07/15 Links Pt1: Douglas Murray: What is the point of the New York Times?; Gil Troy: Lies my anti-annexationists allies told me; Turkey is increasingly becoming a threat to Israel

From Ian:

---

Douglas Murray: What is the point of the New York Times?

Some time ago I became aware that I no longer trusted it even on issues that I didn’t know about. Because on every issue I did know about, I discovered that the paper was spreading untruths and lies. Take the bizarre animus against Britain (which I have written about a number of times here). It appears that the NYT at some stage made a decision that Brexit had something to do with Trump, and since the NYT hated Trump, it must not just report negatively against Brexit Britain, but campaign against it. Its London ‘correspondents’ must be among the least informed and most campaign-minded journalists in the paper’s history. The misinformation that the NYT has now published against this country is so extraordinary that nobody who actually knows the UK could possibly trust its coverage. And if you see that this is the case with things you do know about, then why would you remotely trust the NYT on things you don’t know about? And at that stage, what is the point of the paper? It’s not as though it is worth reading for the wit.

Anyhow – after recent sackings at the paper (relating to the publication of a perfectly reasonable opinion piece by Senator Tom Cotton) it became clear that Bari Weiss was one of the last couple of liberal voices (in the true sense) left at the paper. And as you could see from the deranged online behaviour of her colleagues towards her, it was clear she was not going to be long for the role.

Her resignation letter is damning. She alleges ‘constant bullying by colleagues.’ And in a memorable line she says, ‘Twitter is not on the masthead of the New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor.’ Ouch.

Of course there will doubtless now be more bullying and hectoring. All once again done by ‘liberal’ voices presuming that they are acting in the name of good. It is an extraordinary thing this, and in some ways emblematic of the age. Publications like the NYT, who profess to be most opposed to ‘fake news’, continuously turn out to have been the era’s biggest purveyors of the thing they complain of. And campaigning journalists, imagining that they are acting in the name of decency, turn out to behave so indecently that they bully out a minority, dissenting opinion from their ranks.

Bari Weiss has a bright future ahead of her. The same cannot be said of the paper she has just left.

Commentary Magazine Podcast: The Resignation Heard Round the Woke World

New York Times opinion editor Bari Weiss has resigned her post and, in so doing, indicted the entire enterprise of modern journalism and its woke arbiters. The podcast on that and the epistemological crisis afflicting the left.

Josh Hammer: Bari Weiss is a casualty of the Left’s woke culture war

In a sense, I am a rather unusual spokesperson for the idea that a morally neutral discursive pluralism is an inherently valuable end unto itself. Indeed, I have spent no shortage of (digital) ink arguing, in accordance with the natural and common law traditions, for the imperative of making moral judgments based on the underlying substantive content of a certain modality of speech.

But, again, I am a conservative. Bari Weiss is a liberal. And all of us, outside the echo chambers of oppressive “wokeness” that constitute the Left’s self-congratulatory institutional bastions, have an acute interest in aiding the liberals mount a comeback in their civil war struggle.

A viable Right and a viable Left have historically existed in a relationship that is, ironically, simultaneously adversarial and symbiotic. Partisans of both camps have not shied away, when need be, from the grueling work required by intellectual fisticuffs in the public square. But, crucially, both camps have also depended upon one another to refine their arguments. There is to be no argumentative refinement, alas, when the Left is overrun by the Jacobins. Robespierre was not known to take kindly to heterodoxy.

For traditional liberals, the choice is clear. As Yoram Hazony frames it, liberals can either submit to the Left or make common cause with conservatives, traditionalists, and nationalists in our struggle against the successor ideology.
Liberals have two choices:
1 Submit to the Left.
2 Alliance with nationalists, conservatives, and Christians.
There are no other choices.— Yoram Hazony (@yhazony) June 13, 2020

In making such a choice, liberals should bear in mind that they, too, will be made to care. For liberal Jews, like Weiss, the choice is even clearer. The successor ideology mollycoddles inveterate Jew-haters, peddles an intersectionality that is inherently at loggerheads with the very notion of Jewish particularism, and cavils when a proud Jewish commentator “writ[es] about the Jews again.” The successor ideology has no tolerance whatsoever for Zionism, the Jewish people’s right to national self-determination in their ancient homeland.
Cory Booker Talking by the Forward

Perhaps a more pluralistic, intellectually diverse “mainstream media” opinion will emerge from the ashes of this rock bottom. For now, the Jacobins have found the proverbial guillotine. And in forcing out Weiss, an anodyne, centrist Jewish woman, the radicals have clarified for all to see the battle lines now drawn in the fight for a nation’s soul.

Je suis Bari Weiss.

Judith Miller: The Illiberal Liberal Media

In her letter, Weiss wrote that she had joined the paper to help publish “voices that would not otherwise appear in the paper of record, such as first-time writers, centrists, conservatives and others who would not naturally think of the Times as their home.” She had been hired, she wrote, after the paper failed to anticipate Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory because it “didn’t have a firm grasp of the country it covers.” But after three years at the paper, she wrote in her open letter, Weiss had concluded, “with sadness,” that she could no longer perform this mission at the nation’s ostensible paper of record, given the bullying that she had experienced within the newsroom and the almost daily attacks on her, often from Times colleagues, on social media. She deplored the paper’s unwillingness to defend her or act to stop the online intimidation. “They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m ‘writing about the Jews again,’” she wrote.

