Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 13, 2024

At the 96th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday night, British-Jewish director Jonathan Glazer, whose film, The Zone of Interest, had just won the Oscar for Best International Feature, made a somewhat garbled statement critical of the Israeli governments policy, conflating the Occupation with the Holocaust. Many Israeli officials and Jewish leaders criticized the statement, but some Jews in Hollywood actually cheered it.

Thats because he did what so few who have criticized Israels decision to respond militarily to Hamass October 7 attack on Israel in which about 1,200 Israelis were murdered (and raped, burned, dismembered, and tortured) and 240 were taken hostage have done: He mentioned the victims of October 7 in Israel.

At least he said that, said one entertainment industry insider, who, like everyone I spoke to for this piece, did not want to give a name or any identifying details for fear of derailing his career.

If that sounds like the bar has gotten very low for what counts as a show of support for Jews and Israel in Hollywood, thats because it has. Simply acknowledging that there were victims in Israel is light years ahead of the prevailing political winds in Hollywood these days, people told me.Typical politically engaged celebrities in Hollywood simply ask for a ceasefire now, with no hint of the fact that there are still 134 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza a number of whom are American citizens, which is rarely mentioned or that Hamas has publicly stated, on multiple occasions, that it will commit more, and even bigger, massacres in Israel as soon as it can, and that Israel has an obligation to defend its citizens.

Thats why many Jewish entertainment professionals were relieved by Glazers speech, in which he said: All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present, not to say look what they did then; rather, look what we do now... Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst; its shaped all of our past and present.It was possible to think he was speaking about Hamass dehumanization of Israelis as well as Israels dehumanizing Gazans, pointed out one professional.

Glazer went on to say, in the most confusing part of his speech, Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?

Most think he meant that he and his producers (the men to whom he refers) rejected or disapproved of the idea of their Jewishness and the legacy of the Holocaust being used to justify the invasion of Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank, not that he was rejecting his own Jewish identity. Commenting on the confusing phraseology, one insider said, That was quite a word salad. Ive met him and hes usually very clear, very focused on what hes trying to get across. Writer/directors are generally the most charming, most articulate people in the world because theyre always trying to get people to give them money to make a movie; theyre always pitching.

I think he was tying himself in knots, trying to find a way to acknowledge that there was a massacre, that there were Jewish victims. He wanted to say it without saying it... I think thats because he did this Auschwitz film, and hes a British Jew. He knows that the Nazis would have killed him and Hamas would have killed him. For him to say, to acknowledge that there were any Jewish victims at all will probably cost him some dinner-party invitations, probably from intellectuals he respects. Thats the reality.

Would it have been so hard for him to say the word Hamas? I asked. Yeah, it would have, was the answer I got. There can be Jewish victims as long as the worst villain, the only real villain, is Israel, the occupier.

INSIDE THE AUDITORIUM, there were almost no yellow ribbons denoting support for the hostages held by Hamas, save for Avi Arad, the Israeli-American producer of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which was nominated for Best Animated Feature. Other attendees said they would have worn yellow ribbons but their cars were closely eyeballed by protesters who tried to block invited guests from attending the awards ceremony.

But there were many celebrities wearing red pins and calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, among them Ramy Youssef, who is one of the stars of the movie Poor Things. Youssef, a writer and producer as well as an actor, is best known for the series Ramy, which is about the son of Egyptian immigrants to the US. Interviewed on the red carpet, Youssef said, This pin here is for Artists4Ceasefire, which has...more than 400 signatories [to its open letter] just calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Palestine to really ensure the safety for innocent people. We really want to stop killing kids, and we want to make sure everyones safe. Its really just a humanitarian issue that a lot of artists have been really passionate about. He didnt mention the hostages at all or that among them are children.

Among other celebrities wearing the red pins were siblings Billie Eilish and Finneas OConnell, whose song What Was I Made For? from the movie Barbie won the Oscar for Best Song; and Mark Ruffalo, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Poor Things.

Since the start of the war, a few Jewish Hollywood voices have emerged to support Israel, most of whom have visited the country and spoken out at rallies in the US, including actors Michael Rapaport and Brett Gelman both of whom performed skits on Eretz Nehederet, one of which featured Rapaport hosting the Oscars, which was brutally critical of Hollywoods indifference to the plight of the hostages as well as Debra Messing and Jerry Seinfeld.

Influencers Baby Ariel and Julia Haart of My Unorthodox Life have also been here and have devoted much of their social media to defending Israel. Early on, David Simon, the showrunner of The Wire, and Orange is the New Blacks Jenji Kohan spoke out in defense of the victims of October 7, and recently, comic/actress Tiffany Haddish visited Israel. Israelis based in Hollywood and Israeli-Americans, like Gal Gadot and Natalie Portman, have spoken out, especially about the hostages and the sexual assaults.

Steven Spielberg, who presented the Best Director Award to Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer, did not make a statement about anything connected to the war on Sunday.

