The habit of demonizing and applying double standards to the Jewish state is by now firmly rooted on the illiberal Left. Under the banner of “human rights” and “social justice,” self-styled “progressives” concentrate their fury on the single liberal democracy in the Middle East. The illiberal Left not only turns a blind eye to leftist human rights abusers, like North Korea, Venezuela and Zimbabwe in favor of Israel; it even tends to ignore conservative regimes like Iran, which would seem to be a natural target for the Left’s outrage—except that it isn’t Israel.
This is puzzling on a certain straightforward level, since the ideas of “social justice” and “human rights,” whatever else they connote, import the notion of universality; whereas the apparent belief that Israel’s purported human rights abuses are singularly important merely suggests anti-Semitism.
At any rate, since the illiberal Left, or “progressives,” are disproportionately represented on university faculties, one might think that academia would be strongly affected by this anti-Israel bias. Fred Gottheil, an economics professor at the University of Illinois, Champain-Urbana, designed and conducted an experiment to test this hypothesis. He reported his findings in a paper titled, “What Kind of Academic Signs These Anti-Israel Petitions?” in American Thinker.
Professor Gottheil took note of a January 2009 petition to President Obama written by University of Southern California English professor David Lloyd. This anti-Israel screed was the usual thing: it condemned Israel as an “apartheid regime,” and a “racist regime,” that practices “collective punishment,” “crimes against humanity” and “ethnocidal atrocities.” As Gottheil observed:
The petition was written just weeks following the December 2008 Gaza war, which was Israel's response to the more than six thousand rockets launched randomly and sporadically from Gaza into Israel over a three-year period beginning in 2005. While Professor Lloyd describes in much detail the damage inflicted on Gaza by the Israeli response, the petition completely ignores the casus belli -- Hamas' rocket-shelling and terrorist activity. Even Egypt warned Hamas prior to the Gaza war that its violent provocations would invite an Israeli response, and when that response came, Egypt pointed its accusing finger at Hamas. That, too, Lloyd ignored.
According to Gottheil, nine hundred academics from one hundred fifty institutions signed the Lloyd petition.
What Gottheil then did was to draft his own petition, or Statement of Concern, regarding human rights abuses in the Middle East. But the Gottheil statement involved discrimination against gays, lesbians and women in many Middle Eastern countries, including the non-state Palestinian Authority. Referencing sources such as UN agencies and NGOs like Human Rights Watch, the Statement expressed alarm at honor-killing, wife-beating, female genital mutilation, and persecution of homosexuals.
After authenticating the Lloyd signatories, and excluding non-academics and non-American academics, Gottheil emailed his Statement of Concern to 675 of the original Lloyd petition signors, with a request for support. In Gottheil’s words: “The idea was really uncomplicated: Since they expressed a concern about social injustice in Israel, they might also be willing to express their concern about human rights abuses practiced against women, gays, and lesbians in other parts of the Middle East.”
The results? Only thirty of the 675 responded at all. Twenty-seven of 675 agreed to support the Statement of Concern. “In other words, 95 percent of those who had signed the Lloyd petition censuring Israel for human rights violation did not sign a statement concerning discrimination against women and gays and lesbians in the Middle East.”
But it gets worse—or better, depending on how cynical you are:
As many as 25 percent of the Lloyd petition-signing academics were faculty associated with gender and women studies departments. Yet of these, only 5 endorsed the Statement calling for attention to the discrimination against women in the Muslim countries of the Middle East. Put more bluntly, 164 of the 169 faculty who had chosen to focus their life's work on matters affecting women, and who felt comfortable enough to affix their names to Lloyd's petition censuring Israel, chose not to sign a Statement of Concern about documented human rights violations against gays, lesbians, and women in the Middle East.
Readers are invited to write in to defend the principles, if any, of the Lloyd petition-signers. The best attempt to generate a non-hypocritical explanation for signing one but not the other will win a prize. (You must include your email address to win.)
Comments
I'ts NOT a Jewish state, you zio weenie.
Israel is a ZIONIST state. Founded by zionists. Run by them to this very day.
You people need to stop hiding behind the Jews and stand out in the open so we can see you.
Look at this: http://from-gaza.blogspot.com/
Jews didn't commit these atrocities. Zionists surely did.
You need to choose sides there, brother. Because you cannot be a Jew and a zionist at the same time. And the day is coming where you will be made to choose.
You're not high enough on their totem pole to be spared what is to come. By those you serve now.
x
There are a whole lotta issues with Dr. Gottheil's motivations and methodology (and therefore, his results). Anyone interested can read the whole of what I've written on the subject here. In short, though, counting the number of people who didn't respond to a single unsolicited e-mail from a stranger that may or may not've even made it into their "IN" box (spam filters, don'cha know) is hardly the best way to determine who does and does not care about the rights of women or gay folks in Middle Eastern countries, or whether these academics are showing any kind of double standard.
That said, Dr. Gottheil's Statement of Concern is now posted at PetitionsOnline.com, and is accepting signatures from anyone willing to speak out against human rights abuses in the Middle East. As you're obviously interested in the story, I urge you to step up and sign it: Support Regarding Discrimination in the Middle East against Women, Gays, and Lesbians Petition
Of course, we'll be counting on everyone reading this comment to reply to this request. (You know what it says about you, if you fail to reply... ...according to some, anyway.) ((In all seriousness, sign or don't, but decide on the merits, and on what your heart leads you to do. The rest is just meaningless political posturing...))
