Leading NeoCon: The Left Is More Anti-Semitic Than The Right

Norman Podhoretz did a Q&A session with Deborah Solomon of the New York Times. Ever the controversial thinker and speaker, Podhoretz didn’t fail. Mr. Podhoretz is one of the leaders of the Neocon movement, and his opinions should never be taken lightly as his views are very influential. The Q&A session was in part to highlight his new book “Why Are Jews Liberals?”.

“It’s more in sorrow than in anger,” Podhoretz explains the title to his book, “I’ve been asked this question a million times, especially by non-Jews. Since 1928, the average Jewish vote for Democratic presidential candidates is 75 percent. That’s astronomical. In fact, the only Democratic presidential candidate who failed to get a majority of the Jewish vote was Jimmy Carter, the second time he ran.”

Solomon then asks, “Why is it such a puzzle to you? Anti-Semitism and the Nazi Party were invented by the political right.”

To which Podhoretz replies, “It’s a little more complicated than that, but the rise of Hitler was certainly the culmination of a long history of hostility on the right. But there’s been a complete reversal of roles. Whereas the right was once full of anti-Semites, since the Six-Day War of 1967, the right — and especially the religious right — has become more pro-Israel, and the left — as exemplified by intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal and a magazine like The Nation — has become more hostile.”

Seriously? If you don’t support the right, it means you are “hostile” to Israel? Hostile? The left is anti-Israel? Norman Podhoretz is under the impression that if you say anything critical about Israel then you must be anti-Israel. That’s a politically loaded statement there.

Also, I don’t know how Podhoretz developed his views that anti-Semitism is less on the right and more on the left, but go read any kind of study found on the topic of anti-Semitism in America and you will find that it is still very much a right problem. And when I speak of anti-Semitism, I mean real anti-Semitism, I don’t mean being critical of the policies of the nation of Israel.

"Whether in their hearts, if they like Jews or not, I don't care," Podhoretz has said in another interview about the religious right’s intentions of supporting Israel. "The critical matter is what they have done, rather than how they feel."

This seems like a ridiculous frame of thought. He might as well be saying, “I don’t really mind that deep inside they’re the most anti-Semitic people in the world, but as long as they let Israel do what ever they want, the religious right is fine by me.”

“It’s true that many American Jews on the left are pro-Israel,” Podhoretz said, “but this isn’t true of the left in general. The ideology of the left, in the last 50 years roughly, has represented the Palestinians as a kind of dark-skinned oppressed people like the blacks in this country. Obama believes that.”

He just said that the Palestinians are not oppressed. It must mean that they have equal rights as their Israeli counterparts. Those check points, the wall, the career opportunities, free speech, right to homes and settlements, all these things must affect the Palestinians as equally as the Israelis.

“It’s a crazy idea, but the Palestinians have been identified with the putative victims of European colonialism. Obama has now returned to the old idea that Israel is the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East,” Mr. Podhoretz goes on to explain his view on how Obama views the situation.

This is another politically loaded statement. He just stated that Obama thinks that Israel is a problem in the Middle East. Completely not true. But just as Palestinians have done things to mess up peace talks, Israel has done plenty of things to throw a wrench into peace talks. And as opposed to prior U.S. Presidents, Obama is not afraid to speak up on that issue.

Israel probably has no better ally than America. This statement was true before Obama’s administration, is true during his administration and will be true in the future.

The Q&A session ended like this:

As one of the much-mythologized New York intellectuals, do you think intellectuals have gone the way of the dinosaur?
We still have plenty of intellectuals, but they have become so politicized that they’re no longer capable of disinterested judgment.

Do you include yourself in that overly politicized category?
Yes and no. That’s my answer.

That Mr. Podhoretz is a very political answer and is deserving of your own judgment on New York intellectuals.

Norman Podhoretz was one of the many “intellectuals” that said that Iraq and Saddam Hussein was a direct danger to the United States and supported the Iraq war.

“There is no doubt that Saddam already possesses large stores of chemical and biological weapons, and may ... be 'on the precipice of nuclear power,” Podhoretz had said. And how many WMDs did we end up finding in Iraq?

He is currently calling for the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities and is supportive of continuing the wars started by George W. Bush.