Thanks, Joel
On Jul 21, 2010, at 8:25 PM, Eric Beck wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 10:32 AM, Joel Schalit <jschalit at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Why stir up resentment against American Jewish progressives, particularly
>> now, within the greater US left? It's irrational and counterproductive.
>
> I agree that Blankfort's article is pretty ridiculous, and maybe even
> racist, but your plea to just get along is a pretty problematic
> response (at least in the abbreviated form it's presented here). Why
> shouldn't all progressives be criticized if they start to act
> stupidly? Examples: Fayad is almost universally loathed by
> Palestinians, but Chomsky not only has tea with him but praises his
> policies. Also, from what I can tell, Palestinians are overwhelmingly
> supportive of the BDS campaign, but he claims that it would harm them.
> If he has some information that indicates that Palestinians don't
> actually favor BDS, then it'd be nice to hear him present it, but so
> far he hasn't. Or he could argue against the sanctions on other
> grounds -- some of which I might agree with -- but he chooses to do so
> based on what he thinks is good for Palestinians. And he might be
> right, but Palestinians should at least be given the right to make
> their own mistakes.
>
> So, at least two instances where he believes things that contradict
> Palestinian aspirations (again, from what I can tell; if anyone thinks
> my generalizations are mistaken, let me know, as I'd love to be proven
> wrong). Contra Blankfort, I'm not interested in drawing up a balance
> sheet on him or exiling him from "the movement," but that doesn't mean
> such views are above criticism, which is what I read you as suggesting
> here.
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