A few years ago, Michael Lerner wrote about his discomfiture with certain elements of the Left.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that I am banned from speaking at a peace rally here this Sunday. As editor of Tikkun, the largest-circulation liberal Jewish magazine in the world, I have been an outspoken critic of the proposed war in Iraq. I have also unequivocally condemned Saddam Hussein’s brutality and called for the world community to bring him to justice for crimes against humanity. But we at Tikkun do not believe that this war–in which thousands of Iraqi civilians are likely to die–will bring democracy to the Middle East. Instead, it is bound to increase the threat of terrorism to American citizens and provoke more violence. It will also fuel American fantasies of world economic and political domination.So why was I being blackballed over the peace rally?
My sin was publicly criticizing the way that A.N.S.W.E.R., one of the four groups sponsoring the San Francisco demonstration, has used the antiwar demonstrations to put forward anti-Israel propaganda. An A.N.S.W.E.R. spokesperson, speaking on the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC, said that they didn’t want a “pro-Israel” speaker at their rally.
He was blacklisted for protesting “anti-Israel propaganda.”
He wrote further:
There is a huge difference between criticism of Ariel Sharon’s repressive treatment of the Palestinian people and a refusal to accept the fundamental legitimacy of Israel’s existence. For years, those of us who want democratic rights for Palestinians have been dubbed “self-hating Jews” by right-wingers in the Jewish world. Now, some on the left insist that if we support human rights we must also uncritically support the violence of some Palestinian “freedom fighters” who make no secret of their desire to overthrow the Zionist enterprise.That’s why we recently created a new national organization supporting a “progressive middle path” that is both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian. We call for an end to the occupation, the creation of a Palestinian state and reparations for Palestinian refugees. But we also call for reparations for Jews who fled Arab states, and for Israel’s admission into NATO–or some other equally powerful military alliance–to give the Jewish state genuine security.
Now Judeopundit has found out how “Rabbi” Lerner really feels. (He wades through the bilge so I don’t have to.)
[…] We at Tikkun feel equally grieving for the people killed by vicious and immoral terrorists at the Yeshiva Mercaz HaRav (the ultra-nationalist religious center that developed the ideology which inspired religious Zionists to believe that they had a God-given right to settle and hold on to the territories without regard to the consequences for the Palestinian people already living there) as we do for the victims of Israeli terror (which in the past week killed 120 people, many of them children, many of them sitting in their homes when Israeli troops randomly fire-bombed and murdered them, as documented by the same international human rights organizations that today condemned the attack in Jerusalem by terrorists). We understand that these killings can only be understood in the context of the 60 year old struggle between these two communities, and that nothing short of a full peace accord that will require a new open-heartedness on both sides can possibly break this horrible cycle of violence. […]
When the “politics of meaning” proponent writes such stuff, doesn’t he realize that he’s handing ammunition to the very people who excluded him from speaking at an anti-war rally? Doesn’t he really believe those “human-rights” organizations take one-sided reports or judge Israel from afar? Does he credit with “open-heartedness” for withdrawing from Gaza, which was reciprocated for by turning the territory into a rocket launching platform?
Speaking of human rights groups, a high-powered one is headed to the region to help. Ex-president Jimmy Carter, ex-secretary general Kofi Annan, and Irish ex-president Mary Robinson are headed to the Middle East to “help.” (sources: Mere Rhetoric, Boker Tov Boulder)
Let’s go through some of their contributions to world peace, shall we?
Jimmy Carter – As an international election observer, certified as legitimate elections of Hugo Chavez (Sources: Times Online via Secular Blasphemy; WSJ) and Yasser Arafat (Source: Azure).
Kofi Annan – As head of United Nations peacekeeping operations he dithered while mass killing went on in Rwanda and in “Srebrenica while under the protection of U.N. soldiers.” (Source: Heritage Foundation) Protected Hezbollah from Israel after the terrorist organization violated the UN sanctioned border between Israel and Lebanon and kidnapped and killed three Israeli soldiers. ( Source: Daled Amos)
Mary Robinson – As President of Ireland funneled money to the PA that fueled an increase in terror against Israel. As head of as the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights she was the force behind the viciously anti-Israel and antisemitic Durban conference. (Source: NRO)
Like Lerner, this unholy trinity is so taken with their own virtue that they can’t see the damage they’ve done. And as all four are continually uncritically lauded by the press their efforts to do good will continue – with disastrous results.
Fausta’s blog is also excited! And if you’d like to work against the success of such visionaries you might want to keep atop of Durban Watch.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
“When the “politics of meaning†proponent writes such stuff, doesn’t he realize that he’s handing ammunition to the very people who excluded him from speaking at an anti-war rally?”
I’m pretty sure he does. He’s most likely doing it in an effort to get back into their good graces. What he’s not aware of, and probably won’t be until too late, is that the people he’s begging forgiveness from don’t intend to merely ban him once his usefulness is at an end, but actually kill him as quickly and quietly as they can.
Actually, that should be quickly and loudly as they can. They will want to make an example of him to keep the rest of the dhimmis in line.
How nice that Mr. Lerner criticized Saddam Hussein and demanded that the world bring him to justice for his crimes while he denounced the Iraq Campaign at the same time. How did he suppose bringing Saddam to justice could be done? Send Constable Plod to arrest him? His attitude was as good as saying give Saddam leave to oppress, rob, and murder all he wants, we should do nothing about it.
Such people are never acting in good faith when they “denounce” some tyrant, because they are never willing that anything should be done to restrain or stop the tyrants. Its all for show, all a lie. On the other hand, Lerner’s animus against Israel and the USA and liberty is fully heartfelt. Like almost all leftists he is against freedom and allies himself with the tyrants in their mutual struggle against it.