Her criticism of Sulzberger rang true to several Times veterans, who note that he has been accused before of yielding to disgruntled liberal staff members. A publisher said to have intervened often in the paper’s news decisions, Sulzberger initially defended James Bennet and the decision to publish the Cotton op-ed, for instance. But faced with a staff revolt, he criticized the essay and the paper’s publication of it, saying that the editorial process had been too “rushed” and that the essay “did not meet our standards.”

Weiss’s departure was quickly hailed by her many critics within and outside of the paper on social media, among them Glenn Greenwald, who has called her a “hypocrite” for her alleged efforts to suppress Arab professors while in college, and for her defense of Israel and some of its controversial policies as a newspaper writer. But her stinging letter rang true to many others, among them former presidential aspirant Andrew Yang and talk-show host Bill Maher. “As a longtime reader who has in recent years read the paper with increasing dismay over just the reasons outlined here, I hope this letter finds receptive ears at the paper. But for the reasons outlined here, I doubt it,” Maher wrote on Twitter.

Her resignation was also lamented by such leading right-of-center thinkers as Glenn Loury. “What a shame—for the country, and on the Times,” wrote Loury, an economics professor at Brown University, in an email. Calling Weiss “courageous,” he added that while the climate she described at the paper was “no surprise,” that it had “driven her to this point is, indeed, shocking.” He also noted that Weiss was one of the few Times writers to sign the controversial “Harpers letter,” which he speculated might have been “the last straw” for the paper.

I can't handle this much pro-Israelism. pic.twitter.com/z2RoAY6Ei1

— Noam Blum (@neontaster) July 15, 2020

Read More

The mainstream media was completely irrelevant throughout the entire Nick Cannon story

As I was discussing the Nick Cannon story last night with Dovid Efune of the Algemeiner, I complained that the mainstream media was ignoring the story of a very famous person publicly spreading hate. (Starts at about 18:00)

I take this personally. On Saturday night, Judean People’s Front tweeted the details of the offensive video, and I put together a post about it on Sunday morning. My intent was to get the story trending in major media – it is clearly newsworthy. I pushed the story to the major news media.

And they ignored it.

Sunday afternoon Jewish Insider and the Jerusalem Post ran with the story, and other Jewish and Israeli media followed. But for two more days, every wire service, major newspaper and magazine and TV network remained silent even as social media attention kept increasing.

Efune told me that sometimes they take their time, but not to be upset – because before citizen journalism, stories like these would never get out at all. The news was completely controlled by the major media and they were the gatekeepers of what is and isn’t news. News bloggers like me are critical components of the news cycle nowadays.

Minutes after our conversation came the news that Viacom/CBS had fired Cannon. This is before major media had covered the story at all. The decision was not made because of national attention.

The entire cycle of the story – the outrageous antisemitism, people getting upset, other people defending Cannon’s racism, Cannon’s refusal to apologize, Viacom/CBS terminating their relationship with Cannon – happened over the course of 60 hours while consumers of traditional media missed it all.

What should have been a media-driven story ended up happening and partially resolving without the media.

Consumers of news media should be upset. They pay money to get the news, and the news they will read today (when US newspapers and wire services finally cover it) will be about a story that played out over two and a half days without a single mention. Whether they purposefully wanted to downplay or bury the story, as I suspect, is not so relevant any more – because news bloggers like me now have the power to make a story too big for them to ignore.  (Sometimes. There are plenty of stories I break that do not get any traction.)

Either way, this Cannon story shows that the days that the traditional news media calls the shots are over. Their influence is still huge, of course, and people will rely on them as their major or only news source for years to come. But they can no longer be the gatekeepers, and their attempts to minimize a story like this one ends up making them look like they are out of touch – or worse, pushing an agenda of denying their readers stories that they think are better left unreported.

Read More

EU says it rejects unilateral moves in Area C - while funding unilateral moves in Area C

 

On May 16, the EU’s High Representative Josep Borrell said in a statement, “We are convinced that we need to work towards bringing a solution to the Palestinian issue and we reaffirm our position in support of a negotiated Two-State solution. For this to be possible, unilateral actions from either side should be avoided and, for sure, international law should be upheld.”

Yesterday, the EU announced it will support 16 new infrastructure projects for Palestinians in Area C.

 

The European Union, Denmark, and the Palestinian Authority launched today the implementation of a €5.8 million agreement to build 16 social and public infrastructure projects in Area C. This contribution represents a new package of the European Union Area C Development Programme in the West Bank.

This package is the fifth of its kind to serve public infrastructure projects in Area C. It will fund the completion of 16 social infrastructure projects in 15 localities across the West Bank benefiting over 24,000 Palestinian living in Area C. These projects include schools, roads, multipurpose buildings, water distribution networks, water reservoirs and rehabilitation of electricity networks. This contribution brings the total amount of the programme to €15.2 million intended to build 58 social infrastructure projects in 46 localities. The European Union Area C Programme is funded by the European Union and Member States.

Anyone see a contradiction here?

The EU claims to be against unilateral actions from either side – yet it supports, encourages and funds unilateral actions from the Palestinians.

Under the same international law that the EU pretends to care about, if Area C is legally considered to be occupied, Israel has the obligation – not the right, but the obligation – to administer the lands under the same laws that had been in place in the area previously. In this case it is a mix of Jordanian, British and Ottoman laws. Only Israel can legally issue permits for building.

The EU has every right to object that the permits are not given out fairly. But it has no right under the law to illegally build – unilaterally.

