR/><BR/>I think it boils down to the self-image Americans have of being the freedom-loving good guys who kicked the tyrants out of Europe. Even Obama subscribes to the myth that the US army can invade troubled regions and sort it out. How much would a US politician suffer if they paid lip service to history and declared it was only possible for the US to take France and West Germany because the USSR absorbed the brunt of the Nazi war machine?<BR/><BR/>Aside from the fact that we opposed Nazi and Soviet tyranny, nevermind the USSR liberated the death camps, there's now a country made up of the same people we saved fighting Arab tyrants who want to wipe them out. Not everyone spouts this cartoonishness verbatim, but it's clearly the context behind any reporting. The Israelis are the same people we saved in Europe, and on top of that they fight radical Islamists, so they're like family.<BR/><BR/>We're not going to invade Europe again and save anyone from rightwingers, and every US intervention is doomed to be a crime against humanity, but because we got to piggyback on the liberation of Europe by the same people marked for eventual genocide by the Nazis (i.e. Russians), sections of the electorate are secure knowing everything the US army does is right. And we have natural allies in the battlefield.<BR/><BR/>That's the explanation I came up with for why the Israel-Palestine conflict is over reported, though under-informed in this hemisphere. Can't speak for Argentina, tho'.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781379104401133933.post-61167201980886126462008-10-04T19:56:00.000-07:002008-10-04T19:56:00.000-07:00It isn't just a matter of the victims but of the p...It isn't just a matter of the victims but of the perpetrators. The Palestinians want their attacks to be publicized and the fact that they are given wide coverage is partly a function of the fact that the Palestinians are a cause celebre on the left. Sometimes news stories about Palestinian terror attacks are accompanied by pictures of the terrorist's mother crying. The Palestinians have been effective in using terror to gain publicity. Let the Tamils take an Olympic team hostage and then see what happens.Yitzchak Goodmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13478596798458473250noreply@blogger.com