The Bernie Sanders campaign denounced the “toxic and offensive” past statements of an imam who spoke at a Sanders rally days before a key presidential primary in Michigan.
Imam Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini said in 2015 that the Islamic State terrorist group “somehow is connected to Israel.” The same year, commenting on a Supreme Court decision upholding the right to same-sex marriage, he said, “This is a moment that Americans would look back at with so much regret and sorrow, that we are legalizing something that is normal, something that is against human nature.”
Al-Qazwini introduced Sanders at a rally in Dearborn, Michigan on Saturday.
“The campaign has been made aware of offensive and toxic past statements by Imam Qazwini,” campaign manager Faiz Shakir said in a statement Tuesday, after a number of media outlets reported on the past statements of the founder of the Islamic Institute of America.
“These statements are dangerous, hateful, and violate the principles of our movement, which is based on values of equality and dignity for all people,” Shakir said. “Senator Sanders stands with those in Israel, Palestine, and across the region who work for peace, and unequivocally rejects antisemitic conspiracy theories that seek to blame Israel for all the region’s problems, and well as any bigoted statements against any group.”
Really?
I dare Bernie Sanders to find a single statement from his workers, surrogates and co-speakers at his rallies Rashida Tlaib, Amer Zahr, Phillip Agnew, Linda Sarsour, Ilhan Omar, Belén Sisa, Matt Duss, Shaun King, and even Faiz Shakir before 2020 that blames anyone but Israel for the conflict.
Just one. (And any statement that blames Abbas for being too conciliatory towards Israel doesn't count.)
Unless he can find that they are really as even-handed as Sanders claims to be, then this statement that he rejects those who spout "antisemitic conspiracy theories that seek to blame Israel for all the region’s problems" is simply a lie.
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The student government at the University of Michigan has passed a resolution condemning its president for remarks critical of the Palestinians he made as a high school senior.
The final vote of the Feb. 25 resolution rebuking Central Student Government president Ben Gerstein was 25 in favor, zero against and four abstentions.
“There should be a test for what type of people deserve a state and what type of people don’t. I think the Palestinian people, with rejecting constant peace deals, with their financing of terror, with their raising kids to hate people purely because of their religion,” said Gerstein on the TV show “North Town News Magazine” in 2017. “I don’t think that people deserve a state at this point in time. Until we see a significant change in the Palestinian mentality and a significant change in the Palestinian leadership, I don’t think they deserve a state at this point.”
The resolution stated that Gerstein’s 2017 comments are “Islamaphobic and racist, and we formally condemn these comments,” and “we recognize the international plight of the Palestinian people, some of whom are constituents of this government.” It also stated: “We recognize that more work needs to be done to uproot racism and Islamophobia at the University of Michigan.”
Here is the portion of the video, on a small Jewish public affairs program, that the university is so upset about:
The resolution calls his words "Islamophobic." Yet Gerstein didn't once mention or imply anything about Islam or Muslims.
The resolution calls his words "racist." Gerstein certainly described Palestinian mentality - but his description was entirely correct based on well-respected polls done by Palestinians themselves.
There is no rule in international law that every people, especially a people who did not identify as such until the 1960s, deserve a state automatically. Surveys consistently show that Palestinians are always in the top three of peoples who are antisemitic. Their rejection of peace deals is a matter of record. Their support of violence has hovered in the 50% range when asked that question in the abstract, but when they are asked if they support specific acts of murdering Jews they have been consistently supportive by a large margin.
Gerstein's words were 100% accurate. It is not racist to point out that during the "knife intifada" in 2015, 80% of Palestinians supported stabbing and running over Israeli Jews in cars and a huge number were angry at Mahmoud Abbas for condemning the murder of four rabbis in 2014.
There is also no contradiction between pointing out how Palestinians have consistently chosen supporting terror over peace and noting that they really do suffer under Israeli control. One can and should be sympathetic towards anyone who is in pain. But being in pain does not change facts, and does not justify censorship of those pointing out the facts. Gerstein's 2017 comments do not lose their validity because Palestinians are suffering to some degree.
The truth must never be censured.
There is a second disturbing aspect of this story.
