Tamika Mallory's Public Statement on Saviour's Day and the Nation of Islam

Tamika Mallory issued a public statement today:

Activist Tamika Mallory has faced backlash in recent weeks for attending Saviour’s Day, an annual gathering held by the Nation of Islam in Chicago last month. In an exclusive op-ed, the Women’s March co-chair addresses the criticism, her connection to the event and her commitment to building an “intersectional movement.” 

I proudly serve as a leader for one of the largest women’s advocacy organizations in the world. For that reason, my recent presence at the Nation of Islam’s Saviour’s Day convocation troubled some of the very people who I have fought for and worked alongside for most of my life.  

I have heard the pain and concerns of my LGBTQAI siblings, my Jewish friends and Black women (including those who do and those who don’t check off either of those other boxes.) I affirm the validity of those feelings, and as I continue to grow and learn as both an activist and as a woman, I will continue to grapple with the complicated nature of working across ideological lines and the question of how to do so without causing harm to vulnerable people.

I didn’t expect my presence at Saviour’s Day to lead anyone to question my beliefs, especially considering that I have been going to this event regularly for over 30 years. I first went with my parents when I was just a little girl, and would begin attending on my own after my son’s father was murdered nearly 17 years ago. In that most difficult period of my life, it was the women of the Nation of Islam who supported me and I have always held them close to my heart for that reason. 

I can see why, on a personal basis, you would have warm feelings for the Nation of Islam. You grew up in the movement, your parents were involved with it, and women in the movement supported you at a very difficult and tragic point in her life. If that was all you had to say about it, without trying in any way to evade the criticism of the NOI's antisemitism and homophobia, I would be much less likely to want to criticize you myself. People who are now strong supporters of women's rights, LGBT people, and Jews can come from intolerant communities whose significant flaws they now understand, and which they still maintain personal ties to.

But nonetheless, I'm surprised that you didn't expect anyone to question you for going to Saviour's Day. Weren't you aware, previous to this year, that Mr. Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam have been accused of antisemitism, homophobia, and transphobia for many years? Did you not recognize on you own, after associating with people who fight racism, antisemitism, and homophobia, that the Nation has very significant problems? Are you being disingenuous here?

I am the same woman who helped to build an intersectional movement that fights for the rights of all people and stands against hatred and discrimination of all forms. I am the same person today that I was before Saviour’s Day, which begs the question – why are my beliefs being questioned now? 

Perhaps we're questioning you now because we have finally realized how close you are to the NOI, and that you have never dissociated yourself from Louis Farrakhan.

 I was raised in activism and believe that as historically oppressed people, Blacks, Jews, Muslims and all people must stand together to fight racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I believe that LGBTQAI people are not an abomination or a creation of man, but simply people, and that religion is not to be used as a tool to abuse, divide, harm, bully or intimidate. 

I believe you - but why can't you simply say that Mr. Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam violate your current principles? Why can't you denounce them for supporting antisemitism and homophobia?

Where my people are is where I must also be. I go into difficult spaces. I attend meetings with police and legislators—the very folks so much of my protest has been directed towards. I’ve partnered and sat with countless groups, activists, religious leaders and institutions over the past 20 years. I’ve worked in prisons as well as with present and former gang members. 

Yes, you've protested the police or legislators. Even though you have worked with them, you have criticized their racist actions.

It is impossible for me to agree with every statement or share every viewpoint of the many people who I have worked with or will work with in the future. As I do not wish to be held responsible for the words of others when my own history shows that I stand in opposition to them, I also do not think it is fair to question anyone who works with me, who supports my work and who is a member of this movement because of the ways that I may have fallen short here or in any other instance. 

But you haven't haven't opposed Mr. Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. You've stood in solidarity with them. You haven't called them out.

My fellow Women’s March leaders believe that we can be the bridge to connect different groups in the name of our shared liberation. We don’t just step into difficult spaces, we create new ones. I am guided by the loving principles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., though I have fallen short of them at times. And it is with the belief that “non-violence seeks to win friendship and understanding” and “non-violence seeks to defeat injustice, not people” that we organized a march on January 21, 2017, that 5 million people participated in worldwide; and we have been guided by those values the whole way through. 

