Peter Beinart: Barred from Atlanta’s Jewish book festival
UPDATE: As the AJC’s Rosalind Bentley reports, tonight’s presentation by Peter Beinart at the Margaret Mitchell House has been sold out.
—————————–
Peter Beinart was raised in the Jewish faith, attends an Orthodox synagogue in New York City, keeps kosher and says “I love Israel and believe in the Zionist experiment.” He was also just named one of the “Forward 50” by the Jewish Daily Forward, a listing that marks him among those “who have made a significant impact on the Jewish story in the past year.”
Peter Beinart
So how does Beinart become persona non grata at the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, his invitation to speak this week suddenly withdrawn? Beinart himself is in some ways mystified, noting that “I speak to Jewish audiences all the time — at synagogues and community centers,” and had never previously been disinvited. However, he also recognizes that in his new book “The Crisis in Zionism,” he says things that have angered and perhaps even frightened America’s Jewish establishment.
In brief, Beinart sees Israel becoming less and less democratic — both in spirit and reality — as it attempts to swallow the occupied territories without granting basic human rights to the millions of Palestinians who live there. And he warns that over time, an abandonment of Israel’s democratic heritage will jeopardize its support among young Jewish Americans by forcing them to choose between Israel and their support for democracy and equal rights.
Last month, an opinion poll released in Israel highlighted the risks cited by Beinart. The poll found that 42 percent of Israeli Jews did not want their children to attend class with the children of Israeli Arabs; only 19 percent would give Palestinians the right to vote if the territories were permanently annexed into Israel. And just six years after Jimmy Carter was strongly condemned for using the term “apartheid” to describe Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, 59 percent of Israeli Jews admit point-blank that apartheid now exists in their country.
It is absolutely true, of course, that a similar poll of the Arab nations that surround Israel would find overwhelming, even vicious anti-Jewish sentiment. It is equally true that even today, Israeli Arabs enjoy a degree of free speech unavailable in almost any Arab country.
But it is also true that the United States maintains no “special relationship” with those Arab countries. Some may be U.S. allies, but it is an alliance of mere convenience, not an alliance based on deeply shared values and traditions. Beinart fears that if Israel abandons a two-state solution to the Palestinian problem and attempts permanent subjugation of the Palestinian people, even many Jewish Americans will begin to detach themselves from the country, with dangerous consequences.
As he writes in his book, Israel “must not do to others what Jews found hateful when done to them.”
Beinart is hardly the first to make that argument, and is far from the most forceful. But such things are generally said in Israel, by Israelis, not here in America. For example, Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, wrote that the poll cited above “lays bare an image of Israeli society, and the picture is a very, very sick one. Now it is not just critics at home and abroad, but Israelis themselves who are openly, shamelessly, and guiltlessly defining themselves as nationalistic racists.”
Beinart has been invited to Israel to speak and debate its future, and has received a respectful welcome. “In general, the conversation in Israel is less confined,” he says. “Israelis don’t worry about whether they have the standing to comment.”
So he can say these things in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, but not at the Book Festival of the MJCCA?
“Our membership isn’t closed to anyone or any one idea, but the negative reaction was significant,” Steven Cadranel, president of the MJCCA, told Rosalind Bentley of the AJC. “We believe this is a message best presented away from our facility.”
As a result, Beinart’s presentation has been stripped from the book festival listing and rescheduled for Wednesday at 8:15 p.m. at the Margaret Mitchell House. As he put it last week, “There’s something not quite Jewish about trying to deny someone a public forum to discuss public issues.”
– Jay Bookman
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
547 comments Add your comment
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
November 14th, 2012
8:59 am
“Since when is the NYT considered remotely objective and truthful about anything?”
ohsweetjeebus … yet another member of the numpty brigade who doesn’t want to believe anything that doesn’t support their bubble-fed beliefs.
The NYT may not be perfect, but it is one of the most trustworthy around.
JamVet
November 14th, 2012
9:00 am
texmex alex, give it up, son…
tex
November 14th, 2012
9:01 am
Granny,
You seem to be oblivious to the fact that Arab nationalism is a British/nazi creation, that the Muslim mufti of Jerusalem helped Hitler round up Jews, Christians, and Roma in WWII Europe, and that many Islamic leaders today wish that their failed genocide of 1948 had succeeded.
There are Muslims that don’t think this way. They support people like Gellar and Spencer, and are hated vehemently by the left (not unlike the way it hates blacks that support MLK-type Zionism).
TaxPayer
November 14th, 2012
9:01 am
There’s nothing to sell. Staunchly ‘democrat’ websites and columnists hold views indistinguishable from those of David Duke.
I see the party of teh stupid is determined to provide daily evidence.
Joe Hussein Mama
November 14th, 2012
9:02 am
RB — “Is there some part of “I DON’T TAKE ORDERS FROM YOU” you’re having a hard time with, little lying Joey?”
Ask nicely first. And stop calling me names.
“Try reading it s…l…o…w…e…r or something.”
There’s a difference between hearing what you’re saying and complying with your demands. I suggest you invest some time and effort into figuring it out.
tex
November 14th, 2012
9:04 am
There’s no fact or logic based argument that can confirm that the NYT is either the most trusted information source, or the most honest.
It can, however, be easily proven as a liar for US policy. During the 1990s, when the US was very involved in the bombing of Yugoslavia and demonization of the Serbs, the NYT routinely revised history and WWII concentration death counts to help whitewash and rehabilitate the pets of the US government, not unlike what it does for any and all Islamist groups that are being supported by the US government.
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
November 14th, 2012
9:04 am
“There’s nothing to sell. Staunchly ‘democrat’ websites and columnists hold views indistinguishable from those of David Duke.”
ah, yes … the favorite GOP gambit … projection
Mick
November 14th, 2012
9:05 am
Georgia, our kissing cousins, please relieve of us of the stain that is allen west; we’ll keep alan grayson though…go ahead, please take allen west and all his paranoia with him…
Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette
November 14th, 2012
9:06 am
tics….oops, I mean tex
hate you know well
projection you do very well
tex
November 14th, 2012
9:07 am
It’s interesting that the Beinart supporters can’t provide a scintilla of actual evidence to explain why they have such hatred for Jews living under Jewish sovereignty, instead resorting to name-calling and ‘appeals to ignorance’ (i.e. references to a fictional oppression of non-Israelis done by Israel, and then stating that it is the power of the Jews that prevent constant coverage of this fiction).
US media, including the AJC provide very frequent coverage of this fiction, which is to be expected in a country of leaders and media that lie constantly and wage war all the time.
JamVet
November 14th, 2012
9:07 am
JHM,
RB is apparently no longer among the blogging living.
He went the way of numerous other “ornery” (LOL!) right wing “unteachables”!
Stevie Ray
November 14th, 2012
9:08 am
tex
November 14th, 2012
8:56 am
Well put…they are outlets for sure but it’s hard to refer to most of what any of them spew unbiased news…when the media became news, the news became indistiguishable from children in a sandbox…spending hours on end attacking the other media that disagrees with views..
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
November 14th, 2012
9:09 am
“There’s no fact or logic based argument that can confirm that the NYT is either the most trusted information source, or the most honest.”
http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat
um. suck it.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
November 14th, 2012
9:09 am
Atwater:
“My generation will be the first generation of Southerners that won’t be prejudiced.”
LOL
JamVet
November 14th, 2012
9:10 am
“tex”, are you familiar with the phrase authentic frontier gibberish?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke5Mr5eCF2U
oops
November 14th, 2012
9:10 am
if all 50 states want to secede from the union, how is that going to work? unless they want to be 50 separate states?
Brosephus™
November 14th, 2012
9:10 am
dB
Gotcha. I’ll give it a read then. I’m just tired of reading about who’s banging who. Grown people should be allowed ot screw whomever they choose. They know the possible reprecussions, and if they choose to proceed in spite of that knowledge, then it’s on them to bear the burden of their choice. My only concern is whether any classified info got out, and so far the media appears to be focused on the sex aspect more.
Welcome to the Occupation
November 14th, 2012
9:10 am
Hey tex, can you say A-P-A-R-T-H-E-I-D?
