Counterpunch Defends Anti-Semitism

Counterpunch, the anti-American magazine of the American far Left, is going to bat to defend the free speech rights of vicious anti-Semites. This week it runs as its lead piece:

"Censorship and the Empire: Dieudonne and the Uses of `Anti-Semitism,'" by DIANA JOHNSTONE

The "empire" is - as usual for Cockburn's columnists - the Jewish cabal. In particular, Johnstone gets all hot and bothered over the denial of "freedom of speech" to assorted Holocaust Deniers in Europe, those guilty of "The Auschwitz Lie". Yes, she puts that phrase in quotation marks so that we all know that she does not really think that those who deny that genocide was perpetrated in Auschwitz are liars. Basically her goal is to denounce all those who accuse honest people of being anti-Semites just because they hate all Jews. Here is Johnstone at her finest:

"In the face of worldwide protests over treatment of Palestinians, increasing efforts have been made to extend the definition of 'anti-Semitism' to cover criticism of Israel. Once criticism of Israel is identified with anti-Semitism, it becomes implicitly taboo because of the association of anti-Semitism with holocaust denial. A main practitioner of this moral intimidation is Roger Cukierman, a far right Zionist who presides over the Representative Council of Jewish organizations of France (CRIF)."

Evidently he is "far right" because he does not agree with the French anti-Zionists.

But what REALLY gets Johnstone's nappies soiled is the attack against a French-African neonazi named Dieudonne. He has appeared on TV in France and in nightclubs as a "comedian". A while back, dressed as a uniformed Israeli settler in the Palestinian occupied territories, he has called on young people to "join the American-Zionist axis". This was punctuated by "Isra-heil!".

Dieudonne frequently attacks Jews for whining about the Holocaust while they themselves are mistreating the poor Palestinians. It has been reported that Dieudonne described the Shoah, the Holocaust of Jews in World War II, as "memorial pornography". He has a track record of similar racist filth.

Johnstone, as a typical Cockburn columnist, not only beatifies Dieudonne but also does not see the need for any particular Holocaust remembering, especially when those Israelis are so evil. She then repeats the standard line about how that "broad tendency to use the charge of 'anti-Semitism' to silence criticism of United States policy in the Middle East, including the conquest of Iraq." And besides, how can people actually dare to call those who hate Jews anti-Semites?

For years, the Cockburn and his friends have been screaming out their indignations against those who think that, just because they want all the Israeli Jews massacred, this should not make them anti-Semites. Burncock has a whole book devoted to this proposition. In reality, of course, there is no significant difference between gutter anti-Semitism and leftist anti-Zionism.

And just because the only country on the face of the planet they want annihilated happens to be a Jewish state should not cast doubt on their noble values and enlightened aspirations. Of course, when the heroes of the Cockburns of the world are done murdering all the Zionists, there will be no Jews left.

If you had any doubts about the Counterpunch pogromchiki, another piece by one named PAUL de ROOIJ is devoted to explaining why Israel needs to be destroyed. The fact that the Jews of Israel would be annihilated if the state of Israel would be destroyed is simply an unpleasant coicidence and certainly should not make anyone suspect of being an anti-Semite. de Rooij adds, "The foundation of the State of Israel was an historical mistake, and this crime was made possible thanks to the British imposition of the Jewish migration to Palestine." He then goes on to prove his case by citing Israel's answer Tokyo Rose, Tel Aviv University's Tanya Reinhart, a protege of Chomsky who will not rest till the Jews have been thrown into the sea.

Cockburn has already claimed the Jews spread anthrax and the Mossad was involved in knocking down the WTC on 9-11. That of course is not anti-Semitic either. He is no doubt really sorry that Nazi Germany gave anti-Semitism such a bad name.