How can you now be the bridge for Jews or lesbians (I'm a lesbian) to work with other groups "in the name of our shared liberation"?

It is my intention to walk the tradition of Dr. Dorothy Height, successor to Mary McLeod Bethune as President of the National Council of Negro Women. In 1995, she faced criticism for participating in the Million Man March, which was organized by the Nation of Islam. Financial support was withheld from her organization, and there were attempts to bully and intimidate her. Nevertheless, she stood strong and proudly addressed the massive crowd of Black people who gathered on the National Mall. Her first words? “I am here because you are here.” 

I can't speak to Dr. Height's actions, because I don't know what her relationship was to Farrakhan or NOI.

I also take cues from my mentor, Hazel N. Dukes, President of the New York State Conference of the NAACP, who has brought together Muslims, Blacks and Jewish people and clergy from all denominations. Her office and her home are open to gang members, teen mothers and formerly incarcerated people as well. 

And how does Ms. Dukes think about Louis Farrakhan or the Nation of Islam? From what I know of the historical work of the NAACP, they do not in any way endorse antisemitism or hatred of LGBT people. 

Coalition work is not easy, and these women have operated from a place of authentic love for all people. My work requires an operational unity that is sometimes extremely painful and uncomfortable, even for me. But I push forward even when I am personally conflicted because our people are more important. 

– Tamika D. Mallory, Freedom Fighter

The problem is that your actions have led me to question whether you "operate from a place of authentic love for all people."  I'm not speaking to what's in your heart. We can never know what is really in another person's heart - but we can see how people speak and act. And your actions do not convince me that you have "love for all people." If you truly want to be a leader for all people, you need to pull away from Mr. Farrakhan and NOI, not by denying your history and personal connection to people in NOI, but by clearly stating your disagreement with the antisemitism, homophobia, and transphobia of the movement.

Louis Farrakhan and leaders of the Women's March

Update - see the link to a couple of other good articles on the Third Narrative site: http://thirdnarrative.org/uncategorized/slamming-progressive-support-for-farrakhan.

Jake Tapper today sent a series of tweets on the annual "Saviours' Day" address of Louis Farrakhan, the antisemitic and racist leader of the Nation of Islam. He spoke on February 25. It turns out that one of the co-chairs of the Women's March, Tamika Mallory, attended the speech and even received a shout-out from Farrakhan from the stage. Two other Women's March leaders, Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez, "have also praised and appeared at events with Farrakhan."

If we're going to call out the antisemitism of Donald Trump's alt-right fan club (which he gives a pass to), we should also call out the antisemitism that leaders of the Women's March are giving a pass to. I don't regret having gone to the Women's March last year (here in Ithaca), but after reading quite a bit about Linda Sarsour (especially her support for BDS) and now these two other Women's March leaders, I find it shocking that their relationship with Farrakhan has not been seriously questioned, much less criticized. I'm glad that Jake Tapper, who works for CNN, has brought this out in the open to a larger audience than the Jewish press (Tablet and the Forward).

Some of the lowlights of Farrakhan's speech:

In his opening remarks, he insisted that he is not an anti-Semite, but rather a truth teller, adding that the “powerful Jews are my enemy.” Apparently to illustrate that point, he remarked that when evangelist Billy Graham met with President Nixon, Graham warned Nixon about Jewish power, and told the President he was popular with Jewish voters only because he supported Israel.

In typical fashion, Farrakhan devoted a lot of time to talking about doing the work of Jesus by denouncing the Jews, saying that Jesus called the Jews children of the devil. He continued: “Jesus two thousand years ago never taught black people, he never taught in Egypt, he never taught in Africa, he only taught in Palestine. He was not sent to black people. He was sent to the Jews, the House of Israel to warn them of the end of their civilization.” 

Farrakhan views himself as the modern-day Jesus coming to warn “the good Jews,” telling the audience that “Satan is going down. Farrakhan has pulled the cover off the eyes of the Satanic Jew and I’m here to say your time is up, your world is through. You good Jews better separate because the satanic ones will take you to hell with them because that’s where they are headed.” 

