Caroline Glick: Siding with the victims of aggression

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In this thoughtful piece, my friend Caroline Glick shows why the media pile-on blaming me for the jihad attack on our free speech event in Texas is so dangerous for a free society:

Geller Glick Ali

“Column one: Siding with the victims of aggression,” by Caroline B. Glick, Jerusalem Post, May 7, 2015 (thanks to Scott):

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Last Sunday, two Islamic terrorists armed with assault rifles tried to massacre participants at a Muhammad cartoon drawing contest in Garland, Texas.

The notion that a rape victim deserved to be raped because she was wearing a tight outfit lights up all our red lights.

This is the case first and foremost because it absolves the rapist of responsibility for his crime.

Then too, attempts to blame a rape victim for her victimization infuriate us because they are substantively untrue. If men are more likely to rape women in tight clothing then rape should be all but non-existent in traditional Islamic societies. Yet the opposite is the case. Rape and sexual abuse are endemic to such societies. According to the UN, a whopping 99.3 percent of Egyptian women report having suffered sexual abuse.

There is a third, more general reason that we recoil from the thought of blaming rape victims for their suffering. One of the foundations of liberal societies has always been that victims of aggression are not to blame for their attackers’ behavior.

Over the past few days, we have witnessed a dangerous erosion of this principle among American elites.

Last Sunday two Islamic terrorists armed with assault rifles tried to massacre participants at a Muhammed cartoon drawing contest in Garland, Texas.

The goal of the contest was self-evident. The organizers wished to defend the freedom of speech – and the right to life – of critics of Islamic totalitarianism.

Rather than standing with the contest’s organizers and participants, the US media from MSNBC to Fox News attacked Pamela Geller, the event’s main organizer and accused her of responsibility for the attack.

For its part, the White House has refused to condemn the attack.

The White House failed to condemn the terror attack, and the media continued their offensive against Geller even after ISIS claimed credit for the assault, promised to “slaughter” Geller and anyone who shelters her or gives her a microphone, and announced it has a formidable infrastructure across the US it will use to launch more attacks against Americans.

To a degree, the White House’s refusal to condemn the attack, like the media’s pile-on against Geller is understandable. Most Americans ascribe to the overarching notion of “Live and let live.” And it is a good thing they do. It is impossible to maintain a liberal society without a basic tolerance of differences between its members.

But there are groups that a liberal society cannot tolerate without ceasing to be liberal.

When a group says that society as a whole must constrain its freedoms so its members can feel comfortable, it crosses a boundary that cannot be crossed. So too, when a group demands that society choose between it and another group that is not issuing a similar ultimatum, it is crossing the line. In other words, any group that demands a limit on liberty and rights of others is harming the foundations of liberal society. If a society wishes to remain liberal, it must constrain such groups.

Champions of totalitarian Islam test the strength of liberal societies because they force them to choose. Distressingly, as we see with the refusal of the White House and media elites to recognize that like the rape victim with tight clothes, Geller isn’t responsible for the jihadists’ decision to kill her and the participants at her event, elite American society is failing this test.

Geller and her colleagues aren’t the only victims that America’s elites refuse to side with against aggressors. In recent years, on college campuses across America, university authorities have failed to distinguish between tolerant and intolerant groups and so have effectively sided with the intolerant against their victims.

The primary victims of this abdication of moral responsibility on the part of administrators have not been counter-jihad activists like Geller and her colleagues. The primary victims have been Jews.

According to a study conducted by the Louis Brandeis Center in Washington last year, more than half of Jewish students at US universities suffered or witnessed anti-Semitism during the preceding year.

This week, Mosaic, the online journal of Jewish affairs published an essay by Prof. Ruth Wisse from Harvard describing the rise and spread of anti-Semitism on campuses throughout the US. To exemplify the process Wisse discussed at length the rapid rise of anti-Semitism at UCLA.

Jew hatred at UCLA burst into the headlines in March when it was reported that members of the student government initially rejected a student’s application to serve on an influential board because she was “very active in the Jewish community.”

The story caused waves of indignation and revulsion from all the right corners. But the incident was not exceptional. A similar incident occurred last month at Stanford. And more no doubt occur regularly under the radar.

These open anti-Semitic assaults are the foreseeable consequence of campus cultures sympathetic to anti-Semitism.