Spielberg, seen as the most respected Jewish elder statesman in Hollywood and one with something to say about Jewish suffering, as he directed Schindlers List and created the USC Shoah Foundation, which collects testimony from Holocaust survivors remained silent about the October 7 atrocities for months, ignoring direct requests from Holocaust survivors to comment.

Finally, in December, he wrote, I never imagined I would see such unspeakable barbarity against Jews in my lifetime in a feature published on the foundations website, and he pledged that the foundation would collect testimonies from survivors of the Hamas massacre. Non-Jewish Hollywood A-listers who often speak out on causes and have visited Israel in the past, such as Paul McCartney, continue to be silent on this conflict.

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'Acknowledging Jewish victims will cost him': Jewish creators comment on Jonathan Glazer's speech - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on March 13, 2024

(March 7, 2024 / JNS)

Tufts University is investigating reports of some extremely disturbing antisemitic words and conduct directed at Jewish students who opposed anti-Israel resolutions in the student government and Islamophobic actions against students who supported them.

The school will hold accountable any student found to have engaged in these behaviors, wrote the university president and other senior academic officials.

Let us be entirely clear: Antisemitic and Islamophobic words and actions are entirely unacceptable and should be met with condemnation from the entire community, regardless of your perspective on the resolutions, they added.

The highly-ranked, nearly 175-year-old private school in Medford, Mass., also condemned the student senates vote to divest from Israel at a meeting on March 3.

As we have done in the past, we reject the boycott, divestment, sanctions movement, we wholeheartedly support academic freedom and all our academic and exchange programs and we will continue to work with all companies that we engage with and do business with now, the senior Tufts officials wrote.

The officials wrote that the immense loss of life in Gaza is tragic. We mourn with the Palestinians, but we also feel for the Israelis grieving over those they have lost and share their desire for the safe return of the hostages. It is possible to hold both of these views simultaneously.

It is also possible for us to be supportive of both the right of Israel to exist and for the self-determination rights of the Palestinian people, they added. However, these resolutions do not allow for these views to coexist and, as a result, force our community into opposing groups rather than uniting us to build from areas of agreement.

Rabbi Naftali Brawer, executive director of the Tufts Hillel, wrote that What is particularly disturbing (as if the resolutions havent caused enough harm) are reports of vitriolic antisemitism expressed throughout the evening by students in support of the resolutions.

Jewish students were spat on and subjected to stomach churning antisemitic taunts and jeering from their peers, such as Go back to Israel, we dont want you here! You stink and Israel controls the entire world, he added.

The Anti-Defamation League office serving Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont posted on social media that it is appalled by reports of vile antisemitism at Tufts, which it said must immediately investigate these allegations and take concrete steps to address the antisemitic hostility on campus that has only escalated in the wake of Oct. 7.

The Coalition for Palestinian Liberation at Tufts, which supported the resolutions, has alleged that its members were spat upon and one was nearly punched. The group also said that Palestinian students were forced to relive the trauma inflicted on them by the Zionist occupation and prove their humanity to peers who responded to this painful emotional labor with mocking gestures.

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Posted By admin on March 13, 2024

From biblical times to the present, Jewish women have given hope, meaning and strength to the Jewish community. These twelve remarkable Jewish women have shown extraordinary leadership, changed the course of Jewish practice, offered comfort and hope, and injected creativity into the Jewish world.

Ruth

The biblical Ruth was a Moabite woman who chose to remain with her mother-in-law Naomi after the death of her husband even if it meant a life of poverty in a foreign land. She pledged herself to her mother-in-law like this: wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. (Ruth 1:16) She is considered the model for conversion to Judaism. Ruths story is read yearly on the holiday of Shavuot, telling a tale of the power of kindness and of those who make the Jewish nation their chosen family.

Deborah

Deborah was a judge, prophet, military strategist and poet. The book of Judges supplies what we know about this multi-talented revolutionary. As a leader in the battle against the ancient Canaanites, she took great risks, and her courage paid off. After the war was won, she composed her exquisite Song of Deborah, and then returned to her palm tree, from whence she continued to advise the nation. Some 3,000 years later, 19th-century Italian Jewish communities chose her song to mark their bat mitzvahs, celebrating her legacy of leadership.

Esther

The title character of the megillah read yearly on Purim, Esther was once an uncertain orphan girl and ultimately grew into a decisive leader. Brought to the Persian palace as a potential bride for the king, Esther won his heart but kept her Jewish identity secret. Only when royal advisor Hamans genocidal intention became clear did she step into the fray, rallying her community around her in prayer and putting a plan into motion, ultimately revealing her identity and delivering her people from Hamans plot.

Bruriah

Few women in talmudic times were known for their scholarship, but Bruriah, with her sharp tongue and even sharper intellect, studied alongside the men in her community. She advised and corrected her husband, the renowned Rabbi Meir, on religious matters. At a time when women were not welcomed into the beit midrash, the house of study, Bruriah walked right in serving as a model for young women up to the present day.