Meir Deutsch, Director General of the Regavim NGO that monitors and documents violations of law in the territories said, “The absurdity of today’s announcement would be laughable if it weren’t so insidious. Claiming, on the one hand, that it condemns unilateral steps, in the very same breath the statement outlines a host of projects that will create facts on the ground and lay the groundwork for the creation of a Palestinian state in Area C . In other words – we will not recognize any changes unless they are changes we make.”

Regavim added a further irony: “Oddly, the EU and its member states don’t find the housing, education, employment, water infrastructure or electricity grid in Areas A and B, the areas of Judea and Samaria under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction, worthy of similar investment.

Even more oddly, the EU seems unperturbed by the massive worldwide financial crisis caused by the corona pandemic and seems to have no qualms about diverting European taxpayers’ money to create new ‘villages’ in previously uninhabited areas of Judea and Samaria. “

Here are some EU-funded projects deliberately being built on IDF training grounds in Judea and Samaria  (photos provided by Regavim.)

 

 

 

 

This is the definition of unilateralism – and land theft.

Read More

Nick Cannon pretends to be the victim, says Viacom/CBS is racist for firing him

Nick Cannon has released a long statement about CBS firing him. It shows that he has absolutely no clue or regrets about his bigotry and racism and instead wants to position himself as a victim of anti-Black racism.

I am deeply saddened in a moment so close to reconciliation that the powers that be, misused an important moment for us to all grow closer together and learn more about one another. Instead the moment was stolen and highjacked to make an example of an outspoken black man. I will not be bullied, silenced, or continuously oppressed by any organization, group, or corporation. I am disappointed that Viacom does not understand or respect the power of the black community.

You see? His calling Jews and whites “savages” and spouting Rothschild conspiracy theories that have resulted in the deaths of untold numbers of people was really an opportunity for growth! A corporation that doesn’t want to be associated with blind hate is “oppressing” him.

I don’t have to defend myself here, the proof is in the history. I believed that the corporation was becoming more progressive and willing to create helpful spaces and dialogue in these difficult and uncertain times of 2020. Instead they chose to recently ban all advertisement that supported George Floyd and Breonna Taylor who we are all still seeking justice for. I also went as far to reach out to Ms. Shari Redstone, the owner of Viacom, to have a conversation of reconciliation and actually apologize if I said anything that pained or hurt her or her community. Dead Silence! So that’s when I realized they don’t want a conversation or growth, they wanted to put the young negro in his place. They wanted to show me who is boss, hang me out to dry and make an example of anyone who says something they don’t agree with. But like the great Shirley Chisholm, “I am unbossed and unbought and unbothered”. I respectfully stepped away from oppressive corporations in the past. NBC threatened and mistreated me for years, but I was the bigger person and abandoned an 8-figure salary on their number one hit show “Americas Got Talent” and currently stand by my friend and Queen Gabrielle Union in her fight against oppression.

Cannon’s lack of ability to understand the racism and hate he was proudly and laughingly engaged in, and instead to play the victim, is breathtaking. And to say that a corporation that paid him an 8-figure salary (!) and made him into a household name was mistreating him is the definition of tone deaf. (And apparently NBC wasn’t so oppressive because his new E! show is put out by NBCUniversal.)

My hope and original goal was to use this moment to show healing and acceptance and prayed that Viacom would use their powers for good. Instead I am now receiving death threats, hate messages calling me an ungrateful Nigger and beyond. Viacom’s goal to keep me from providing for my family and lineage will be foiled. They can try to kick me while I’m down or force me to kiss the master’s feet in public for shame and ridicule, but instead I stand firm on my square with my fist in the air repeating my mantra, “You can’t fire a Boss!”.

Obviously any abuse he received is unwarranted and wrong. Yet again this is disingenuous – his fans abused the real victims of this episode, the Jews and others who were maligned publicly by Cannon. All over social media, Cannon’s fans asserted that his words were true and that Jews were slave traders, fake Khazars, abusers of blacks, melatonin-deprived savages. Cannon did not say a word to dissuade them – because these are his own deeply held beliefs as well.

In a pleasant turn of events and the best blessing in all of this hurtful attack is the outpouring of love and support from the Jewish community. It has been amazing. I have spoken with many Rabbis, clergy, Professors and coworkers who offer their sincere help. I must apologize to my Jewish Brothers and Sisters for putting them in such a painful position, which was never my intention, but I know this whole situation has hurt many people and together we will make it right. I have dedicated my daily efforts to continuing conversations to bring the Jewish Community and the African American community closer together, embracing our differences and sharing our commonalities. Through the guidance of my multicultural team which embodies several people from the Jewish Community, specifically Michael Goldman my business partner for 3 decades who discovered me at the Hollywood Improv when I was doing Stand Up as a kid. Through thick and thin he has been by my side. Yelling at me when I talk too much and laughing with me as we’ve always overcome adversity together. I love you my brother, thank you for helping me become the man that I am today. And as we embark on this next “Ncredible” journey together we will bring our two persecuted communities together like we always planned. He and so many gracious people from the Jewish Community are showering me with love and helping to guide me to the Promise land, literally l am excited to announce that I have been invited to Israel which is a lifelong dream where I will receive teachings, lessons and truth about the Jewish history. As someone who is in pursuit for my PHD in Theology and Divinity and just received a degree in Criminal Justice from the Great Howard University, this will be an enriching, enlightening and overall exciting trip!

As for Viacom, who is now on the wrong side of history, I will continue to pray for you. I don’t blame any individual, I blame the oppressive and racist infrastructure. Systemic racism is what this world was built on and was the subject in which I was attempting to highlight in the recent clips that have been circulating from my podcast. If I have furthered the hate speech, I wholeheartedly apologize.