Even if Gerstein's words were bigoted - if, let's say, he had said that black people were lazy - the thought that his words from when he was a high school student must be censured by his current university is still chilling. Gerstein issued an abject apology - one that I do not believe was warranted:
A video recently surfaced of an interview I participated in when I was in high school. In this video as well as an op-ed, I made statements that erase the history of the Palestinian people. I made racist statements, including the denial of the right to self-determination, that were ignorant of Palestinians’ struggle under occupation. I am sorry beyond words--both for my actions as well as not coming forward with the video sooner and seeking remedy for it. I accept total and complete responsibility for the harmfulness of my language, the offensiveness of my words, and the active role I played in the silencing of Palestinian voices.
I have grown considerably since I made those statements, and the repulsive views I expressed in the video no longer reflect my current understanding. I am devastated to see them reappear and be defended today. I know an apology is never enough and I am complicit in the oppression of Palestinians through my past actions.
When I arrived at Michigan, I was introduced to the real lived experiences of Palestinian students and an understanding of the legacies of colonialism and settler violence I had not heard before. My education had only consisted of Israeli narratives and I committed myself to learning new perspectives and being empathetic to the Palestinian community. I feel my deeper understanding of history and multiple narratives now allows me to work as a stronger ally to others to dismantle the systems of oppression that perpetuate the suffering of the Palestinian people--but I also know that I have much more learning to do and am committed to continuing that work.
As Student Body President, I hope that the work I have done is representative of my commitment to moving past my former opinions, and further, representative of my dedication to supporting marginalized communities on campus. But this experience and the recognition of the pain my past language has inflicted on others helped me realize I can--and must--do much more. There is a toxic environment across the country that invalidates Palestinian narratives. I hope to further commit myself to working to uplift those who continue to struggle for their dignity and humanity. I look forward to working with SAFE and Palestinian students on campus to have a crucial conversation about how I can be a partner in promoting an inclusive campus. In my last weeks as President, I intend to use my role to address how the culture of CSG and campus at-large needs to be more responsive to the needs of Palestinian students. This is only one step in an apology that demands action, further learning, a genuine commitment to allyship, the pursuit of justice, and collective liberation, not empty words.
I can only imagine the pressure Gerstein was under to issue this apology. But, as always, it wasn't enough. The censure was passed anyway.
A statement censuring him for something he apologized for is the modern equivalent of a lynching. If a teenager can't evolve in his viewpoints, who can? No matter what side of the issue you are on, this sets a precedent that deep-freezes freedom of expression for everyone.
And nothing he said can remotely be considered "silencing Palestinian voices." That is absurd.
Finally, compare this story with the last one that I posted. An actual Palestinian government official said words that are antisemitic by any yardstick - claiming that the Jews aren't a people, that Jewish self-determination is a form of racism. This isn't a random 17-year old student, but a representative of the Palestinian government.
There is no censure for him. There is no anger. There is no pressure for him to issue an apology. Journalists ignore the story.
The world is dismissive of real, explicit antisemitism from a Palestinian official but there is outrage over the words of a 17 year old kid three years ago that happened to be true.
This isn't just a double standard. This is institutionalized and accepted antisemitism. Proud Jews who express their opinions must be silenced - but Palestinian officials can spout actual lies and hate without any concerns about backlash from the media or their colleagues.
(h/t Andrew)
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The PLO's representative to Greece, Marwan Tobasi, went on an antisemitic rant at a meeting with "peace" groups in that country.
There was seemingly no objection from these "peace" groups when Tobasi said that there was a "Zionist Holocaust" that Israel has waged against the Palestinian people for seven decades.
Echoing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Tobasi claimed that the Zionist strategy in the Middle east and throughout the world is to provoke conflicts and wars that will allow Israel to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. He said that the Zionist movement sought from its inception to expel the Palestinian people from its land to replace them with Jews.
Tobasi said that canceling the UN General Assembly’s decision in 1991 to consider Zionism as a form of racism was a major error on the part of the UN.
The diplomat also claimed that there is no Jewish people, and we are all a myth. "The danger and misleading lies according to the Zionist definition of Judaism as an ethnic and not religious group ...is rooted in the mentality and racist practice which is the essence of Zionist thought."