Asenath Barzani

Asenath (Osnat) Barzanis father headed four yeshivas in 16th-century Kurdistan and he raised her to be a scholar. When her father passed away, Osnat began to teach in his yeshiva in Mosul in his stead, and eventually took over. She was not a rabbi but the community gave her the title tannait, teacher. It was believed that she could work miracles and her name was used in amulets for luck and health. After her death, her grave became a pilgrimage site for the women of Kurdistan.

Glckl of Hameln

Born in 17th-century Germany, Glckl married when she was only a teenager. She raised 14 children, but also held an active role in her husbands business; she took over when he was killed suddenly and began traveling throughout Europe. Glckl chronicled her life in a series of diaries written over the course of 28 years. They were meant as an ethical will for her children to read, and included stories of the sages, legends and advice but they are now historically significant as the only known pre-modern Yiddish memoirs and an important window onto German-Jewish life in this period. They also offer a singular portrait of a resilient, resourceful woman.

Regina Jonas

An Orthodox Jew raised in Berlin, Regina Jonas harbored dreams of being a rabbi from childhood. She fought her way into rabbinical seminary and ordination, becoming one of the first female rabbis. When the Orthodox community would not accept her, she cared for the religious needs of Jews in hospitals, nursing homes and even prison. When the Nazis rose to power, she chose to stay with her community and offer solace and support, trying to maintain a life of scholarship and Jewish communal activity in the ghetto. She was killed in Auschwitz in 1944.

Anne Frank

At age 13, Anne Frank and her family went into hiding from the Nazis. Her diary was her closest companion; in it, she shared her hopes, fears and dreams. Though the Jews in the secret annex where she and her family hid were discovered and deported, and though her life was cut tragically short in a concentration camp at age 15, her words live on in 75 different languages, giving a face and a voice to the horrors of the Holocaust.

Hannah Senesh

Though she was born in Budapest, when she was still a teenager Hannah Senesh moved to the land of Israel, then under the British mandate. She enlisted as a paratrooper with the British Womens Auxiliary Air Force when World War II threatened Jewish communities in Europe. She parachuted into Hungary with her comrades but was caught a few weeks later and endured months of torture before being sentenced to death by firing squad at age 23. Not only her example but also the Hebrew poetry she wrote continues to inspire, including perhaps her most famous lines in the poem Eili, My God:

My God, My God may there be no end to

The sand and the sea,

The waters splash,

The lightnings flash,

The prayer of man.

Henrietta Szold

Born in Baltimore, Henrietta Szold served as aide to her father, a rabbi and scholar, and then became the first woman to attend the Jewish Theological Seminary. But her life changed on a 1909 visit to the land of Israel, when she was shocked by the rampant poverty and disease. Henrietta founded Hadassah, which rallied women to raise funds for healthcare and ultimately set up clinics throughout the land. She moved to the land of Israel, joined the Jewish National Council to work on health and education initiatives, and directed the Youth Aliyah program, which brought some 15,000 teens to safety during Hitlers reign. Though she never had children of her own, the anniversary of her death is celebrated as Israels Family Day.

Golda Meir

Born in Ukraine and raised in Ukraine and the U.S., Golda Meir moved to the land of Israel at age 23 where she distinguished herself in a life of public service, rising ultimately to serve as Israels minister of labor for seven years, minister of foreign affairs for 10 years and, finally, prime minister for five years, seeing the country through the Yom Kippur War.

Naomi Shemer

Naomi Shemers songs are the soundtrack of the young State of Israel. Born on a kibbutz in 1930, she began playing piano at age six and accompanied the kibbutz celebrations. She grew up to write such songs as Al Kol Eleh (For All These Things), Od Lo Ahavti Dai (I Have Not Yet Loved Enough), and Yerushalayim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold). Her songs, often evoking her Jewish and Israeli heritage and the nature that surrounded her, define the Israeli experience.

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Posted By admin on March 13, 2024

Cornell University is hiring a professor with a history of sharing anti-Semitic posts.

Wunpini F. Mohammed, assistant professor of Entertainment and Media Studies at the University of Georgia,announced on X that she will be starting a new job as an assistant professor at Cornell Universitys Department of Communications later this year. The decision comes despite Mohammeds record of controversial anti-Israel activity on X.

Israel is a settler-colony on stolen land-it does not have a right to exist, read one statement that Mohammed reposted this January.

Another post from the same account that Mohammed reposted states: If Jewish folks dont want to be incorrectly associated with Israels barbarism, the answer is to be vehemently anti-Zionist & work to dismantle Israel+Zionism.

[RELATED: Cornell students demand divestment from Israel, find university president guilty of genocide in mock trial]

Mohammed also shared a post from someone who wrote: Hakeem is a house dem alright and a house neeeeegrow, in reference to Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) expressing support for Israel.

