Word: podhoretzes
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...eager to consign him to the minors. His career began during the heyday of brilliant U.S. Jewish writing. Saul Bellow, J.D. Salinger, Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth, among others, were the critics' darlings. A sensitive outsider from the sticks did not measure up to prevailing standards. In Commentary, Norman Podhoretz complained, "His short stories ... strike me as all windup and no delivery." Bruised by appraisals like this, Updike eventually turned his hurt feelings to good use: "Out of that unease, I created Henry Bech to show that I was really a Jewish writer also...
...American Jewish community is now split by sickening doubts. Norman Podhoretz, editor of the monthly Commentary, wrote defensively last week that "when Christians murdered Muslims for having murdered Christians, the world immediately began denouncing the Jews who were, at the very worst, indirectly involved." Leaders of major U.S. Jewish organizations pleaded over and over again last week that Israel not be hastily judged guilty of complicity in the massacre. Even so, they went further in dissociating themselves from Begin's policies than they ever had before. Three of the largest organizations, B'nai B'rith, the American...
Many Jews argue that Israel is being unfairly judged by a double standard, bitterly denounced for actions that other nations feel they have an unquestioned right to take. Norman Podhoretz, editor of the monthly Commentary, says that he considers President Reagan's peace plan to be "on the whole a good one" and goes on to say, "I wish Begin had not rejected it out of hand." Nonetheless, in a fiery article, provocatively titled "J' Accuse," in the current issue of his magazine, Podhoretz charges that to many of its critics "only Israel of all the states...
Among those critics, writes Podhoretz, "a number of American Jews have been adding their own special note to the whining chorus of anti-Israel columnists, State Department Arabists and corporate sycophants of Saudi Arabia." Podhoretz charges that "criticisms of Israel that are informed by a double standard ... deserve to be called anti-Semitic even when they are mouthed by Jews or, for that matter, Israelis...
Though his tone is far angrier than most, Podhoretz is not the only American Jew to fear a revival of anti-Semitism in the wake of the Lebanon invasion. Says Chicago Radio Producer Sher: "After the 1956 war and the other conflicts up to this time, Israelis were the golden boys, even in the minds of people who at home were anti-Semitic toward American Jews. Now the perception is, 'Hey, these guys are bullies.' " Sher fears that hostility toward Jews historically increases during times of economic trouble like that the U.S. is experiencing...