Feeds: 
symbol identifies content for paid subscribers only.
MARTY'S WORLD.
Marty Peretz, continuing to rise below even my worst estimation:
"Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached in Boston on Saturday "in a lengthy and emotional address to a packed Old South Church," according to Sunday's Globe. And what did he preach about? The same topic he's always preaching about these days: the evil the Jews are inflicting on the Palestinians. You wonder why a South African cleric of the Anglican Church is fixated on Israel, or at least I wonder. It could be for the same reason that many Christian clerics have always found reason to damn the Jews.With his characteristic sneer he actually threatened Israel -- and not just the State but the whole People. 'Remembering what happened to you in Egypt and much more recently in Germany -- remember and act accordingly.'"
This is, quite simply, libelous. I was present at Old South Church on Saturday, and without getting too deep into some of the issues I'm hoping to deal with in an upcoming article relating to the event, I'll just say that the idea that Desmond Tutu, one of the great moral tutors of our age, a man who has dedicated himself to non-violence and reconciliation, at real and repeated risk to his own life, would "threaten" Israel with violence (From the pulpit of a church! With a characteristic sneer!) simply beggars the imagination. More to the point: It didn't happen.
Here is the text of Tutu's address. There is simply no way that any reasonable person could interpret his words as anything other than what he intended: A call for people of all faiths, including Jews (whom he refers to as "my spiritual relatives"), to be true to what Tutu believes is Judaism's prophetic and ethical heritage, which Tutu also explicitly claims as his own heritage, and support the end of Israel's brutal and illegal military occupation of the Palestinian territories.
For this, Marty Peretz implies that Tutu is a Jew-hater, and shamefully (if Peretz had any) attempts to tie him to the blood-libels of European anti-Semitism. What a strange moral universe Peretz has created for himself. It's reprehensible that he seems to throw accusations like this around with about as much thought as he gives to breathing.
--Matthew Duss
COMMENTS (8)
Unfortunately, his "strange moral universe" is the standard for American "supporters of Israel." Believe me, I know, I was active for some years in activism around Middle East issues, and everyone who is critical of the behavior of Israel toward the Palestinians is smeared, loudly and publicly and relentlessly, as a Jew hater. That includes Jews, by the way. They even went after companies that donated food and so on to our events -- lectures, usually by Israeli academics ("self-hating Jews") and cultural performances by Palestinian dancers and musicians. Yup, even presenting Palestinian dancers is anti-semitic. They protested outside of film screenings, yelling that the people going in were Jew haters.
It's 100% standard, normal behavior for these people.
Posted by: cervantes | October 31, 2007 4:10 PM
Archbishop Tutu sure has been coming under fire from the smear machine lately. Last month there was a fake controversy concerning a sexist remark he supposedly made about Aung Sang Suu Kyi, when the truth was 180 degrees opposite.
In today's world, I suppose the best you can do is make the right enemies.
Posted by: Steve | October 31, 2007 4:18 PM
I love the fact that Marty thinks Tutu has a "characteristic sneer."
Posted by: jimmy | October 31, 2007 4:32 PM
You can take Peretz to task for "characteristic sneer", but those words about Egypt and Germany are, as far as I can tell, Tutu's words, and they are bound to ... at least cause a stir among a lot of Jewish people I can think of. And I think Tutu's walking a tough ine here, because I think criticizing the government of Israel for its approach to the Palestinian issue is one thing; criticizing, as Tutu seems to be here, all Jews for it is more problematic. I'm not saying I agree with Peretz (the "sneer" thing is really unnecessary, just for starters), but also as someone whose passionate about the mideast issues, and Israel in particular, I've come to the conclusion that you need to be clear, often and repeatedly, about separating a discussion of Israel from a broader dicussion of Judaism. I'm not sure Tutu's doing the best job of that here, and it wouldn't surprise me if angrier voices than Peretz's wind up saying something even worse about it.
Posted by: weboy | October 31, 2007 4:40 PM
maybe tutu remembers who supported the apartheid regime and who didn't. (this self-hating jew didn't)
and if that was a threat then i'm the pope. what tutu was saying is "remember your own history of oppression when considering others."
Posted by: benjoya | October 31, 2007 4:47 PM
The point of Tutu's statements regarding Egypt & Germany should be clear to anyone willing to think: he's appealing to Israel not to become an agent of oppression. It's anything but a "threat."
Posted by: Erik | October 31, 2007 4:53 PM
I'm a (secular) Jew, and I happen to think that our experience in the Holocaust creates a duty to oppose oppression and inhumanity. Which makes the actions of the state of Israel and its enablers even more vile from my perspective. But hey, I'm a self-hating Jew!
Posted by: T. Paine | October 31, 2007 7:26 PM
You don't have to support Marty's hysteria to understand what is frustrating him about Tutu's statement. He implies that the Palestinians shoulder absolutely no share of the culpability for the situation, while suggesting that Jews--and not just Israelis--shoulder much of the moral culpability themselves. This is an extremely frustrating posture for someone who believes that both sides share blame, and that discomfort is only exacerbated by the (probably unintentional) racist undercurrent of the statements.
I guess my point is that, if you can distill out Marty's rancor and vile, is it so surprising that some would find Tuto's statement objectionable, no matter his own moral stature?
Posted by: Ben | November 2, 2007 12:32 PM