Over at The Root, Adam Serwer wonders whether Jewish enforcers of pro-Israel conformity resemble a little too much the black radicals who drove their ideological forebears rightward back in the crazy ol’ 60s:
In the eyes of those who support all of Israel’s actions uncritically, the “Juicebox Mafia” are “House Jews”: Jews whose positions on Israel are motivated by their internalizing long-standing anti-Semitic myths and identifying with those who seek to oppress the Jewish people. These Jewish conservatives are, ironically enough, embracing the same kind of bare-knuckle identity politics as the blacks they love to hate.
(snip)
As Randall Kennedy writes in his 2008 book Sellout, there should be a high threshold for accusations of racial betrayal. Accusations of selling out should be reserved for those who actively work against the interests of the community—not those who simply disagree about what is in the group’s best interest. Those who accuse Jewish liberals of self-hatred aren’t offering insight. They most resemble what Glenn Loury calls those “self-appointed guardians of racial virtue” in the black community who enforce a dangerous and enervating form of “black political correctness.” Like black partisans who accuse any conservative black intellectual of being a sellout, the Juicebox Mafia’s detractors are simply trying to shut down debate over Israel’s actions, which is hardly in the long-term interest of Israel or the Jewish community in the Diaspora.
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