Wisse recalled that at the start of the year, a consortium of anti-Israel organizations asked that candidates for the student council sign a “statement of ethics.” The statement included a pledge not to participate in trips to Israel organized by Zionist groups including the Zionist Organization of America, AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League or Aish International’s Hasbara Fellowships.

One of the candidates that signed on was elected president of the student council.

A group of pro-Israel organizations asked that UCLA’s chancellor officially condemn the so-called “statement of ethics.” Chancellor Gene Block refused, claiming it was “protected speech.”

Block’s response was shockingly hypocritical. Statements of opposition to homosexuals, women, Muslims, blacks, and any number of other groups are not considered protected speech at UCLA. His claim that anti-Jewish speech is protected when speech against other groups is not is itself a bigoted statement.

Moreover, his claim that the “statement of ethics” is protected speech is intrinsically false. The content of that “statement” was itself an assault on freedom of expression. Its authors and supporters sought to coerce candidates for student leadership into agreeing not to expose themselves to Zionist ideas, and so silence Zionist voices and prevent open debate.

Block made a mockery of free speech by claiming that the “statement of ethics” was protected speech.

A straight line connects Block’s refusal distinguish between anti-Israel aggressors and their pro-Israel victims and the student council’s rejection of a student’s candidacy for office because she is “too Jewish.”

Block made it acceptable to blame the victim at UCLA, as long as the victim is a Jew.

In campuses throughout America, anti-Semitism is legitimate. Anti-Israel goons do not always win their battles for campus boycotts of the Jewish state. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t achieving their what they have set out to accomplish. The primary purpose of anti-Israel groups on campus is not to pass boycott resolutions. Their goal is first and foremost to normalize anti-Semitism by normalizing the libelous claim that there is something intrinsically controversial if not evil about Zionism, Israel, and Jews who support Israel.

Just as the media claims that Geller is responsible for the jihadist attack against her own event, so at US universities, pro-Israel activists — and even non-activist Jewish students and professors who refuse to condemn Israel — are accused of racism. According to the prevailing wisdom, the Jews are the bigots and the aggressors because they refuse to condemn Israel and even dare to support it. In so doing, they hurt the feelings of the anti-Israel activists that cannot peacefully coexist with people who support Israel’s right to exist.

The opposite of course is the case.

The anti-Israel students, like the terrorists in Texas cross the line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior in a liberal society. By demanding that wider society on and off campus choose between them and the Jews who make no parallel demand, they demand that American society side with intolerance and against its foundational principle of “Live and let live.”

One of the great difficulties that those who fight the anti-Semites on campuses face is the fact that a significant number of Jews have joined the anti-Semites in their quest to expel Jews from the public square. Organizations like J Street and Jewish Voices for Peace were established to give a Jewish stamp of approval to anti-Israel campaigns. And they aren’t the only Jews stymying efforts to force university administrations to side with the Jews against their attackers.

Last month, the heads of the Jewish Federation in Orange County reportedly interfered with student celebrations of Yom Haatzmaut at University of California at Irvine on behalf of Muslim anti-Israel protesters who sought to ruin the festivities. According to a report of the events at the online Frontpage Magazine, the pro-Israel students separated participants in their event from Muslim student protesters by placing a line of students waving Israeli and American flags between them.

The move was angrily opposed by Federation Director Lisa Armony and Federation President Shalom Elcott. They reportedly insisted that the Israeli flags be taken down because they were “antagonizing” the anti-Israel protesters.

Next week a consortium of Zionist groups will be demonstrating outside the UJA-Federation building in New York to protest its promotion of groups that support boycotting Israel. The President of the UJA-Federation Alisa Doctoroff is reportedly a major donor to the New Israel Fund which funds pro-boycott groups.

The American elites’ – including the Jewish elites — willingness to accept anti-Jewish discrimination on US campuses, like their willingness to accept attacks on anti-jihad activists like Geller is devastating for the American Jewish community and for America as a whole.

Their refusal to distinguish between the victim and the aggressor, not to mention their willingness to stand with the aggressor against the victim threatens the American Jewish community and weakens the liberal foundations of American society.

The rise and spread of anti-Semitism in elite circles in the US of course also threatens Israel.

What can the government of Israel do to combat the rise of anti-Semitism in America? How can the object of the demonization defeat those who demonize it?