This is a man paid to represent the opinions of the "State of Palestine" to the world. It seems doubtful any Palestinian official will publicly disagree.
Which is just more proof that the Palestinian government is antisemitic.
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Arabic media are buzzing, saying that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is infected with the coronavirus - and is ill.
Lebanese journalist Maria Malouf tweeted in Arabic, "Media circulated that # Hassan_ Nasrallah was infected with the Corona virus after receiving a high-level delegation coming from Tehran, weeks before the World Bank delegation visited Lebanon. There is an absolute blackout on the health of Hassan Nasrallah after a visit to [Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali ] Larijani at the head of a delegation, which later turned out to have someone infected with the virus."
Nasrallah has not been seen for a couple of weeks.
I see no independent confirmation of this; all the news reports are quoting Malouf's tweet. And Malouf is an opponent of Hezbollah.
Still, it is a tantalizing rumor. If Nasrallah would die, it would be nearly as big a blow to Iran as Qasem Soleimani's death was.
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US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was endorsed at a recent rally on Saturday by an imam who has previously claimed that ISIS atrocities benefit “Zionists,” and claimed falsely that Israel was never targeted by ISIS.
According to reports by London-based news outlet Middle East Eye, Sayed Hassan al-Qazwini, a local imam, addressed a Dearborn rally in Arabic on Saturday, encouraging support for Sanders.
Video of the rally has been posted online of the speech being delivered in Arabic in front of an audience holding Bernie Sanders signs. No translation of the speech was provided in the videos.
However, previous speeches by the imam have been controversial. In archival footage from 2015 posted online by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) in May 2019, the imam can be seen giving a speech about ISIS.
Detroit-Based Shiite Imam Hassan Qazwini: ISIS Run by Israel, Zionists In Order to Kill Muslims, Defame Islam; Israel Benefits from ISIS More than Anyone (Archival) pic.twitter.com/3Y2d0sIJk4
“The only place that has been completely safe and never threatened by ISIS is Israel,” he said, adding: “What does this tell you? This speaks out. This speaks volumes. ISIS somehow is connected to Israel and ISIS is playing the role of the arm of the Zionists in the Muslim world, to kill more Muslims and non-Muslims so it can define the name of Islam, so people can blame Islam for its atrocities so that people will be alienated from this religion.”
He claims that ISIS has harmed the image of the “peaceful religion,” and that “Zionists” are benefiting.
“Who is benefiting from these atrocities? The number one beneficiary of all these atrocities is the Zionist regime.”
Newsweek quoted Sanders as saying, “I am excited to welcome Phillip to our team. He is a gifted organizer and one of his generation’s most critical voices on issues of race and inequity. He has and will continue to push me and this movement to deliver on what is owed to black people, who have yet to experience reciprocity in this country.”
Agnew is also a fierce anti-Zionist, who called Israel an apartheid state and said that on a visit there in January 2015, he saw “cold, calculating racism and ethnic privilege masquerading as a Jewish state.”
Last month, Sanders said that he would not attend AIPAC’s annual policy conference on the grounds that it gives a “platform for bigots.”
In an article in the African-American magazine Ebony that appeared online on June 1, 2015, Agnew bashed then president Barack Obama for saying in an Atlantic interview, “There’s a direct line between supporting the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland and to feel safe and free of discrimination and persecution, and the right of African Americans to vote and have equal protection under the law. These things are indivisible in my mind.”
Agnew disagreed.
“On its face, it may seem like the above statement shouldn’t warrant even the slightest iota of imagination: President Obama is merely relaying the oft-used trope of Zionist-African-American solidarity! Anyone can understand that, right? Especially the much maligned, ever-resilient African Americans. President Obama is just reminding us of the strong historical similarities that we share with the apartheid state of Israel. No imagination needed here.”
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Israel will require anyone arriving from overseas to self-quarantine for 14 days as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
With 42 confirmed cases of the virus, Israel has already taken some tough counter-measures, forcing visitors from many countries in Asia and Europe into home isolation. The virus has hit travel and trade, with tourism in particular expected to suffer.
“Anyone who arrives in Israel from abroad will enter a 14-day isolation,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. He said the new measures would be in effect for two weeks initially.