But now I am the one making demands. I demand full ownership of my billion dollar “Wild ‘N Out” brand that I created, and they will continue to misuse and destroy without my leadership! I demand that the hate and back door bullying cease and while we are at it, now that the truth is out, I demand the Apology!

Cannon claims that he wants to learn, and this is a wonderful message, but his refusal to even acknowledge the pain he directly caused to Jews with his words indicates the opposite.  And while he finally issues the standard celebrity non-apology “if I offended anyone I apologize” his immediately following that up with his “demands” indicates that there is nothing heartfelt about this at all.

There is of course a danger in “canceling” him, which is that is can increase antisemitism from the Black community. But Cannon leaves his corporate sponsors no choice. Perhaps he honestly thinks that his call for education can replace a real apology, but in the end he really and truly believes that Jewish people are fakers, white people are savages and that a secret Jewish banking cabal runs the world. He has not made the slightest indication that those opinions have been modified the tiniest bit in the past three days.

In the end, Cannon remains is a racist and an antisemite. And his essay proves that he is a bully on top of it.

Read More

EoZTV: Algemeiner’s Dovid Efune

 

We discussed black antisemitism, Bari Weiss, why the New York Times allows its editorial page to be so far Left,  and Peter Beinart.

This was right before Viacom/CBS announced they will fire Nick Cannon. I expressed frustration that the mainstream media had not yet covered the Cannon story that I was pushing so hard since Sunday; Dovid assured me that nowadays bloggers are often the ones who are the real news sources and the MSM will inevitably follow. He was proven right within an hour after the show aired - clearly Viacom/CBS didn't wait for any newspapers or wire services to carry the story before deciding to fire him.  (As of this writing, British newspapers, entertainment media and Time magazine have the story.)

Read More

Viacom/CBS fires Nick Cannon for antisemitism; will @FoxTV, @NBCUniversal and @Power106LA follow?

On Tuesday night, Viacom/CBS announced that they will terminate their relationship with Nick Cannon, whose antisemitic and racist comments were posted here on Sunday morning.

ViacomCBS condemns bigotry of any kind and we categorically denounce all forms of anti-Semitism. We have spoken with Nick Cannon about an episode of his podcast ‘Cannon’s Class’ on YouTube, which promoted hateful speech and spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. While we support ongoing education and dialogue in the fight against bigotry, we are deeply troubled that Nick has failed to acknowledge or apologize for perpetuating anti-Semitism, and we are terminating our relationship with him. We are committed to doing better in our response to incidents of anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry. ViacomCBS will have further announcements on our efforts to combat hate of all kinds.

While I am not happy with cancel culture, from Viacom/CBS’ point of view it is too toxic to be associated with a bigot.
There is no way that Fox can continue having Cannon as host of The Masked Singer after Viacom/CBS already fired him. It is not s good look to appear to be more tolerant of antisemitism than another network.
That leaves Los Angeles radio station Power 106, where Cannon has a daily radio show. That show probably provides a decent chunk of the station’s revenue and firing him would be very expensive. It will be interesting to see how they handle this, but you can be sure they are not too happy about this.
Cannon had just been profiled Tuesday by Fast Company in a fawning piece that was written before they became aware of his racism.  That article details Cannon’s other shows and businesses.

Nick Cannon has guided his career with a modest goal in mind: “to become the most powerful man in media.”
Judging by his current résumé, he seems to be on track.
In addition to hosting and executive producing Fox’s The Masked Singer, MTV’s Wild ‘n Out, and E!’s newest show, Celebrity Call Center, Cannon also launched two nationally syndicated radio shows this year on top of his #1 show on Power 106, Nick Cannon Mornings.
Of course, the above doesn’t include his film and music career that spans two decades—not to mention his businesses outside of media, which include a Los Angeles-based vegan soul food restaurant he launched this year, and his line of headphones that have generated more than $80 million in revenue.
It’s an already dizzying track record, but Cannon is about to add what he hopes will become the crown jewel of his empire to tie it all together: his nationally syndicated daytime talk show Nick Cannon premiering in September.

E! is owned by NBC Universal., so Celebrity Call Center seems to be in danger as well.
Cannon’s his headphone business is probably safe, and the poor victim of the Rothschild plot against him will have to survive on the millions that he makes a year from that.

Read More

07/14 Links Pt2: BDS Leader Shredded by Missouri State Representatives; Bari Weiss resigns from NYTs: 'Twitter has become its ultimate editor'; Jonathan Tobin: Don't accept the myth of 'Jewish privilege'

From Ian:

---

Missouri enacts anti-BDS law, joining 31 other states

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, signed a bill into law on Monday to prohibit the state contracting with companies that boycott Israel. As such, it has become the 32nd state to enact an anti-BDS measure.

The state’s House of Representatives passed the measure, 95-40, in May. The state Senate passed it, 28-1, on April 30.

The Anti-Discrimination Against Israel Act prohibits Missouri and its political subdivisions from entering into contracts worth more than $100,000 with companies with 10 or more employees that engage in BDS.

Moreover, it exercises the state’s freedom to choose firms for contracts. It does not penalize or infringe on any individual’s right to free expression or penalize companies that choose not to do business with Israel for legitimate economic reasons.

In a statement, Christians United for Israel (CUFI) founder and chairman Pastor John Hagee said the legislation makes “clear that Missouri will not be party to the economic warfare waged by Israel’s detractors. Missourians can now rest assured that their tax dollars will not be used in furtherance of the anti-Semitic movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel.”

Canary Mission: BDS Leader Shredded by Missouri State Representatives

In May 2020, the State of Missouri passed an anti-BDS bill. The vote passed after State Representatives expressed their shock that key witness and BDS promoter, Neveen Ayesh, had lied to them.

'Twitter has become its ultimate editor': Opinion editor Bari Weiss resigns from New York Times

A New York Times opinion writer and editor announced her resignation on Tuesday, castigating the newspaper for its obsequious embrace of social media.

Bari Weiss, who had been at the newspaper since 2017, posted her resignation letter, which was addressed to A.G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher, on her personal website.

"Twitter is not on the masthead of the New York Times," she wrote. "But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions."

Weiss noted the vitriol she faced from coworkers who disagreed with her columns and viewpoints. She also specified how her frequent columns about Judaism and anti-Semitism were derided by others in the newsroom.

"My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m 'writing about the Jews again,'" she added. "Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers. My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in."

She said the behavior of her former colleagues amounted to "unlawful discrimination, hostile work environment, and constructive discharge. I’m no legal expert. But I know that this is wrong."

Bari Weiss's resignation letter confirms everything conservatives suspected about the New York Times

Weiss’s letter continues, alleging that the New York Times’s breakneck descent these past few years into left-wing purism has been fueled largely by activist staffers, social media, and the cowardice of the paper’s senior executives.

“Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times,” she writes. “But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space.”

Weiss notes, “Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions.”

These trends at the New York Times have been obvious to anyone with working eyeballs.

However, Weiss continues, there is the issue that many may not know about, and that is the issue of the paper’s hostile workplace environment. She claims she was targeted specifically because she did not share her colleagues’ politics.

Weiss writes:
My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m 'writing about the Jews again.' Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers. My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in. There, some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly 'inclusive' one, while others post ax emojis next to my name. Still other New York Times employees publicly smear me as a liar and a bigot on Twitter with no fear that harassing me will be met with appropriate action. They never are.
[...]
All this bodes ill, especially for independent-minded young writers and editors paying close attention to what they’ll have to do to advance in their careers. Rule One: Speak your mind at your own peril. Rule Two: Never risk commissioning a story that goes against the narrative. Rule Three: Never believe an editor or publisher who urges you to go against the grain. Eventually, the publisher will cave to the mob, the editor will get fired or reassigned, and you’ll be hung out to dry.

The full letter: Bari Weiss on why she left the New York Times

Eliot Engel and the vanishing pro-Israel Jewish Liberal

Is it possible to be an American Jew who proudly and emphatically supports the State of Israel while embracing the values of the left? The takeover of the Democratic Party by the ideologues of intersectionality and other far-left philosophies is making this proposition increasingly untenable.

Recent developments have rendered public representatives of the liberal but pro-Israel approach a nearly endangered political species. This trend, which shows every sign of gathering momentum, will have implications not only for American politics but for the American Jewish community itself.

One would have to be in serious denial to think that Bowman will be a friend of Israel in Congress. To the contrary, he will likely align with the “Squad” on Israel.

The recent nationwide unrest and nearly wholesale adoption by Democrats of the radical ideology fueling it have made it apparent to all but the most fervent denialists that postmodern progressivism refuses to accommodate the kind of support for Israel that was once practically taken as a given.

Few politicians have exemplified the combination of liberalism and support for Israel the way congressman Eliot Engel (D) has during his more than 30 years on Capitol Hill, most recently representing New York’s 16th district.

It now appears that his career came to a sudden end with the closing of the polls in his party’s recent primary. As of this writing, although mail-in ballots are still being counted, it seems extremely unlikely that Engel will overcome the lead of his far-left challenger, Jamaal Bowman. By the time this article is posted, the final results will probably be known.

With Bowman's win, he and the far-left forces backing him will have succeeded in taking out one of the most influential pro-Israel Jewish politicians in the Democratic Party, who currently serves as Chairman of the important House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Engel’s defeat is problematic enough on its own for those who believe that the synthesis he represents is still viable, but more is at stake since his party’s base has been all but captured by the likes of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Read More

AFP reports on PA arresting “pro-annexation” Palestinians

(illustrative)

Usually international media ignores Palestinian abuses against their own people, so kudos to AFP for this story (which was in Israeli media weeks ago):

The Palestinian Authority has arrested several people who said they would favour Israeli annexations in parts of the West Bank, corroborating sources say, despite Ramallah's denial.

In an Israeli television report aired in early June, several Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are heard expressing the hope of becoming Israelis if annexation under a US-Israeli plan moves forward.

The comments by those interviewed directly contradict the Palestinian Authority's (PA's) total opposition to any West Bank annexations, a view shared by an overwhelming majority of the Palestinian public, according to surveys.

The Palestinians featured in the programme were captured by hidden camera and their identities concealed in the broadcast through blurred faces and distorted voices.

"I want an Israeli identity card," one Palestinian is heard saying. Another stated that he didn't see "Israelis as enemies -- their government is the enemy". And a third said he "chose Israel" and wasn't afraid to speak out publicly.

The prominent Israeli journalist who made the report, Tzvi Yehezkeli, said at least six people who spoke out in favour of annexation were subsequently arrested by the PA's security services.

"I was surprised to see that even though I've blurred the faces of all the people I filmed and distorted their voices, the Authority has reached and arrested (some) of them, it's just amazing," he told AFP.

…

Yehezkeli, who has been a correspondent in the Palestinian territories for nearly 25 years, told AFP he realised there are also many Palestinians who do not share the outright opposition of their leaders.

Some interviewees had told him that "we don't care about annexation" and that "the Palestinian Authority has failed" and was "corrupt", he said, adding that he regretted not airing all those comments on television.

He insisted he had been told of their subsequent arrests by their families and stressed that he felt "responsible".

One Palestinian contacted by AFP said his relative, who had criticised the PA in the report, had been held for several weeks by Palestinian police and was due to face a court soon.

The individual said he was also in favour of annexation and, despite "fear" of being arrested, added he remained hopeful "that Israel will give us citizenship".

Who knows, maybe Human Rights Watch will even cover this one day.

Read More

The Official EoZ Intersectionality Victimhood Calculator version 2.0

In 2018, I created the first EoZ Intersectionality Victimhood Calculator. As I wrote then,

All that matters in any conflict - from mere arguments on Twitter to large scale wars - is to understand which side is perceived to be the bigger victim. The victim always wins in the court of public opinion run by most of the media, academia and diplomats. Here is my attempt on calculating who is the perceived underdog, and therefore the more righteous, of each side in any conflict. The more you think about it, the more it reflects reality:

Attribute	Victimhood score
Trans	8
Black	8
Native American or other First People	7
Woman	6
Gay	6
Muslim	5
Arab, other Middle Eastern	5
Hispanic	4
Disabled, pregnant	4
Anti-Zionist Jew	4
Wears hijab	2
Palestinian	2
Asian American	1
White	-1
Republican or conservative	-3
Christian (white only)	-3
Jew	-3
Visibly religious Jew	-3
Jewish settler	-6
Identifies proudly as Zionist*	-8
Trump supporter	-8
White nationalist/neo Nazi	-18

Multiple attributes are summed. So for example, a female Muslim Palestinian Arab who wears a hijab has a  victimhood score of 6+5+5+2+2, 20 in total, which is quite high. (If she is disabled and lesbian, the score soars to 30, meaning that she almost automatically wins the victimhood sweepstakes against anyone - unless the other person is similar but transsexual instead of lesbian.) The score depends on how you are perceived. So if you only start identifying as a member of a victim group later in life, as long as no one knows any different, you are in. This also applies to those who are half-or-quarter members of the oppressed group.

This calculator has been remarkably accurate. For example, Ilhan Omar ended up being a victim when Jews complained about her antisemitic statements, and Congress ended up not censuring her but instead released a statement that she could support.

There is one major revision that is needed, though, as I mentioned in my interview with Hen Mazzig this week. The attribute “*identifies proudly as a Zionist” needs a more complex calculation beyond its –8 score.

If someone has any positive victimhood scores, and they are also Zionist, their positive attributes become negative attributes of the same magnitude. Being a Zionist doesn’t blunt the victimhood scores, it inverts them.

This is why Hen Mazzig is so loathed by the Left. He is one of many pro-Israel speakers and advocates – you can list Alan Dershowitz or Bret Stephens, for example. But the Left hates Hen because he is a person of color and gay, and they feel that he is betraying them by showing that Israel is a tolerant state and the “victims” can be Zionists. (Kweansmom put out a thread from last year showing just a small but of how Mazzig was discussed last year – with so much hate that his critics couldn’t even stand to write out his name and used his initials.)

This is why women who are Zionists are sent so many sexist comments. I don’t get any, but female Zionists on Twitter are targeted with vile attacks.

This is why Professor Jason Hill was literally censured by his college for writing an article that supported Israel extending sovereignty over Judea and Samaria last year.  The reaction was much more vitriolic  than it would have been otherwise because Hill is a person of color, an immigrant and gay. 

There is a rich irony here in that the very people who pretend to be on the side of minorities and LGBTQ and women are incensed that these people dare think on their own, in ways that do not have the socialist stamp of approval. Their hysterical reactions prove that they are the bigots.

So while I might be a –18,  Hen would be a –22 and Hill would be a –25. I’m just a Zionist – but they are perceived as traitors.

Read More

07/14 Links Pt1: David Friedman: Israel will always be a Jewish state; Dershowitz: Beinart's Final Solution: End Israel as Nation-State of the Jewish People

From Ian:

---

David Friedman: Israel will always be a Jewish state

The insanity of Beinart’s position is that he believes a bi-national state, which will destroy Israel, is the appropriate outcome that should result from the failure of the two-state solution. But why has that solution failed? Because the Palestinian leadership has refused offer after offer, because it pays terrorists to kill Israelis, because it incites hatred against Jews, and because it is deeply unpopular, corrupt and cruel to its own people. Beinart’s solution: let’s reward the Palestinian leadership for its malfeasance and give them control of not just Judea and Samaria but potentially all of Israel itself!

The two-state solution is not dead, it has just morphed from an unattainable illusion to a pragmatic and realistic plan to end a century-old conflict. President Trump’s Vision for Peace proposes an achievable means for the Palestinians to self-govern within the bulk of Judea and Samaria without jeopardizing Israel’s security.

The Palestinian people have the opportunity today for real independence and to put an end, once and for all, to the hatred and violence that has impeded their advancement. The world stands by with an offer of massive financial assistance in the form of investment, not handouts, so that legitimate Palestinian aspirations may be realized. Sadly, the Palestinian leadership appears poised to miss this opportunity just as it has missed every other opportunity since 1947.

The answer to the Palestinian leadership’s antisemitic prejudice and bad faith rejection is not Israel’s disappearance. Israel’s existence as a Jewish state is every bit as just and compelling today as it was at the time of its founding in 1948. The State of Israel is the culmination of 2000 years of Jewish prayer and sacrifice; it is the restoration of an ancient people, a valley of dry bones come back to life in the words of the prophet Ezekiel. It will always be a Jewish state.

