The Jewish Problem??
Posted by Henric C. Jensen on July 5, 2007
“The first was bad enough. ‘There are other theocratic countries, not least Israel“. All right, he [Prof. Steven Rose] should go back and look at a simple primer of political theory and learn the difference between a theocracy and a secular, liberal democratic, ethnic nationalism, but so far so depressingly familiar.”[…]”Then I heard a chilling phrase that took the breath away. “We cannot bring everything back down to the Jewish problem“. Shit. Did I hear that? The Jewish problem? Is mainstream British liberalism using the language of the Holocaust?”
“Or do you [Prof. Steven Rose] really think that the world’s problems are master-minded by and/or, the responsibility of, the Jews, and that you – as a Jew yourself – are able to point that out in a way that non-Jews cannot?”
Two Blogs, and divergent approaches – both on the matter of the “Jewish Problem” – One from a decidedly Jewish Perspective and the other seemingly from a non-Jewish Perspective.Both react strongly to the idea of the “Jewish Problem”. I agree. It is kind of chilling that in our day and time someone can go on the air and seriously talk about the “Jewish Problem” and yet it is not.
The non-Jewish World has been obssessed with “the Jewish Problem” for centuries if not millenniums, and it has naturally rubbed off on the Jewish world. Some times in terms of self-hating acceptance of the implication of what non-Jews have painted onto us, and some times in terms of aggressive paranoia that sees ghouls in every corner of other peoples’ minds.
Don’t get me wrong – there really are people out there that hold the idea of “The Jewish Problem” very dear and preach it like a gospel – Ziopededia.org and Jew Watch for instance, and then there is the odd Canadian Politician who will spout it when ever he is disagreed with.
But we really need to be discerning when approaching peoples’ criticism of f.i Israel. Israel has it’s faults, and those need to be addressed seriously from a perspective of Human Rights and Social Justice as well as a Religious one. We can’t ask for fairness for Israel, if we try and white-wash her short-comings, hiding behind the mantra “Don’t bring up the Jewish Problem!”
True, there is no JEWISH Problem, but there certainly is an Israeli one, and if we keep claiming that Israel and Jews are not interchangeable, then we shouldn’t react as if they were when people criticize Israel.
We should just calmly explain to them that those two are not interchangeable and that they need to have their heads examined if they think so, because “The Jewish Problem” is just another Ghoul from the past that needs to be buried once and for all.
SOB's Grins & Grumps 
Shari said
SB;
You are so right. I admit when I was little before I truly understood things, I bought into it being a “Jewish problem”. But now that I’m older (and hopefully wiser), well I see things a lot differently, and it’s definitely not a “Jewish problem” The true problem is, the rest of the people on this planet use the “Jewish problem” as an excuse to avoid saying how they would deal with things
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Silly Old Bear said
“The true problem is, the rest of the people on this planet use the “Jewish problem” as an excuse to avoid saying how they would deal with things”
Very true, Shari. But I think is goes the other way too – many time Jewish People are so busy attacking the idea of the “Jewish Problem” (the idea is after all very much alive…) that they too use it as an excuse to deal with the true Problem – self hatred and internalized antisemitism which in turn means they don’t address the matter of Israel from an objective perspective.
If Israel is to be what G-d meant her to be, then Israel has to get her head out of the sand and step up to the plate and clean up her act.
But I am sure this is only going to be used against me, misconstrued and misquoted as “SB has finally come to his senses” when in reality I have always felt this way. *lol*
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Gadgie said
As the non-Jewish author of the first quote can I just say that I am very conscious of the Israel/Palestinian conflict and I actually worked as a volunteer English tutor in a Palestinian University some 25 years ago now. However, what appalled me is that some time ago in British left circles a pro-Palestinian stance that is also supportive of Israel (based on mutual recognition and the right of both peoples to self-determination and statehood) has slowly morphed into anti-Zionism and is now slipping into anti-Semitism, especially with the ghastly alliance of the far left and Islamism in the anti-war movement.
For me this was such an example, and I find it deeply disturbing.
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Silly Old Bear said
Thank you Gadgie!
It is not just a phenomenon in Britain, but elsewhere as well. The Swedish Left has morphed too. It is deeply disturbing, because it turns much of the discussion into polarizing rhetoric, rather than constructive discourse aimed at finding peaceful solutions.
So much time is spent on defining and defending positions as being out-side the anti– that there is not much energy left to elaborate on the original issue. This is especially painful for Jewish Lefties like myself, who wish to bring my distinctly Jewish heritage of Social Justice into the issue of Israel-Palestine.
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Ian said
Mentioning the Jewish problem, which serves up alarm bells ringing, is relevant to Jewish anti-semitism and self-hate more than it is a trial balloon floated by English pseudo-intellectuals and historical revisionists.
What is essential to understand is that Israel changed the Jew from a victim to a unified entity equal on the international stage to any other nation.
The Mumbai massacre is very revealing about the overall problem of the left and liberalism, so the Jewish problem can be put into better perspective. Liberals have an inability to criticize Islamic acts of barbarism in the name of their religion, perpetrated against the innocent and with no apparent cause or reason. In the liberal positivistic world, it doesn’t compute. Their hate for all religion, organized religion, causes them to blame the massacre on Hindu extremists. They can’t single out one religion for criticism because they see all religion as bad. This is the mental illness of the left and liberals. It isn’t so cut and dry as the Jewish problem. It should be called the liberal problem.
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