Although its bare 61 seat majority makes Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s new government unstable, a narrow coalition has a clear advantage over a unity government with the Left. If it wishes to defeat this threat, Israel cannot continue to speak in two voices.

Israel cannot fight the this fight when government ministers participate in J Street conferences. It cannot defend its defenders when members of the government say that Israel is only legitimate if it works actively to cede its capital city to terrorist groups that seek its annihilation.

The government’s response to this onslaught must be clear and uncompromising: The freedom of American Jewry to be Jewish, like the ability of the US to remain a liberal democracy is dependent on restoring the ability of Jewish Americans and American elites to distinguish between victims and aggressors and on their willingness to side with the victims.

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Cate
Cate
8 years ago

Excellent commentary. I truly believe that we who are conservatives in this country, need to make a very clear stand on the side for freedom of speech. It is one thing to comment here – where we are safe from persecution. But, we have a responsibility to the freedoms that have been purchased by the blood of our forefathers to protect what we have, by all cost. What we have is precious. We cannot assume our freedoms. Like Pamela, most of us here have “swallowed the red pill.” When we finally remove the blinders and truly see what is going on around us, it’s kind of a shock. Well, we all better get used to the ride – it’s only going to get more intense. Time to TRULY stand up and be counted.

Fromafar
Fromafar
8 years ago
Reply to  Cate

Cate, a very nice comment. Would you however explain what the “little red pill” is in reference too? Thanks….

clearsighted
clearsighted
8 years ago
Reply to  Fromafar

It’s a reference to the movie “The Matrix” where the hero is given a choice between taking a blue pill and a red pill. Taking the red pill allows him to see the reality of the world rather than the illusions fostered by the authorities.

Fromafar
Fromafar
8 years ago
Reply to  clearsighted

Thank you clearsighted for clearing this up!

Cate
Cate
8 years ago
Reply to  Fromafar

Thanks for your comment, and thanks clearsighted for responding with the answer.

Fromafar
Fromafar
8 years ago

Caroline Glick is a brilliant writer and I’m so glad she’s added her voice to the chorus of those who see the insidiousness of the “slippery slope” that the media elite seem to be falling down.

Rick Smith
Rick Smith
8 years ago

Oh my, for a second there I misread the headline like Caroline was siding with the aggressors, and my heart sank. I thought, for sure, all is lost. I know, I shouldn’t have, but in the last week I’ve seen so many, so called, “conservatives” who turned out to be nothing more than limp d*ck gutless dhimmi stooge cowards.
Well, at least this event has showed all the world’s freedom fighters who the phony conservative spineless worms are. And history will surely bear that out.

LEL817
LEL817
8 years ago
Reply to  Rick Smith

Yes, I had the same reaction. Perhaps Pam can change the title of this post.

MarthaKBritton
MarthaKBritton
8 years ago
Reply to  LEL817

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ShirleyCTeague
ShirleyCTeague
8 years ago
Reply to  LEL817

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JacktheRipper
JacktheRipper
8 years ago

This intelligent thesis proves the point, we have the moral and legal high ground with this issue. But all our intelligent arguing has reminded me of an incident from my youth, the 7th grade. One morning in school the biggest, baddest bully thought it would be cool to pick a fight with me, the school’s biggest, baddest dork. (I’ve changed, I’m cool now :)) Anyway, at that point I proceeded to explain to his brain of diminished capacity how that would not be good for either of us, and I articulated–quite well, I might add–that the wiser course would be to just go to class and skip all this talk of kicking my butt into the ground. His response was not at all intellectual, he punched me in the mouth and busted my lip. An eclectic minded teacher told us to “take it outside.” Thanks teach. So in defense of honor I had to walk to my doom, where we fought, and fought, and fought, with kids cheering all around us for one side or the other. The principle came out and we both got it. I was far dirtier and bloodier than was he.

After that the bully respected me. And I really mean it, it’s not a contrived ending. He learned that little nerds with glasses can be tough too. And I learned that sometimes you just gotta fight in life. Pam Geller has the right idea. (Yeh!!!! Pamela!) We gotta be nerds willing to fight for freedom and equality. We should use all means at our disposal, whether it’s satirical cartoons, or fair criticism of their religious ignorance, or publicly rebuking their oppressive sharia, or surveilling mosques, deporting degenerates, condemning their cultural intrusions, or shooting terrorists that try to murder cartoonists…we need to employ every good strategy to fight the degenerative effects they have on our culture, and more importantly, their Jihad ambitions. Only then will the bully respect us, only then will we have honor.

