In a recent diary I suggested that Daily Kos should ban calls for the elimination of Israel. One prominent Daily Kos participant responded with this:
What in the HELL are you talking about? Who is advocatig for the "Destruction of Israel"?
I was not really surprised at the response because I assume that the person who wrote it is not necessarily that familiar with Daily Kos I-P. I should have provided links in that diary so that people could see what I was talking about, but I assumed that anyone interested enough to comment would probably already know what I was talking about. And what I was talking about, of course, is the perpetual demonization of the Jewish state on this blog and the calls to eliminate it, usually through advocacy for the so-called “single-state solution.”
Well, what do I discover this morning?
This diary.
The diarist, without any reference to the actual history of either Israel or the Jews of the Middle East, suggests that Israel is an “apartheid,” racist, colonialist entity that must be eliminated. That’s the entire point of the diary. So, when I suggest that there are people on Daily Kos calling for the elimination of Israel, it is because there are people on Daily Kos calling for the elimination of Israel. You can turn a blind eye to this kind of toxic material, but there it is.
And the truth of the matter, of course, is that Jewish participants should not have to put up with this here. No one is saying that Israel is above criticism or that mere criticism of Israel represents a form of anti-Semitism. The problem is that calling for the elimination of Israel is not “criticism.” Suggesting that Israel is a loathsome “apartheid state” is not criticism, either. It is demonization and the demonization of the Jewish state is highly offensive, for reasons that should be obvious, to the Jewish people.
People will say that criticizing the Israeli government is not an attack on the Jews, in general, and they would be right. The problem is that I am not talking about criticism of the Israeli government. Criticism, if it is criticism, is fine. Criticism is useful. But diaries such as the one linked to above do not represent a form of criticism. It is pure demonization. And, I’m sorry, but when Israel gets demonized this represents a form of attack on the Jewish people as a whole.
Jews represent a mere .02 percent of the world population, about 13 million people, or so. Nearly half that number live in the US and the other half lives in Israel… with a smattering of Jews through Europe. The half that lives in Israel is widely supported by diaspora Jews. When someone demonizes that country it is thus a demonization of half the world’s Jews. And if half the world’s Jews are something akin to evil, what does that say about the rest of us who support them?
Daily Kos has a major problem on its hands with this kind of material. It will be seen, and rightly so, by very many people as an example of hate speech. It will certainly make most Jewish people wonder what kind of political environment this is when such hate speech is accepted. I understand, of course, that many people will say that it must be allowed as a matter of free speech. That’s the way some responded to my previous diary. The suggestion was that while, yes, the demonization of Israel, or calling for Israel to be eliminated, is loathsome, loathsome is what one puts up with in a free speech environment.
Okay. But if that is the case, than I should have every right to exercise my own free speech by calling out this kind of material. Furthermore, Daily Kos is not a free speech site. This is why conspiracy theories are not allowed here and why Trusted Users have the ability to censor speech through Hide Rating.
It strikes me as obvious that this website has a real problem here and you should not be the least little bit surprised when Jewish members take exception to the never-ending hatred that gets pointed at Israel. Daily Kos needs to make a decision. Is the demonization and particularization of the Jewish state accepted on Daily Kos? It strikes me as obvious that it is.
This is both corrosive to this website, as well as threatening and alienating for its Jewish members.
Oh, and here is a poll: