You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Keith Kahn-Harris’ tag.
One thing which has struck me since coming to live in Britain is the sheer number of Jewish organisations which exist here. Besides all the different religious groups and numerous charitable organisations, there are ‘Jews against this’ and ‘Jews in favour of that’, ‘Independent Jewish whatever’ and ‘Affiliated Jewish so and so’. Inevitably, when I ask non-Jewish British people just how many Jews they think live in the UK, they come up with a number between 4 to 5 million. I can hardly blame them for this mistake given the number of Jewish organisations which seem to pop up like mushrooms after the rain. When a minority roughly the size of Wolverhampton speaks in so many contrasting voices, their number is bound to appear inflated.
So I was not surprised two weeks ago to learn from Keith Kahn-Harris’ CiF article of the existence of yet another Jewish organisation; New Jewish Thought. What is curious is that Mr. Kahn-Harris would consider CiF to be an appropriate forum in which to promote the ideas of his organisation. As he has written himself elsewhere:
“Comment Is Free is frequently an outlet for exciting and challenging writing (a judgment that is based on more than the fact that one of us has contributed to it). But when you peruse a typical comment-thread, the problems with it become apparent. What is striking is that few of the comments really engage with the piece they are supposedly commenting on. Instead, most commentators just engage with each other, often with a viciousness that takes your breath away. There is a kind of circularity to the threads, with similar arguments repeated time and time again and rebutted as often.”
Hawkeye
Omar2
WellofSense
Medusa
The Alchemist
Louise
Tosca
Maimon
Telling the Truth
Israelinurse
Adam Levick
Margie in Tel Aviv
Guest/Cross Post
Hadar Sela
Walnuts and Other Kinds
March 31, 2010 in Uncategorized | Tags: Anthony Julius, Comment is Free, Guardian, Keith Kahn-Harris | by Israelinurse | 10 comments
I haven’t yet got round to reading Anthony Julius’ new book ‘Trials of the Diaspora’ , but from what I have heard and seen so far, I am sure that it is going to be fascinating. Keith Kahn-Harris’ recent article about the book on CiF does not detract from the anticipation, but knowing CiF as we do and reading the comments on his piece, one has to conclude that Kahn-Harris was more than a little naive to think that this was the right place for a serious discussion about Anthony Julius’ book.
Less sympathy can be accredited to whoever commissioned this article because, given the hothouse of antisemitic bigotry which CiF is cultivating, it must have been crystal clear what the reactions of the CiF regulars would be. True to form and predictable as ever, on an article about a history of antisemitism, some of the comments (far too many to reproduce here in their entirety) were antisemitic. In fact, should Mr. Julius ever wish to write a post script to his work, he need look no further for suitable subject matter.
Some try to re-define antisemitism in order to suit their political motives.
Share this: