Steven Salaita did not deserve to lose his job at the University of Illinois, notwithstanding the bigoted slurs in some of his anti-Israel tweets. His subsequent frustration in the academic job market may be due to a blacklist (as he believes), although it is nearly impossible that his non-hiring at the American University of Beirut was due to "Zionist" influence (as many seem to believe).
Then again, it may be due to the poor quality of his reasoning, as evidenced in this article about Israeli food. According to Salaita, the Israeli taste for hummus is worse than cultural appropriation and actually amounts to "theft."
When Zionists (or their oblivious collaborators) claim Arabic food as Israeli, it's not a paragon of intercultural harmony but the studious destruction of Palestinian culture. We can mitigate ambiguity by avoiding the word "appropriation," which doesn't adequately capture the dynamics of Israel's voracious appetite for anything that can be marked "Indigenous," which it needs to shore up an ever-tenuous sense of legitimacy.
"Theft" is more accurate. It is also rhetorically superior. Discourses of modernity exalt cultural interchange, but no good liberal supports piracy.
Moreover:
State involvement in the pilfer of Palestinian food illustrates that we shouldn't reduce the issue to individual consumption. It's a systematic effort to validate settler colonisation.
It's no shock, then, that Palestinians and their neighbours get salty whenever hearing the phrase "Israeli hummus." Using Arabic food as a symbol of Zionist identity hands over the day-to-day victuals of the native to the coloniser. It's a project of erasure, a portent of nonexistence, a promise of genocide.
The fact is that Israelis eat hummus (and falafel), including Mizrahi Jews whose ancestors have lived in the Middle East for millennia. There is nothing thieving about typical Israeli cuisine, and it does not deprive Palestinians or other Arabs of identification with their own "day-to-day victuals."
Even when defending his academic freedom, I have never been impressed by Salaita's writing, which has always been far more polemic than scholarly. But this takes the cake (I suppose I dare not say gateau). It is not hard to see why universities would hesitate to hire someone who finds a "promise of genocide" in something as simple as a restaurant menu.
I'm reminded of the threads wherein some (myself included) argued that this scholar was not the prized scholar that some were making him out to be. At the time he was being so ferociously defended by Jew haters on this blog, I encouraged him to obtain a fresh new appointment, from one of the dozens of schools which should have been clamoring to hire a genius of his stature, to prove just how qualified he was for the position at issue.
It appeared to this observer that the appointment at issue was a mistake that was corrected before effected, and unlikely to be repeated. But, one was open to the possibility that academia would embrace this man; and interested to see the result.
It is the Jew haters who claimed him to be so great who now are discredited. He was only doing what he honestly believes is necessary to do: spread hate of Jews (Zionists). Unlike some, I do not fault the Jew haters for being Jew haters, per se. I fault haters of all stripes. The target of their hatreds often doesn't matter much to the haters themselves. They just need to hate: and Jews are an easy, frequent, and widely accepted target in academia.
(See, e.g., the caricature of "financiers" portrayed on THIS BLOG recently, that would have made Julius Streicher proud.)
This latest example of likening liking a food Jews have enjoyed for thousands of years to genocide is, as Steve says, really quite humorous. But then again, how many readers of this blog believe that?
This guy knows how to speak in hyperbole. Isn't cultural theft what Hobby Lobby committed against Iraq to start a bible museum? Or isn't when some knucklehead digs for Native artifacts on public lands? Using this professors food analysis, Jews can claim that Dunkin Donuts and Lenders stole bagels to make glorified white bread.
He clearly looks at every aspect of life with his worldview, stated in his article:
"Such is to be expected of an ideology defined by a rapacious appetite for other people's possessions."
A few years ago an Arbitrator asked me how was I going to respond to my opponents most recent position .. I asked was a 32 point !!! and ??? – he replied that a response want really necessary, they were still laughing at the brief.
All around the Mediterranean there are these odd food disputes – who invented pizza, paella, falafel, Baba Ghanouse/Moutabel, souvlaki/donner kebab – you name it, there is an argument as to origin – is it Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, Spanish, Italian, North African, Muslim, Christian…Serb, Croat, Bosnian. And, who the **** knows. And since a lot of Israeli Jews actually come from around the Mediterranean, that they brought their own local variations on dishes already extant in Palestine (I used the word) is hardly surprising. But coming up with a complex political conspiracy – wtf!
Go to Northern Spain, say Asturias, the Picos d'Europa. Eat a meal or two in say Cabralles … after you have recovered from the catatonia that so much meat at one sitting induces, head south to say Alicante – and eat in a top restaurant there, say PiriPiri. Very different in hot Mediterranean Alicante from the Picos d'Europa. The difference – it's hot, it's bright – the diet adjusts. Jews in Palestine were never going to keep eating Polish, Austrian or mittel-Europa style food. That'd be crazy.
There's no need for conspiracy – Israelis eat falafel because it makes sense.
Interestingly – Israeli Couscous is an Israeli creation, but a variation at the same time on pasta products common around the Mediterranean – though it's not actually couscous.
My impression by the way is that the description 'Israeli Hummus' is an American trope that Israelis don't engage in. Hummus in Israel is hummus, there's good, there's better, but it's not 'Israeli' it's just hummus.
The "funny" thing is? Hummus really is a blend of Arabic origins. The word itself is Arabic for chickpeas.
The point isn't who "invented" it. The point is that enjoying it is not a "promise of genocide" and only a person deranged with hate for Jews could think that.
Anon – you'd be amazed the cr@p that Israel supporters believe about arabs – are they deranged with hate too?
I think you meant "some" Israel supporters, Mack. The qualification is important.
No matter where it's from, we can all agree that it's all finger licking good. Set a table for everybody….let's eat!
Indeed Steven. In the perfervid atmosphere that accompanies a lot of national debates some people are inclined to unquestioningly accept all sorts of BS -some even believe Rush Limbaugh or more surprisingly Bibi Netanyahu.
NO matter how tangential to the issue at hand, some people have to get in their perfervid licks, kicking Israel at every opportunity, and, of course, arguing forever about any (completely rightful and polite) contradiction, demanding the last word on every irrelevant nasty little bit they've brought into a discussion.
Spitting on Israel and its PM has nothing to do with liking hummus, or whether liking hummus is a "promise of genocide." Adding a gratuitous swipe at "all Israel supporters" modified then to attack not only that country but also Rush Limbaugh (???) is just bizarre prattle.
You above posters use such big words…I had to crack open two dictionaries to understand your post. I can now empathize with Rick Perry. Perfervid: adj, very fervid. Fervid: Heated or vehement in spirit." Just should have gone with fervid, Secretary Perry and I would have got it the first time without the dictionary.
Anon – please take this the right way – piss off!