Mohammed reposted a comment from another user who denigrated Mia Schem, an Israeli-French woman released from Hamas captivity who said she was afraid of being raped by her captors, saying: We keep reaching new lows. Also its so clear this has the same energy as white women historically falsely accusing Black men of assault. Whatever it takes to demonize Palestinians and continue mass killing them.

When a pastor from Mohammeds home country, Ghana, publicly prayed for the safety of Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians (as reported on Ghana News), Mohammedlashed out on X, writing: These religious frauds do not speak for Ghanaians. She continued: We [Ghana] stand in solidarity with Palestine and unequivocally condemn Israeli genocide and war crimes in Palestine.

This is not the first time that Cornell has hired an anti-Israel professor. [RELATED: ASU suspends left-wing student org that called for death to the zionist: We do not condemn Hamas]

As seen on Campus Reform,Russel Rickford, associate professor of history at Cornell, described Hamass killings as exhilarating, stating: It was energizing. And if it werent exhilarating by this challenge to the monopoly of violence - by this shifting of the balance of power - then they would not be human. I was exhilarated.

Another Cornell instructor, Alyiah Gonzales, canceled her English class in order to observe a Global Strike for Palestine, according to areport by Campus Reform. In an email to her class obtained byThe Washington Free Beacon, she stated: Today, I am canceling class in solidarity with collective calls for a Global Strike for Palestine . . . I mourn the fact that all universities in Gaza have been destroyed or demolished by Israeli military forces and operations.

Gonzales has also previously said that Israel and all those complicit in genocide and occupation can rot in the deepest darkest pits of hell, according toThe Washington Free Beacon.

Campus Reform has reached out to Cornell University and Wunpini F. Mohammed for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

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Posted By admin on March 13, 2024

An ad purchased by the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism that ran during the Academy Awards on Sunday is drawing criticism for depicting a bar mitzvah celebrated in a church.

Im sure they had decent intentions but this ad sends a poor message, wrote Dovid Bashevkin, director of education for NCSY. We are grateful to our non-Jewish neighbors, but we dont take kindly to seeing a bar mitzvah in a church.

Our history of forced conversion and assimilation makes such imagery honestly too painful to bear, he added.

Rabbi Shlomo Litvin, a Chabad rabbi in Kentucky called the ad absolutely moronic.

A bar mitzvah takes place in the middle of the night and gets a bomb threat, so they go next door to a church to finish the ceremony, he wrote. What in the ignorant savior foolishness motivated the script? Maybe stop Jew-hatred by meeting a Jew.

The ad states that 895 Jewish temples received bomb threats last year, adding that this is one of those stories.

Police cars rush to the synagogue and officers interrupt the service. The rabbi and congregants retreat to an adjacent church, as a SWAT team searches the building.

The commercial concludes with the rabbi stating in the church sanctuary, Thank you for welcoming us, before continuing with the bar mitzvah celebration.

Hate loses when we stand together, the ad states.

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Some Jews critical of 'Oscars' ad depicting bar mitzvah moving to a church - St. Louis Jewish Light

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Posted By admin on March 13, 2024

The UK Health Secretary Victoria Atkins announced intentions to "urgently" investigate Dr. Dimitrios Psaroudakis, a London-based gynecologist who claimed his local borough of Hammersmith would be better "Jew free," according to multiple media reports from Saturday.

Atkins told the Telegraph, As the Prime Minister set out on the steps of Downing Street last week, there are people whose ideology and dogma are in direct conflict with our shared values as a country."

Just as we will not stand for that across the country nor will I stand for that in our NHS, she said. I can assure [Sir Michael] I will be looking into this with great urgency and great care.

Atkins wrote to England's National Health Service and the General Medical Council, where she reportedly asserted that hate speech and support for extremism or terrorism are not compatible with the responsibilities and duties of healthcare professionals."

She also reportedly asked the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service to review the three-month suspension, which will expire in a few week's time, in favor of a more severe punishment.

Sir Michael Ellis, the former Conservative attorney general, was cited by the Telegraph as having expressed this doctor may be a danger to Jewish patients and called for a review of the tribunals grossly unreasonable decision before his suspension is up.

Citing the Telegraph's investigation, Ellis told the House of Commons, I am concerned this doctor may be a danger to Jewish patients, and Im also concerned that this tribunal is defective and their decision is grossly unreasonable.

The tribunal found that Psaroudakis had not been racist butcomfortable with using discriminatory language," the Jerusalem Post reported in February.

In addition to claiming that Hammersmith would be better "Jew free," Psaoudaki had previously described Jewish colleagues in emails as leprechaun[s], alky, s**t for brains and big nose, the Post reported.

The Mail also reported that the doctor had made a number of sexually explicit and sexist remarks, including sending an email that said, If we hire another woman, Im going to kill myself. It was also reported that the doctor had sent several sexually explicit messages about lube and gregging- an act that involves performing a sexual act on a stolen hat.

