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Have I "Lost All Nuance When It Comes to Discussing the Jewish Question"?, by Kevin Barrett

26-2-2024 < UNZ 16 1692 words
 

A long comment recently appeared below one of my articles taking issue with my recent writings on issues related to “the Jewish question and Jewish power and influence.” Though I find it hard to adequately respond to all of the comments on my articles and broadcasts, many of which are thoughtful, sometimes even brilliant, this one seemed to lend itself to being recast, along with my responses, in interview format. So the material below in boldface is the original comment, and my answers are in regular type.


It seems that ever since the October events, you’ve lost all nuance when it comes to discussing the Jewish question and Jewish power and influence.


I’d prefer to think that I only lost some nuance, not all of it. I think the Gaza genocide has revealed that people like E. Michael Jones, Gilad Atzmon, Mike King, Cat McGuire, and others who emphasize the role of Jewish power in creating huge problems have been more right than I had realized. But that doesn’t mean that I think less of any individual because of their Jewish religion or ethnic heritage. I still admire pretty much all the Jews I admired before October 7, including a long list of regular radio guests. So I retain that “nuance.”


The other day you said it is Jews who are responsible for the most mass murder of people ever, not Germans. First of all, is Jewish a true ethnic identity? Can one not be Jewish and German…or Jewish and Russian?


Actually I quoted Ron Unz: “But combine them together (20+ million murdered by the mostly-Jewish-led Bolsheviks) with the relatively tiny size of worldwide Jewry around 16 million prior to WW II and the inescapable conclusion is that in per capita terms Jews were the greatest mass-murders of the 20th century…” Unz was referring to Jewish-Russian/Ukrainian Bolsheviks whose victims were mostly Orthodox Christian peasant farmers—the hereditary enemies/victims of the Jews of the Pale of Settlement. Other notable victims of Bolshevik persecution were the Orthodox Church and the nobility, both of which were in conflict with Jews as a group and viewed by them as enemies. So to the extent that the Bolsheviks represented an ethnic tribe wreaking vengeance on its hereditary enemies, they acted “as Jews” more than anything else.


Also, from your article you based this claim on a link to an article that said that Putin claimed that 80 to 85% of the original Russian government was Jewish. Well, this article just quoted Putin but gave no evidence to back this claim up. Is Putin’s word, the end all and be all? Even your Jewish friend Ron Unz, claimed this statement was wildly exaggerated.


Ron Unz doesn’t think Putin was exaggerating. Quite the contrary. Here is what Ron wrote:


“Meanwhile, all historians know perfectly well that the Bolshevik leaders were overwhelmingly Jewish, with three of the five revolutionaries Lenin named as his plausible successors coming from that background. Although only around 4% of Russia’s population was Jewish, a few years ago Vladimir Putin stated that Jews constituted perhaps 80-85% of the early Soviet government, an estimate fully consistent with the contemporaneous claims of Winston Churchill, Times of London correspondent Robert Wilton, and the officers of American Military Intelligence. Recent books by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Yuri Slezkine, and others have all painted a very similar picture.”


I’ve looked and looked and I can find no evidence to support this claim. All of the evidence supports the idea that Jews were significantly over-represented among the Bolsheviks/early Soviet Government.


Over-represented in the general vicinity of 80%+ , as far as I can tell. Did you click on the links?


You make a similar claim about the Biden administration being dominated by Jews….but I looked at the actual numbers….and they are vastly over-represented….but they are not dominant. Regardless, it is worthy of strong criticism that they are vastly over-represented. The Biden regime is the most subversive regime of my lifetime…..and sadly it’s no coincidence that Jews are way over-represented in it. I think it’s very inappropriate that Blinken is in the position he’s in during this present conflict in the middle east. How can he be counted on to be neutral?


I don’t disagree. Feel free to point me towards a source that could quantitatively clarify precisely to what extent Jews are massively over-represented in the Biden Administration.