“This is a difficult decision. But it is essential for safeguarding public health, and public health comes first.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chaired a series of discussions today on the #Coronavirus. Among the topics discussed were the policy regarding people entering Israel from overseas, economic preparations and scientific-technological issues, with the participation of experts. pic.twitter.com/w1ddnEMvVz
Government officials said the order would come into force immediately for Israelis returning to the country. From Thursday, any non-Israelis seeking to enter the country will have to prove they have the means to self-quarantine, the officials said.
Israeli media said the latest measure would mean quarantine for some 300,000 citizens in a country of around 9 million.
Palestinians in the West Bank have also been hit by the virus, reporting 25 confirmed cases. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has turned foreigners away at checkpoints and ordered schools and national parks closed.
Passengers being notified on a flight leaving from Tel Aviv to Berlin that they will have to spend 14 days in quarantine upon their return. Some decide to abandon their trip on the spot. pic.twitter.com/XJp0NAiOqV
The decision to quarantine all arrivals is one that shouldn’t be taken lightly or have a hint of political considerations. Reports that the prime minister was holding back from enforcing the ban on US travelers in order to not damage ties with President Donald Trump were vigorously denied Sunday. Siman Tov told Channel 12 News that “no political element was part of our decision-making process… all the decisions go to the National Security Council and the prime minister in the end. It’s a professional discussion on protecting the public. No foreign interests are involved in the decision.”
Although it’s difficult, in this acrimonious post-election period, to remove politics from any issue on the domestic agenda, there’s an imperative that the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis should rise above partisan considerations. Netanyahu seems to be meeting that criteria – so far.
Unlike in the US, where the handling of the virus has turned into a political football pitting the “downplaying” Republicans against the “take it seriously” Democrats, Israelis seem to be reacting to the crisis with one voice.
Netanyahu has, of course, made every effort to appear “presidential” and in charge of the situation. He spoke with US Vice President Mike Pence and on Sunday and then with European leaders on Monday about setting up airports to enable goods to be transported between countries so vital supplies don’t run out.
And whether that’s his intention or not, these moves could help Netanyahu as he fights for his political life.
As Jeremy Sharon wrote, “the more he looks like he’s taking care of business, the more urgent the problem, the more acute and dangerous it is, the more we won’t want to change the leadership and instead keep the status quo.”
What song leads the coronavirus quarantine playlist?
“My Sharona,” obviously, the 1979 hit by The Knacks, which is so easily replaced with the words “My Corona.”
Two sisters from Hod Hasharon, Inbar and Gilor Levi, who love nothing more than a good spoof, donned nurse and doctor scrubs and a pair of masks for their YouTube spoof of “My Corona.”
In fact, said Inbar Levi, the video has gone, well, viral.
“It just caught on, it was exactly at the right time,” said Levi, who had already published the song before Israel’s March 2 elections, but found that once the elections were over and coronavirus fears took over, the song took off.
The words came to them fairly easily, said Levi, although it took a little longer to get the filming done properly.
“It’s very fast, and there’s a lot of words,” she explained.
The "Students for Justice in Palestine" chapter at the University of Maryland is having a conference today where they want to somehow tie the coronavirus to Israel's actions.
As of this writing, only one person expressed interested and no one said they were going. Maybe some universities still have some sense.
But not at California State University, which employs Asad Abukhalil (who has a blog called The Angry Arab), a professor accuses Israel not only of withholding coronavirus treatment from Palestinians but of putting all non-Jews in mass prisons.
Really.
Hatred of Israel is a mental illness.
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Linda Sarsour wrote a book and she includes some notable anti-Israel lies.
For example:
No land was "stolen" in 1948 except by Egypt and especially Jordan. Arabs tried to destroy Israel before it existed - they started the war on Jews in 1947; the Jews refusal to die is not theft of land.
Sarsour tries to imply that Israel expelled three quarters of a million people in a single day, although she left the language ambiguous enough to tell her fans what they want to hear but to allow an interpretation of including all the Arabs who fled up until then. Even so, in May 1948 many of the Arabs who eventually left were still in their homes.
