I was going to blog yesterday about the latest John Mearsheimer controversy, but, well, fantasy football got in the way. As a reminder, ” title=”much debate over the book”>much debate over the book, and the fact that Walt and Mearsheimer are distinguished academics helped deflect the criticisms of anti-Semitism.
They were not, after all, ” title=”MacDonald”>MacDonald.
But now Mearsheimer has really stepped in it. And by not blogging this yesterday, I can now bring you his non-defense of himself.
Turns out that Mearsheimer provided a prominent and gushing book-jacket review for “” title=”this praise”>this praise:
‘Gilad Atzmon has written a fascinating and provocative book on Jewish identity in the modern world. He shows how assimilation and liberalism are making it incredibly difficult for Jews in the Diaspora to maintain a powerful sense of their ‘Jewishness.’ Panicked Jewish leaders, he argues, have turned to Zionism (blind loyalty to Israel) and scaremongering (the threat of another Holocaust) to keep the tribe united and distinct from the surrounding goyim. As Atzmon’s own case demonstrates, this strategy is not working and is causing many Jews great anguish. The Wandering Who? Should be widely read by Jews and non-Jews alike.’
The book was written by Gilad Atzmon, a former Israeli and self-proclaimed “self-hating Jew”—and not in the sense that Larry David has been accused of on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
I haven’t read Atzmon’s book, but it’s widely been called anti-Semitic. Why? Because of passages like Atzmon’s take on the global financial mess, which obviously was going to be blamed on The Jews. Atzmon’s words, via the ” title=”Jeffrey Goldberg’s blog”>Jeffrey Goldberg’s blog and the ” title=”he said”>he said:
The blurb below is the one I wrote for ‘The Wandering Who’ and I have no reason to amend it or embellish it, as it accurately reflects my view of the book.
I have to wonder how seriously anyone will be taking Mearsheimer going forward.
