Comments on: A world on fire versus whatabouttery on Gaza

By: bob

bob — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:41:41 +0000

This seems a bit semantic to me. Yes, of course ALL protesters did not make the said soup, but SOME protesters certainly did, so it’s a question of what he meant by THE protesters. The protests in themselves are not in any sense wrong, but the climate in the Palestine solidarity movement (especially in mainland Europe) is pretty poisonous.
P.s. thanks for comment at my blog: my blood boiled too!

By: David Semple

David Semple — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:52:14 +0000

If that had been all he said, or all he was reported as saying, then I’d have no problem with that. I’m against people yelling “Kill, kill Israel” as much as the next person, provided I’m not standing next to Al-Qaradawi, evidently.

The following, however is the paragraph from the JP:

“The head of the Left Party in Berlin, Klaus Lederer, a sharp critic of his party’s anti-Israel positions, told the Israel supporters that the slogan “Kill, kill Israel,” used at demonstrations across Germany, was “intolerable.” Lederer slammed the protesters for using the Gaza conflict as an opportunity to “make an anti-Semitic soup” in Germany.”

The protesters didn’t make an anti-semitic soup. Unfortunately the nature of the Israeli state and its location mean every march will have some element of anti-Semitism or Islamism. But to slam all protesters for this, even the ones who are neither Islamist nor anti-Semitic, is foolish in my opinion. I don’t have his remarks to hand, only what JP said and what Harry’s Place said – and it sounds very much as if (like HP), Lederer was condemning all pro-Palestinian protest.

By: bob

bob — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:45:19 +0000

David, unlike you, my first reaction to Sunny’s post was positive: a need to get away from simplistic black and white goodies vs baddies positions. But you are right that we need whataboutery in politics to, as you as you say, clear the space to articulate a better a position.

I disagree with you, though, on Lederer. Why is he a fool for saying that shouting “”Kill, kill Israel” is wrong? The pro-Hamas left is poisoning the politics of Palestine solidarity and, as he says, creating an “antisemitic soup” in Germany.

I sort of agree with you on the other HP post: to say that Al-Qaradawi is equally or more condemnable than Israel is to indulge in the same sort of ridiculous moral calculus that compares Gaza to the Holocaust. However, HP are right to utterly deplore him, and to criticise the leftists (like our Ken) who are his buddies.