The "Good anti-Semitism" trick

In his book, “The popes against the Jews”, historian David Kertzner recalls a notorious distinction held by the Catholic Church in the 19th and 20th centuries, between “good anti-Semitism” and “bad anti-Semitism”.

“Bad anti-Semitism” was a hatred of Jews purely based on their descent. This was a purely racial form of anti-Semitism which the Jew could not escape. “Good anti-Semitism”, however, was a hatred of Jews who continued to identify themselves as Jews, or who identified with Jewish causes. “Good anti-Semitism” used as its foundation a series of conspiracy theories invented centuries before, most of which are still unfortunately very popular today. Examples included alleged Jewish conspiracies to control newspapers, banks, and other institutions, to care only about making money, attempts to control the world, accusations of usury and profiteering, lack of patriotism and extreme cowardice, etc.

When Church officials wrote anti-Semitic articles, they always defended themselves against charges of anti-Semitism with a caveat reminding people that they condemned the “bad anti-Semitism”.

It’s with this background in mind that I am referring you to an article on a Mail & Guardian ThoughtLeader blog by Sentleste Diakanyo. Sentletse uses the above fallacious defence to exempt his article from charges of anti-Semitism.

I don’t know much about Sentletse. From a short perusal of his blog he seems to identify himself as a member of the new ANC-breakaway political party, Congress of the People (COPE).  He further describes himself as “inquisitive about everything and a master of none.” I wouldn’t argue with the latter claim in that statement.

Sentletse is an angry South African. You see, he is really irked that the SA Jewish Board of Deputies has had the chutzpah to lay a claim with the SA Human Rights Commission regarding Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Fatima Hajaig’s recent remarks about Jewish money, power and control.

Sentletse is clearly writing on a topic that is well beyond his grasp. Take, for example, his vacuous explanation of what anti-Semitism is and why the Deputy Minister isn’t guilty of it:

"It is important to examine whether there is any measure of truth to claims by detractors of the Deputy Minister that she had indeed been anti-Semitic. A common understanding of anti-Semitism would generally refer to prejudice against or hostility towards Jews, although the appropriate meaning is not limited to Jews. I would immediately dismiss as utter rubbish claims that the above comments by the Deputy Minister are prejudicial against and hostile towards Jews. Moreover, these comments have no relevance whatsoever to Jews in South Africa."

Invoking that old play on semantics that “anti-Semitism” is not limited to Jews is a good sign that the drivel defence you are about to read is as bad as the original outburst that precipitated it.

Sentletse also dismisses the SAJBD’s claims that Fatima’s anti-Jewish rhetoric was consistent with classical anti-Semitism, which seeks to portray Jews as scheming, manipulative, and disloyal to the countries in which they lived. In comical style he then uses the very same canards he attempts to dismiss, accusing the SAJBD of “abusing” South African national institutions (disloyal), misrepresenting who they really are (manipulative), and of embarking upon what is merely a “publicity seeking stunt” (scheming). He writes:

"The action by the SA Jewish Board of Deputies is an abuse of such national institutions such as the SAHRC. The SAHRC has a constitutional mandate to promote the protection of human rights of citizens of South Africa. Unless the SA Jewish Board of Deputies regards those South African Jews they represent as Westerners, their much-reported tirade is misguided and appears to be a publicity-seeking stunt. "

After accusing the SAJBD of “fear mongering” he then pretends to take a factual and analytical look at the issue"

"The behaviour and over-reaction of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies is tantamount to fear mongering and a despicable attempt at playing victim to some invented threat to their dignity and human rights. The question we should all ask is whether or not Jews wield immense power and influence in the US. By answering this question we would arrive at an informed conclusion on whether these absurd attacks on the Deputy Minister are warranted instead of immediately dismissing them as I have."