Stevie Ray
November 14th, 2012
9:12 am
TEX
NYT is indistiguishable from Fox news which is indistinguishable from MSNBC…so screwed in the direction of lunatic left and lunatic right that it is impossible to put more than 50% creditibility in much of what they offer..
TaxPayer
November 14th, 2012
9:12 am
Displays of utter stupidity define the new GOP. Projection would be a step up.
JamVet
November 14th, 2012
9:12 am
Mick, if we get West can we send you Herman Cain? (And Boortz?)
Georgia
November 14th, 2012
9:13 am
I’ve been reviewing the JayKyle video chats. Kyle has a very marketable delivery. Do I see a young George Wills? Expect to see this guy on a round table on a Sunday Morning talk show near you soon, people. And Jay. Who can get mad at this lovable curmudgeon. He scowls when he talks, but the whole effect is like Mr. Magoo, who Andy Rooney modeled his own persona after. (few folks know that). Swing away, my fellow Americans. You can’t joke around without drawing fire on any of the AJC blogs, you know.
Welcome to the Occupation
November 14th, 2012
9:13 am
tex: “references to a fictional oppression of non-Israelis done by Israel”
Here’s a ’scintilla’ of evidence? How about http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/14/us-palestinians-israel-violence-idUSBRE8AD0V920121114.
A top Hamas commander was reportedly inside the car that was hit.
Stevie Ray
November 14th, 2012
9:14 am
USNUK
I think it is fair to say that the left sees the NYT’s as gospel due to its painfully ridiculous left spin..
I’m not sure if a pulitzer(s) indicate crediblity or unbiased reporting…
Thomas Heyward Jr
November 14th, 2012
9:15 am
I sincerely hope that Bookman, Wingfeild and staff aren’t having that Obamacare “lay-off” meeting.
.
That would suck.
alex
November 14th, 2012
9:15 am
@ Granny, nothing to worry about from MY viewpoint-my delusions of grandeur occurred before the internet….. i am better now…
Let’s see christian evangilists support Israel and republicans, American jews supports democrats….American jews are very liberal and have supported dems, however the orthtodox, read conservative jews have supported republicans in several area of the country. In term of votte number, little reason to care except in florida , where the numbers may be important in a close race..
Dana Blankenhorn
November 14th, 2012
9:15 am
Jewish groups are free to do as they will, and Israel is free to do what it will.
The question to be answered is whether they should be doing it on America’s dime. They need to put forward an affirmative argument for continued American support despite what they’re doing, or (if they can make that argument) because of it.
Of all those who’ve commented, Fast Miles does the best job of it. He says Israel has to, and that its neighbors are all (still) worse. He says that if Muslims start living peaceably among themselves, Israel will get its foot off the neck of its Muslims
But here’s my problem, Fast Miles. The word “Palestinian” doesn’t just describe Muslims. It also describes Christians. Any non-Jewish resident of Israel is deemed a Palestinian. So what you’re asking Americans to do is turn a blind eye to routine discrimination against Christians.
That’s a hard sell, and refusing to even give people like Peter Beinart, a noted American conservative on foreign policy issues, a hearing doesn’t help your case. Because in the end you have to make an affirmative case, and I don’t see one.
You can have Apartheid, but why should America aid it?
Doggone/GA
November 14th, 2012
9:16 am
“I think it is fair to say that the left sees the NYT’s as gospel due to its painfully ridiculous left spin”
I think it’s fair to say that your mind reading abilities are sadly lacking
Welcome to the Occupation
November 14th, 2012
9:16 am
Stevie Ray: “NYT is indistiguishable from Fox news ”
Nooooo, c’mon. Seriously, you think that?
tex
November 14th, 2012
9:16 am
Hamas is a neo-nazi movement dedicated to killing Israeli civilians. Try again.
Joe Hussein Mama
November 14th, 2012
9:16 am
F. Sinkiewicz — “Can we cut to the chase?”
Yes, please. You’re overdue for another good fisking, Fishy.
“O’bozo, like most lib ilks luvs Arabs and hates them some Isrealis.”