Sorry, where this crap comes from I have no idea. 🙂

sandra schmidt
sandra schmidt
8 years ago
Reply to  JacktheRipper

Great job!

JacktheRipper
JacktheRipper
8 years ago
Reply to  sandra schmidt

I suppose I shouldn’t bog down the forum with this kind of nonsense, but it is pertinent, so why not? 🙂 Thanks.

Your Friend Clem
Your Friend Clem
8 years ago
Reply to  JacktheRipper

It comes from living your life . thanks for sharing. You are absolutely on the money though about standing up… the enemedia is so supine and effete
in the face of this theocratic movement . That’s why they attack PG so viciously : they are ashamed that she is the one clearly articulating truth and reason . They continue to shovel lies, canards and dissimulation.

JacktheRipper
JacktheRipper
8 years ago

That’s right, she’s standing up to the bullies, so they condemn her in their shame.

Lisa McCoy
Lisa McCoy
8 years ago
Reply to  JacktheRipper

Jesus is blasphemed by Muslims but you don’t see Christians committing murder over it.

JacktheRipper
JacktheRipper
8 years ago
Reply to  Lisa McCoy

Yes, thank you for saying that. And that’ why we’re not in a war with Christians, they aren’t committing acts of terror for Jesus. Islam, however, is committing acts of terror as they are instructed to do in their holy books–it’s JIHAD for allah. It was the motivation for 9/11, and 7/7, and 20,000+ other acts of terror since about that time. So please help us stop the growth of this cancer in our society. We want peace and freedom, not islamic tyranny under sharia law or the violence that always comes with it.

joker
joker
8 years ago
Reply to  JacktheRipper

You were a nerd with glasses? Ha ha. And I want to become the most hated person in the Islamic world. Already I am number 34 to be popped off, issued by the Jihadists. (Obviously Joker is not my real name).

Petrucio14
Petrucio14
8 years ago
Reply to  JacktheRipper

You may have failed to notice, but I have seen (and been involved in) similar confrontations. During the battle, the crowd usually cheers for the bully. That is why we cannot allow a bully (in this case Muslims) to dominate us. We must stand for our rights or submit as slaves. Americans must not submit. Ever.

Beagle
Beagle
8 years ago

As recently as the 1990s virtually nobody knew or cared much about Islam or Islamic law. I am of course speaking of average Americans like myself, not specialists in academic disciplines or those who spent time in Muslim majority nations.

Now, a scant couple of decades later it is assumed by many opinion makers that it is obvious everyone should know what sharia demands of us and we should conform to those demands in order to keep the peace. So far this new paradigm applies to cartoons. But project this trend out another couple decades. There is no limit to the areas of human life regulated by sharia. It covers everything from war and politics to food, family law, and bathroom habits. Cartoons are just the tip of a huge sharia iceberg. If the opinion leaders in our society do not regain their senses and gain some courage, even my pessimistic predictions about the advance of Islamic supremacism I made a decade ago will look like cockeyed optimism.

We obsess over terrorism as if that is the nature of jihad. Terrorism is merely a means to an end. The end goal of jihad is to subjugate the world under sharia. Pamela’s opposition to sharia is arguably more important than everything DHS, TSA, CIA, NSA, and DOD do combined. There is no point in fighting terrorism if we are simultaneously allowing terrorists to accomplish their goals due to our willful ignorance.

JacktheRipper
JacktheRipper
8 years ago
Reply to  Beagle

Nice comment. The only tiny thing I might have said different, is in that last sentence:

There is no point in fighting terrorism if we are simultaneously allowing [terrorists] to accomplish their goals due to our willful ignorance.

I would have used muslims in place of [terrorists] because the problem of jihad goes far beyond the terrorists. You said yourself, “Terrorism is merely a means to an end.” And so the “goals” clearly pertain to virtually all muslims, not only terrorists. But I’m being nit-picky. Other than that, outstanding, if you don’t mind my opinion.

