Is this anti-semitism?

Not sure the 'Nazi jibe' was as bad as was made out in the press, although failing to apologise was pig-headed. The other comments, if recorded accurately, are incredibly stupid - particularly given how important Jewish voters and activists have always been to Labour in London.

French authorities have corned the suspected gunman in Monday's killing of three children and a rabbi outside a Jewish school in Toulouse, France. The police identified the suspect as Mohammed Merah, a 24-year-old Muslim citizen of France of Algeria descent. About 300 police officers have cordoned off an apartment building where they traced Merah. The suspect has been participating in negotiations with the police and said he will turn himself in this afternoon. He told negotiators that he belonged to al Qaeda and that the attack was conducted in retaliation for the killing of Palestinian children and French military intervention abroad. Authorities also suspect Maher for two other attacks in which three soldiers were killed.

why does he morph into Bill Maher at the end of the paragraph

this is all gonna end well isn't it

i think the events that have already transpired preclude our calling any ending of this 'well.'

I look forward to the flood of self-righteous screeds about the importance of French secularism

i look forward to the explanations of how this is israel's fault

yeah that too

i'm so fucking upset. i've been depressed about this since yesterday.

Extremists must stop using the Palestinian cause to justify their acts of violence, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Wednesday after a deadly attack on a French Jewish school.

"It is time for these criminals to stop marketing their terrorist acts in the name of Palestine and to stop pretending to stand up for the rights of Palestinian children who only ask for a decent life," the Palestinian premier said in a statement.

Good for Fayyad saying this.

I look forward to lots of poorly justified anti-Arab rhetoric in the upcoming presidential election.

This will likely help Sarkozy but I find this whole kinda discourse pretty gross. Like with that AUF shooting. Everyone figures out what identity of the killer would be most helpful to their political ambitions, then root for finding out that they were right. If you were right, you get to mock the other side for hoping that it wasn't their guy. It's a pretty fucking sick and ethically hollow way to live. I guess human beings need this distance, though, otherwise life would be really painful. Or maybe pundits/columnists/politicians are all just assholes.

Even Hollande has come out strongly for reducing legal immigration (which is code for no more Arabs or blacks - 'we have enough') and though this might help Sarko, it might help Marine Le Pen, too.

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/21/the_strange_case_of_the_toulouse_shooter/

Merah is dead

"Anyone who regularly consults Internet sites which promote terror or hatred or violence will be sentenced to prison," -Nicolas Sarkozy

so, who will be in charge of sorting out the acceptable forms of political dissent.

is it anti-semitic to think that David Brooks is an embarrassment to Jews?

^^^srs question, btw. If yes, I gotta work on that.

I'm getting sick of the "Arab" thing. Where are all of the Islamic extremists? Well - these are the same people who used "communists" twenty years ago.

Also, are sororities anti-Semitic if they don't have any Jews in them? This is discussion I had with a family member the other day. I say "yes".

it's anti-semitic not to, quincie

^^^^such a relief.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/04/dnc-staffers-facebook-photo-causes-controversy-119770.html
http://freebeacon.com/democrats-jew-cash-money-team/

(not actually asking if that's anti-semitic)

id change my display name to jew-cash-money-team if i was the flighty sort who changes dns upon a whim

gelt rules everything around me

(not actually asking if that's anti-semitic)

it isn't, right? or am i missing something?

comments on news & politics sites are always so horrifying

they are self h8rs-gonna-h8-ing jews

is it anti-semitic to think that David Brooks is an embarrassment to Jews?

he's an embarassment to humanity

ok is 'Shyster' anti semitic? I called up someone for using it but the etymology suggest differently? Has it become anti semitic?

