 Toronto, April 2, 2004 Magazine
sparks outcry by 'outing' Jewish
neo-cons 'Why won't
anyone say they are Jewish?' article asks
By Scott Stinson
National Post KALLE Lasn insists he is not
anti-Semitic. The editor-in-chief of
Adbusters says he knew an
article that purports to
"out" a large number of leading U.S.
neo-conservatives as Jewish would be provocative,
but he did not expect the "visceral" reaction that
has seen the B.C.-based anti-consumerism magazine
deluged with demands to cancel
subscriptions. "This has made me feel like I am the victim,"
Mr. Lasn said in an interview from his Fraser
Valley home, adding he has never seen "this level
of threatening phone calls, this level of swearing,
this level of cancelled subscriptions" in his
risk-taking company's 15-year history. The flashpoint for the anger is an article Mr.
Lasn wrote in the current issue of
Adbusters. "Why Won't Anyone Say They Are
Jewish?" posits that a disproportionate number of
leading U.S. neoconservatives are Jewish, a fact
Mr. Lasn says is relevant because "neo-cons seem to
have a special affinity for Israel that influences
their political thinking and consequently American
foreign policy in the Middle East."  The
implication is the United States is pro-Israel
because many of Washington's policy-makers are
Jewish. Readers and critics have taken particular
umbrage at an accompanying list of what
Adbusters calls "the 50 most influential
neo-cons in the U.S.," such as Vice-President
Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld and deputy defense secretary Paul
Wolfowitz (left, with flag). Twenty-six,
including Mr. Wolfowitz, have black dots next to
their names to denote they are Jewish.
"It's an old tactic," said Ed Morgan, the
Ontario chairman of the Canadian
Jewish Congress (CJC). "They were counting the
number of Jews in the U.S. Communist party back in
the '50s. But it's still startling to see a list
and see an asterisk next to Jewish names.
"Jewishness and a particular political position do
not equate," Mr. Morgan said. "The point is to
address issues of policy on their merits. Ethnicity
is beside the point." Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of
B'nai
Brith Canada, said Adbusters "must have been
short of news to look at that kind of a thesis." He
noted the administration of former president
Bill Clinton had several Jews in positions
of influence, yet that administration "bent over
backwards" to appease Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat. Mr. Lasn, however, is unrepentant. The Adbusters
Web site includes the original article, a selection
of positive and negative responses from the public
and a follow-up piece from the editor-in-chief that
says if the list "were a list of dentists or
firefighters ... that would indeed be
offensive",but because the neo-cons "are the
most influencial [sic]
political/intellectual force in the world right
now" it is "necessary to put them under a
microscope." Expanding on that theme over the telephone, Mr.
Lasn said the U.S. neo-cons "are the most powerful
group of people in the world. They are intellectual
thugs who have the power to start wars and stop
wars. So because this group is so powerful, we
decided it's OK to point out ... how it's 50%
Jews." Daniel Pipes, (right) director of the
U.S. think-tank Middle East Forum, is on the
Adbusters list, with an asterisk. He said
the magazine's project is absurd "because of the
implication that religion defines politics." "There
are plenty of leading Jews against the war in Iraq.
There are plenty who are neo-cons. It's no guide
whatsoever to a person's political leanings." He also said the list is inaccurate, both in
identifying neo-conservatives and Jews. Lists that
point out "dangerous" high-profile Jews are nothing
new, Mr. Pipes said, adding he has found his name
on many such compilations posted on the Internet.
But it is unusual for a magazine with the profile
of Adbusters, which boasts a circulation of 120,000
copies monthly -- two-thirds in the United States
-- to undertake such an endeavour. Mr. Dimant said he is particularly concerned
that Adbusters purports to have shed light on the
"Jewishness" of its subjective list of influential
Americans -- a notion reminiscent of decades-old
hatemongering theories about secret Jewish cabals
that control the media and world governments. "It's
very hard to run the world banking system and the
foreign press from my little office in Toronto," he
said. Mr. Lasn dismisses such talk. "We are not
going to censor ourselves. We are not going to
worry about people comparing it to unsavoury things
from the past. "Our goal was to launch a debate. We
hope it gets even bigger than it is now." Mr.
Morgan said the CJC will have a formal response,
although, "we have not determined what course of
action we're going to take." 
Our
website dossier on the origins of
anti-Semitism-
The
original of Kalle Lasn's article on Jewish
neocons in the March/April issue of
Adbusters-
Lasn
responds to the tumult
-
Adbusters
is posting reader feedback
-
Canadian
Jewish News pipes up here:
"Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific region,
director Erwin Nest said CJC 'will be
considering action' against Adbusters, but
declined to elaborate."
| 
write to David
Irving