Farrakhan also promoted the anti-Semitic conspiracy trope that Jews control the government and Hollywood. He told the crowd that the “white people running Mexico are Mexican-Jews,” and went on to say that Ukraine, France, Poland and Germany are controlled by Jews who “take on the culture, the money, the business” of those countries. 

He told the audience, “the Jews have control over those agencies of government,” particularly the FBI, and in life “when you want something in this world, the Jew holds the door.” He claimed that Jewish people are the ones responsible for the “degenerate behavior in Hollywood turning men into women and women into men,” and that Jews are “the mother and father of apartheid.” He also promoted the “Pot Plot” conspiracy that the Jews and the US government are manipulating strains of marijuana to feminize black men. “God did not create man to lay with man. But you are being chemically programmed against your nature, you don’t know it.” 

He even mentioned the Women’s March, saying that while he thought the event was a good thing, women need to learn how to cook so their husbands don’t become obese. Tamika Mallory, one of the March organizers, was in the audience, and got a special shout-out from Farrakhan. Mallory posted two Instagram photos from the event, which Carmen Perez, another Women’s March organizer, commented on with “raise the roof” emojis.

More on the speech and Mallory's connection to Farrakhan (from CNN):

Women's March co-chair Tamika Mallory was in attendance, CNN's Jake Tapper pointed out on Twitter after she shared an image from the event on Instagram. 

Mallory has posted on social media about Farrakhan in the past -- on February 21, 2016, she posted an image of him from a stage at the Joe Louis Arena with the caption: "The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan just stepped to the mic for #SD16DET... I'm super ready for this message! #JUSTICEORELSE #ForTheLoveOfFlint."Mallory did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment on Sunday's speech. 

The Nation of Islam is a designated hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its "deeply racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBT rhetoric," and its primary teaching promotes black racial superiority. 

On Sunday, Rev. Farrakhan gave his Saviours' Day 2018 Address, attended by thousands including one of the co-founders of the Women's March.https://t.co/WE5ys7It8R

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018

Shortly after 1:10:50 in the video Farrakhan proclaims that "the powerful Jews are my enemy.” https://t.co/WE5ys7It8R

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018

At 2:57:00 he begins approvingly quoting some of the anti-Semitic comments made by Rev. Billy Graham and President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office.https://t.co/WE5ys7It8R

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018

At 2:59:00 Farrakhan approvingly cites Nixon and Graham attacking Jews' "grip on the media" and Hollywood and "how the Jews were responsible for all of this filth and degenerate behavior that Hollywood is putting out turning men into women and women into men.”

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018

At 3:15, Farrakhan calls Jews 'the mother and father of apartheid, the Jews."https://t.co/WE5ys7It8R

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018

Assailing Keith Ellison, at 3:21 Farrakhan says, "let me tell you something, when you want something in this world, the Jew holds the door."
https://t.co/WE5ys7It8R

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018

at 3;49: “White folks are going down. And Satan is going down. And Farrakhan ...has pulled the cover off the eyes of that Satanic Jew and I’m here to say your time is up, your world is through." https://t.co/WE5ys7It8R

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018

This is who Farrakhan is. It's why folks are legitimately so offended when they found out that then-Sen. Obama and members of the CBC met with him in 2005. https://t.co/QdGpWuGdZ6

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018

The @ADL_National has lots more on comments Farrakhan has made over the years. https://t.co/Z0QxInjwMB

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018

The difference between Farrakhan and some members of the alt-reich whose heinous bigotry has received a lot of attention this past year: Farrakhan has a much larger following and elected officials meet with him openly.
-fin-

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018

.@Mediaite reports that i MIS-identified official from the Womens March who attended this speech, @TamikaDMallory, as a co-founder of the march when she is actually a co-chair. Apologies --

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018

Pluto, in colors

Original available at https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-rich-color-variations-of-pluto

1844 photo of the Dome of the Rock

COLD WAR II - everything old is new again!

Everything old is new again - but not any of the good old things. Just this week our president revived the old racist idea that only white immigrants should be allowed in this country, instead of people from "shitholes" like countries in Africa. Today we were reminded of the bad old days of the Cold War, which the same president is doing his best to revive.

