DEBATING ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE SHADOW OF WALT, MEARSHEIMER… AND BORAT
By Michal Lando Jerusalem Post Correspondent
The Jerusalem Post
Sep 9, 2007 21:35
New York
Abraham Foxman circled the block a couple of times, looking for a
side entrance, before finally entering the 92nd Street Y on the Upper
East Side of New York City, where he spoke Thursday evening, to avoid
a group of protesters who had gathered across the street. Though
inside the conversation revolved around modern day anti-Semitism,
following the publication of Foxman’s new book, The Deadliest Lies:
The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control, the protesters were
there to demand that Foxman do more to recognize the Armenian genocide.
The ADL’s longstanding refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide
came to the fore in the last two weeks, creating a public rift
in the organization Foxman has led since 1987. Pressure from the
Jewish community in Massachusetts led Foxman to call the massacre of
Armenians "tantamount to genocide," and rehire the head of the New
England chapter after firing him for publicly voicing opposition to
the organization’s previous position.
But some Jews and many Armenians say Foxman didn’t go far enough, and
accused him of trying to play both sides of the coin. His recognition
of the genocide fell short of supporting two congressional bills that
ask the US to make a formal recognition.
The protest organized by the Jewish Web site Jewcy.com, which published
an article several months ago calling on Foxman to be fired over this
very issue, seemed largely to fall on deaf ears. The majority of people
at the Y were there to hear Larry David – the man behind the popular
television series Seinfeld, and more recently Curb Your Enthusiasm,
who was speaking in another auditorium – and many of them did not
seem to know who Foxman was.
And despite attempts to slip a few genocide-related questions into
the conversation between Foxman and Stuart Eizenstat, who served as
president Carter’s chief domestic policy adviser and as president
Clinton’s deputy treasury secretary, the Armenian genocide never made
it through the doors of the Upper East Side institution.
Instead Foxman was asked to respond to another accusation. A recent
profile of Foxman in The New York Times magazine portrayed him as
being hysterical when it comes to the question of anti-Semitism in the
modern world. "Are you hysterical?" asked moderator Thane Rosenbaum,
a celebrated novelist and law professor at Fordham University.
"I think the connotation of hysterical is in the eyes of the beholder,"
said Foxman, who proceeded to draw repeated comparisons between
anti-Semitism today and in the 1930s.
"Last time we were not vociferous was in the 1930s, when everybody
said it wasn’t serious," said Foxman.
"I think it’s more serious than it’s ever been since the 30s. Call
it what you want, but we have a duty, an obligation to stand up and
say it’s serious."
Later, in answer to a question from the audience, Foxman added that
"The United States is not immune to anti-Semitism… [There are]
40 million Americans who believe you and I are not loyal, are too
powerful, too influential, too this and that. But more disturbing,
which is why I wrote the book, is that one of three Americans think
American Jews are more loyal to the State of Israel than we are to
the US."
While Eizenstat acknowledged the increased threat to Jews, especially
in Europe, he argued that the greatest danger to Diaspora Jewry
comes from within, due to increasing rates of intermarriage and
disaffiliation. "We have to put this in context – it’s 2007 not 1937,"
said Eizenstat.
That argument seemed particularly potent in light of the sold-out,
900-seat auditorium where comedian David was appearing, compared to
the 300-seat room used for the discussion on modern anti-Semitism.
"It’s fair to say the SAT scores of the people in this room are a
lot higher, and our children will get into better colleges," joked
Rosenbaum.
But on a more serious note, Rosenbaum wondered whether on the cultural
front, comedians such as David and Sacha Baron Cohen of Borat fame,
who he said "trivialize" anti-Semitism, are of concern.
Eizenstat said there was no point in laying blame for anti-Semitism
on Jews.
Foxman, on the other hand, said "it hurts" when Jews make fun of,
or trivialize Jewish fears and anxieties.
"What Borat does is he makes it acceptable," said Foxman. "You can
laugh about people singing ‘Let’s throw the Jews down the well’
[a reference to a Borat sketch], but that’s not funny at all."
In a conversation with one of Baron Cohen’s agents, Foxman told the
audience, he agreed to speak to the comedian on the condition that
Baron-Cohen would agree to make a public service announcement on behalf
of ADL saying: "Prejudice is not funny; anti-Semitism is not a joke."
"I’m still waiting," Foxman said.
The conversation at the 92nd Street Y was scheduled on the heels of
the publication of Foxman’s new book, which he wrote to counteract
the publication of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, an extended
version of the Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer paper that appeared
last year in the London Review of Books.
In his own book, Foxman tackles the academic pair’s arguments on a
point by point basis and argues that, "As history shows us, when people
in the West are sufficiently anxious, fearful, angry and confused,
a familiar scapegoat tends to rise to the surface again and again:
the Jews."
While there was some discussion Thursday about the pair’s controversial
book, more time was spent discussing Jimmy Carter’s Palestine: Peace
Not Apartheid best-seller, to the apparent dismay of the ex-president’s
former adviser Eizenstat. "I think it’s unfortunate we are spending all
this time on Carter," he said. "I certainly didn’t come from Washington
to debate the Carter book. There are many more important issues."
Foxman, in his new book, places Carter "on the couch," and the
ADL head argues that the former president comes from a strain of
Christianity which "has never forgiven the Jews for not accepting
Jesus as the messiah."
Foxman’s analysis elicited the evening’s most tense response from
Eizenstat: "I have to say Abe, stick to running the ADL, and don’t
try to become a psychologist, because you really are dead wrong,
if I may say so."