Martin Peretz

The Israel Prism

For media scholar Eric Alterman, '[i]t is really not too much to say that almost all of Peretz's political beliefs are subordinate to his commitment to Israel's best interests, and these interests as Peretz defines them almost always involve more war.' He adds:

Peretz insists that, yes, the interests of Israel and the United States are indeed identical. "Support for Israel," he claims, "is deep down, an expression of America's best view of itself." Which begs the question of just what "support" entails. For Peretz it has clearly meant support both for the Iraq war and, now, for yet another war against Iran.

Racism

Peretz is known for his frequently racist commentary about Muslims, particularly Arabs. Alterman has excoriated Peretz for 'his obsessive and unapologetic hatred of Arabs' which is 'visible nearly every day on Peretz's "The Spine."' Alterman goes on to provide a sample of Peretz's comments about Arabs.

They are "violent, fratricidal, unreliable, primitive and crazed … barbarian"; they have created a "wretched society" and are "cruel, belligerent, intolerant, fearing"; they are "murderous and grotesque" and "can't even run a post office"; their societies "have gone bonkers over jihad" and they are "feigning outrage when they protest what they call American (or Israeli) atrocities"; they "behave like lemmings," and "are not shocked at all by what in truth must seem to them not atrocious at all"; and to top it all off, their rugs are not as "subtle" and are more "glimmery" than those of the Berbers.

For liberal blogger Glenn Greenwald Peretz's blog is 'basically a museum for every anti-Arab/Muslim stereotype and caricature that exists.' Peretz's bigotry eventually led to a rift within the magazine's own editorial board after he declared that the first amendment should not extent to American Muslims. It led to a public row between Peretz and the magazine's long-serving literary editor (also chief deputy editor) Leon Wieseltier.

Islamic Center controversy

Peretz has denounced the planned Islamic Center near Ground Zero in New York as 'a sleazy venture combining religion, marriage catering, sports activity, political propaganda and what would pretend to be kultcha'. He has described the project's planner Sharif El-Gamal as a 'real estate hustler' and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf as the 'theological desperado.' He has praised the right-wing campaign against center.

In my view, the really modest struggle against the mosque is probably the closest thing we’ve had to a genuinely grass roots effort against the casual and elitist First Amendment fundamentalists.

Peretz adds: 'yes, there are different kinds of Muslims as there are different kinds of Christian Fundamentalists.'

Affiliations

• Coalition for a Democratic Majority
• The New Republic
• Washington Institute for Near East Policy
• Euston Manifesto United States
• Ground Zero Mosque