Peter Beinart’s “Safetyism”

Peter Beinart tweeted:

 

“Safetyism,” for those who don’t know, is “a culture or belief system in which safety (which includes ‘emotional safety’) has become a sacred value, which means that people become unwilling to make trade-offs demanded by other practical and moral concerns.”

Beinart’s assertion is misplaced. No one is afraid to debate Zionism. But anti-Zionism is indeed essentially antisemitism, and as such there is no debating it – it is like debating whether France or Belgium have a right to exist. It is insulting to debate what is essentially a pathological hate.

But what, exactly, have Zionists done to shut down the free speech of anti-Zionists? I don’t see any shortage of outlets for anti-Zionists to spew their hate. None of them are shouted down on campus, the way Israelis routinely are (I have not seen Beinart criticize that.)

I tweeted back a thread asking Beinart to define, exactly, where the line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism is – something that the critics of the IHRA definition of antisemitism refuse to do.

Then I remembered how little Peter Beinart himself cares about free speech and debate.

A number of years ago, Beinart hosted an initiative called “Open Zion” where he claimed that the voices that were unheard (meaning, anti-Zionists like Youssef Munnayer who do not hurt for publicity) could be heard. I once chided Beinart saying something like “Open Zion has a range of voices from Left to Far Left.” He responded that, no, they had Benny Morris to represent the Right. (He seems to have deleted his part of the thread, which is interesting in itself.)

If he really wanted to show all points of view, he cold have published the thoughts of the many thoughtful people who decided to live on the east side of the Green Line.  Beinart’s interest in free speech doesn’t include Jews who support Israeli rule over Judea and Samaria, but it enthusiastically embraces BDSers who call Israel a Nazi or apartheid state.

Why doesn’t Beinart want Jewish indigenous rights supporters to be heard? Sounds like their very existence is upsetting to Beinart, and he wants to make sure that they are marginalized so no one else can hear them either.

For that matter, why does this strong supporter of free speech block me on Twitter for the past eight years?

Sounds like safetyism to me.