Beagle
Beagle
8 years ago
Reply to  JacktheRipper

True. Islamic supremacists, stealth jihadists, or simply Muslims would have been better in that sentence.

vlparker
vlparker
8 years ago
Reply to  JacktheRipper

Everybody’s a critic. 🙂

JacktheRipper
JacktheRipper
8 years ago
Reply to  vlparker

I’m just a servant of the people, a student of life. 🙂

Theodorick C
Theodorick C
8 years ago

If all of us who are determined to preserve our most precious possession, the freedom of speech, were to post a link to a “Prophet” Muhammad cartoon everyday, they would become so ubiquitous that it would become obvious even to the Muhammadans that the idea of stopping the cartooning with jihad attacks was a lost cause. Free Speech lovers outnumber the Muhammadans by far. Let’s take advantage of it and put an end to this barbaric lunacy.
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Gleaner1
Gleaner1
8 years ago

BRAVO Caroline, always a pleasure to hear you speak the common sense that’s your trademark.

kookooracharabioso
kookooracharabioso
8 years ago
Reply to  Gleaner1

Yes, I’m resonating with the POTUS condoning domestic terrorism with his silence right now.

therealvoiceofamerica
therealvoiceofamerica
8 years ago

The pigs of the conservative movement. These are filthy pigs that preach hate. As Jesus said a rich man getting into heaven is like a camel going through the eye of a needle. Keep fooling these conservative dummies Pam. These imbreeds will give you there last penny.

Petrucio14
Petrucio14
8 years ago

I pity your worldview. You pretend that you ‘enemies’ are pigs and preach hate. Conservatives want nothing more than to live in peace with one another. If you want to be in submission to Islam, go in peace; but don’t expect to rob me of my freedom by compelling me to submit as well. I will not. You taking the name of The Lord Jesus Christ into your mouth and misquoting him is deeply offensive to me, but I won’t paint a target on your back. I’ll leave your inevitable judgment to the One to whom your soul belongs. God is far more powerful than those who worship him and doesn’t require human sacrifice for your puny insults. Go in peace.

therealvoiceofamerica
therealvoiceofamerica
8 years ago
Reply to  Petrucio14

I work with two Muslims guys who are nothing but honest good guys. I talk about religion with them and get many helpful insights. The one guys is originally from northern India, the other is born in America and converted from Christianity. We converse always in a respectful manner. Christainity is losing its base because of this hateful retoric.

Lacouray Too
Lacouray Too
8 years ago

Apparently one or both of your moohamheadan boyfriends that you claim to “work” with, is offended, so you come here with your lies in solidarity with them.

therealvoiceofamerica
therealvoiceofamerica
8 years ago
Reply to  Lacouray Too

Aren’t you the baby sausage smoker who loves to attend foreskin mutilation events.

solo
solo
8 years ago

Every word spoken against Pamela Geller is a rocket exploding in a city called ” Freedom of speech”.

Brian Hockersmith
Brian Hockersmith
8 years ago

I too misread the headline then I quickly read her article spot on Caroline and I just finished her book I learned a lot that I was unaware of thank you I with many others stand with you Pamela and will fight to keep America free be safe and God bless.

Petrucio14
Petrucio14
8 years ago

This is an amazing article with which I agree 99%. I do take issue with the author’s liberal use of the word liberal, however. She is obviously using the archaic definition of the word to indicate openness, acceptance of dissent, freedom-loving. I would agree completely if her usage of the word were still accepted in the classical sense. Unfortunately, Progressive Democrats have bastardized that word to mean only Democrats and have successfully reversed its previous definition. Democrat policies have directly led to the anti-Semitic policies she so rightly condemns. The Jewish organizations she enumerates who are perpetuating anti-Semitism on campus (and elsewhere) are Democrats first and Jewish second (or third, or last). As a result they can justify their self-hatred as being ‘for the greater good’. They are disgusting. The same discrimination against Jews is also being perpetuated on campus against Christians, Hindu, Buddhist, in short every religion except Muslim. If you are serious about your religion you are to be shunned by your peers and excluded from student governance. This discrimination is repugnant on every level and counter to a freedom-loving society.

Gary Smith
Gary Smith
8 years ago

Now that’s a picture of 3 truly great courageous civilian warriors of freedom and liberty and truth against islamo-nazi terrorism- aka medieval barbarian militant cultist fascist evil.

Just a note- why is it that the women of any free society are the most out spoken vocal ardent fighters, warriors against the evil of fundamental jihad islamism. Most the men in America, Europe, etc, with a few exceptions like Geert Wilders, PM Harper of Canada, etc, are concerned about not being seen in public as controversial.

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