Semitic Controversies

October 7, 2014

As I have covered in my recent article on the American Federation of Teachers: this American labour union with 1.56 million members has an almost symbiotic political and economic relationship with Israel. (1) As part of that article I didn’t really want to focus too much on the current president of the AFT (from 2008): Randi Weingarten.

This particular specimen of jewish supremacist double-think needed special treatment (pun intended) given that she, like her late jewish mentor Albert Shanker, looms large in the American political scene, the Israel Lobby and the promotion of liberal/left-wing views in domestic issues.

The reason for the slightly quixotic title of this article is found in this superficial antagonism in that Weingarten is very much a militarist when it comes to all things to do with Israel.

She supported the jewish neo-conservative invasion of Iraq, (2) was probably deeply involved (as the heir-apparent to the presidency of the AFT) (3) in the espionage activities of the AFT on behalf of Israel in Lebanon in 2005 to 2006, (4) has repeatedly and explicitly made her unequivocal support for Israel clear (5) in spite of the objections of the members of the AFT, (6) has continued the policy of using the money of union members to ‘invest’ in Israel Bonds (7) (aka directly funding the Israeli government in return for vague promises of repayment at a future date), (8) has attended numerous pro-Israel politics events in the United States (9) (but has yet to attend any pro-Palestinian ones) and blindly spouts Israeli government propaganda lines and talking points in her official statements and speeches to her members. (10)

In effect Weingarten is an Israeli nationalist since she refuses to countenance any criticism of Israel whatsoever and does everything she can to support Israel in her official capacity as the president of the AFT. This is further evidenced by the fact that Weingarten and her leadership team at the AFT have never shown the slightest bit of remorse for supporting an unnecessary war in Iraq, sending the money of their members to prop up the Israeli government or actively seeking to silence those who don’t support Israel. (11)

She, like Albert Shanker before her, is keenly aware of her jewishness and will use the influence afforded to her by position as the president of the AFT to promote specifically jewish interests and assist jews (both domestically and internationally) in any way she can.

A good example is afforded by Shanker’s use of the AFT in 1976 in putting pressure on the Soviet Union to allow a jewish teacher named Yakov Sulensky to emigrate to Israel, but the eerie silence of the AFT on the political repression of teachers in South Korea and Chile. (12) Weingarten had similarly recently used her political status (afforded by her presidency of the AFT) to attempt to intervene for the benefit of jews in the Ukraine, (13) while she refuses to even talk about the treatments of Palestinian teachers at Israel’s brutal hand. (14)

Further evidence is provided by the fact that Weingarten is on the board of the liberal Zionist (i.e. less militant but no less pro-jewish nationalism) Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel Aviv. (15) It is simply not normal (let alone ethical) for American union leaders to also play significant roles in foreign political institutes, which clearly have the ability (and the desire) to influence the decisions these union leaders make (and the positions they take) on behalf of their members.

Compare Weingarten’s hawkish jewish nationalism with her attitude to American domestic affairs and you get quite the lurid shock: not only is Weingarten something of a liberal, but she comes across as a borderline Marxist.

For example Weingarten wants the United States to impose strict gun control laws on its citizens, (16) has spent years campaigning for ‘gay marriage’ (17) (while being a lesbian herself), (18) demands that teachers not discipline school students because of ‘racial inequality’ inherent in such discipline, (19) wants open borders with Mexico (20) and so on.

When you add that the fact that she promotes all the usual historical canards about the apparently limitless responsibility of white Americans for slavery (21) as well as all the usual hollow twaddle about ‘social justice’ and the ‘redistribution of wealth’ (22) (which is code these days for demanding hard-working European Americans give a percentage of their earnings as freebies to Mexicans and Blacks) and her almost demented hostility (explicitly based on her jewishness and its concomitant values) to even extremely kosher right-wing politics such as the brand espoused by the Republican party. (23)

It clearly indicates that she has a split in her political thinking, which can be solved by looking to her jewishness in so far as Weingarten is a jewish nationalist who believes that liberal/left-wing policies are good for the United States (as they make jews safer in her view) [while she earns north of half a million dollars per annum] (24) and who wants to prevent Israel from undertaking these same policies, because in so doing they would destroy the jewish basis for the Israeli state. In this she appears to hold the same liberal Zionist views as her jewish lesbian girlfriend: Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum. (25)

Another example of this is Sheldon Adelson, the jewish billionaire and sugar daddy to the Republican party, who opposes non-jewish immigration into Israel, but then wants open borders in the United States! (26)

Essentially both Adelson and Weingarten are using the same intellectual rubric for their jewish nationalism/American liberalism dichotomy: is it good for jews?