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Better 'Jew free': London doctor to be investigated by Health Secretary over antisemitism - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on March 13, 2024

The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

On March 12, 2024, the pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Sarh Al-Khilafa media outlet released a poster titled "Fight All The Polytheists." The poster praises the 15-year-old assailant who stabbed a 50-year-old Orthodox Jew, Meir Zvi Jung, in the Selnau area of Zrich, Switzerland,[1] as a response to ISIS Spokesman Abu Hudhayfah Al-Ansari's call to attack "Jews and their allies everywhere." Asserting that just as "the Jews, Christians and their allies" fight against the Muslims the world over, so must Muslims fight them wherever they are, the poster claims that "a Jew in Palestine or in China is an infidel whose blood is permissible." The poster concludes that "like they attack us, we will respond to their hostility, break their power, our fire won't be extinguished until we avenge our brothers sooner or later, as we will kill the men, capture the women and enslave the children, so wait, we are waiting with you."[2]

On March 11, the pro-ISIS Al-Murhafat media outlet released a poster featuring a quote by slain ISIS Spokesman Abu Muhammad Al-Adnani, calling on Muslims in "the Crusaders' countries" to carry out lone-wolf attacks, declaring that such attacks are more effective than ISIS operations in Syria and Iraq, and telling supporters in the West that "if one of you strives to reach the Islamic State, then one of us wishes to be in your place." Al-Adnani called to target civilians, as it is "more painful," and declared that there is no difference between armed or unarmed, woman or man. He also encouraged attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, saying: Perhaps you will attain great reward or martyrdom during Ramadan."[3]

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Pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Media Outlets Call On Muslims To Attack Jews And Christians In The West During Ramadan - Middle East Media Research Institute

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Posted By admin on March 13, 2024

Barricades stretched for a quarter mile along Roemer Ave. in Teaneck, N.J., on both sides of the street.

A spotlight camera stood sentry at the intersection outside the Congregation Keter Torah off New Bridge Road.

Tensions have been high in various corners of the township, home to a large Jewish community, since Hamas terrorists brutally attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

They have been even higher in the days since rumors surfaced that the synagogue was hosting a gathering of real estate agents on Sunday who will be selling land in Israel that was stolen from the Palestinians.

But thats not whats happening.

Not exactly.

But the internet can be a dangerous place.

And so can the world.

What is happening at the Great Israeli Real Estate Event, according to Juda Englemayer, a spokesman for the congregation, is that real estate agents from Israel will be showing off their projects in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

No one buys anything there, said Englemayer, who described the six-hour session as informational. There are no transactions taking place.

Englemayer also distanced the synagogue from the event, saying that Keter Torah was merely renting space to organizers, as it has done in the past.

He said this years event, which has been condemned by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other pro-Palestinian groups, is getting attention only because of the Israel-Gaza war.

Not to mention social media. News of the meeting went viral after local resident Rich Siegal blasted the town council for allowing it to take place.

If we allow this sale to go through, we are enabling a local synagogue to violate both domestic anti-discrimination laws and international law, Siegal said. Were not entitled to have a real estate event where we only invite Jews for properties that are only available to Jews where Arabs are being actively kicked out of their homes right now.

A video of his remarks garnered more than 120,000 views on Instagram.

But Teaneck Town Manager Dean Kazinci said the town has no power over how a private organization like a synagogue conducts its business.

It is a private event being hosted by a a private religious establishment, Kazinci said in a statement.

The Township of Teaneck is a large, diverse community, and we welcome the free exchange of ideas. We encourage all residents to be respectful of one another in a peaceful and orderly manner.

In other words, the town and the synagogue are washing their hands of the whole event.

Thats not good enough for residents like Sam Bruschansky, who lives across the street from Keter Torah and is worried about protesters who will practically be on his front lawn.

Bruschansky considers himself an American Jew, and doesnt feel like he and his neighbors should be targeted over what is happening in Israel.

I just dont like trouble on my doorstep, Bruschansky said. You think I want protesters at my door with little kids in my house? We might have to hunker down Sunday and not go anywhere.

The fallout over the event could end up being much ado about nothing. Much of the controversy can easily be attributed to misinformation.

But just because youre paranoid, it doesnt mean theyre not out to get you.

Ninety percent of the projects on display at the event are in Israel proper, Englemayer said. The rest are in West Bank territories, some of which remain in dispute.

At the very least, given the timing, Keter Torah could have skipped the event this year, and let the real estate agents book another venue. That would have kept the demonstrators away from Bruschanskys doorstep.

Tensions are high, and optics are everything.

And just because theres smoke, that doesnt always mean theres a fire. But sometimes, especially where matters involving Israel are concerned, the smoke is bad enough.