Also, I’m somewhat confused that you now openly express your hatred and distrust of Jews (you’re free to do that and I support your right to do that. Unfortunately and tragically, the organized Jewish community is oblivious to how they come off to those outside their community), but yet you seem to be constantly elevating a Jewish guy unquestionably, Ron Unz….who frankly, I’m no longer convinced is the expert he claims he is or makes himself out to be. If you want to talk about this more, I’d be happy to oblige.


Where have I ever “openly expressed hatred and distrust of Jews”? I like most of the Jews I’ve known, who have been to varying degrees alienated from Jewish ethnocentrism and tribalism. Just as I am disgusted by the US and with “the Americans” as a tribal or national group, I am likewise disgusted by Israel and Jewish tribalism, which I now believe is even more extreme and destructive than its American analogue. But there are plenty of Jews and Americans whom I like just fine.


Among them is the ethnically Jewish American Ron Unz. I think Ron is doing terrific work overall. Though one could nit-pick about various aspects of his American Pravda series, it’s undoubtedly the best introduction to “everything you know is wrong” for educated newbies. Feel free to point me to a detailed critique of anything by Unz.


Thirdly, I know you know who Adam Green is because you’ve interviewed him at least once. I certainly don’t agree with him on a lot of things and I think his criticism of Christianity is often unfair and over-simplistic. That said, I think he makes it clear how illogical it is for someone to claim to be a “dissident right Christian”, or an anti-ZOG Christian”. I think this same criticism could apply to you as a Muslim. Why? Well, both of these religions are rooted in Judaism. One could say, well the Judaism today is not from the Old Testament, but from the Talmud. No doubt about it that the Talmud is a horrible book….but the Old Testament isn’t much better. It’s actually pretty horrible too….for many reasons. If you are anti-Jewish, why do you affirm a Jewish book? Why do you affirm a Jewish prophet, Jesus? Why do you follow a Jewish religion, Islam?


I am well aware of the Torah’s defects, since I translated and published the best book on them, Laurent Guyénot’s From Yahweh to Zion. Unlike most Christians, we Muslims do not accept the Torah as inerrant scripture. On the contrary, according to the Qur’anic doctrine of tahrif, we believe that the Torah is full of errors that were introduced by the people transmitting what had originally been divine revelations. Those people, of course, were the members of what Guyénot calls the Jewish (tribal) cognitive elite, who manipulated scripture in a self-serving way.


I have read the Torah all the way through just once, and my reaction was: “Great literature, but seriously defective scripture.” I have read the Qur’an all the way through, aloud, in Arabic (the only way to read the Qur’an, since translations are not the Qur’an) many dozens of times, looked at a lot of exegesis, and am convinced by its claim to be the last and best-preserved authentic scripture. Many of the founders of Traditionalism, the most influential school in Western religious studies, including Guenon, Fanon, Lings, etc. agreed.


I don’t follow “Jewish prophets,” I follow prophets, period, peace upon all of them. Jesus taught universal values and despised Jewish ethnocentrism. Muhammad, the last one, was not ethnically Jewish, which was probably the biggest reason the hyper-ethnocentric Jews of Medina rejected him. The Qur’an warns about Jews and their tribal egotism, and makes it clear that the prophets all taught universal values and human equality: The only meaningful way that any human being can be better than another is through their piety and good actions. I’m sure Jesus, and his saner followers, would agree with that.


For my take on various Islam-related matters, see: https://www.youtube.com/@khidriainc.2602/videos


Personally, I think a big problem is affirming these “holy books” whether it be the Bible (old and new testaments), talmud, Koran, or any other “holy book” as the inerrant word of God. But that’s another discussion for another day. In conclusion, I apologize for writing a book. I wanted to send you an email about this, but for some reason, you didn’t give it to me. So, I’m expressing my opinion here. You had post recently about debate. I didn’t get a chance to read it, but if you want to debate/discuss these issues in a civil manner, I’d be happy to do that. I’m sure there’s a lot I can learn from you and if I’m mistaken about anything you said, please correct me. Thank you.


You’re welcome. Feel free to send a bio, links to your work, and so on, and I will consider inviting you to discuss whatever you like on my radio show. My email is truthjihad(at)gmail.


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