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In Search of Anti-Semitism

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This work encompasses the near-legendary essay of William F Buckley plus the plethora of responses to it and some additional pieces by Buckley in conclusion. It is a fascinating historical record from 1992 against which the trajectory of Patrick Buchanan's words and deeds may now be measured.

In the long and tactfully worded essay, Buckley investigates the work of two conservatives, Buchanan and Joe Sobran, and one liberal, Gore Vidal, for signs of Antisemitism. He also looks at an incident involving the conservative student newspaper at Dartmouth College.

Absorbing and edifying throughout, the essay encompasses quite a variety of other themes, from the magazine publishing industry to the world of conservative intellectuals. In his elegant prose Buckley is revealed as a perceptive and aware observer of even the most subtle expressions of attitude as well as an articulate interpreter of the intricacies of language and meaning.

The verdict: Buckley, ever so gracious, detects an intense hostility towards Israel in the writing of Sobran but no evidence of Antisemitism. He correctly perceives the presence of the virus in the mind of Buchanan; it has grown ever more virulent since then as reflected in his columns on various online sites and by his own publication The American Conservative.

The Dartmouth Review is absolved of all charges and shown to have been targeted in a vendetta by the college president. Gore is found guilty and sternly rebuked for his spiteful words in the leftist magazine The Nation. This incident is however the least of his transgressions; abundant evidence of malignant narcissism exists in his work, e.g. the hateful way he wrote about his mother, so his contemptible character has been exposed long ago.

Part Two contains the quantitatively & qualitatively impressive response to the essay in lively letters by a variety of authors from across the political spectrum, including Norman Podhoretz, Irving Kristol, Murray Rothbard and Alan Dershowitz. Buckley replies respectfully to even the minority of exceptions amongst the vast majority of supportive letters.

In Part Three Buckley replies to later contributions and shares his further thoughts on the issue. He was an unapologetic friend of all Israel in the most inclusive sense of the word but did his best to be as fair and objective as possible in these documents that chronicle the controversy.

The book covers many related issues, certain of which have increased in significance along with the never-ending conflict in the Middle East. They include US foreign policy in the region, definitions and varieties of Judeophobia, Antisemitism & Anti-Judaism, this last being a supposedly less malignant theological prejudice. I reject this view based on:

(a) the range of hostile attitudes - from arrogance to the condoning of and cold indifference towards Jewish suffering to murderous hatred - evident in the writings of the so-called "church fathers" like Melito of Sardis, Eusebius, Tertullian, Chrysostom and many others. The tragic evidence is available in Christian Antisemitism by William Nicholls, a work of remarkable intellectual honesty.

(b) The fact that Anti-Judaism's themes migrated to racial Antisemitism. Unfortunately it seems that these myths & themes are deeply ingrained in the darker corners of the Western subconscious.

I consider Augustine's abominable doctrine of replacement theology as the cause of much oppression and view its acceptance by the Reformers as a disaster. Barry Horner's highly recommended work Future Israel: Why Christian Anti-Judaism Must Be Challenged is very informative in this regard.

Above all, the loathsome words of Martin Luther disgust me and I cannot accept the excuses. The prejudice may not have been based on race, but the murderous hatred in those words clearly contains the germs of genocide. Over time they brought about the climate and prepared the soil for the Holocaust. These days, Jimmy Carter is doing his utmost to remind us of that mindset.

Other issues covered include the distinctions between criticism of Israeli policy, Anti-Zionism which denies political rights to Jews as a group and Anti-Israelism which denies the little country's right to life. Buckley's oh so delicate distinctions have lost their validity in the current climate of resurgent Antisemitism. It might not have been thus in 1992, but these days when Israel is singled out as scapegoat & considering the sources of the criticism, at least 90% of it is driven by or contains elements of the plague. To Buckley's credit, amongst all the nuancing it is clear he did consider any attempt at opposing military aid to Israel as Antisemitism.

The extent of Leftist Antisemitism in those days - which Buckley exposes so lucidly - surprised me as I thought it was a recent development. I suspect it has been migrating from the Hard Left as represented by The Nation to greater acceptance in mainstream Liberalism as documented by Bernard Harrison in The Resurgence of Anti-Semitism and Phyllis Chesler in The New Anti-Semitism.

From the perspective of 2008, Buckley was right to spotlight the attitude of Buchanan who has moved further along this destructive path by his words and actions. I am disappointed in the conservative media that still carry his columns. Of Sobran I know nothing while Gore Vidal and his scribblings are to be avoided at all times. May William Buckley rest in peace; he was a loyal friend of Israel and the Jewish people and a real gentleman. His noble soul would have grieved to witness the deterioration in the Zeitgeist which brings another mutation of the virus.

In pagan times it was the culture, with Christianity it became the creed, then it was the race, now it is the nation that must be wiped out. I mourn for the innocent victims of the virus & even a little bit for the carriers, for I know that Israel will never be uprooted again. The spirits of Mordechai and Esther are here and the Good Shepherd who is gathering them never sleeps. Netzach Yisrael lo y'shaker.

