Jews and Israel are good. Anti-semitism is bad, including when it pretends to be criticism of Israel.
As far as I know, none of the following people made a public pro-Jewish statement: David Deutsch, William Godwin, Edmund Burke, Thomas Szasz, Karl Popper and Ludwig von Mises.
They should have. That's why I wrote this post. I think it's important to be clear about this issue.
Ayn Rand did, see comments below. :)
EDIT: Clarified wording, 2014-07-01
Messages (14)
Why?
"They should have."
Why?
> Why?
To be clear about this important issue.
So-
so it is important for them to have said something pro-jewish so that we could be clear on the fact that they didn't say anything pro-jewish
Ayn Rand on Jews and Israel
[Context: In 1971, Marco DeFunis, Jr. was denied admission to the University of Washington Law School in favor of others who filled various racial or ethnic quotas.]
"And if the persecution suffered by a student's ancestors is grounds for giving him special advantages, DeFunis belongs to the racial minority that suffered the longest, most horrendous record of persecution in history: he is Jewish. So much for the sincerity of the altruists' motives."
--Ayn Rand, "Moral Inflation--Part III", in The Ayn Rand Letter, Vol. III, No. 14, April 8, 1974.
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[Context: In 1973 the press was full of an "energy crisis" in the wake of an Arab oil embargo and the U.S. government instituted various controls and forms of rationing to deal with it.]
"Many people are saying that the sudden crisis was manufactured by Nixon's clique, in order to distract public attention from Watergate. This may be true or not, it is as good or as bad a reason as any, and it does not matter which -- because, if the government has the power to do it, what position are we in? Other people fear that blaming the crisis on the Arab embargo will arouse a wave of anti-Semitism -- and they believe that the crisis is a means of preparing an excuse for selling Israel down the river. That, too, is possible."
--Ayn Rand, "The Energy Crisis", in The Ayn Rand Letter, Vol. III, No. 3, November 5, 1973.
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[Context: In the wake of the collapse of South Vietnam there was a call from the left for avoiding interventions abroad.]
"The purpose of this new isolationism is to play on the American people's legitimate weariness, confusion and anger over Vietnam, in the hope of making the U.S. government afraid to become involved in another foreign war of any kind. This would paralyze the U.S. in the conduct of any foreign policy not agreeable to Soviet Russia. The first intended victim of the new isolationism will probably be Israel—if the "anti-war" efforts of the new isolationists succeed. (Israel and Taiwan are the two countries that need and deserve U.S. help—not in the name of international altruism, but by reason of actual U.S. national interests in the Mediterranean and the Pacific.)"
--Ayn Rand, "The Lessons Of Vietnam", in The Ayn Rand Letter, Vol. III, No. 24, August 26, 1974.
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[Context: Ayn Rand was interviewed on the Donahue show and was asked by an audience member for her views on what was happening in the Middle East.]
If you mean whose side one should be on, Israel or the Arabs, I would certainly say Israel because it’s the advanced, technological, civilized country amidst a group of almost totally primitive savages who have not changed for years and who are racist and who resent Israel because it’s bringing industry, intelligence, and modern technology into their stagnation."
--Ayn Rand in Q and A session on the television show, "The Donahue Show", New York, 1979.
Thank you, I'll update the post.
Anti-Israel
"Jews and Israel are good. Anti-semitism is bad, including anti-Israel stuff. "
What do you mean by anti-israel stuff?
By anti-israel, do you mean people that say there should not be a state of israel, or do you mean those people that critizise israels actions?
israel
do you mean if someone criticizes Israel's actions you are going to label that person as Anti-Semite? a lot of things that israel does is wrong like destroying Palestinian houses and killing innocent children. i don't know how they get away with all of these!
> a lot of things that israel does is wrong like destroying Palestinian houses and killing innocent children.
that is false. and it's a slander which incites violence. people believe that out of either ignorance, anti-semitism, or both.
normally when people are ignorant of a topic, they don't post violence-inciting comments on the internet about that topic.
> a lot of things that israel does is wrong like destroying Palestinian houses
The IDF has sometimes destroyed property, including houses. One reason for doing this is that such property was being used as part of terrorist operations against Israelis. Another reason is that the house in question is the home of a terrorist and the demolition was done for deterrence. For a fuller explanation of this policy, see
http://www.mag.idf.il/SIP_STORAGE//FILES/8/638.pdf
especially the section "Destruction of private property" starting on p. 153.
Why would it be wrong to destroy property that is being used to murder Israelis?
> and killing innocent children.
This is bullshit. The IDF targets combatants, not Palestinian children:
http://www.meforum.org/175/has-israel-used-indiscriminate-force.
The second link in the above comment is broken
you just have to delete the period.
http://www.meforum.org/175/has-israel-used-indiscriminate-force
Antisemitism & the Left
http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/RadioDerb/2016-11-25.html
> I'll note in passing that in the year 2016, antisemitism is today much more characteristic of the political Left than of the Right. Britain's Labour Party is now quite openly antisemitic. Black Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison, being spoken of this week as the new head of the Democratic National Committee, has a long paper trail of hostility to Israel. He was formerly an associate of Louis Farrakhan.
> You can of course dig out an antisemite or two from any point of the political spectrum; but if it's the mother lode you're seeking, the political Left is the place to look nowadays.
Anti-semitism on college campuses
Anti-semitism is rampant on college campuses today. Ami Horowitz has a great video of how Berkeley students react to the ISIS and Israel flags. If you polled today's college students, I bet you'd find a fair amount of agreement with this statement:
> For while the Zionists try to make the rest of the world believe that the national consciousness of the Jew finds its satisfaction in the creation of a Palestinian state, the Jews again slyly dupe the dumb Goyim. It doesn’t even enter their heads to build up a Jewish state in Palestine for the purpose of living there; all they want is a central organization for their international world swindle, endowed with its own sovereign rights and removed from the intervention of other states: a haven for convicted scoundrels and a university for budding crooks.
The source of that statement? Hitler's Mein Kampf
Antifa applaud speech made up of Hitler quotes
https://twitter.com/prisonplanet/status/884069693438537729
> [Video:] "Anti-fascist," anti-Trump protesters applaud speech comprised entirely of Hitler quotes.