Alan Dershowitz: Beinart's Final Solution: End Israel as Nation-State of the Jewish People

Beinart arrogantly rejects democracy and the polls that show most Israelis and Palestinians are opposed to his proposed one-state solution. He has it exactly backwards when he argues that only "Palestinian and Jewish hardliners" resist his one-state solution. In reality, it is only hardliners who want one state: many Muslim hardliners want one Palestinian state "from the river to the see," and some Jewish hardliners want a Jewish state in all of biblical Israel.

Beinart rejects these democratic preferences.

Beinart's attempt to destroy the nation-state of the Jewish people would undo decades of sacrifice and hard work by Zionists since the middle of the 19th century. Despite its imperfections, Israel is a wonder to the world. It has given more to humankind—scientifically, medically, technologically, literarily and in so many other areas—in the 72 years of its existence than have the overwhelming majority of far-older countries throughout their entire histories. No nation faced with the threats comparable to those faced by Israel—including terrorism, rocket and terror tunnels attacks as well as Iranian aggression—has ever had a better record of human rights, compliance with the rule of law and concern for enemy civilians than has Israel.

In a world with so many Islamic, Christian and other religious and national states, why does Beinart believe there is no room for one nation-state of the Jewish people capable of protecting its citizens from aggression, capable of welcoming oppressed Jews from around the world and dedicated to equal rights for all of its citizens?

Beinart's nasty and ignorant article belongs in the waste basket of history. He has lost all claim to speak for any segment of the pro-Israel and Jewish communities by siding with those who would end the existence of the only nation-state of the Jewish people.

Fortunately, Beinart's anti-Israel arguments are likely to be accepted only by left-wing Jews who are embarrassed by Israel's strength and determination to protect the Jewish people against a repeat of history's tragedies. It was this history that led to the widespread acceptance of Zionism and the formation of the democratic Jewish nation-state.

The citizens of Israel—both Jewish and Muslim—will be the ones to decide on the appropriate solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. They overwhelmingly support a two-state solution, and they overwhelmingly reject Beinart's Final Solution. If the Palestinians want to have input in these decisions, they will have to come to the table and negotiate. Their fate and the fate of their Israeli neighbors will not be decided on the op-ed pages of The New York Times. It will be decided on the ground by direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

Dear @PeterBeinart @YachadUK

Recently you wrote / shared a vile anti-Zionist piece about how we should basically dismantle the Jewish homeland.

As I write it seems Yemen's last remaining Jews are being ethnically cleansed.

Any idea where they should go?

Asking for a friend.

— David Collier (@mishtal) July 14, 2020

Read More

My response to Nick Cannon’s statement on Facebook

Here is what I wrote in response to Nick Cannon’s Facebook statement (see my last post.) it is really aimed more at the Black people who are his fans, and I doubt it will make a difference (especially being buried under hundreds of other comments) but I wanted to at least try to inject some truth in what was a pretty bad thread.

__________________

 

I hope that Nick Cannon is serious about wanting to learn. Because this thread includes so much further antisemitism, I hope I can explain a few things:

1. Jews did not dominate the slave trade. There were some Jewish slave owners and traders but they were a small percentage. Blaming Jews for the bulk of a reprehensible practice is an excuse for bigotry against Jews.

2. Some Jewish landlords are unethical, just like some Black landlords and some white Gentile landlords and everyone else.

3. I saw a guest on another of Nick's shows say that the US gives $80 billion a year to Israel. The number is less than $4 billion, and most of it goes towards US companies and jobs. You can argue about whether Israel should get anything but at least base it on truth.

4. There is no grand conspiracy of the Rothschilds controlling the world. Of course bankers have influence but the Rothschilds are not even in the top tier of the Forbes richest billionaires. Most of the billionaires are not Jewish.

5. The idea that a lack of melanin causes one to become a savage is EXACTLY as racist and offensive as the idea that the presence of melanin causes one to become a savage. It is pure hate and Cannon should apologize for that extraordinarily racist statement immediately. Otherwise he is literally no different than the KKK.

6. If there is any evidence that most Blacks are descended from the Hebrews, for example from the Ten Lost tribes, I would be happy to welcome you as a Jew. But to claim that today's Jews are not really Jews is false and offensive. There is an unbroken chain of tradition and written records, as well documented as anything can be, that show how Jews migrated from Judah throughout the world, often oppressed and expelled from one country to another, but always keeping their traditions and laws and peoplehood and religion. I myself am descended from the tribe of Levi and this is an unbroken tradition in my family. Telling me I am a Khazar or whatever is hugely offensive.

7. Nick Cannon says that he values truth, so I must say the truth: Farrakhan is a bigot. Nation of Islam can deny it all they want, but just like Black people don't want white people to tell them when to be offended, Jews don't want to be insulted as satanic and then told that it really isn't offensive. It is. Jews don't want to be told by Farrakhan that they are not really Jews and that he can decide who is and who isn't a real Jew. In the July 4th speech, he claimed that he prayed for Florida to get the coronavirus because, he claims, Jews from Cuba moved to Florida to turn America against Castro. What kind of a person wishes that so many people die because of a bizarre belief about Jews? Not to mention his anti-gay positions. The minister may say some good things but his bigotry should not be condoned by a community that knows the dangers of bigotry.

