Wednesday, June 07, 2023
From Ian:
Andrew Pessin: A new book’s indictment of American Jewish leadership
Andrew Pessin: A new book’s indictment of American Jewish leadership
There could hardly be a timelier book than Betrayal: The Failure of American Jewish Leadership. Though antisemitism springs eternal, it has sprung up with particular force in recent years, especially in the United States.How antisemitism adopted the Stalinist approach
As editors Charles Jacobs and Avi Goldwasser put it, “American Jewry is under siege, ideologically and physically. In the media, on college campuses, in the streets of major cities, even in high schools and in Congress, Jews and the Jewish state are smeared, hated and attacked. Celebrities spew anti-Jewish ravings … to tens of millions of followers. This is a new time for Jews in America.”
With this assault on American Jews came the debates about how to handle it. Some prefer to ignore it, keep their heads down, not cause trouble and hope it will go away. Some try to handle it discreetly, behind the scenes, by forging alliances and reasoning with reasonable people. Some double down on their Jewish identity and go on the offensive. Some, alas, disavow their Jewish identity and “convert” by joining the enemy.
One thing, however, as the book demonstrates throughout, seems crystal clear: The major establishment Jewish organizations—the American Jewish Committee, the Conference of Presidents, the Union for Reform Judaism, Jewish Community Relations Councils, regional Federations, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) and most of all the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)—have failed to respond effectively to the eruption of Jew-hatred.
In fact, as more than one of the book’s essays argues, it’s even worse than that: These organizations, for the most part, have joined the enemy. They have done so by adopting and disseminating progressive ideologies that are hostile to Jews and the Jewish state. This in turn has led them into alliances with groups that are openly opposed to and working towards the destruction of the Jewish state and its supporters—that is, the vast majority of American Jews.
"Death solves all problems," Joseph Stalin is quoted as having said, "No man, no problem." A significant number of influential people are now applying the Soviet dictator's logic to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Their formulation is as simple as it is homicidal: "No Israel, no problem."NY march shows true colors of left-wing media
Iran's rulers express their genocidal intentions forthrightly. "We will not back off from the annihilation of Israel, even one millimeter," Brig.-Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman for the regime's armed forces has vowed.
Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, proxies of Tehran, have the same goal, as does Hamas, the terrorist organization that rules Gaza (also supported by the Islamist regime). Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority that governs the West Bank, is cagier. He doesn't call for Israeli Jews to be killed but he does provide financial rewards to Palestinian terrorists and their families.
The featured speaker at the City University of New York's law school graduation last month was Fatima Mousa Mohammed, who called for a "fight against capitalism, racism, imperialism and Zionism around the world."
On social media, she has wished that "every Zionist burn in the hottest pit of hell." To be clear: Before the establishment of Israel in 1948, a Zionist was someone who favored self-determination for Jews in part of their ancient homeland. After 1948, a Zionist became someone who favors Israel's continuing existence.
Anti-Zionism is now common on American campuses. Ms. Mohammed expresses it crudely. Others employ more erudite language.
For example, four well-established professors – Michael Barnett, Nathan Brown, Marc Lynch, and Shibley Telhami – published an essay in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, the prestigious journal of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Elliott Abrams, a Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at CFR, encapsulated its thesis in this headline: "As Israel turns 75, Foreign Affairs publishes a call to eliminate it."
To accomplish that goal, the professors would have the U.S. pressure Israel to grant citizenship to Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank. Jews would then become a minority in Israel, presumably living under the rule of Hamas or the PA. What would happen to them after that? The question does not appear to interest the essay's authors.
Forty thousand people took to the streets of Manhattan on Sunday to participate in the Celebrate Israel Parade. Forty thousand marchers, both Jews, and non-Jews, including New York Mayor Eric Adams, expressed their support for the Jewish state.
Wearing colorful clothes and waving Israeli flags, they took time out of their lives to celebrate Israel, whose existence they hold dear. But if you watched Channel 12 News reporting on the event, you would not know any of this.
Although the outlet did cover the parade, the angle it chose to present was very specific. It did not speak about the support and the celebration but rather focused on the anti-judicial reform protest that was held at the same time.
Organizers said that around 1,000 people attended the demonstration, but journalists marching with the parade in Manhattan, who reported in real time, did not even realize that any protests were taking place, because they were swallowed up by the cheering crowd.
Footage of the demonstration showed about a dozen participants and even photographs posted by the organizers themselves, who claimed there were 1,000 attendees, featured maybe half that number.
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