It’s pretty clear to me that the lib ilks in here have been quite even-handed in their discussion of Israel in here. What makes you think we *hate* Israelis?
“As a result of last Tuesday, like America, Isreal is doomed.”
Why would it take two Presidential terms? Your pronunciation of doom didn’t come true in Obama’s first four years, so why should a second four years make a difference? Besides, even the Israelis themselves have acknowledged that Obama’s been supportive. Sure, not in the precise ways that Israeli government might have liked, but since when do we let recipients of foreign aid dictate terms to us?
“Live with it.”
Fishy, it’s *your* dream, so I daresay *you* will be the one living with it.
“Iran gets nukes.”
Four years into the Obama administration and we’re still balking Iran’s best national effort. Three years into the Bush administration and Lil’ Kim was test-firing a-bombs. You’ve lost this part of the argument, Fishy.
“The Muslim Brotherhood rules northeast Africa.”
Do you know what “mahgreb” means, Fishy? (laughing)
“Move along. Nothing to see here.”
Just another conservative pitching a fit like a spoiled youngster in the cereal aisle.
tex
November 14th, 2012
9:17 am
Israeli aid to hurricane Sandy victims. The Israeli global humanitarian organization Israel Flying Aid, which was first to land in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, has been distributing large supplies of gas to hospitals, and food, batteries and generators to New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island.
http://israelnewsagency.com/israelflyingaidhurricanesandyhartfordconnecticutjewishvolunteersifadisasterrelieffemapoliceredcrossnewyorkjerseylongislandkahanaleyden48110412.html
curious
November 14th, 2012
9:17 am
Israel will not endure as a nation. It’s only a matter of time.
tex
November 14th, 2012
9:18 am
And rescuing Ghanaians from the rubble. (Thanks to Israellycool) An Israeli Home Front Command team and a Magen David Adom team are assisting in the relief effort following the collapse of a four-storey shopping mall in Ghana’s capital Accra.
http://www.israellycool.com/2012/11/08/israel-saving-the-world-again/
What are hamas or the PLO doing to help out?
tex
November 14th, 2012
9:19 am
Israeli technology to the rescue. Tamir Niv has designed a low-cost tool for digging survivors out from under the rubble of an earthquake or other disaster. His 5-in-1 MultiTool features a shovel, hammer, crowbar, lifting hook and wire cutters. Weighing 7kg it could be come as essential, in vulnerable regions, as a fire extinguisher.
http://israel21c.org/social-action-2/israeli-5-in-1-tool-for-rescuers-creates-design-buzz/
What are these bitter Israel-phobes doing to better the world?
LeftInTheSouth
November 14th, 2012
9:19 am
Why does criticizing Israel now become being anti Semitic. I love the Jewish faith and culture I just hate Israel’s anti Human rights stance! Bernie Marcus has become a monster to local and National politics. From f’ng up the new Symphony Hall to his outrageous stance on Obama, he needs to have some serious reflection on his actions.
fair and balanced
November 14th, 2012
9:20 am
It appears the Romney/Natanyahu segment of American jews won out in banning Beinert and truly do not want peace in the middle east. 70% of American jews called BS on the phony attempt by Romney and Adelson to make Israel a litmus test or wedge issue and are OK with President Hussein attempting to accomodate all sides except Iran and Al-Quaida. Remember Obama went to Sderot where rockets fall from Gaza in 2008 and not like Romney to a fund raiser in a fancy hotel in safe Jerusalem with Adelson at his sideI believe 70% of Jews are in line with Beinert and J-Street.
And Adelson lost how many millions??????????????????????????
JamVet
November 14th, 2012
9:20 am
The New York Times (NYT) is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851.
The New York Times has won 108 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other news organization.
Its website is the most popular American newspaper website, receiving more than 30 million unique visitors per month
The print version of the paper remains the largest local metropolitan newspaper in the United States; it is the third largest newspaper overall, behind The Wall Street Journal and USA Today…
The NY Times is one of the most prestigious publications on the planet and is instantly recognized around the educated world as one of the great American contributions to our Free Press.
For 161 years!