8. American Blacks who want to raise themselves up can learn a great deal from the American Jewish experience. While of course we were never treated as badly as Blacks have been in America, we came as outsiders - and the Holocaust survivors, like my own parents, were literally slaves themselves. Not figuratively - literally. Nevertheless, Jews in America built our own businesses and schools and hotels when the Christian majority placed restrictions on where we can work and learn and vacation. Some tried to assimilate, some held on to our traditions and didn't compromise. This sense of being outsiders is what animated so many Jews to support the civil rights movement in the 1960s. There are Jewish racists just like any other group, but Jews have been more anti-racist than any other group in America. We are not the enemy, and it is disheartening to see so many Black people subconsciously accept the hate spewed out by Louis Farrakhan and others.

Read More

Nick Cannon’s attempts to explain his hate speech: extreme ignorance or whitewashing?

 

Yesterday, I tweeted “I wouldn't want @NickCannon to be fired. I would want him to have an articulate Jewish guest on his podcast that can explain to him AND HIS AUDIENCE why his beliefs are offensive and wrong, where he is free to ask questions.”

The reason I say this is twofold: One is that cancel culture is evil, and that applies to both sides, although there must be consequences for bigoted speech.

Secondly and more importantly, if Cannon is fired it would only increase the Black antisemitism we have been witness to on shows like his and elsewhere. It would just prove to the Black community that Jews control everything and that their people are not free to speak. If someone knowledgeable can appear on his platforms, at least his audience can be exposed to the truth. As Jemele Hill wrote in The Atlantic yesterday, many Black people grow up with bigotry the same way that many whites do and it is more ignorance than malice:

[T]he unfortunate truth is that some Black Americans have shown a certain cultural blindspot about Jews. Stereotypical and hurtful tropes about Jews are widely accepted in the African American community. As a kid, I heard elders in my family say in passing that Jewish people were consumed with making money, and that they “owned everything.” My relatives never dwelled on the subject, and nothing about their tone indicated that they thought anything they were saying was anti-Semitic—not that a lack of awareness would be any excuse.

I don’t know if it was because of my tweet, but not long afterwards Cannon wrote a statement echoing the same suggestion I wrote. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I have no hate in my heart nor malice intentions. I do not condone hate speech nor the spread of hateful rhetoric. We are living in a time when it is more important than ever to promote unity and understanding.

The Black and Jewish communities have both faced enormous hatred, oppression persecution and prejudice for thousands of years and in many ways have and will continue to work together to overcome these obstacles.

When you look at The Media, and other sectors in our nation’s history, African Americans and The people of the Jewish community have partnered to create some of the best, most revolutionary work we know today.

I am an advocate for people’s voices to be heard openly, fairly and candidly. In today’s conversation about anti-racism and social justice, I think we all - including myself - must continue educating one another and embrace uncomfortable conversations - it’s the only way we ALL get better. I encourage more healthy dialogue and welcome any experts, clergy, or spokespersons to any of my platforms to hold me accountable and correct me in any statement that I’ve made that has been projected as negative. Until then, I hold myself accountable for this moment and take full responsibility because My intentions are only to show that as a beautiful human species we have way more commonalities than differences, So let’s embrace those as well as each other. We All Family!

Notice that this is not an apology. Cannon explains why in an interview:

“To me apologies are empty. Are you forcing me to say the words, ‘I’m sorry’? Are you making me bow down, ’cause then again, that would be perpetuating that same rhetoric that we’re trying to get away from,” Cannon says. “What we need is healing. What we need is discussion. Correct me. I don’t tell my children to say, ‘I’m sorry.’ I want them to understand where they need to be corrected. And then that’s how we grow.”

“You can say sorry in as many different languages as you want to, and it means nothing,” Cannon continues. “But until someone truly understands where they may have been wrong or where they may have offended someone, then that’s where growth occurs.”

I agree with this. Too many times we have seen celebrities issue pro forma apologies that were drafted by teams of public relations experts and lawyers and the media accepts it and they go on with their lives.

The question is whether Cannon is serious about wanting to learn.

I have grave reservations about whether Nick Cannon can be educated. He believes in conspiracy theories – in the Rothschilds controlling the world, in the Illuminati, in “six corporations” and “13 families.” The idea that Blacks are the true descendants of Hebrews and Jews are imposters is also a conspiracy theory based on absolutely crazy premises that ignores 2000 years of recorded history. Conspiracy theorists cannot be swayed with facts because they regard the facts as just more evidence of an even larger conspiracy.

I also fear that perhaps my idea gave him a “get out of jail free” card where he can claim to care about dialogue and truth while keeping his media empire intact.

But it would still be far better for Cannon to host people, Jewish or Black or both, who can explain to his audience both why his words are hurtful and why they are false, rather than let him spew his bile unopposed. Cannon might be irredeemable – but a quarter of a million people watched his antisemitic and racist podcast on YouTube and plenty more on other platforms. if Jemele Hill is correct, many or most of them are simply never exposed to any other opinions besides antisemitism. Hosting an articulate counterpoint can have far better results than simply forcing Cannon to issue another insincere celebrity apology.

it may be too late. Reading comments on his statement in Facebook one sees Black people happily repeating lies about Jews controlling the slave trade or blaming all Jews for bad landlords. Like it or not, when Farrakhan spouts is hate, he has a large audience primed to believe it uncritically.  But the more that the truth can be exposed on the same platforms that are usually filled with lies, the better.

We’ll see if Cannon follows through, who he chooses as his guest if he does, and how many times he will welcome critics to his show and not just like-minded bigots like Professor Griff.

Read More