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LEONARD GREENE: Tensions rise in N.J. Jewish community over land for sale in Israel - New York Daily News

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Posted By admin on March 13, 2024

NEW YORK Emeritus Anti-Defamation League (ADL) director Abe Foxman said two things keep him up at night these days.

The deteriorating relationship between Israel and its one-and-only most important ally, the United States, and how the Jewish people will react to this explosion of antisemitism at the end of the day, Foxman told The Times of Israel.

Were fine now, but what happens if it continues? How will it end, and how will we survive? he wondered on the eve of the centerpiece events of the ADLs Never is Now conference in New York this week.

Having survived the Holocaust as a child and then worked in the Jewish world for over five decades, Foxman is now the organizations emeritus director, after being the national director for 27 years. In an in-depth conversation, he gave The Times of Israel a look into his perceptions of the post-October 7 world and the international climate of antisemitism.

Everyone (including this reporter) asks Foxman if he is surprised by the torrent of antisemitism that has seemingly engulfed the globe since thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed the border with Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 253 more to the Gaza Strip, most of them civilians.

But Foxman differentiates between surprised and shocked.

After 50 years of dealing with this subject, the answer is no, Im not surprised because those of us dealing with the subject professionally understood a long time ago that antisemitism is a disease without an antidote and without a vaccine. We reported on it, we monitored it, we recorded it we knew that it was there, that it was deep, and that it was serious.

The organized Jewish community developed a containment strategy if we cant eliminate antisemitism, at least lets contain it, Foxman said. Keep it in the sewers with the cover on. [This means] using every means available: media, coalitions, memory of the Shoah, the truth, threats of litigation.

He pointed out that in the over 100 years between the death of Leo Frank in 1915 to the massacre of the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, only three people were killed in the United States because they were Jewish.

Anti-Defamation League director emeritus Abraham Foxman. (Miriam Alster/Flash90/File)

So thats pretty good in terms of maintaining the community and safetybut it wasnt surprising that a trigger mechanism blew the covers off the sewers, Foxman said.

This containment strategy, Foxman contends, fell apart because of two major factors: the internet and an endorsement of the end of civility in American discourse. Foxman called the internet probably the most significant instrument that has given legitimacy to antisemitism its given it a superhighway, and a level of anonymity more than we ever could have imagined.

When it comes to civility in America, Foxman isnt afraid to use the T word Trump.

The lack of civility in America came as a result of Trumpism Trump legitimized it

The lack of civility in America came as a result of Trumpism Trump legitimized it, Foxman said. Once he broke all the taboos of whats acceptable and whats not, we [the Jews] were the first to go.

[The Unite the Right rally of white supremacists that resulted in two deaths in 2017 in] Charlottesville, he didnt create, but he gave them the hechsher, Foxman said, using the word for a kosher imprimatur of good standing. They felt, its okay to go out there and publicly be an antisemite.

Members of the KKK are escorted by police past a large group of protesters during a KKK rally, July 8, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

And skipping ahead to October 7, 2023, Foxman feels, there was fertile ground for antisemites.

So yes, Im not surprised, but I am shocked by the outpouring of antisemitism post-October 7, he said.

Im shocked by the intensity of the hate, Foxman said. We studied it, we knew it was coming from left and right, but what surprised me was the intensity of the hate and the intensity of the silence. Im shocked that you cannot find 10 organizations that we, the Jewish community, have stood within the last 50 years who stood up clearly with us in this moment.

In discussing the current climate of antisemitism at American elite institutions of higher education, Foxman noted the role of university Middle East centers set up by Arab institutions and donors decades ago.

What surprised me was the intensity of the hate and the intensity of the silence

On the face of it, it was benign, Foxman said, noting that even then, some universities approached the ADL asking for nondiscriminatory agreements with Arab countries so that these centers didnt discriminate against Jews. But we didnt prevent that, and the Middle East centers became Judenrein, with donations in some cases explicitly precluding Israel studies and faculty.

Todays academic climate, Foxman contended, is the result of a very deep investment of two generations of scholarship and inadequate parallel measures by the Jewish community.

A demonstrator holds a sign at the All out for Gaza protest at Columbia University in New York City on November 15, 2023. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP)

Id hear of a Jewish person donating $20 billion to a university and ask them, What condition did you put on it? and theyd say, None, Foxman said. You didnt ask for Jewish studies, Holocaust studies, Israel studies? No. So thats our failure, but we should understand that this is a result of 20, 30, 40 years of investment by the Arabs.

Foxman attributes current antisemitism on campus to a failure of administrative guts on the part of university administrations.

Its not about freedom of speech we know whats permitted to say and whats not, Foxman said. No one is going to protect the n-word under the auspices of freedom of speech, so no one should protect Gas the Jews. Its not about speech its about behavior.

Most universities, Foxman points out, have behavioral codes: You can protest and speak, but you cant stop someone else from going to class. They have the means to act, and theyre not acting, and thats whats so frustrating. We dont need task forces on antisemitism we need task forces on how universities can implement their own codes of behavior. The task forces, what are you going to do tell us whats going on? We all know whats going on. They have to develop consequences.

Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrators rally near Columbia University in New York on November 15, 2023. (Bryan R. Smith / AFP)

There needs to be accountability and consequences, Foxman said. Task forces on antisemitism arent giving anyone the responsibility to have accountability and consequences. They need to fulfill their responsibilities under all the tools they have already.

So how does the world put out the wildfires of hate or at least put the cover back on the flames to keep them from spreading?

I think we need to come together and build a new containment strategy, Foxman said. Im not sure I know what it is, because many of the elements that worked for us before no longer exist. The most important of those is truth antisemitism is the big lie, and you answer the big lie with the truth. But Trumpism destroyed truth.

We need to come together and build a new containment strategy

Foxman added that the disintegration of the media and civility also stripped those who would combat antisemitism of two important previous avenues of redress.

Coalitions are gone because were tribalistic. Civility is gone, he said. To build a new strategy will take an awful lot of creativity and putting back some of the things that weve lost.

The question to me, in this new onslaught against the Jews, is that its not about them its about us, Foxman said. How will we respond? Will we put on mezuzahs on our doorposts, or take them off?

So far, Jewish pride has blossomed in the wake of October 7.

The community around the world has stood up and said, I am a Jew. I want to be a Jew, Foxman said. Thats the test of the future: How proud will we be of our Jewishness, and to what extent will we stand up. Its not about what they do. Its terrible, its frightening, its debilitating, but you know what? We can overcome it. Its more about us than about them, and the signs now are very positive.

What Foxman fears, he confides, is Israel losing the United States as its ally.

US President Joe Biden, left, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, to discuss the the war between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 18, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Pool Photo via AP)

Were in a propaganda war, and to an extent, were losing the propaganda war, and I worry about losing America, Foxman said. Its scary, looking at the polls, the Sunday television shows, the major newspapers there is so much out there that is anti-Israel. Its misinformation and disinformation in ways you never could have imagined.

I dont worry about the world, I worry about the US, Foxman said of the future. The US is Israels most important ally, whether its politically, economically, militarily there is no one else. What worries me is that were losing it.

No matter where a person stands politically, Foxman states, on October 7, we were very lucky that Joe Biden was president of the United States.

Biden said to the world that America will not permit to happen to the Jews what it permitted to happen during World War II, Foxman said. He had a moral compass and stood up in a magnificent way, defending Israel and giving money but as the war goes on, its deteriorating.

Then-national director of the Anti-Defamation League Abraham Foxman, right, hands over the Joseph Prize For Human Rights to then-German chancellor Angela Merkel at the chancellery in Berlin, Wednesday, March 19, 2014. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber).

Now, Foxman said, the president is weak and has been politicized.

Constituents in Michigan and elsewhere whose support for Biden is wavering due to the presidents backing of Israel in the ongoing war in Gaza is really taking a toll, Foxman said. Look, to hear the vice president of the United States use ceasefire as the number one condition scared me. The word ceasefire is a code word for the victory of Hamas Its scary, and Im very worried.

The word ceasefire is a code word for the victory of Hamas

Foxman said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being used to legitimate anti-Israelism.

The irony is that while Bibi Netanyahu has, for years, been a major asset in the US-Israel relationship based on his leadership, articulation and many other factors, today hes become a liability, especially in the US, and people who are criticizing Israel equate the state with Netanyahu and the right-wing government, and thats a very serious problem for us, Foxman said.

A volunteer asks people to vote uncommitted, instead of for US President Joe Biden, outside of McDonald Elementary School in Dearborn during the Michigan presidential primary election on February 27, 2024. (JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP)

Foxman noted that before October 7, Biden had stated that Israels existence made Jews safe.

Zionism was our safe haven we need to be like all the other nations, and therefore we will be safe and secure, Foxman said. Ironically, what has happened is that Israel has become the Jew among the nations. We entered the community of nations, which was the dream of Zionism and Herzl, with a flag and anthem, et cetera and yet were being treated differently than any other nation.

What other nation in the world has no right to determine its own capital and has to defend its right to defend itself?

What other nation in the world has no right to determine its own capital and has to defend its right to defend itself? Foxman asked rhetorically. Who is telling Ukraine where to send its missiles, or that its too many innocent victims? Nobody. We are still the Jew among the nations.

Despite all this, Foxman is quick to point out that hes an optimist.

Jews dont have the luxury to be pessimists, Foxman smiled, quoting the late Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. I survived. I have no right to be a pessimist, and Im not one. Its tough and gets tougher, and I worry more, but okay. Were allowed to be worried. We also believe that out of tragedy, good can come. After destruction, we survive, then we rebuild.

The sense of hope, determination, continuum yes, thats all part of the secret of our survival, Foxman said. I wish the world wouldnt test us so often. Weve proven that we can be positive without the negative.

