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#philosemitism

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"#TheodoreRoosevelt had a thing about the #Jews. Not just the uptown #Manhattan Jews whose families had immigrated from Germany and Austria-Hungary in the middle years of the 19th century, people whose Reform #Judaism was tidier to the gentile eye than were the shuls of the #LowerEastSide. These were Jews whose prosperity made many of them business colleagues and political bedfellows of #Roosevelt and his Republican Party.

But Roosevelt’s #philosemitism extended deeper, into the Lower East Side itself and its #Yiddish-speaking, tenement-dwelling Jews whose crowded apartments and sweatshops drew the concern of social reformers such as the Danish-born pioneer photojournalist Jacob Riis.

Roosevelt befriended Riis, and as #NewYork’s head police commissioner from 1895 to 1897, he spoke to downtown #Jewish audiences, advocating the progressive cause of hiring by merit."

momentmag.com/book-review-amer

Moment Magazine · Book Review | The Forgotten Bond Between Teddy and the TribeIn many ways Theodore Roosevelt was limited by the ideas of his times.

#Israel and the #delusions of #Germany’s ‘ #memoryculture

Basically, #antisemitism was replaced by obsequious #philosemitism, which turns out to be just the brighter side of the same coin, and denazification was only very superficial, not just in Germany, but everywhere else it had spawned. Basically, the old world of the #extremeright never died. It just kept lurking from under our beds, ready to jump at the forefront, with the freaking faces of #Musk or #Trump.

theguardian.com/news/2025/jan/

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The German state has bound its own re-birth into the “realm of civilized nations” through a particular protective relationship with the figure of the Jew, where (always Jewish) Israelis are a prime embodiment of Jewish life.

"As long as the figure of the Jew remains a medium through which German post-unification identity is articulated and experienced, the performance of Jewish collective difference and political agency will be exclusively relegated to the State of Israel. The figure of the Palestinian, as well as Palestinians’ political subjecthood and demands for equality will, in turn, be addressed as either an annoyance to be ignored or a threat to be criminalized—rather than as a crucial prism through which the multiple layers of legitimatized moral violence in Germany have to be recognized."

Hannah Tzuberi & Nahed Samour in 2022: contendingmodernities.nd.edu/t

Contending Modernities · The German State and the Creation of Un/Desired Communities | Contending ModernitiesThe birth of a morally “improved” German collective necessitates the memory of the Holocaust to remain in vivid proximity, but also requires a sense of perpetual vulnerability of Jews in the present and future.

Quoting Marcel Möring: “Jews get protection in exchange for right-wing migration politics.”

"De joden krijgen bescherming in ruil voor rechtse migratiepolitiek."

Trust the #Dutch to put it bluntly…

Writing in De Groene Amsterdammer, Möring criticizes right-wing politicians, particularly Geert Wilders, for exploiting recent events in #Amsterdam and concerns about #antisemitism for political gain. He particularly objects to what he calls disingenuous "#philosemitism."

[…] There's a saying among Jews that nothing is worse than an antisemite - except for a philosemite. An antisemite is someone who harbors irrational aversion towards Jews. A philosemite is someone who professes an excessive, irrational love for Jews, usually because they have an ulterior motive. Christians do it because they're theologically troubled by Jesus's Jewishness and can't seem to distinguish between Israel and 'the Jews.' The political right does it because they see political advantage in casting themselves as protectors of the Jews.

While acknowledging #antisemitism exists within some Islamic communities, Möring argues it's overly simplistic to attribute it solely to this group.

Dutch groene.nl/artikel/ranzige-lief

H/t @annekekassteele

@israel
@palestine
#IsraelOccupation
#OatmealQuotes

De Groene AmsterdammerMet vrienden als Geert Wilders en consorten heb je als jood geen vijanden meer nodigGeert Wilders en andere zelfbenoemde filosemieten verbinden de ‘pogrom’ van Amsterdam aan de vermeende slechte integratie van islamieten. Onder joden wordt weleens gezegd: niets is erger dan een antisemiet, behalve een filosemiet.

Philosemitism in History
Sutcliffe and Karp, 2012

"from this dominant perspective philosemitism is almost always regarded as deeply suspicious, sharing with antisemitism a trafficking in distorted, exaggerated, and exceptionalist views of Jews and Judaism."

"the philosemitism of many Christians has been motivated by a conversionist desire ultimately to erase Jewish distinctiveness altogether."

cambridge.org/core/books/abs/p

Continued thread

must be vigorously challenged as a pillar of Eurocentric white supremacy.
is a specific political ideology and form of ethnonationalism that drove the establishment of the state of Israel and maintains the illegal occupation of Palestine.

"The primary goal of the IHRA definition is not to fight antisemitism or to protect Jewish communities from racist attacks, predominantly carried out by white supremacists; it is a mechanism to suppress advocacy for Palestinian rights. Of the definition’s 11 examples, seven deem criticism of Israel or Zionism to be antisemitic."

Harsha Walia wrote an excellent primer on deliberate : monitormag.ca/articles/colonia via @KarenWyld

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Deborah Feldman: “Germans tend to cut off any attempt at constructive conversation with the much-favoured phrase that topic is much too complicated.
[…] Non-affiliated voices are often silenced or discredited, replaced by the louder ones of Germans whose Holocaust-guilt complexes cause them to fetishise Jewishness to the point of obsessive-compulsive embodiment.”

theguardian.com/commentisfree/ @germany

The present toot is a repost from mstdn.social where i published the content in December 2023 and the moderation team chose to erase it in March 2024.

The Guardian · Germany is a good place to be Jewish. Unless, like me, you’re a Jew who criticises IsraelBy Deborah Feldman
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"@germany cuts funding to Egyptian women’s rights organization for criticizing Israel"
Lawyer Azza Soliman, chair of the Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA), added that the country is attempting to whitewash its shameful history toward Jewish people by turning a blind eye to Palestinian suffering.
madamasr.com/en/2023/12/07/new

This toot is a repost from mstdn.social where i published the content in December 2023 and the moderation team chose to erase it in March 2024.

Mada MasrGermany cuts funding to Egyptian women's rights organization for criticizing IsraelGermany cut CEWLA's funding after chair Azza Soliman called for Israel's onslaught on Gaza to stop.
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"At a talk in Brooklyn [in 1985, Primo] Levi, asked for his opinion on Middle East politics, started to say that ‘Israel was a mistake in historical terms.’ An uproar ensued, and the moderator had to halt the meeting."

Pankaj Mishra in : lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n06/pa

London Review of Books · Pankaj Mishra · The Shoah after GazaMemories of Jewish suffering at the hands of Nazis are the foundation on which most descriptions of extreme ideology and...