Same guy as comment 2 (repsac3blogs@gmail.com, for the record... Seems the examiner site cut *that* away, as well), hopefully with the missing links, this time:
The whole of what I've written on the subject: http://whatdisay.blogspot.com/search/label/Gottheil
Dr. Gottheil's Statement of Concern Calling for Support Regarding Discrimination in the Middle East against Women, Gays, and Lesbians, at PetitionsOnline.com:
http://www.petitiononline.com/fmgott/petition.html
(It'll really be disappointing if the links don't show up this time, either... But if that happens, Google "whatdisay [dot] blogspot [dot] com' to find the links I'm trying to offer. And then find a better service to read/write stuff, because if one can't offer links in support of one's arguments, the examiner here isn't worth the electrons it's created with... I'm just sayin'...)
Until the back of zionism is broken, Israel is to be avoided for the same reason we avoided nazi Germany. It wasn't the people as a whole. It was a supremacist philosophy that promised security.
Israel is cursed with something they can't throw off by themselves. And if you touch them...
Israeli's will prevale in all this. Jew and Arab ones alike.
But the zionists need to be driven back and their heads cut off at sunrise.
You'll suffer the consequences if you don't. So will the rest of us.
x
Well, isn't that just peachy/ You asked for people to write to you to try to smooth out the wrinkles left by blatant hypocrisy, and the comments you get in response are from hypocrites and cooks.
Xexon is a cretin who is obsessed with vilifying Zionism
with someTsarist era hoax. Zionism is not racism. But Xexon is a DSM defined mental disorder.
I confess to being a cook but the rest is blarney.
x
Perhaps you meant to confess that you are a kook, not a cook, which proves that you are a cretin. You're incessant anti-Semitic tantrums are rather powerful evidence that you racist with a severe and debilitating mental disorder.
I imagine that your plans for the evening are to 'kook' dinner and then eat alone.
Allow me to explain a few things to you then,
First, modern Jews are not semites.
Not in a long time now. That title actually belongs to the Palestinians, who are the only true semites left in Israel. Most of the Jewish population comes from the four corner's of the earth. Largely imports. With a generation or two of Israeli births since.
I take the pains to explain to people that the modern zionist movement has nothing whatsoever to do with Judaism as a religion. If infects them. It has now infected Christianity as well.
But Jews have it the worst. Over a 100 years now. It has assumed the face and identity of Judaism in the world eye without asking world Jewry for permission.
That's because zionism is a lie. It represents nothing but it's own supremacist views, and a country it founded. Contained in which is a large part of the world Jewish population now. And to the zionist masters who live in their European estates, they're all expendable.
Now who is more dangerous to Jews?
This isn't a Muslim thing. This is a Jewish thing. A play for power within the "tribe" itself. But these Jews are atheistic. Jewish nazis. Genetic Jews. And almost all white.
Not real Jews by definition of following the God of Israel. They're radicals. Zealots. Dangerous.
You take the fundamental view of this situation. You're educated by the evening news rather than hunting for the truth of it all. Your shallowness of understanding is the same reason this country is heading for the wall.
Democracy DOES NOT WORK...without an informed population. One that is balanced.
I represent the opinions you won't find on Fox News.
Those who are imbalanced are going to feel a shift in the gravity when I'm around.
Especially if you're in league with this movement.
x
Xexon,
You are not ignorant. You are too malicious. You are a cretin overwhelmed with an irrational hatred of Jews in your childish world of make believe facts.
Let's start with your first childish claim that you learned in Nazi preschool. It is the nonsense argument that Jews are not Jews. You cannot answer such idiocy. But let me at least respond to what I think you are trying to argue that Jews are not entitle to nationhood because they are not a race, which you then claim proves that Zionism is racist. You need to take your medication and stop hitting yourself in your head so much. Genetic studies prove you wrong. Most Jews can prove that they are the descendants of the nation that was destroyed and exiled by the Babylonians and Rome. Even if genetics proved otherwise, your idiotic theory would deny nationhood to America. Surely, there is no such things as an American race. Moreover, it would deny nationhood to 98% of the world's nations. There would be no Canada, Mexico, Argentina etc. There would be no Russia, Turkey, or even France. Every generation, the borders of most East Europe changes, along with their populations. Only a fool would say that they are not a nation because they are not a race. Your idiocy about a cabal of Europeans lording over Israel is pure made up lunacy. Israel is a democracy. It has elected leaders. Like the US leaders, sometimes Israeli leaders are not as good as they should be. But that does not imply some crazy cabal, The world does not need evil racists like you. And after you "kook" your meal, you will eat alone like you always do because you are a spiteful hateful jerk.
If you're going to spank me, I suggest you use a bigger stick.
This is not about JEWS. This is about zionism. You can't discuss zionism without discussing Jews, so get over it.
Jews are followers of a religion. if you don't follow the religion, you're NOT a Jew. Same applies to Catholics or Mormons. Jews are not exclusive nor are they a race. They do NOT deserve their own country. Although all three of these religions have tried.
Any nation founded as a religious nation is nothing but trouble. Israel only looks like a religious state. It's 100% zionist behind the mask however. I'll remind you that Israel was founded by atheistic Jews not religious ones.
Israel is pure illusion. A spiritual fake. Created for the sole purpose of agitating the Middle East. For political purposes.
As for the usual charge of being anti-Jewish, I suggest you read what I write more closely. I'm working on behalf of Jews and Judaism.
Because most of them don't understand this zionist movement either. The key to defeating this racist ideology is getting Jews themselves educated so they can see the problem and address it.
I've been doing this for years and years. Because I appreciate Jewish culture and the mystical aspects of the religion.
You're bent out of shape because I WON'T treat Jews differently. No I won't. I see them them as regular folk and I treat them with the same equality as I do all people.
Now who's the supremacist?
x
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