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Former ADL head Abe Foxman: 'Israel has become the Jew among the nations' - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on March 13, 2024

The Anti-Defamation League presented Jared Kushner with its inaugural Abraham Accord Champions Award on Wednesday in front of a crowd who received former President Donald Trumps son-in-law with mixed reactions.

Some people rose to give Kushner a standing ovation as he walked on stage. Several rows of attendees began exiting the room as Kushner began speaking. There was a heavy law enforcement presence in the room and three separate protestors were escorted out.

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt explained his decision to invite Kushner to speak ahead of his acceptance remarks.

"Our next speaker is someone who I disagree with strenuously. He worked for a White House that I consistently, and we at the ADL, publicly criticized in the strongest terms. And we've had more than enough phone calls," Greenblatt said. "But I invited him to speak here."

Greenblatt said he received calls questioning his choice. Part of the reason is because the ADL is not a partisan organization, he said.

ADL supporters are not from one political party, and Greenblatt said the ADL has always incorporated ideological diversity in its events.

"Another part of the answer is that we are living in an October 8 world, and I firmly believe that we as a Jewish community cannot afford to be divided," Greenblatt said. We do not have to agree on everything, but we cannot allow the partisanship and polarization that has poisoned so much of our society to poison us. We can't allow it to do the same to us. because, like it or not, we are in this together."

Greenblatt went on to call the Abraham Accords one of the most consequential foreign policy accomplishments of the US government over the last 50 years.

Kushner acknowledged that a stage at an ADL conference is the last place he expected to speak the words he's had on his mind since October 7.

Kushner spoke about the pain of the Jewish community following the attacks on October 7 and the challenges of antisemitism. He highlighted the accomplishments of influential Jewish people throughout history.

Kushner reflected on the process of working with his Arab counterparts in negotiating the terms of the Abraham Accords and the success the diplomacy has brought to the region.

"When I started my diplomacy in the Middle East, it was not lost on me that I was a Jewish American, working with Muslim leaders to make breakthroughs that many members of both of our religions thought were impossible," Kushner said. "The approach I took was different from those before me."

Kushner criticized liberal women's groups for being silent about the sexual violence Hamas committed against Israeli women, and he criticized the UN for issuing more resolutions condemning Israel than North Korea or Iran. Kushner also called for the dissolution of UNRWA.

"I challenge the United Nations to take a single year off from focusing on the sole Jewish member state and, instead, work on some of the other vexing problems we have in the world," Kushner said. "Sometimes condemnation is needed. But in most cases, constructive engagement will create better outcomes in clear, mutual understanding, and more importantly, our goal of the elimination of antisemitic thoughts, sentiments, and statements."

Kushner said he's grateful for the many non-Jewish people who have stood out publicly as allies to the Jewish people.

"My heart goes out to the Palestinian people. They could use better friends as well," Kushner said. "Supporters who wish to see them thrive are wasting their efforts by scapegoating Israel. They must demand accountability from Palestinian leaders and expect civil behavior from their citizenry.

Kushner then acknowledged his father-in-law, saying people can think whatever they want about Donald Trump, but that he is not an antisemite.

Some audience members loudly booed at this remark.

"For me, the condemnation by some Jewish groups of a man I know who blessed my wife converting to Judaism, or wore yarmulke when he walked down the aisle at our wedding, who proudly attended the brit milah of his grandson - his Jewish grandson - and who has always been a strong and vocal supporter for the Jewish people in the State of Israel, was confusing," Kushner said.

The result of Trump's presidency speaks loudly, Kushner said, and he went on to highlight Trump's sanctions on Iran, move the embassy to Jerusalem, and return the Golan Heights to Israel.

Kushner also said Trump foresaw the growing antisemitism on college campuses, which he completed with an executive order - which the ADL supported - to force universities to provide equal protection to Jewish students being discriminated against.

Kushner expressed his reluctance of accepting the award and speaking at the conference as he grew skeptical of the ADL, viewing it as a political organization.

However, Kushner said he believed Greenblatt's genuine desire for a partnership to fight antisemitism that transcends political ideology.

"After all, how can we ask others to stand with the Jewish people if we cannot stand with each other? We cannot let this be about politics. This is about the Jews," Kushner said. "If Jews cannot look past their partisan beliefs to acknowledge positive efforts on behalf of the Jewish people, then we will be doomed to history repeating itself as it has time and time again."

Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Coalition of America, criticized the ADL's decision to host Kushner in a post on X following his remarks.

"For the record, I care how you vote. And I can't fathom why anyone would normalize a former president who mocked Israel, praised terrorists, incited an insurrection, emboldens antisemites, aligns with Putin, refuses to condemn white supremacy, pledges to be a 'dictator on day one,' and called 75% of us 'disloyal,'" Soifer said.

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ADL CEO defends choice inviting keynote speaker Jared Kushner - The Jerusalem Post

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