― owenf, Monday, April 9, 2012 10:10 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2006/aug/18/newsstory.leedsunited/print

shyster's weird in that it doesn't seem to have an anti-semitic origin, but has come to have anti-semitic connotations over the years

It has no relationship to Shylock?

apparently not. first documented in NYC in the mid-1800s. most now seem to think it derives from the german sheisser, though there's no way to be certain. descent from shakespeare's shylock and/or a shady lawyer supposedly named "sheuster" said to be authoritatively debunked. associated from its earliest use with lawyers and in recent years seen as at least indirectly anti-semitic.

while reading up, came upon the delightful fact that pumpernickel means "devil farts"

that's what it tastes like to me

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/joe-eszterhas-explodes-mel-gibson-you-hate-jews-36957?page=0,0

"You continually called Jews 'Hebes' and 'oven-dodgers' and 'Jewboys.' It seemed that most times when we discussed someone, you asked 'He’s a Hebe, isn’t he?' You said most 'gatekeepers' of American companies were 'Hebes' who 'controlled their bosses.'"

The comments of Mel Gibson that Joe Esterhaze quoted do seem to be somewhat antisemitic. On the other hand, I am not sure how reliable a witness Joe Esterhaze is about anything.

Meanwhile, re. "shyster":

most now seem to think it derives from the german sheisser, though there's no way to be certain. descent from shakespeare's shylock and/or a shady lawyer supposedly named "sheuster" said to be authoritatively debunked. associated from its earliest use with lawyers and in recent years seen as at least indirectly anti-semitic.

Would sheisser have found its way into Yiddish and come to English from there rather than directly from German? That would not make it antisemitic in origin, obv, but you could see why racist morons might then start applynig it back to the community from which it came.

Also, are sororities anti-Semitic if they don't have any Jews in them? This is discussion I had with a family member the other day. I say "yes".

I am unfamiliar with sororities, but would it be antisemitic for one to have no Jewish members if, say, none had applied for membership or any who had been asked to join had declined?

And this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/05/gunter-grass-what-must-be-said?intcmp=239

Is this antisemitic in terms of its content (if so, what in particular?) or because of who said it (in terms of his nationality and his record in the second world war)? Or is it not antisemitic at all?

Sorry, I see I have mis spelt the name of Joe Eszterhas.

Bad verse and simplistic politics, yes. Anti-semitism, no.

Sort of germane to this thread, can anyone recommend a good, fair treatment of the Rothschild familiy? I'm reading "The Ascent of Money" right now, which has sections on the Rothschilds, and for all its attempts to hedge against anti-semitism, the descriptions sound kind of anti-semitic to me. Then again, it may be that the Rothschilds were genuinely dislikable people with ridiculous amounts of power, and it may also be that a lot of the historical record of them is through the already anti-semitic lenses of the time. Anyway, it's pretty interesting and not a subject I previously knew much about.

wow an amazon search for books on the rothschilds brings up some pretty depressing results

Not an answer at all, Hurting, but allow me to take the opportunity to recommend

http://www.amazon.com/The-Warburgs-Twentieth-Century-Odyssey-Remarkable/dp/0679743596

God, that Grass poem is horrible. Ever since the guy came out as a former Nazi he's been awash in this weird hand-wringing pathos, like giving in to his own emotional truth has transformed him into a tribunal for everyone else yet to own up to their various crimes.

Also, I totally believe Eszterhas.

wow an amazon search for books on the rothschilds brings up some pretty depressing results

When I was in Italy last year I was astonished to see a TV programme about the Rothschilds presented by a guy wearing a balaclava which seemed to be saying that they were the secret rulers of the world and were controlling Europe through an almost literal web of influence spreading across the continent. I felt like I was watching Protocols TV. And this would have been on a mainstream enough channel, not some crazy cable outlet. But then Italy did have a far-right government at the time.

I suppose as leading financiers who happen to be Jewish it is easy for the Rothschilds to have all kinds of antisemitic fantasies pinned to them. But it may also be possible to dislike financiers generally regardless of their religion and ethnicity.

i think a pretty telling question is how many other 19th century european financier families can you or anyone else name

That's a good point Mordy... Also, how many people talk about the Chases and Morgans and such? WASP banking families have never gained the kind of notoriety of the Rothchilds, and I doubt the reason for that was that they were nicer people or something.

the rothschilds are still p prominent, in england and probably france too, nat rothschild used to sctup n portman among others

idk if the warburgs or barings or medicis are still running around