Fox News? You decide. (LOL!)
Comparing that oft-derided, loose with the facts, start-up to the NY Times – in any way whatsoever – is just more right wing equivalency nonsense…
Dr. Pangloss
November 14th, 2012
9:24 am
Isaac Asimov on Zionism and persecuted Jews turning persecutors: “Right now, there is an influx of Soviet Jews into Israel. They are fleeing because they expect religious persecution. Yet at the instant their feet touched Israeli soil, they became extreme Israeli nationalists with no pity for the Palestinians. From persecuted to persecutors in the blinking of an eye.”
herb
November 14th, 2012
9:25 am
As a result, Beinart’s presentation has been stripped from the book festival listing and rescheduled for Wednesday at 8:15 p.m. at the Margaret Mitchell House… A more appropriate venue would be the Cheetah Lounge on Cheshire Bridge. Beinart is a kind of prostitute. He should have never been invited
tex
November 14th, 2012
9:28 am
I never said that fox was any different from the NYT. It’s little different, giving prime-time space to Israel-hating liars like Diane Butto.
You’ve only confirmed that the NYT is popular–not that it tells the objective truth. During WWII it buried news on the holocaust deep in the paper and was dragged kicking and screaming by the Bergson group to provide some awareness of what was going on.
The Bergson group are vehemently hated by the Beinart gang, because they didn’t lie for the killers of Jews or kowtow to them either.
tex
November 14th, 2012
9:29 am
Microsoft signs agreement with Israel. The agreement is intended to develop “shared infrastructure investment” in national information technology projects, and encourage interdependent Israeli technology companies and start-ups. Microsoft has also begun registering for its next accelerator program where Israeli start-ups will receive $20,000 and help from Microsoft, Israel’s Technion and Georgia Tech College.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/microsoft-government-to-sign-tech-development-agreement/
http://www.zdnet.com/a-junior-silicon-valley-microsoft-israel-on-start-ups-security-and-steve-ballmer-7000003552/
I guess that our resident geniuses know more than Ballmer.
Joe Hussein Mama
November 14th, 2012
9:29 am
JamVet — “JHM, RB is apparently no longer among the blogging living.”
Well, isn’t *that* a heartbreaker.
“He went the way of numerous other “ornery” (LOL!) right wing “unteachables”!
I told him repeatedly to calm down, speak politely and to stop calling me names. Guess his lifestyle finally caught up with him.
tex
November 14th, 2012
9:31 am
Arab woman commands IDF combat unit. 20-year-old Christian Arab Mona Abdo has just made history by graduating from the Israeli Defence Forces’ Commanders training course. She will become a commander in the Caracal combat unit, which has both male and female, Arab and Jewish soldiers serving alongside each other.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/161039
Memorial for Muslim Arabs in IDF. Yousef Juhja from Arara in Wadi Ara has sent three of his sons into the Israel Defence Forces. One son, Staff Sgt. Sa’id Juhja, was killed by Gaza terrorists in 2004. Shortly after, the bereaved father built a memorial at his own expense, to his son and seven other Arab soldiers killed in uniform.
http://www.israelandstuff.com/an-arab-maverick-whos-pro-israel
Wow, this must be fiction. After all, our resident geniuses keep telling me how much Israelis love tormenting Arabs…
fair and balanced
November 14th, 2012
11:21 am
tex – you got it right. Repubs tried to do everything the could to diss Arabs in Israel and stir up hatred towards Palestinians. That is not the official policy of Israeli government nor is it Breinert’s position nor his backers, J-Street. 70% of American Jews know better. This is all sour grapes over the 30% getting a butt kicking last week.
tex
November 14th, 2012
1:12 pm
fab,
Supporting and financially sponsoring palestinian Arab Jewhatred is bipartisan policy, but is mostly supported by the democrats, who seem to be quite enamored of Jews that hate Jews, Arabs that hate Jews, and blacks that hate Jews.
The Tipping Point in Israel « Arthur Goldwag
November 17th, 2012
3:49 pm
[...] Beinart (who was just barred from an Atlanta Jewish Book Festival) says that the coming crisis for Israel will be when American [...]