Ottaw Sun writer accuses Adbusters magazine of anti-semitism

Perhaps it's not a surprise, given the source, but a writer in the Ottawa Sun on Monday accused Adbusters magazine of anti-Semitism. Jordan Michael Smith, in a column headed 'Anti-Semitism still lurks in left', lumps together Islamists and the far left as fellow travellers in such attitudes, while saying that such views won't get much traction in Canada. Smith is a graduate student in political science at Carleton University. Apparently he is a little behind in his reading, since he had to dig back to an article that was published two years ago to get a hook for his column.

"In both Islamist circles and on the far-left, anti-Semitism is permitted and accepted," he said.

"On the far left, as well, anti-Semitism is now in vogue. From theorizing about a clique of American Jews waging wars on Israel's behalf to denying the right to Jewish self-determination in Israel, radical leftists have taken up what was once the terrain of the Old Right.

"An article in the March/April 2004 issue of Vancouver-based Adbusters magazine, called "Why Won't Anybody Say They're Jewish?" asks the following question about Jewish neoconservatives: "Whose interests were they protecting in pushing for war in Iraq?" The answer: Israel's interests, of course.

"That Jewish neoconservatives could think Israeli interests and American interests overlap was apparently too much for these anti-Semites to contemplate. And somehow Adbusters ignored the predominance of Jews among the far left in North America: Noam Chomsky, Seymour Hersh, Amy Goodman, Naomi Klein, Howard Zinn, Michael Albert, Norman Finkelstein, Rick Salutin, Judy Rebick, etc.

"No, for Adbusters as for many radical leftists these days, whenever Jews take a stand in favour of Israel, it must be their Jewishness that is making them do it."