And people wonder why people criticize jews…

References

(1) http://www.semiticcontroversies.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-american-federation-of-teachers.html

(2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zunes/hawkish-union-leaders-hur_b_207341.html

(3) http://www.nysun.com/new-york/washington-may-be-in-future-of-teachers-chief/45312/; http://forward.com/articles/127978/the-leading-jew-in-labor-wears-pearls/

(4) Mayssoun Sukarieh, Stuart Tannock, 2010, ‘The American Federation of Teachers: Teaching Training as Labor Imperialism’, Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 187-194

(5) http://www.aft.org/newspubs/press/2013/121313a.cfm; https://mbasic.facebook.com/notes/aft-american-federation-of-teachers/aft-president-randi-weingartens-letter-to-brooklyn-college-president-dr-karen-l-/481819758549153/?_rdr; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zunes/hawkish-union-leaders-hur_b_207341.html

(6) http://www.labornet.org/news/0806/aftleb2.htm

(7) http://www.usacbi.org/2010/04/how-many-israel-bonds-does-your-union-own/; Joel Beinin, 2012, ‘North American Colleges and Universities and BDS’, p. 71 in Audrea Lim (Ed.), 2012, ‘The Case for Sanctions against Israel’, 1st Edition, Verso: New York

(8) http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/09/07/washing-away-labor-s-war-stain/

(9) For example: http://forward.com/articles/14285/hillary-speaks-at-israel-event-/

(10) For example: http://mondoweiss.net/2009/03/american-federation-of-teachers-takes-stand-for-illiteracy-stating-that-hamas-unilaterally-breached

(11) http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/09/07/washing-away-labor-s-war-stain/; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zunes/hawkish-union-leaders-hur_b_207341.html

(12) Sukarieh, Tannock, Op. Cit., p. 186

(13) https://www.facebook.com/notes/aft-american-federation-of-teachers/afts-weingarten-on-latest-news-about-ukraines-jewish-community/716100358454424

(14) http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/14/gaza-children-school-war-palestine-israel

(15) http://www.rabincenter.org.il/Web/En/AbouttheCenter/TheAmericanFriendsofTheYitzhakRabinCenter/Default.aspx

(16) http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14354/randi_weingarten_calls_for_labor_to_take_up_gun_control

(17) http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/persistence-pays-in-fight-for-marriage-equality-99411.html

(18) http://jwa.org/teach/livingthelegacy/biographies/weingarten-randi

(19) http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/3/schools-urged-to-spare-the-rod-on-suspensions/

(20) http://nypost.com/2013/02/06/randis-immigration-spoiler/; https://www.facebook.com/notes/aft-american-federation-of-teachers/aft-president-randi-weingartens-remarks-at-the-concert-and-march-for-immigrant-d/593181350746326

(21) http://www.aft.org/newspubs/press/weingarten071114.cfm

(22) http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/library/video-podcast-media/video-aft-president-randi-weingarten-social-justice; http://jwa.org/teach/livingthelegacy/biographies/weingarten-randi

(23) http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/115028/voting-jewish-values

(24) https://www.unionfacts.com/employees/American_Federation_of_Teachers; http://eagnews.org/teachers-union-boss-randi-weingarten-my-salarys-only-360k/; http://www.redstate.com/tag/randi-weingarten/

(25) http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/129441/new-york-firebrand-rabbi; http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.614070

(26) http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2014/06/shocker-sheldon-adelson-supports-immigration-amnesty-in-the-u-s/