On Men by Christine Rosen
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CommentaryNOVEMBER 2018 KAVANAUGH AND THE ASSAULT ON MEN BY CHRISTINE ROSEN THE SHAME OF THE ANTI- DEFAMATION LEAGUE SETH MANDEL Commentary NOVEMBER 2018 : VOLUME 146 NUMBER 4 146 : VOLUME 2018 NOVEMBER $5.95 US : $7.00 CANADA $7.00 : US $5.95 November 2018 Cover.indd 1 10/15/18 1:43 PM JEWISH REVIEW BOOKS You’ll never miss a thing! Whether it’s the latest novel, a classic Jewish text, or politics in the Middle East, the Jewish Review of Books brings you brilliant authors who know that truth (not to speak of beauty, etc.) is in the details. Subscribe today! Visi Bernard Berenson from Summer 2015 Visit www.jewishreviewofbooks.com or call 1-877-753-0337. Jewish Culture. Cover to Cover. November 2018 Cover.indd 2 10/15/18 1:44 PM EDITOR’S COMMENTARY Soros Losers JOHN PODHORETZ OR DECADES NOW, we have been told by lib- Richard Cohen was at low ebb even for him: “What erals that criticism of Israel should not prima you have is not anti-Semitism with intent, but anti- F facie be considered anti-Semitic or even be used Semitism nonetheless.” as evidence of anti-Semitism. Indeed, Jewish voices Soros has come under vicious attack in Central on the left like J Street even suggest that speaking out and Eastern Europe by rising nationalists, and 20 against Israel is a core Jewish value—that it is to be years ago he was the focus of anti-Semitic ire in Ma- seen as fulfilling God’s commandment through the laysia for a hedge-fund play that tanked that nation’s prophet Isaiah that the Jewish people serve as a light currency. He was born and raised in Hungary and unto the nations. survived the Holocaust by hiding as a Christian and It is true that criticizing Israel does not make the scrounging, doing what he had to do to survive. He did critic an anti-Semite. It is anti-Semitism that makes so and became a billionaire many times over. After the someone an anti-Semite—by which I mean offering a Cold War, he became a supporter of democratic voices criticism of the Jewish state, or Jewry, or an individual in Hungary and elsewhere. Jew on grounds that are not applied equally to any He also became a player in American politics other nation, people, or individual on earth. Neither and has, it is said, invested more than $300 million is it anti-Semitism to criticize an individual Jew for over the past 20 years in liberal and leftist causes. In a actions and behaviors that have nothing to do with his 2004 book, Byron York detailed the $30 million Soros Judaism. In such a case, to claim that the criticism is contributed to prevent the reelection of George W. anti-Semitic is to use the charge of anti-Semitism as a Bush. And what Trump said in his tweet was true— shield to protect that individual from criticism that is some of those activists in the Senate halls were indeed perfectly standard and appropriate. employees and volunteers of organizations funded This is what happened in October with George by Soros, including the two women who confronted Soros, the left-wing activist and philanthropist. As Senator Flake in that elevator. the battle to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme But even had it not been true, there is nothing Court was reaching its apex, Senator Jeff Flake was remotely anti-Semitic about calling out Soros in conjunc- confronted in an elevator by activists demanding he tion with a coordinated and staged series of protests in listen to their complaints. Donald Trump issued the the most contested ideological and partisan moment following tweet: “The very rude elevator screamers are of 2018. He is to be commended for putting his money paid professionals only looking to make Senators look where his mouth is. But just as Soros’s generosity should bad. Don’t fall for it! Also, look at all of the profession- not give him a free pass when it comes to the ideas and ally made identical signs. Paid for by Soros and others. causes he promotes, neither should his own life his- These are not signs made in the basement from love!” tory and peoplehood serve as weapons in the hands of Trump’s invocation of Soros’s name here im- others who wish to render criticisms of his causes null mediately set off a barrage of complaints alleging the and void—or who want to score a cheap political point tweet was anti-Semitic. In a piece that begins by stat- against a president who has generously provided his crit- ing Trump was no anti-Semite, the Washington Post’s ics more than enough ready ammunition. q Commentary 1 Columns.indd 1 10/15/18 2:42 PM November 2018 Vol. 146 : No. 4 Articles Christine Kavanaugh and the Assault on Men 12 Rosen Seth The Shame of the Anti-Defamation League 17 Mandel How its new executive director is betraying the organization’s purpose. Chloé Simone Whiteness Is Blackness, 26 Valdary and Blackness Is Whiteness Believing otherwise corrodes us, corrodes freedom, and corrodes the world we live in. Daniel Europe’s Civilizationalist Parties 30 Pipes Don’t shun the populists; work with and learn from them. Elliot Can We Eat Kosher Bacon? 