Ash wrote:Let me put this gently. That article is almost a year old and I'm surprised WalesOnline haven't pulled it from their website.
It's a clearly anti-semitic piece about Cardiff's leading Jewish family. There have been no similar investigations into non-Jewish Cardiff business dynasties. JR Smart, nope. Rightacres, nope. Jews, yes. To be fair, WalesOnline published another, more balanced, article later.
Frankly, people who post phrases like 'Rapports need to take a good hard look at themselves' need to take a good hard look at themselves.
Jews guilty of 'disgusting behaviour' and 'playing monopoly'? Where have I heard that before?
I hear what you are saying regarding antisemitism, Jew's controlling the financial and property sectors to the detriment of everyone else is a familiar trope and I think terms like 'playing monopoly' are best avoided as it can normalise anti-Semitic language even if the original comment was not intended that way. However, criticism of powerful people, particularly when they are making decisions that have wide ranging impacts, is perfectly acceptable in any reasonable society.
The Rapport's are a powerful family in the context of Cardiff, and the way they wield that power can and should be scrutinised just as it should be for JR Smart and Rightacres. When you do scrutinise, it's fairly hard to argue that the way the Rapport's land has been and is used is positive for the city. I could make that argument for both JR Smart and Rightacres; both are responsible for high quality developments on previously rundown areas - in the case of rightacres in a key location.