Israel did allow some 70,000 Palestinian Arabs to return to their homes within the Green Line over the years. More importantly, though, was that in many cases, the Haganah almost begged the Arabs to return to their homes, as was especially the case in Haifa, from where 10% of all Arabs fled. As Ephraim Karsh writes:
The Hagana’s truce terms stipulated that Arabs were expected to “carry on their work as equal and free citizens of Haifa.” In its Arabic-language broadcasts and communications, the Hagana consistently articulated the same message. On April 22, at the height of the fighting, it distributed a circular noting its ongoing campaign to clear the town of all “criminal foreign bands” so as to allow the restoration of “peace and security and good neighborly relations among all of the town’s inhabitants.” The following day, a Hagana broadcast asserted that “the Jews did and do still believe that it is in the real interests of Haifa for its citizens to go on with their work and to ensure that normal conditions are restored to the city.”
On April 24, a Hagana radio broadcast declared: “Arabs, we do not wish to harm you. Like you, we only want to live in peace. . . . If the Jews and [the] Arabs cooperate, no power in the world will ever attack our country or ignore our rights.” Two days later, informing its Arab listeners that “Haifa has returned to normal,” the Hagana reported that “between 15,000 and 20,000 Arabs had expressed their willingness to remain in the city,” that “Arab employees had been appointed to key posts,” and that Arabs had been given “part of the corn, flour, and rice intended for the Jews in Haifa.” And on April 27, the Hagana distributed a leaflet urging the fleeing Arab populace to return home: “Peace and order reign supreme across the town and every resident can return to his free life and resume his regular work in peace and security.”
That these were not hollow words was evidenced by, inter alia, the special dispensation given to Jewish bakers by the Haifa rabbinate to bake bread during the Passover holiday for distribution among the Arabs, and by the April 23 decision of the joint Jewish-Arab Committee for the Restoration of Life to Normalcy to dispatch two of its members to inform women, children, and the elderly that they could return home. In a May 6 fact-finding report to the Jewish Agency executive (the effective government of Jewish Palestine), Golda Meir told her colleagues that while “we will not go to Acre or Nazareth to return the Arabs [to Haifa] . . . our behavior should be such that if it were to encourage them to return—they would be welcome; we should not mistreat the Arabs so as to deter them from returning.”
The sincerity of the Jewish position is attested as well by reports from the U.S. consulate in Haifa. Thus, on April 25, after the fighting was over, Vice Consul Aubrey Lippincott cabled Washington that the “Jews hope poverty will cause laborers [to] return [to] Haifa as many are already doing despite Arab attempts [to] persuade them [to] keep out.” On April 29, according to Lippincott, even Farid Saad of the National Committee was saying that Jewish leaders had “organized a large propaganda campaign to persuade [the] Arabs to return.” Similarly, the British district superintendent of police reported on April 26 that “every effort is being made by the Jews to persuade the Arab populace to stay and carry on with their normal lives, to get their shops and businesses open, and to be assured that their lives and interests will be safe.” Several more reports in the same vein were sent by British authorities in Palestine to their superiors in London.
The casual reader would not realize how incredible the bolded section is. Religious Jews are not allowed to own or even see leavened products on Passover; to have a rabbinical ruling that Jewish bakers must bake bread for Arabs on Passover itself is stunning.
The truth of Arab flight is not at all what Sarsour and the Arabs say it is. But her lies don't end there.
"Their mosques were razed to the ground?" There were a few that were damaged and destroyed in the fighting, but to say that Israel deliberately destroyed most or all of the mosques is out and out slander.
Even according to UNRWA, the majority of Palestinian "refugees" today are not in the territories. About 2.2 million UNRWA "refugees" are, the rest are in Jordan (2 million), Syria and Lebanon (officially about 500,000 each,) plus millions who live in other Arab countries or the West.
Palestinians in Arab countries (save most in Jordan) remain stateless, 71 years after the "nakba." Somehow, this "civil rights leader" doesn't want to mention that her fellow Arabs have treated their Palestinian "guests" far worse than Israel has - official apartheid against them in Lebanon, thousands killed in Syria in recent years and in Jordan in 1970, effectively illegal in Egypt. Lies of omission are just as bad as explicit lies.
