Blue Crab Boulevard

Too Bad He’s Clueproofâ„¢

If Juan Cole wasn't an anti-Semite and a thoroughly Clueproof™ individual, Alexandra von Maltzan's post would leave a mark. But since his clue resistance is so high, he'll never notice. On the other hand, if he keeps writing, maybe enough people will catch on to his real agenda. That is hatred of Israel.

UPDATE: Tigerhawk is NOT impressed with Cole's post. At all.

Blogosphere, War | Gaius Tuesday, 18 July , 2006

By a, Tuesday, 18 July , 2006 @ 9:03 am

How is Juan Cole an anti-semite…?
By TigerHawk, Tuesday, 18 July , 2006 @ 10:25 am

Thanks for the link, and congratulations on having been named the PLBOTW.
By Alexandra, Tuesday, 18 July , 2006 @ 10:26 am

How is Juan Cole an anti-semiteâ€¦?

If after reading the two post given in the link above, with all the links provided within, you still need to ask that question I can only deduce that you must be related. LOL…
By Gaius, Tuesday, 18 July , 2006 @ 10:32 am

Heh.
By Gaius, Tuesday, 18 July , 2006 @ 10:33 am

Thanks, Tigerhawk. Your post was spot on.
By FormerRighty, Tuesday, 18 July , 2006 @ 11:39 am

Alexandra,

I went to the links, I even clicked on the link labeled “rampant anti-Semitism”, and found none, just a bizarre “proof” of Cole’s supposed anti-Semitism.

If you really want people to take your argument seriously, you will post actual quotations that show anti-Semitism, and not take the coward’s way out and tell people to find them on their own.

There are critics of Israel who clearly are anti-Semites, no doubt about it. Perhaps Juan Cole is one of them, but I have yet to see anything that demonstrates it.
By FormerRighty, Tuesday, 18 July , 2006 @ 12:06 pm

Gee, I should probably follow my own advice.

Anyway, here’s the paragraph that “proves” that Cole is anti-Semitic. Judge for yourselves:

Mr. Cole says that he is often unfairly attacked for being anti-Semitic, when in reality he claims he is only critical of Israeli policy. But Michael Oren, a visiting fellow at Yale, notes that in February 2003 Mr. Cole wrote on his blog that â€œApparently [President Bush] has fallen for a line from the neo-cons in his administration that they can deliver the Jewish vote to him in 2004 if only he kisses Sharonâ€™s ass.â€ Mr. Oren says â€œclearly thatâ€™s anti-Semitism; thatâ€™s not a criticism of Israeli policy.â€ (Exit polls showed that 74% of the Jewish vote went to John Kerry.)
By Gaius, Tuesday, 18 July , 2006 @ 12:12 pm

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1392
By FormerRighty, Tuesday, 18 July , 2006 @ 2:22 pm

Gee, Gaius, perhaps you could do your readers a favor and actually quote what you find anti-Semitic. The only thing I could find in your link was this:

Juan Cole, in an interview, claims that the neocons (he names the usual suspects) “have imbibed this kind of Israeli racism towards Arabs, that Arabs only respect force, that you can get them to inform on each other because of all the internal clan feuds… Israeli racism towards the Arabs is not a good guide to dealing with a society like Iraq.”

The problem with assuming that’s anti-Semitic, though, is that I’ve heard several Jews who have been to Israel comment that they were troubled by the racist attitudes toward Arabs held by many Israelis.

That’s not to say that there aren’t many Arabs with racist attitudes toward Jews. It’s a problem both sides need to confront.
By Alexandra, Wednesday, 19 July , 2006 @ 5:19 am

Former Righty,

First of all I don’t appreciate being called a coward at the best of times, but especially when it involves blame for providing links to extensive articles that deal with the Professor’s anti-Semitism. There are approximately 15 links which require reading regarding this subject and at least 4 which are lengthy essays written by intellectuals about the Professor. He was declined entry to the Yale faculty because he is an anti-Semite and the prominent Jews who contributed threatened to withdraw support if his application was accepted. Cole’s reputation was destroyed in the run up to this blue-chip appointment, where his anti-Semitic statements were congregated and displayed in their full splendor.

Amongst the links I provided is an extensive essay on Cole written by Professor Efraim Karsh who is the prominent British historian of the Middle East at the University of London. You may however have to read beyond my first few paragraphs…

I assume you would also say that Professor’s famous vulgar anti-Semite statement calling the Jews in Israel: “Jewish American Likudniks,” was also not proof enough, which may beg the question what your Royal Anonymity may consider worthy of Your expert consideration?

The Professor is a rumor-mongering attack dog, once accusing Dan Senor, the media spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority, of being an Israeli agent and claimed that Senor had ordered the U.S. military to attack Muqtada al-Sadr in order to serve Israeli interests. He disapproves of Israeli treatment of Palestinians, and his vulgar display of anti-Semitic emotion can be read in every single derogatory word he writes about Jews, making it abundantly clear that he thinks the Middle East would have been better off without the Jewish state, as if though it was some sort of an ordinary colonialist project.

Resorting to the vilest invectives when talking about the Jews, he calls them “the butchers of Beirut”, Sharon “a mafia don, war criminal, land grabber, starver of children”, and so on. “Couldn’t he shut his enormous pie hole[?]” Cole wonders of Sharon. “Apparently [Bush] has fallen for a line from the neo-cons in his administration that they can deliver the Jewish vote to him in 2004 if only he kisses Sharon’s ass,” he writes in another post. And all this comes from a historian priding himself on his dispassionate and evenhanded approach.

If you are personally too lazy to read all the links it is not my problem. If you bother to read them you may or may not be convinced, depending on what you consider is the line which you personally draw for yourself, and what you would allow. I am personally not too keen to spend an inordinate amount of time now re-reading all the articles I have read which I link to, simply to spoon feed you.

I went to the links, I EVEN [emphasis mine] clicked on the link labeled â€œrampant anti-Semitismâ€

I suggest dear ‘Former Righty’ that is the only link you have read, and promptly turned to say “Now spoon-feed me the rest”.

I don’t like dealing with anonymous people who choose to insult me at the best of times, but when it involves lazy readers I have zero patience.
By Alexandra, Wednesday, 19 July , 2006 @ 6:52 am

Former Righty,

Since you seem to be keen to follow the lead, I note you also missed Gaius’ main point which you will find in the link within the link he provided, and is now spoon fed to you here specifically dealing with the issue of anti-Semitism and Professor’s lame excuses which paradoxically only prove the exact opposite.
By Gaius, Wednesday, 19 July , 2006 @ 7:18 am

One of the reasons I love your blog, Alexandra, is the way you provide the clueproof with the ocassional verbal equivalent to a 2×4 to the side of the head!
By Alexandra, Wednesday, 19 July , 2006 @ 1:18 pm

Thanks Gaius, this exchange inspired a new post, and I am grateful.