By Daniel Luban
"NEW YORK, Apr 29 (IPS) - "I have never experienced anti-Semitism myself, but it’s a phrase that always seems to be in the air," begins Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir’s lively new documentary "Defamation". "Three words seem to appear over and over again: Holocaust, Nazi, anti-Semitism."
This phenomenon will be equally familiar to viewers in the U.S. Although by almost any measure the U.S is as friendly to Jews as any society in history, the media here is frequently filled with dire warnings about "ancient hatreds" ready to bubble over into genocide.
And although Israel’s hardline defenders in the U.S. concede that in theory criticism of the Jewish state is not synonymous with hatred of Jews, a number of recent controversies have revolved around accusations that various critics of Israel - political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, retired diplomat Charles Freeman, playwright Caryl Churchill - are in fact cunningly disguised anti-Semites........
Israeli journalist and peace activist Uri Avnery, who has a memorable cameo, puts it more accurately: if anti-Semitism were truly a major force in the U.S., Foxman and the rest of the Israel lobby would not be able to operate the way they do.
As a counterpoint to Foxman, "Defamation" also gives a prominent role to Norman Finkelstein, the anti-Israel gadfly and author of books like "The Holocaust Industry".
Finkelstein seems far more thoughtful and articulate than Foxman, and he gets in a few good shots at the "warmongers from Martha’s Vineyard" pushing Likudnik policies in Washington, the "pathological narcissism" underlying rich U.S. Jews’ sense of victimisation, and the misuse of the Holocaust for political purposes....."
"NEW YORK, Apr 29 (IPS) - "I have never experienced anti-Semitism myself, but it’s a phrase that always seems to be in the air," begins Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir’s lively new documentary "Defamation". "Three words seem to appear over and over again: Holocaust, Nazi, anti-Semitism."
This phenomenon will be equally familiar to viewers in the U.S. Although by almost any measure the U.S is as friendly to Jews as any society in history, the media here is frequently filled with dire warnings about "ancient hatreds" ready to bubble over into genocide.
And although Israel’s hardline defenders in the U.S. concede that in theory criticism of the Jewish state is not synonymous with hatred of Jews, a number of recent controversies have revolved around accusations that various critics of Israel - political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, retired diplomat Charles Freeman, playwright Caryl Churchill - are in fact cunningly disguised anti-Semites........
Israeli journalist and peace activist Uri Avnery, who has a memorable cameo, puts it more accurately: if anti-Semitism were truly a major force in the U.S., Foxman and the rest of the Israel lobby would not be able to operate the way they do.
As a counterpoint to Foxman, "Defamation" also gives a prominent role to Norman Finkelstein, the anti-Israel gadfly and author of books like "The Holocaust Industry".
Finkelstein seems far more thoughtful and articulate than Foxman, and he gets in a few good shots at the "warmongers from Martha’s Vineyard" pushing Likudnik policies in Washington, the "pathological narcissism" underlying rich U.S. Jews’ sense of victimisation, and the misuse of the Holocaust for political purposes....."
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