Michael Neumann

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Michael Neumann
Michael Neumann

Michael Neumann (born 1946) is a professor of philosophy at Trent University in Ontario, Canada. [1] He is the author of What's Left? and The Rule of Law and has published papers on utilitarianism and rationality. [2]

Contents

[edit] Education and career

Neumann graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in English and History from Columbia University in 1968, and in 1975 was awarded his Ph.D. in philosophy by the University of Toronto. [2] His current interests at Trent University include ethics, political philosophy, formal logic, philosophy of logic, and metaphysics. He has also published papers on utilitarianism and rationality.

[edit] Israel-Palestine conflict and anti-Semitism

Neumann has written on anti-Semitism and the Israel-Palestine conflict in several controversial opinion essays published by the CounterPunch website/newsletter. [3] [4] [5] Responding in part to some of these essays, the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) wrote a letter of complaint to the president of Trent University. [6]

Neumann argues [3] "We should almost never take antisemitism seriously, and maybe we should have some fun with it. I think it is particularly unimportant to the Israel-Palestine conflict, except perhaps as a diversion from the real issues." He then states that Israel's goal is the extinction of the Palestinian people, adding "True, Israel has enough PR-savvy to eliminate them with an American rather than a Hitlerian level of violence. This is a kinder, gentler genocide that portrays its perpetrators as victims."

Neumann discusses Arab antisemitism in the larger context of the Israel-Palestine conflict: "Undoubtedly there is genuine antisemitism in the Arab world: the distribution of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the myths about stealing the blood of gentile babies. This is utterly inexcusable. So was your failure to answer Aunt Bee's last letter." He brings his argument to a conclusion as follows: "In short, the real scandal today is not antisemitism but the importance it is given. Israel has committed war crimes. It has implicated Jews generally in these crimes, and Jews generally have hastened to implicate themselves. This has provoked hatred against Jews. Why not? Some of this hatred is racist, some isn't, but who cares?"

In the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict, Neumann opines [4] that it is dangerous to label as anti-Semitic the conclusion that "Jews, generally, had some responsibility for war crimes and human rights violations." He writes: "The best way to reserve "anti-Semitism" as a term of condemnation is to define it as hatred of Jews, not for what they do but for what they are. It is to hate them just because they belong to a certain ethnic group. Foxman is right to suggest that you can be an anti-Semite without expressing any racist sentiments: Many anti-Semites confine themselves to expounding false claims about Jewish control. But you can also, without harboring anti-Semitic hate, criticize Israel and even the Jewish community for its failures."

Neumann takes the position [5] that support of Israel in the Israel-Palestinian conflict is against US interests and is a primary cause of terror against the US: "Just imagine if the US stopped backing Israel and gave even moderate support to the Palestinians. Suddenly Islam and America would be on the same side. The war on terror would become a cakewalk. The credibility of American democracy would skyrocket in the Middle East."

Neumann favors an eventual one-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, preceded for practical reasons by a two-state solution. [7]

Neumann is a contributor to Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair's 2003 collection The Politics of Anti-Semitism. [8] ISBN 1-902593-77-4

[edit] Jewish Tribal Review controversy

Jewish Tribal Review (JTR) is a website which claims to "document Jewish and Zionist influence on popular culture, economics and politics." JTR became interested in Michael Neumann's writing, and in late 2002 started an email dialogue with him. JTR asked for Neumann's participation in their activities, but Neumann, who considers JTR anti-Semitic, [9] refused to participate, explaining his position as follows: "My sole concern is indeed to help the Palestinians, and I try to play for keeps. I am not interested in the truth, or justice, or understanding, or anything else, except so far as it serves that purpose. This means, among other things, that if talking about Jewish power doesn't fit my strategy, I won't talk about it."[10] Subsequently JTR created a page publishing their alleged email exchange [1]without Neumann's permission [11]. This email got widespread attention in August 2003 when the National Post published one of Neumann's most inflammatory passages about Jews and Israel. In particular, Neumann was quoted as writing: "If an effective strategy means that some truths about the Jews don't come to light, I don't care. If an effective strategy [of helping the Palestinians] means encouraging reasonable anti-Semitism, or reasonable hostility to Jews, I also don't care. If it means encouraging vicious, racist anti-Semitism, or the destruction of the state of Israel, I still don't care."[10] The publication prompted complaints from the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC). [12] In September, 2003, Neumann sent a letter of regret to the CJC. According to the Peterborough Examiner, [13] "Congress chairman Ed Morgan, who accepted the letter of regret from Neumann, told The Examiner he wants the letter to close the matter." On his Israel-Palestine page [2], Neumann includes a detailed "reply to the Canadian Jewish Congress concerning objections to material which appeared on the Jewish Tribal Review web site". [3]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Michael Neumann Faculty Webpage, Trent University Department of Philosophy, accessed April 29, 2006
  2. ^ a b Michael Neumann CV, Neumann's academic website, accessed April 28, 2006
  3. ^ a b Michael Neumann, "What is Anti-Semitism?", CounterPunch, June 4, 2002
  4. ^ a b Michael Neumann, Criticism of Israel is Not Anti-Semitism, CounterPunch, December 30, 2003
  5. ^ a b Michael Neumann, The Israel Lobby and Beyond, CounterPunch, April 4, 2006
  6. ^ Anna Morgan, Professor's email raises concerns of intimidation, Canadian Jewish News, February 13, 2003
  7. ^ Michael Neumann, A False Dilemma, CounterPunch, October 8, 2003
  8. ^ The Politics of Anti-Semitism: Table of Contents, CounterPunch, accessed April 29 2006
  9. ^ Isabel Macdonald, Canadian Jewish Congress takes issue with Trent professor, Arthur, September 15, 2003
  10. ^ a b Jonathan Kay, Trent University's problem professor, National Post, August 9, 2003
  11. ^ Anna Morgan, CJC confronts Trent U over professor, Canadian Jewish News, August 13, 2003
  12. ^ David Smith, Jewish group criticizes Trent prof, Peterborough Examiner, August 18, 2003.
  13. ^ Jack Marchen, Professor sends letter of regret, Peterborough Examiner, September 23, 2003
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