Sarsour no doubt was raised on these lies. But when you write a book, you should do fact checks. Sarsour doesn't care about facts.
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Like many veteran attendees of the annual AIPAC conference, usually held at the sprawling Walter E. Washington Center in northwest D.C., I have learned to expect packs of anti-Israel demonstrators to gather every year during the event. They usually wave Palestinian flags, chant familiar slogans through bullhorns, and brandish signs and banners inscribed with various accusations about the supposed sins of the Jewish State.
The 2020 AIPAC conference was the sixth I’ve attended, but the first I attended as a member of the press. So on the first day of this year’s conference—Sunday, March 1—I decided that instead of ignoring the usual anti-Israel demonstrations, I would visit and observe the protests, talk with the protesters, and ask them to explain their ideas in their own words.
At their rally, I met and spoke with several of the group: young and old, male and female, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and secular, and several who identified as Palestinian. My conversations with each of them were enlightening, but perhaps none more so than my exchange with two keffiyeh-clad American women, one of whom claimed Palestinian ancestry. They were both vehement and emotional in their replies to my questions, and insisted that Israel was to blame for the sorry state of Palestinian affairs. Neither seemed to notice when the other accused “Jews” of barbarism, but both seemed utterly convinced of their own moral superiority.
During our conversation, I mostly listened quietly, but eventually did ask them both what they believed must be done to bring about peace.
At that, one of them let it slip. Calling Israel an “illegal country in the first place“, she subsequently declared, “the Jews should get on their knees and beg for forgiveness for what they’ve done to the Palestinians since 1948.”
She continued: “They’ve ethnically cleansed villages. They massacred 700,000 people.“
Her compatriot (who had claimed Palestinian Arab ancestry) added, “I think they feel bad. I think that’s why they’re so aggressive a lot of the time.“
It did not seem to occur to either of these women that they had both condemned “the Jews” rather than “the Zionists” or “the Israelis”. At no time did either of them amend the sentiment, though one of them later pointedly referred to “the Zionists” because “not all Jews are Zionists”. You can see a short excerpt of this exchange below.
The German Left Party, which opposed last year’s anti-BDS Bundestag resolution, held a conference last week in the city of Kassel in which calls to shoot wealthy Germans and impose forced labor on them were discussed.
A Left Party attendee named Sandra L. explained what needed to be done post-revolution after “we have shot the one percent of the richest.”
Party leader Bernd Riexinger responded that, “We don’t shoot them, we use them for useful work.” Forced labor was one of the extermination methods used by the Nazis and their collaborators to murder Jews during the Holocaust.
Columnist Harald Martenstein wrote in the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel on Saturday that “Almost at the same time as the shooting debate, eight left-wing politicians filed a criminal complaint against [Chancellor] Angela Merkel for “aiding and abetting the murder” of the Iranian terrorist general [Qassem] Soleimani and that Germany had supported the murder. At least Israel haters don’t have to be afraid of the Left.”
Riexinger chalked up his comment about forced labor to “irony.”
Alan Dershowitz | The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special Ep 85
Alan Dershowitz — was the youngest full professor in Harvard Law history where he is now the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus, writer of numerous best-selling books including, "The Case Against Impeaching Trump," and his latest, "Guilt by Accusation: The Challenge of Proving Innocence in the Age of #MeToo" — joins Ben to discuss being a civil libertarian, Trump, Obama, Israel, #MeToo, O.J. Simpson, impeachment, going from loved to hated by the Left, and much more. (Israel at 39Min)
Over the past year, Saudi Arabia has been arresting dozens of Palestinians and Jordanians. They all seem to be connected to Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood.
Among those arrested was former Hamas representative in Saudi Arabia Mohammed Saleh Al-Khudari, 81, and his son.
The reason for the arrests seems to be that Hamas tilted towards Iran in accepting funding and the Saudis look at any allies of Iran as implacable enemies.
Last September, after trying to negotiate behind the scenes, Hamas came out with a public statement against the Saudis for the arrests. Now Hamas is publicly protesting, saying that the arrests are political (which seems likely) and their only crimes is supporting jihad (which is also likely.)
On Sunday, the trial of the al-Khaduris began, and it appears that they will return to court the beginning of May.
