[lbo-talk] Palestine Think Tank: Jeff Blankfort - Chomsky and Palestine: Asset or Liability?

[Gar Lipow]

On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 9:06 AM, James Heartfield
<Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> I must admit to being unfamiliar with Blankfort, but reading this article of his, he seems to be a horse's ass.
>
> It is creepy to go on about 'Jewish leftists' and 'within the tribe' ('tribe'?). But most clearly Blankfort is wrong when he says that the blame lies primarily with Israel not the US, and Chomsky is right when he says blame lies primarily with the US (and, I would add those other western allies).
>
> Further, Blankfort is tactically wrong about the boycott. Boycotts can work, but have some drawbacks. In the case of Israel, the boycotts (and attacks upon) Jewish owned shops like Marks and Spencers (here in the UK) are grotesque - making the issue into one of attacking Jewish shopkeepers rather than western imperialism.
>
> Chomsky might have been mistaken in the 1950s, about left-wing Zionism (lots were, including my aunt). But his position today seems honourable to me.
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Are the people supporting the boycott opposing boycotts of Jewish
owned shops and especially the violence? Not just nominally but
loudly? I happen to support BSD, in fact our local co-op was the first
in the country to vote to stop carrying Israeli goods.  But I really
think it is part of the work of this type of movement to get a bit
loud when vermin try to hijack it. And anyone who tries to transform a
boycott of Israeli goods into an Anti-Semitic movement is vermin.

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