The Electronic Intifada Podcast 16 June 2021
We begin with his recent article on the Israel lobby’s manufactured claims of anti-Jewish bigotry aimed at distracting from last month’s attack on Gaza and Jerusalem.
At exactly the same time there were massive popular demonstrations in support of Palestinians, claims that there was a new wave of anti-Semitism filled corporate media.
But Max investigated and found these were baseless.
He tells us: “What they’re doing in the US is basically trying to find an exit ramp from the scenes that even CNN was showing, of media towers in Gaza being taken out for no reason … or entire families being exterminated, to replace the victimhood of Palestinians with that of … American Jews.”
Although the alleged incidents proved to be baseless, some in the Palestine solidarity movement began apologizing for anti-Semitism anyway.
Max explains that there was a campaign by the “NGO wing of some element of Palestine solidarity on Twitter to basically apologize for a wave of anti-Semitism that didn’t exist.”
The issue of Syria was also used to try to divide the movement once again, at precisely the moment it was beginning to reunify. “I saw a lot of tweets simultaneously denouncing the ‘Assadists’ in our ranks,” he says.
Articles we discussed
- “To distract from Gaza slaughter, Israel lobby manufactures antisemitism freakout,” Max Blumenthal in The Grayzone
- “Bernie Sanders must stop whitewashing Israel’s next racist government,” Ali Abunimah
- “Watch ‘Killing Gaza’,” Ali Abunimah
- “‘Today, we are Nazis,’ says member of Israeli Jewish extremist group,” Ali Abunimah and Tamara Nassar
Video production by Tamara Nassar
Theme music by Sharif Zakout
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Comments
I am a long time supporter of
Permalink Freda Guttman replied on
I am a long time supporter of the Palestinian cause, so my comment is not coming from an obnoxious Zionist position. This whole conversation while so informative and interesting, was frustrating to me because of the way Tamara Nassar was not given room to speak and how when she did she was interrupted!
Lenni Brenner
Permalink Stephen Shenfield replied on
Max Blumenthal said that Lenni Brenner's Zionism in the Age of the Dictators is a collection of documents. Actually it is a historical account. Brenner produced a collection of 51 documents as a separate volume.
Max's observations about "anti-Semitism" claims confirm my own
Permalink Michael Lesher replied on
I'm very glad to see Max Blumenthal's take on the recent media broadside claiming a "wave" of "anti-Semitic violence." I published my own piece, "The Myth of 'Anti-Semitic Violence'" -- reaching similar conclusions -- on June 5. It's good to have confirmation that I wasn't off base. The piece did not go over well with many of my coreligionists, but this point needs to be hammered home.
https://off-guardian.org/2021/...