In his article on The Substack site, Journalist Kevin Deutsch places himself in a position of hostility toward me by describing me as an anti-Semitic bigot and Israel-obsessed. Although I do not view him as an enemy simply because I disagree with him, I will follow Christ’s advice: “Do not repay evil with evil… love your enemies.” I believe love can defeat hate, exactly as light dispels darkness. Therefore:
1- I forgive Mr. Deutsch for his personal insults against me, for misrepresenting the content of my book without reading it, and for inciting others against me. Moreover, I sincerely thank him twice. First, when he published the emails of my workplace and encouraged his readers to send messages demanding that I should be fired, he stopped at that and did not publish my home address to incite readers to kill me. Second, I thank him for the free publicity for my book and for informing readers where they can find it in public libraries and bookstores.
2- I will not describe Mr. Deutsch as a bigot as he described me, nor will I call for silencing him as he called for silencing me. As a liberal, I believe in the reader’s right to access different narratives—even those I disagree with—because every story has two sides. Do Americans not have the right to learn about the Arab perspective on the Arab-Israeli conflict? However, Mr. Deutsch is playing his role within the Israel lobby by silencing every voice that attempts to present Americans with the other side of the Middle East conflict, in order to maintain their influence over U.S. policy. This influence has recently come under threat due to rising American voices against Israeli policies since October 7—in universities (Columbia University, for example), in the media (Tucker Carlson, for example), and in Congress (Marjorie Taylor Greene, for example).
3- I advise him to:
(A) Read my book before hastily labeling it as "a hate tract.. a racist narrative demonizing Jews.. rife with racialized portrayals of Jews and easily-disproven lies about Israel and Mideast history." Instead of reading the book and supporting his accusations with its content, Mr. Deutsch merely used some images from my Instagram page. Not only did he present them selectively, but he also interpreted them in a racist manner and twisted my words to suggest meanings I did not intend. This reminds me of the well-known saying in the Talmud: “People do not see the world as it is, but as they are.”
(B) Address, refute, or respond to the alleged “libels and falsehoods” he claims exist. In truth, if he reads the book, he will not find libels—only documented facts about Israeli policy, and nothing about Judaism or any race. I have cited my sources, choosing to rely only on English-language references so readers can verify them independently. I avoided personal opinions and analysis, which is why my contract with a publisher was terminated when they insisted that I interpret the facts and add personal commentary. As a result, I chose to self-publish the book.
4- I want to educate him on some facts:
(A) The “Jewish Question”: It was raised in Europe from the early modern period until World War II, and five solutions were proposed: Enlightenment, liberal, socialist, Nazi, and Zionist. In my book, I argue that liberalism—through its inclusion of minorities—was what resolved the Jewish Question. However, Mr. Deutsch wrote in his article (Refaat markets his book as educational and historic, with back-cover copy that asks: “What actually solved the Jewish question: Zionism through the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, or the shift of European states from nationalism to liberalism?” He poses the same racist “question” Hitler and Nazi Germany tried to “solve” by killing most of European Jewry in what they deemed “the final solution to the Jewish question.”)
(B) “Semites”: It refers to the languages and cultures of the peoples of the Middle East, including the Hebrews (the first Jews) and Arabs; in that sense, I am Semitic. Yet Mr. Kevin accuses me of antisemitism—how can I be anti-myself? Even if he uses the Western definition of antisemitism as prejudice against Jews, why did he ignore my relationships with my Jewish friends in KC when reviewing my social media accounts? I invited Rabbi Moti Rieber to talk to my students about Maimonides (a medieval Arab Jewish rabbi), https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15hqcSwecRw/. Also, I introduced my friend Bob Hoffman to speak at an event in Kansas City. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1J6oqXe9GP/
Moreover, if he had taken the time to examine my book’s references, he would find that many are by Jewish authors, some even published in Israel. I believe Mr. Deutsch equates “antisemitism” with criticism of Israel. My book, of course, criticizes Israeli policy without any disparagement of Judaism or any ethnicity—just as criticizing the policies of Saudi Arabia or Iran does not mean hostility toward Islam, and criticizing the ideology of jihadist groups does not mean hostility toward Muslims.
About that, I want to share the following paragraph from my book "the biggest problem now is that the term "antisemitism" is used to refer to any criticism of Israeli politics. So, now "Semites" is used neither as a race nor a religion, but to refer to the State of Israel! Americans have the freedom of expression to criticize their government and state, but not the right to criticize Israel's politics without facing accusations of antisemitism. It seems that it's not America supporting Israel, but Israel influencing the United States. Israel is a political state, and criticizing a political state means criticizing political actions—not a religion or a race. For example, criticizing Saudi Arabia does not mean criticizing Islam or Arabs. Everyone should have the right to criticize political actions without being accused of prejudice. Labeling someone as anti-Semitic solely for criticizing political actions undermines genuine efforts to combat real antisemitism. If Zionists want to accuse their critics of something, they should create another term—for example, anti-Zionist or anti-Israel!"
https://kevindeutsch.substack.com/p/selling-hate-as-history-kansas-city?utm_id=97758_v0_s00_e0_tv0&fbclid=IwY2xjawRInPFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEesaKw0Ma-bOwc25uDacTFhxhzP2Q2kdbG6vYNj81HO6AqIoEFsn9KLjm_NsI_aem_tdJB6FPTuDjnSwQfj4js0A
No comments:
Post a Comment