His evidence deserves no serious consideration; it is premised on work done by the hateful, Holocaust denying “Institute for Historical Review”. His views coincide with theirs, producing a foul-smelling concoction of a bravadoismic sense of victimisation. Instead of denouncing the Deputy Minister, Sentletse thinks she should be praised as a brave iconoclast:

"Instead of condemning the Deputy Minister she should have been commended for her will to trounce the preservation of falsehoods and expose these self-evident yet unspoken and vexing truths about the influence and power of Jews in America. There is this fear to speak truth to power that is prevalent everywhere and so is the risk present of having one’s voice silenced with a nauseating anti-Semitism card. It is those of robust constitution who, regardless of the awful consequences of revealing these truths, rise above feeble others who allow suppression of their voices. Criticism of Jews has far too often triggered a backlash of unimaginable proportion, a sign of ingrained intolerance to robust and unflattering appraisal."

Having read many comments across various websites and blogs that have reported on the Deputy Minister’s outburst, it’s become apparent that we stand alongside a very small minority of fellow South Africans who agree that the Deputy Minister’s statements were not only “ill-advised”, but indeed hateful and setting a dangerous precedent.

Many comments have disgusted me - there is a view that Jews have some unfair and mysterious economic and organisational advantage over other groups. This is regarded as an incontestable truth. But some have displayed a genuine lack of historical understanding about what is at the root of Fatima's vitriol. 

Perhaps the problem stems from education. There is a distinct failure to see the historical nature of these accusations and how they have been used for centuries to justify the persecution of Jews.

Conspiracies about Jewish control of the IMF, Jewish profiteering from globalisation, Jewish control of the FBI, CIA and Federal Reserve – it’s all part of the same festering pot of stew which cooks up stories of Jews poisoning Christian and Muslim wells, Jews killing Christian babies and using their blood to make matzah, the Jewish fictional story of the Holocaust and the Jewish plot to control the world.

Jews are not the only victims of the idea behind a group wielding excessive control beyond their numbers. This is a concept that was used in Rwanda in 1994 to drive the Hutu machetes through the flesh of Tutsis who, like the Jews, were also “guilty” of having too much power and influence.

I condemn Sentletse’s nonsense with all my heart, but I will stop short of calling for the Mail & Guardian to remove it. I would rather have this form of hatred out in the open where we can see it, discuss it and attempt to cure the people infected with it.

Update at 2009-02-03

Here's a masterful response to Sentletse's malevolent screed from Conrad Steenkamp, also at Thoughtleader: Sentletse, be careful where you dip your pen

My favourite bit is where Conrad points out that Merk Weber, the nutjob whose hateful work Sentletse so readily quotes from, is also an open racist who thinks it's impossible for black Americans to be assimilated into white society. It gets funnier - Weber's talks are promoted on various white supremacist sites like "white pride world wide". Is Sentletse a "self hating Black," or does anything go when it's Jews you wish to defame?

By the way, I'm pretty sure Sentletse is an active member of Cope, his name appears on their websites.

I should also note that Sentletse has deleted many of my comments from his column. This is quite amusing because (1) he claims to be defending the Deputy Minister's freedom of expression and (2) he wrote the following comment on a DA Facebook group:

Sentletse wrote: It is very clear from these rantings that Madame Zille is getting extremely paranoid and terrified of the prospect of losing the title "Official Opposition" to COPE. NB: No need to delete my comments; the DA has been proclaiming to protect the constitution; and the admin here should equally respect my freedom of expression.

Update at 2009-03-03

David Saks has now weighed in at his ThoughLeader blog - Saks Appeal

"Instead, Jew haters have concluded from this that “Jews have too much power”. It follows that they could only have reached such positions of influence by dishonest means, since how otherwise could so small a group attain such influence? And that leads logically to the conclusion that the Jews must be stopped."

Comments

[Blacklisted Dictator]

Dear Prof Esack,
I alert you to the attached blog.
Perhaps "Muslims Against Racism" should leave a comment?
viva
blacklisted

http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/sentletsediakanyo/2009/01/30/jews-do-wield-immense-power-and-influence/#comment-69087

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Sentletse Diakanyo on January 31st, 2009 at 2:28 pm writes

“CRAIG, what is anti-semitic about saying Jews control “most western countries”?”

Sentletse, have you read Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”?
BLACKLISTED DICTATOR on January 31st, 2009 at 11:41 pm

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Sentletse Diakanyo on February 1st, 2009 at 12:03 am writes

“Let’s raise our level of debate and engage each other on facts.”

Please debate the above comments that I have posted and please use “facts” to back up your arguments.

For the record, please let your readers know how extensive your knowledge is with regard to anitisemitism and the rise of Nazism. Sentletse, what history books have your read? Are you parading your ignorance or are you willfully trying to mislead your readers?
BLACKLISTED DICTATOR on February 1st, 2009 at 7:31 am

I suppose one would also be accused of being anti-white and racist if he was to highlight the fact that SA’s economy is still under immense influence and control of whites. It is possibly just a matter of time before the Black Management Forum is taken before the SAHRC for promoting hate speech. Please stop being ridiculous by trying to silence views you don’t agree with, with that anti-semitism nonsense!
Sentletse Diakanyo on February 1st, 2009 at 11:37 am

[the pil]

I am Jewish, Please can someone tell where where to join this group that controls the world. I would like to sign up.

[Gary]

Basically the type of anti-Semitism curren in SA and on the Left throughout the world is thus:

It is allright if you Jewish provided you :

1 Renounce Israel in the most violent terms.

2 Cut all ties with Israel and Israelis

3 Support the destruction of Israel

4 Uncritically support the view on the Arab-Israeli conflict of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and Syria

5 Compare Israelis to Nazis

6 Make sure everyone knows these are your views- there are regular petitions of 'Jews against Israel' which appear in the newspapers whereby you can do this- also any anti-Israel letter or article you write will pe published in the Mail&Guardian

7 If you do not do all of the above, then you deserve whatever is done to you and your family.

[Steve]

“From late October 1993, the RTLM repeatedly broadcast themes developed by the extremist written press, underlining the inherent differences between Hutu and Tutsi, the foreign origin of Tutsi, the disproportionate share of Tutsi wealth and power, and the horrors of past Tutsi rule.”

Sentletse didn't finish his post. He forgot to write what we can do about the Jews disproportionate share of wealth and power.

[Lawrence]

this is what so frightens me, the anti-Semitism runs so deep that people are not even aware of it. This is our biggest problem, how to root out something that people don't even acknowledge is there! There is no other racism that can compare to it in terms of sheer depth. The Jew as Devil in fact over the centuries has become archetypal, the Jew exists as a distinct archetpye of the devil, arguably it has its place firmly in the collective unconscious now. As such appeals to reason and rationality fall on deaf ears, since their hatred of Jews has become rooted in the unconscious. It is a prejudice that has in other words mythic dimensions, and being mythic, it transcends appeals to reason and common sense - this is what is so frightening.

Of course in the modern age, Israel as the Jew nation takes on these mythic dimensions, that is the Devil nation, and is given the attributes of the Devil - evil, manipulative, omnipotent, cruel etc. And therefore those at war with the Jew nation by the very fact that they are at war with the Devil nation are in principle Angels (since in our myths angels war with the devils), therefore good and noble, above all innocent, with truth on their side - no matter what. So it doesn't matter what Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria and the rest do, they are at war with devils and so following from this, they are angels and have the attributes of angels.

Unless one understands the irrational deep rooted mythic dimensions of this, one cannot make sense of the "new" (really old) anti-Semitism.

[Maurice]

The Anti-Semites including the Arabs/Muslims are using the Nazi philosophy introduced by J.Goebbels who said that the bigger the lie and the more often it is repeated the more likely that that lie will be accepted as fact.

The Anti-Semites and Arabs/Muslims have learned their lessons quite well.

See
Jews: To The Muslim Gas Chamber. January 30th, 2009 4:55 pm By Phyllis Chesler
http://pajamasmedia.com/phyllischesler/2009/01/30/jews-to-the-muslim-gas-chamber/

[TC]

Has anyone else here yet spotted Sentleste's list of Jews in the US Cabinet?

These include such 'Jews' as Clinton, Daschle, Napolitana, Gates, Salazar and Vilsack (all Christians)!

Where is he getting his paranoid propaganda from? I haven't been able to find this bizarre list on Google.

Is there any chance that he doesn't even understand what Jews are? Maybe he thinks that all Americans are Jews, or all politicians are Jews?

[Steve]

"Maybe he thinks that all Americans are Jews, or all politicians are Jews?"

LOL - that's pretty hilarious!