The routine is only too familiar.
Say what you said. Then deny it. Or say your were misquoted. Or say you were misinterpreted.
The American ambassador to Belgium, Howard Gutman, chose the latter, after he said:
A distinction should be made between traditional anti-Semitism, which should be condemned, and Muslim hatred for Jews, which stems from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
This is exactly like saying:
Yesteryear, hatred for Jews stemmed from the ongoing practice of Jews killing Christian children in order to retrieve their blood to bake matzos with.
The modality is well known: Based on a fiction, blame the Jews for the fact that others hate them.
That there is an Israel-Palestinian conflict is not a fiction, but that Israel is fundamentally responsible for it is a fiction. Of course, even if Israel were responsible for the Israel-Palestinian conflict, the attribution of hatred of Jews to that conflict completely demolishes another fiction: the distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. If such a distinction were real and valid, then the Zionist-Palestinian conflict would not generate hatred for Jews.
Simply put: Traditional anti-Semitism and hatred for Jews stemming from the Israel-Palestinian conflict are one and the same thing.
But not to worry. Howard Gutman really didnt mean it. He was misinterpreted.
What he means, of course, is that he was interpreted with perfect accuracy, but, after deservedly receiving acid criticism for his remark, he regretted he had said it. But he wasnt big enough to apologize. He stared his crime against the Jewish people in the face, and flinched.
Howard Gutman serves at the pleasure of President Obama. Howard Gutman raised funds for Obama in 2008 and was then appointed ambassador to Belgium (another familiar routine). To its credit, the National Jewish Democratic Council condemned Howard Gutman in no uncertain terms, unlike the State Department, which, in response to Gutmans statement, expressed full confidence in Gutman.
What the State Department should have said was: Youre fired.
The State Department added: Our commitment to Israels security is ironclad. Israel has no greater friend or ally than the US, and we condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms that is, in all its forms except for the form enunciated by its own ambassador, Howard Gutman.
We learn from the same JTA press release that reported Gutmans remark that he is the son of a Polish Jewish Holocaust survivor. Which makes this case a classic one of overwhelming, unthinking susceptibility to conventional wisdom even when this wisdomdisregards obvious truths, such as:
One: Anti-Semitism is an irrational hatred that needs nothing to prompt it.
Two: The fundamental cause of the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the Palestinian refusal to accept the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, within any borders.
Three: It is dangerous ever to soften and explain away hatred.
Howard Gutman reportedly said, no doubt by way of correctly interpreting what he earlier said: My personal history and the history of my family testify to the importance I attach to this subject and my unwavering commitment to fight anti-Semitism.
That is a logic chop. A persons personal and family history do not dictate any particular political or personal conviction. There are Holocaust survivors whose response to the Holocaust was to reaffirm their Jewishness publicly; and there are Holocaust survivors whose response was to deny their Jewishness and hide it. Sorry, Mr. Gutman, you cannot fall back on your personal and family history to wiggle your way out of your reprehensible statement.
Only a full fledged, open, contrite apology can do that.
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