This infighting is not being widely reported in the West.
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I found a play about the Purim story, written in rhyme, from 1889, by a Rabbi H. M. Bien. All I can find about him is that he lived in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Queen Vashti's part is surprisingly feminist and modern.
Here she as as she enters after being summoned by the King to show off her body.
Vashti (Enters weeping, r. h.)-
And this to me? the queen! unprecedented shame!
I will resent the outrage !-or Vashti's not my name!
I, who brought up retired-strict Oriental fashion,
Now be made sacrifice to his unbounded passion,
For hollow pride and power. I? show myself? indeed ! (stamps her feet)
I will not go—no never-nor his vile bidding heed !
(Muses, walking to and fro—more composed.)
These men will always play our masters, and be they low or be they high,
Will rule and lord it over woman, at least they will imperious try.
Weak-minded, pliant and obedient, our sex most always does submit;
Aye! it were different had they only a little more of pride and wit.
For we by nature fair and lovely, the nobler part of human kind,
To men superlatively better, in soul and body, heart and mind;
We bear the burden of existence, serve from the cradle to the grave.
Yet could be free if we would never permit ourselves to be the slave.
I'd willingly become a beggar or instantly would rather die,
To be example to my sisters, while I my lord's command defy.
True! he has given me these baubles, a royal diadem and crown.
Like pretty puppets men adorn us, with gaudy gems and costly gown;
And then degrade us as their creatures. Now let one learn what woman can
If once aroused ; that she is stronger than most despotic, selfish man.
I know the time is near approaching when females will their rights assert.
The more advanced will be determined to act harmonious in concert.
They will no longer then permit it, that man shall rule the world alone;
And will no longer be the servants of kitchen, feasting-hall or throne.
We too can traffic. plead and labor, can sculpture, sing and play and paint;
Strong-minded women will hereafter take Vashti for their patron saint.
Ahasuerus, he will rage and bluster, that I his bidding disobey !
I scorn his wrath-defy his anger; the consequence be what it may.
In fact, Vashti is the heroine of this play! After the king banishes her she disguises herself as Hatach, the king's servant, and pushes the narrative to her will without anyone realizing it.
At the end, Vashti says:
Vashti as Hatach , the Scribe ( To king and queen .) —
I'll write this in my annals of Esther's reign and thine !
We'll call it the “ M 'gillah ; ” forever it shall shine
To rulers and to princes a plea for tolerance ! (Advances to front of stage )
And to the house of Israel a great inheritance !
And unto me (muses and sighs) I own it, the time for woman's right,
Among these barbarous Asians, it is not yet in sight.
But I have learned it lately , that ’mongst some Northern nation
In a far distant country has a new civilization
Arisen in its mighty power, and women there elated ,
Already to their hearts' content the men have well berated .
I hear they there are doctors, and learned in law and lore .
One does command a ship , and some preach where they God adore.
The men tend quite submissively to duties of the houses :
They mind the babes, they cook and wash as well as their good
spouses.
The government will shortly too by woman's rule grow free !
They will fill all the offices ! That is the land for me!
The cause of Vashti lives triumphant, when I shall be no more,
Farewell, home of my birth ! I'll go to that far distant shore,
And though my fate to history be lost fore'er and aye
Our sex will build me monuments ! I'm off, my friends ! good -bye !
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In the Megillah, we will that in the face of the antisemitic threat of Haman, Esther and the Jews found an unlikely ally in King Achashverosh, who originally supported Haman in his plan to kill the Jews.
Apparent enemies of Jews can become allies, or at least find common cause.
It is a recurring theme in Jewish history.
And it is what Theodore Herzl believed.
In his book, Zionism: The Concise History, Alex Ryvchin notes that while Herzl became keenly aware of the strength of antisemitism, he felt that there were antisemites who could be allies and help provide a homeland for the Jews. He turned to antisemites such as Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm and Russia's Foreign Minister Vladimir Lambsdorff. Herzl calculated that such men were so eager to rid their countries of the Jews that they would support the establishment of a Jewish state and thereby rid their respective countries of the Jews they did not want. Some of these leaders did see a benefit in supporting political Zionism for just that reason.