35 Cosgrove A question from 1949 rises anew. Politics & Ideas Abigail Ivy-Covered Dystopia 39 Shrier The Diversity Delusion, by Heather Mac Donald Columns.indd 2 10/15/18 2:42 PM Politics & Ideas Kevin D. A Hollow Man 42 Williamson Reagan, by Bob Spitz Elliot Crazy Brash Asians 44 Kaufman The Souls of Yellow Folk, by Wesley Yang Nicholas ID Canard 46 Clairmont The Lies That Bind, by Kwame Anthony Appiah Oliver Not So Fascist 48 Traldi How Fascism Works, by Jason Stanley Culture & Civilization Terry The Swinging Star 51 Teachout Why is Bing Crosby forgotten? Monthly Commentaries Editor’s Commentary Washington Commentary 1 John Podhoretz Andrew Ferguson 8 Soros Losers Prufrock on the Potomac Reader Commentary Jewish Commentary 4 Letters Meir Y. Soloveichik 10 on the September issue Jimmy Carter: The Sunday-School Years Media Commentary Matthew Continetti 56 The New Yorker’s Shocking Dereliction Columns.indd 3 10/15/18 2:01 PM READER COMMENTARY The Future of NATO To the Editor: majority of such alliances did not Hal Brands and Peter Feaver write: HAD A THOUGHT after reading survive the test of time once the E AGREE THAT when an I Hal Brands and Peter Feaver’s their raisons d’être disappeared. W alliance’s original raison article on NATO (“Can NATO Sur- Once the primary power of an d’être disappears, it puts a strain vive and Thrive?” September). Like alliance revaluates its national- on the alliance. Some prominent Luigi Pirandello’s absurd play Six security priorities after a league’s academic theorists predicted the Characters in Search of an Author, bonds weaken, disintegration is collapse of the Soviet Union would NATO is a 29-member alliance in usually inevitable. On that note, strain NATO to the breaking point search of a mission in a fragmented I leave you with the words of Sir in the early 1990s. That did not world order at the start of a new Edward Grey: “An understanding happen, obviously. The academic century. is perhaps better than an alliance, theorists forgot what Erol Araf has As Pericles observed, collective which may stereotype arrange- also forgotten: that alliances can security alliances suffer from fa- ments which cannot be regarded as choose to adapt and develop new tigue and disband once the threat permanent in view of the changing missions that give vitality to their that engendered the formation of circumstances from day to day.” partnership. That is precisely what the group dissipates. A study of Erol Araf NATO has done over the past 25 the military alliances from the War Pierrefonds, Quebec years. And today, the original rai- of the League of Cambrai in 1508 son d’être does not seem so dis- to the present would show that a 1 tant any longer, given the obvious 4 November 2018 Columns.indd 4 10/15/18 1:19 PM challenge posed by a revisionist Russia. In our article, we explored another kind of shock to the alli- ance, one that could prove more fatal: the possibility that the major power at the center of the coalition loses interest in maintaining the alliance. We shall see whether that November 2018 Vol. 146 : No. 4 may require adjustments beyond what the other allies can muster. John Podhoretz, Editor Abe Greenwald, Senior Editor 1 Noah C. Rothman, Associate Editor � Carol Moskot, Publisher Kejda Gjermani, Digital Publisher Israeli Leah Rahmani, Publishing Associate � Statehood Ilya Leyzerzon, Business Director Stephanie Roberts, Business Manager � To the Editor: N READING Matthew Conti- Sohrab Ahmari, Senior Writer Inetti’s column about Israel’s new Terry Teachout, Critic-at-Large statehood law (“The Misrepresen- � tation of Israel’s Democracy,” Sep- Board of Directors tember), it occurred to me that Daniel R. Benson, Chairman there is one key point to bear in Meredith Berkman, Paul J. Isaac, mind. Those of the law’s provisions Michael J. Leffell, Jay P. Lefkowitz, that assert explicit law merely reiterate existing law, while those Steven Price, Gary L. Rosenthal, provisions that are new are more Michael W. Schwartz, Paul E. Singer in the nature of resolutions than explicit statements of law. The law says: “The exercise of To send us a letter to the editor: [email protected] the right to national self-deter- We will edit letters for length and content.