Matters Digs In Its Heels As Criticism Over Antisemitism Increases

Not all George Soros-funded groups are alike. Both Center For American Progress (CAP) and the “media watchdog” it helped to create, Media Matters for America (MMFA), have been roundly criticized for their use of anti-Semitic memes. Most recently the focus has been on the use of the term “Israel-firster” a term meant to portray Jewish Americans as somehow less loyal to the United States than other religious groups.

While CAP seems to have taken the charges to heart, and is seeking to change its ways, the Obama/Soros-“firsters” at MMFA are digging in their heels.

This dual-loyalty charge, like most anti-Semitic claims, is even more abhorrent because it directly contradicts Jewish Law:

Seek the peace of the city where I have exiled you and pray for it to the Lord, for in its peace you shall have peace. –Jeremiah Chapter 29:7

And it is nothing new: the dual-loyalty charge made by these progressive groups have been around since biblical times, it was what caused enslavement of the Israelites by Egypt.

A new king arose over Egypt, who did not know about Joseph. He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more numerous and stronger than we are. Get ready, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they increase, and a war befall us, and they join our enemies and depart from the land.” – Exodus Chapter 1:8-10

Jewish sources from all over the political spectrum have denounced the CAP and MMFA use of Antisemitism in their political writing. Not many people were surprised when the Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced the use of the dual loyalty term, but when the very progressive magazine, The Tablet condemned CAP and MMFA for its use, eyebrows were raised.

The root of this problem is not a twenty-something blogger writing something stupid on the Internet. Rather, it is that anti-Semitic rhetoric and logic are being protected and justified by those who are supposed to be gatekeepers. These people, often in the service of their larger political aims, are willing to apologize for or ignore what is obviously Jew-baiting and Jew-hatred…..



…This isn’t how the world works. Americans’ sensitivity to racist language directed at African-Americans has not made Americans insensitive to “real” anti-black racism. Rather it has made us scrupulous about our language, and subsequently our beliefs and practices have come to reflect, if not wholly fulfill, the promises embodied in this country’s founding documents.



What makes people insensitive to racism is when American political and intellectual elites refuse to confront racist language. The use of phrases like “Israel Firster” and “dual loyalist” that are based on anti-Semitic tropes is anti-Semitic. So is the belief that Jews fan the flames of hatred for discussing the opinions of those who hate them

CAP has denounced the term and instituted “oversight” changes — while the staffer who used “Israel firster” on his Twitter account apologized, deleted the tweets and has since left CAP for another group. The Wiesenthal Center has applauded CAP for making the changes.

The Anti-Defamation League also said in a written statement that the Center for American Progress “took the matter seriously and understood the anti-Semitic nature of raising dual-loyalty canards.” The ADL praised CAP for taking “concrete steps” to address the problem.

But as for Media Matters and its “Israel-firster” user, MJ Rosenberg, the talons are out. These pages have provided many examples over the years how Rosenberg accuses American Jews of dual loyalty with the term Israel-firsters), or how he claims the “evil Zionist lobby” controls both the media and the U.S. foreign policy.

Rosenberg even uses the term “neo-con” as a slang pejorative term for Jews who are politically conservative. Rosenberg accuses those “Israel-firster” “neo-cons” of everything from pushing the US into the war with Iraq and now trying to manipulate the US into a war with Iran.

Rosenberg is not backing down. Ever since the controversy began to build he has dug in his heals, Tweeting hatred and claiming that those who criticize the use of the term are just trying to silence his ‘progressive Jewish voice.’

Here are just a few of his tweets from the past few days:

Gee, I thought the article was about Obama, not the US. Obama is so wrong about so many things like taxes, Obamacare etc., along with the Middle East, what does that have to do with commentary or Netanyahu?—Wait does that make MJ Rosenberg an “Obama-firster?”

I suppose what Media Matters is now claiming if they stop including Antisemitism in their prose, the US will go to war with Iran.

Is he really is claiming that no one cared about the Holocaust until the Six-Day-War when Jews could begin to exploit it to protect Israel?

I will disagree with anybody who calls Media Matters for America’s MJ Rosenberg a “self-hating Jew.” People who have met him in person have told me that he is not a self-hater–in fact he is a borderline narcissist.

The correct description for MJ Rosenberg is a “Jew who opposes politically-conservative Jews.” This characterization has nothing to do with his unfavorable feelings toward Israel as there is a difference between criticizing Israeli policy and Antisemitism. When one uses anti-Semitic stereotypes in his criticism of policy (like Rosenberg) it crosses the line and becomes antisemitism. The MMFA commentator has thrown out so much hatred, he would make the authors of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion proud.

And the fact that Rosenberg’s hatred is condoned and paid for by MMFA, a group described as a “core institution” of the Democrat party, and spews such antisemitism particularly disturbing (and frightening).

Rosenberg’s hatred, whether it really exists in his heart or whether he is just prostituting himself for the progressive MMFA doesn’t really matter, but it is an indication of his lack of common sense. Now that CAP, after receiving criticism from fellow progressives, has fixed the problem all eyes are on Rosenberg and MMFA. One would think that someone of intelligence would read the tea leaves and at least lie low for a while, but not Rosenberg. This proves that MJ Rosenberg’s problem not an abundance of intelligence, just an abundance of hatred.

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