Fuss at Glastonbury
I have questions. Is it possible to be appalled with the fate of the Palestinians in Gaza, and also appalled at the Hamas attack in October 7th? Can I believe in the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to exist? And did the Hamas attack of 10-7 give Netanyahu a “Carte Blanche” to kill all the Palestinians to “make sure” he got every member of Hamas?
There is a British punk/rap group named Bob Vylan. They’re not “my cup of tea”, but at the Glastonbury Festival (think Coachella here in US) Vylan spoke out for the Palestinians. In fact, they had the crowd chanting “Death to the IDF!!” (Israel Defense Force – the Israeli army).
That created a big fuss in the UK. The Chief Rabbi in London called them anti-Semitic, and the Glastonbury constabulary is investigating charges. There’s no First Amendment in the UK, though freedom of speech is still a right. But, it is more limited there than in the United States. And, the BBC was broadcasting the concert live – the chant went over the air internationally. The United States response was to revoke Vylans’ visas. Their next concert in France was cancelled as well.
The Goose
Is calling for an army’s death anti-Semitic? If Netanyahu says he will destroy Hamas – is that the same as destroy Palestinians? It seems so to him. There’s an old English expression – “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander”. Looks to me like one bird is going free, and one is getting cooked.
This isn’t “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea!!”, a chant clearly aimed at removing the Israelis/Jews, in the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. The IDF is the exact agent aimed at the Palestinian people. Are Ukrainians being racist when they hope to destroy the Russian Army?
The Victims
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an essay about the “appropriation” of the term anti-Semitism, ”Not His Choice”. There are a lot of folks, many not Jewish, who are determining what is “anti-Semitic” and what is not. And, at the moment, the term “anti-Semitic” seems to be a cloak of invincibility wrapped around the actions of the Israeli government. Any criticism by, say; a candidate for Mayor of New York City, or the students of Harvard University, or a punk/rap group in the United Kingdom, are automatically labeled anti-Semitic.
A lot of the time it seems like “throwing down” anti-Semitism is really more about the political goals of the “thrower”, rather than actually protecting Jewish people from attack. Does Harvard, and other universities, need to do a better job of parsing free speech and threats? They absolutely do. But, for all those American conservatives who complained that they weren’t “listened to” on campuses, it seems like their sudden interest in protecting Jewish students is, at least, convenient. It’s more an intersection of common interest. Actually, it seems more like getting vengeance for their own perceived victimhood.
Friends Tell Friends
It’s easy to attack punk/rappers, and international students, for trying to stand up for the victims they are seeing. Palestinians in Gaza are starving, mostly because of the actions of the state of Israel, the IDF. More than 600 Palestinians have been killed just waiting in line for food. It takes a particular brand of callousness to see their plight as “payback” for the actions of Hamas. What’s happening to them is wrong, just like it’s wrong to see criticism of that starvation, as being an attack on “all Jewish people”; anti-Semitism.
But politically, Israel is the ally of the United States. We cooperated in the bombing campaign of Iran, culminating in the dropping of more than $3 Billion worth of bombs by the US in one day of attacks three weeks ago. And, the US also provides a huge part of the defense “umbrella” for Israel against Iranian responses.
The US has a lot in common with Israel. But, sometimes “friends” need to tell “friends” when they are wrong – and what Israel is doing to the Palestinians in Gaza is wrong. And if that makes me, in some circles, an “anti-Semite” who is 54% Semite; so be it.