This was the realpolitik that guided Herzl in seeking alliances with apparent enemies, in the interests of reaching his goal. Eventually, Herzl realized that such leaders could not be counted upon to act in good faith and were in fact fundamentally opposed, if not outright hostile to Jewish rights.
For this reason, Herzl shifted his search for allies to Great Britain.
However, Netanyahu has gone one step further than Herzl, and has arguably succeeded where Herzl did not.
While the growing ties between Israel and some of the Arab countries in the Middle East is in the news, Netanyahu has also developed key alliances with Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia -- the Visegrad Group.
But not without controversy.
Netanyahu has been making overtures to Eastern Europe, to countries that during WWII were not only accessories to the Nazis, but in some cases actively helped the Nazis kill Jews and even went so far as to kill Jews on their own initiative.
The issue is more than past history. Even today there are accusations of antisemitism against leaders such as the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. He has been accused of antisemitism for his attacks against George Soros and his right-wing government has been accused of rehabilitating wartime figures as anti-communist icons and minimizing their complicity in deporting and killing Jews.
He is a far-right leader of a country whose Jewish citizens say they face less harassment than Jews in any other part of Europe. Mr. Orban and his party, Fidesz, have used anti-Semitic tropes to promote his vision of Hungarian nationalism, and have been accused of trying to understate Hungarian complicity in the Holocaust — even as he has bankrolled many Jewish institutions and causes.
Meanwhile, Poland is still trying to play down its role during the Holocaust.
Whatever else these four countries gain by allying themselves with Israel, they get what might arguably be called a "kosher seal" that deflects claims that they are antisemitic.
In return, Netanyahu has gained a way of blunting, to a degree, the attacks by the European Union against Israel.
o In 2017, when the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to reject the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Hungary abstained.
o Hungary joined the Czech Republic and Romania in blocking a European Union statement that criticized the US Israeli embassy moving to Jerusalem.
o In November 2019, the EU failed to get all 28 member states behind a joint statement condemning the US decision to no longer consider Israeli settlements as illegal. It was blocked by Hungary, which meant that instead of a joint statement, the EU was reduced to a statement by then-EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini
o In January, the EU again failed to get a consensus, when it tried to unanimously condemn Trump's peace plan
o Hungary and the Czech Republic are also among the countries that will file an amicus brief with the ICC in response to ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's statement in December that there was enough evidence to investigate alleged war crimes by Israel.
And then there is Bernie Sanders, cynically creating alliances with antisemites -- who are not merely critical of Israel, but also demonize it, accuse it of being supremacist and accuse those who support it of having dual loyalty.
This is a different kind of 'realpolitik'.
Like Herzl, Sanders is not out to change his allies such as Sarsour, Tlaib, Omar or any of the other antisemites that he has gone out of his way to ally himself with. But while Herzl's goal was to channel the influence of powerful antisemites to establish a Jewish state to save the Jewish people, Sanders accepts the endorsements of these people while they continue to attack and demonize Israel. There is nothing about such associates that in any way helps Jews in general or Israel in particular.
We never hear Sanders publicly challenge what they say.
On the contrary, Sarsour, for example, is a surrogate whom Sanders has chosen to actually represent him and speak on his behalf.
At least Herzl realized that people like the Kaiser could not be relied upon to act in good faith. Sanders shows no interest in what his "allies" say against Israel, so long as they strengthen his 'progressive' creds.
In the process, Sanders -- a self-proclaimed 'proud Jew' -- acts as a shield for these people, for their attacks against Israel and against those who stand up for it.
While one can argue that Netanyahu provides a shield for leaders who engage in antisemitic themes, it is undeniable that those same leaders have been instrumental in frustrating a number of the EU's attempts to attack and isolate Israel.
Sanders, on the other hand, is distant from his fellow Jews.
o When he praised the Soviet Union, but never stood up for the persecuted Soviet Jews o He has never attended pro-Israel rallies o He has never attended an AIPAC conference - this last time trying to justify his absence by attacking AIPAC as racist
Whatever one may criticize about Biden's gaffes, it appears that Bernie Sanders -- in distancing himself from both his 'Jewishness' and his fellow Jews -- is also becoming increasingly difficult to watch.
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Elder of Ziyon
