Media Matters’ MJ Rosenberg Renounces His Use of “Israel Firsters” Slander, Doubles Down on Anti-Semitism

On his Media Matters for America (MMFA) blog MJ Rosenberg has promised he will no longer use the Anti-Semitic term "Israel firster" to describe American Jews who support Israel. Not that he was sorry for the attacks; he also defended his use of the term and launched into hateful prose directed toward Israel and Jewish Americans.

“But I will do so without using the term "Israel Firster." The term was coined in 1960 by the late Abram Leon Sachar, founding President of Brandeis University, and a renowned Jewish historian (his son Howard Morley Sachar remains the greatest historian of contemporary Jewry) and was first used by the elder Sachar in a speech he delivered that year to a Zionist organization.”

This was a typical Rosenberg half-truth. Sachar did use Israel-firster, but not the same way MJ and his MMFA buddies use it. Sacher's Israel-firsters were Jews who felt the Jewish people could never have a fulfilling religious life outside of Israel. It was never used by Sacher to impugn Jewish Americans as not being loyal to America.

“It [Israel-firster] has proven to be a distraction, allowing the pro-war lobby to focus on my choice of words rather than the substance of my arguments. I will not be using it again, for many reasons including the fact that some good people were genuinely offended by it. That was not my intention. My intention is to focus like the proverbial laser on the threat posed by war with Iran and the 45 year occupation.”

Rosenberg ignored his other anti-Semitic smears, like American Jews control the media; American Jews control foreign policy (and caused the rebellion in Egypt). For example, he wrote this last year:

“I am often accused of harping on the lobby's baleful influence. I plead guilty. But it's my obligation because (1) I know from personal experience — 15 years on Capitol Hill and four at AIPAC — how it operates, (2) I know how little it really cares about Israel, and (3) I am free to tell the truth about it. If I worked in the mainstream media or in the U.S. government, I wouldn't be.”

  Another Rosenberg slander is; those war-mongering Jews pushed the United States into the Iraq war at the behest of Ariel Sharon (even though Sharon warned Bush not to invade Iraq).

A recent Huffington Post article talking about Israeli plans to attack Iran was titled: After Iraq Success, Neocons Push Iran War. Just like Pat Buchanan, Rosenberg uses the term neocon as a polite way to say Jews.

The Media Matters Senior Fellow doubled-down on the Iraq war his no more Israel-firster post:

But then there is Iran. Watching the AIPAC conference, I was horrified to see an ostensibly pro-Israel organization promoting a war that presents an existential threat to Israel's survival. I vehemently oppose the very idea of war with Iran and am appalled by the right-wing Israeli government but, even more, by its supporters here at home who are trying to push the president to either bomb or support the bombing of Iran.

.... Many of the same people who pushed us into Iraq are doing the same thing with Iran. They are pressuring Congress to prevent the President of the United States from negotiating with the Iranian government. They are banning diplomatic contacts. They are (as they have for a decade) hyping the Iranian threat, in part because they want a war and, in part, because they want to use President Obama's reluctance to jeopardize lives as a tool to defeat him In November. And they are demanding that should Iran develop a nuclear bomb, we must not contain the threat (as we did with the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Pakistan, etc.) but should immediately go to war.

In other words, that evil AIPAC is pushing us into war just as they did with Iraq.

Rosenberg also uses his blog post to reinforce some lies about Israel:

“One monumental thing has changed in 43 years. In 1969, neither any Arab country nor the Palestinians accepted Israel's right to exist. Since then, Israel, Jordan and Egypt have signed bilateral peace agreements, and remain committed to their terms. The PLO recognizes Israel's right to exist securely within the '67 lines. The entire Arab League (every single Arab state) is offering Israel peace, normalization and security in exchange for ending the occupation. As Shimon Peres says, Israel now has "partners for peace."

Wrong! Both Fatah, the party of Prime Minister Abbas and Hamas, the terrorist thugs running Gaza, have refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish State (the partition resolution called for the creation of a Jewish state). Their refusal is motivated by their plan to flood Israel with the great-grandchildren, cousins etc., of the original refugees, making Israel become just another Muslim country.

MJ neglects to mention that three Israeli Prime Ministers, Barak, Olmert and most recently Netanyahu, offered deals giving Palestinians 98% of what they supposedly want. All three offers were refused.

It’s hard to understand where Rosenberg gets the Arab League claim. Amongst their members are the Palestinians (160 rockets fired into Israel last weekend say a lot about their being a peace partner). Other Arab leaguers include the new al Qaeda-controlled Libya (fuhgettaboutit), and Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon. And don’t forget the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Egypt is threatening to void the peace agreement, and Syria's present government has no intention of making peace. The supposedly moderate Saudi Arabia refused to be in the same room as Israeli negotiators during the Annapolis discussions at the end of the Bush presidency.

Despite his renunciation of the term Israel firster we are left with the same old Jew-hating MJ Rosenberg, reinterpreting history, portraying both Israel and American Jews as warmongers, and still believing Jews control the media and government. He simply stopped using one term; it is obvious he has not changed his ways.

Jeff Dunetz is the Editor/Publisher of the political blog “The Lid” (www.jeffdunetz.com). Jeff contributes to some of the largest political sites on the internet including American Thinker, Big Government, Big Journalism, NewsReal and Pajama’s Media, and has been a guest on national radio shows including G. Gordon Liddy, Tammy Bruce and Glenn Beck. Jeff lives in Long Island.