This book includes the famous essay of William F Buckley plus the multitude of responses to it plus some additional pieces by Buckley in conclusion. It is a fascinating historical record from 1992 against which the development of Patrick Buchanan's words and deeds may now be measured. In the long & tactful essay, Buckley examines the work of two conservatives, Buchanan and Joe Sobran, and one liberal, Gore Vidal, for signs of Antisemitism. He also looks at an incident involving the conservative student newspaper at Dartmouth College.

Absorbing and edifying throughout, the essay throws light on a variety of other issues, from the magazine publishing industry to the world of conservative intellectuals. In his elegant prose Buckley is revealed as a perceptive and aware observer of even the most subtle expressions of attitude & an articulate interpreter of the intricacies of language and meaning. The verdict: Buckley, ever so gracious, detects an intense hostility towards Israel in the writing of Sobran but no evidence of Antisemitism. He correctly perceives the presence of the virus in the mind of Buchanan. It has grown more virulent since then as reflected in his columns on various online sites and his books.

The Dartmouth Review is absolved of all charges and shown to have been targeted in a vendetta by the college president. Gore is found guilty and sternly rebuked for his malicious writings in the leftist magazine The Nation. This incident is however the least of his transgressions; abundant evidence of malignant narcissism exists in his work, e.g. the hateful way he wrote about his mother, so his contemptible character has been exposed long ago.

Part Two contains the quantitatively & qualitatively impressive response to the essay in lively letters by a variety of authors from across the political spectrum, including Norman Podhoretz, Irving Kristol, Murray Rothbard and Alan Dershowitz. Buckley replies respectfully to even the minority of exceptions amongst the vast majority of supportive letters.

In Part Three Buckley replies to later contributions and shares his further thoughts on the issue. He was a loyal friend of all Israel in the most inclusive sense of the word but did his best to be as fair and objective as possible in these documents that chronicle the controversy. The book covers many related issues, certain of which have become more pressing in sync with the never-ending conflict in the Middle East. They include US foreign policy in the region, definitions and varieties of Judeophobia, Antisemitism & Anti-Judaism, this last being a supposedly less malignant theological prejudice. I reject this view based on:

(a) the range of hostile attitudes - from arrogance to the condoning of and cold indifference towards Jewish suffering to murderous hatred - evident in the writings of the so-called "church fathers" like Melito of Sardis, Eusebius, Tertullian, Chrysostom and many others. The tragic evidence is available in Christian Antisemitism by William Nicholls, a work of astonishing intellectual honesty (b) The fact that Anti-Judaism's themes migrated to racial Antisemitism. Unfortunately it seems that these myths & themes are deeply ingrained in the darker corners of the Western subconscious.

I consider Augustine's abominable doctrine of replacement theology as the cause of much oppression and view its acceptance by the Reformers as a disaster. Barry Horner's highly recommended work Future Israel: Why Christian Anti-Judaism Must Be Challenged is very informative in this regard. Above all, the loathsome words of Martin Luther disgust me and I cannot accept the excuses. The prejudice may not have been based on race, but the murderous hatred in those words clearly contains the germs of genocide. Over time they brought about the climate and prepared the soil for the Holocaust. These days, Jimmy Carter is doing his utmost to revive that mindset.

Other issues covered include the distinctions between criticism of Israeli policy, Anti-Zionism which denies political rights to Jews as a group and Anti-Israelism which denies the little country's right to life. Buckley's oh so delicate distinctions have lost their validity in the current climate of resurgent Antisemitism. It might not have been thus in 1992, but these days when Israel is singled out as scapegoat & considering the sources of the criticism, at least 90% of it is driven by or contains elements of the plague. To Buckley's credit, amongst all the nuancing it is clear he did consider any attempt at opposing military aid to Israel as Antisemitism.

The extent of Leftist Antisemitism in those days - which Buckley exposes so lucidly - surprised me as I thought it was a recent phenomenon. I suspect it has been migrating from the Hard Left as represented by The Nation to acceptance in mainstream Liberalism as documented by Bernard Harrison in The Resurgence of Anti-Semitism and Phyllis Chesler in The New Anti-Semitism.

From the perspective of 2008, Buckley was right to spotlight the attitude of Buchanan who has moved further along this destructive path. I am disappointed in the conservative media that still carry his columns. Of Sobran I know nothing while Gore Vidal and his scribblings are to be avoided at all times. May William Buckley rest in peace; he was a loyal friend of Israel and the Jewish people and a real gentleman. His noble soul would have grieved to witness the deterioration in the Zeitgeist which brings another mutation of the virus. In pagan times it was the culture, with Christianity it became the creed, then it was the race, now it is the nation that must be wiped out. I mourn for the innocent victims of the virus & even a little bit for the carriers, for I know that Israel will never be uprooted again. Netzach Yisrael lo y'shaker.

Mr. Buckley is an excellent writer and a spiritual man with a conservative point of view. In this book he takes several of his writer-colleagues to task for alleged anti-Semitic sentiments expressed in anti-Israeli discourse. In doing so, he attempts to delineate a careful distinction between being critical to another country's policies (namely Israel's) and using such legitimate criticism as a means of promoting bigoted ideas. This is an important subject burdened by a lot of emotion, and Buckley makes every effort to be fair.

Yet through his careful editing, the book is drained of the passion the subject deserves. Expect your mind to be challenged but your heart unmoved by this book.