While no one should be abused for just walking the streets, I find this attempt by Journalist Zvika Klein to highlight anti-semitism a tad disingenuous…
Ten hours as a Jew in Paris
A journalist decided to test how safe the streets of Paris are for Jews – by wearing a religious skullcap and filming the public’s reaction using a hidden camera.
…how about he try dressing up as a Palestinian and walk through an illegal Israeli settlement for just 10 minutes and see how safe that is.
…how about he try dressing up as a Palestinian and walk through an illegal Israeli settlement for just 10 minutes and see how safe that is.
But he’s a French Jew living in Paris. An inferred contrast with a completely different setting doesn’t make what he was doing disingenuous. And I for one don’t know what his views on the Israeli settlements are. He may well object to them, as many of us do
If the guy was afraid, why on earth would he wear that silly religious skullcap ?
Just out looking for trouble I reckon and no doubt he found it.
This world would be a far kinder place without all these God worshipers.
Correct Simple Simon.
And some particular religions play on their “victim” status, continually referring to and using history to justify present ongoing acts of land grabs and atrocities, in the name of their beliefs and culture.
Martyn has raised a good point here!
You don’t seem to understand what disingenuous actually means. Here’s a clue, its not the word you are looking for. But aside from that your entire point is completely without foundation.
Context, context and more context. Seriously.
He should try Muslim costume in Paris for parity – wouldn’t get him killed but would make a dent in his exceptionalism.
He should try Muslim costume in Paris for parity – wouldn’t get him killed but would make a dent in his exceptionalism
What is “Muslim costume”? Why do you imagine that Zvika Klein holds to any kind of “exceptionalism”?
Muslim costume differs according to country but nevertheless it is often recognisable to the people of that country. The same is true of Jewish costumes.
The presumption of exceptionalism springs from his exploration of his group’s oppression, without making any evident effort to walk a mile in the other side’s shoes.
Historically there has often been understanding and tolerance between the two faiths, but it does not seem that this experiment was designed with that in mind.
The presumption of exceptionalism springs from his exploration of his group’s oppression, without making any evident effort to walk a mile in the other side’s shoes
I think that is absolutely fair as far as it goes, and I appreciate that Martyn Bradbury was exploring a similar theme in the original post.
But circumstances have deteriorated stunningly fast for the Jewish population of Western Europe in the last decade. — And I recognise the point Zvika Klein is making.
The policies of the Israeli government should have no bearing on the lives of the Jews of Europe.
Perhaps the actions of Israel should not affect the lives of European Jews, but the unhappy truth is that we are all connected to politics and to history. The relatively large Muslim population in France is not unrelated to France’s Algerian adventures for example, and their circumstances may from time to time lead to unrest.
The smart move to defuse the potential for ethnic antipathy would be French Jewish activism for social justice – it accords with the traditions of both religions.
While, for obvious historical reasons, it’s incumbent on the Left to take anti-Semitic incidents seriously, it’s also vital to avoid naivety.
Tom Fisher suggests “circumstances have deteriorated stunningly fast for the Jewish population of Western Europe in the last decade.”
Where’s the evidence ? And how do these circumstances compare with widespread, intense, mainstream Islamophobia ?
As Norman Finkelstein has shown, various pro-Israeli groups like the American Anti-Defamation League have, since the early 70s, periodically made quite sweeping and alarmist claims regarding the alleged existence of a new, virulent wave of anti-Semitism in the West – these claims almost always being made whenever Israel happens to face a public relations debacle or finds itself under an unusual degree of pressure from the international community over its brutal 48-year Occupation.
Much of the alleged ‘evidence’ for a new virulent wave of Judeophobia emanates from groups closely associated with Israeli apologetics. Perhaps most notoriously, you have the contrived scandal that erupted around the sensational allegation that the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia had suppressed a report it had commissioned which purported to show a frightening upswing in anti-Semitism within the EU. In reality, the report was rejected because of its outrageous methodology, it found a rise in anti-semitism largely on the basis of displays of support for the Palestinians in Europe (demonstrations, displays of the Palestinian flag, comparisons between Israel and apartheid SA, support for a boycott of Israeli goods, suggestions the US and Israel had a close relationship).
And then there was the British all-party parliamentary group releasing yet another report alleging a resurgence of anti-Semitism in 2006, using as witnesses such reliable (and extreme) Israeli apologists as Melanie Phillips, Emanuel Ottolenghi and the notorious MEMRI media organisation, closely associated with the Israeli Intelligence community.
Finkelstein has argued that the so-called “new anti-Semitism” actually consists of three components (1) exaggeration and fabrication, (2) mislabelling legitimate criticism of Israeli policy and (3) the totally unjustified yet predictable spillover from criticism of Israel to the Jewish community generally.
Certainly, all the evidence suggests that most of the anti-Semitic attacks that have occurred in Europe recently were closely associated with Muslim anger at the on-going destruction of the Palestinian people.
That doesn’t even remotely excuse it but it’s clearly a causal relationship that Israel’s apologists would rather not hear about.
Perhaps if the Palestinians and their friends had left Israel alone from 1948 there would be no ‘occupied territories’.
Perhaps you can elaborate further Nehemia , or would you like to rewrite history ?
With pleasure. Israel’s Arab neighbours have several times tried to wipe Israel off the map. It started in 1948, then 1956, 1967, 1973…. Each time they get their arses whipped and cede more territory. When will they learn?
@NEHEMIA WALL – I think you and I must come from a different historical perspective here!
It was the Israelis, in their quest to establish a territory of their own, who drove the Palestinians from their land! All with the blessings of the US and Britain and their sycophantic allies, I might add.
And the poor bloody Palestinians are still victims of Israeli atrocities, while the West turns a blind eye, preferring to concentrate its efforts on another part of the region!
No-one drove the Palestinians from their own land. Palestinian arabs live a better life in Israel than many do in Arab nations. They enjoy an open democracy, and the economic privileges of a modern, secular state. Prior to the establishment of Israel, Palestine was a wasteland, now Israel is a successful, modern democracy.
Hilarious stuff. “Palestine was empty, the Jews came and made the desert bloom. Innocent little Israel forced to constantly defend itself against constant ‘existentialist’ threats from a brutal and implacable Arab foe” etc etc etc ad nauseam.
That sort of ludicrous, creaky old Hasbara*** – the ‘Exodus’ version of Arab-Israeli history – favoured by Zionist true-believers like your good self has been totally demolished by 40 years of intense scholarship. Mainly by Israeli and Jewish-American academics.
No one who genuinely wants to understand Middle East history takes that sort of nonsense seriously anymore. But thanks for providing a good laugh.
***Hasbara = propaganda work / rhetorical strategies to further Israel’s political / strategic interests.
Who said Palestine was empty? I said it was a wasteland, and it was. The inhabitants of this wasteland were subsistence, nomadic farmers. Israel today is a thriving and modern democratic nation state, one in which the arab and jewish inhabitants enjoy the fruits of their labour. That’s more than can be said of many other parts of the region.
Do you support Hamas?
And by the way you’re wrong. The land belonged to the British who has gotten it from the Turks. The British handed the whole thing over to the UN who split it up into jewish and arab regions.
Would he have a bomb tied around his chest?
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