I suppose that everyone has heard about this by now - at 8:00 am Hawaii time today, people in Hawaii were sent the following message:

BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

It wasn't a drill - it was a mistake, but for over a half an hour people in Hawaii thought that they were about to be hit by a nuclear missile.

Thirty-eight minutes later, an official message was sent cancelling the first. 

Before then Rep. Tulsi Gabbard had sent out a message (about twenty minutes after the first emergency message) saying this was a false alarm.

How can this be happening??? I lived through the Cold War. I didn't know about most (or maybe all) of the false alarms that went off from 1956 (when I was born), to the fall of the Soviet Union. I don't even remember the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, although I do remember nuclear war alerts where we had to go sit in the hallway. We had a fallout shelter in the basement of our school.  I remember the nuclear tensions of the 1980s, and the unconscious fear I had that the world would blow up. (I didn't even know that I had that constant fear until the fall of the Soviet Union when I felt like I could finally relax).

Update on Eliade and fascism

I've just posted an update to an old post on Mircea Eliade and fascism, with links to three interesting articles or books that deal with the question of Eliade's connection to Rumanian fascism.

Support progressive young Jews on campus!

Creating a Home for Next Gen Liberal Jews Through The Third Narrative

Joshua Schwartz

Northwestern University, class of 2015

Dear Rebecca,

As I know you’re interested in the work of The Third Narrative (TTN), I’d like to share my personal TTN story and the impact I know it can have on young progressive American students across the country.

Like many others in my generation, I experienced the 2014 Gaza war between Israel and Hamas as a traumatic watershed moment. Studying at Northwestern University, I remember my mother crying over the phone when we heard that Hamas had kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teens – Eyal, Gilad and Naftali. I was further shocked when I learned that Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a Palestinian teenager, had been burned alive by Israeli settlers. During those terrible days, each side unleashed sadness, pain and rage on the other. I asked myself, “Where do I fit into all of this? What should my generation do? What is our role?”

I was a college student who passionately loved Israel, and considered peace with the Palestinians to be the only way to justly resolve the conflict and ensure Israeli security. I knew I needed to find a political home that would enable me to live out my values, but I didn’t yet know that it would be Ameinu and its initiative The Third Narrative.



But before discovering Ameinu, I would face a major challenge on campus.

Students at Northwestern assembled a coalition – NUDivest – demanding that the university divest from companies profiting from the occupation of the Palestinian Territories. While clearly these companies helped sustain Israel’s military control, I rejected NUDivest and its support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. BDS, like the Israeli right and settler movement, refuses to distinguish between Israel and the Occupied Territories and sees the conflict as a simplistic choice between good and evil.

On campus, I advocated that pro-Israel and pro-Palestine activism are not mutually exclusive, and that the only way to fight BDS is to also fight the occupation and support justice for Palestinians. While I sought nuance and compassion, both sides rejected this approach. The Jewish coalition refused to include opposition to occupation in its written communications, and NUDivest pushed its resolution through the student government, giving BDS a victory.

When I graduated a few months later, I didn’t know where to turn.

It was then that I discovered Ameinu and The Third Narrative -- a home where I could strengthen the American Jewish community by ensuring peace, justice and the two-state solution remained a part of its advocacy agenda. At Ameinu and TTN, I was given a chance to organize a national network of academics focusing on Israel, Palestine and academic freedom; develop a curriculum for student-led learning on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and progressive Zionism; and engage students and Hillel professionals on numerous campuses to include the nuance that was missing from the BDS debate at Northwestern.

Through my experiences with Ameinu, I was inspired to go to Israel to study Arabic and spend a year working to promote shared society for Jews and Palestinians in Jerusalem.

"Right, Left, and Center Seek a Political Agreement" - Women Wage Peace

Upon my return to the United States, Ameinu continued to nurture my progressive Zionist leadership, inviting me to join the Board of Directors. I am honored and excited to give back. While many young liberal American Jews reject all Jewish communal organizations as contrary to their progressive values, I believe we must find a place to re-engage with the institutions that provided our foundational connection to Judaism and Israel. For me, Ameinu is that place.

Through Ameinu, I am now working to activate my generation. I’m writing today to ask you to support Ameinu and help us launch The Third Narrative on Campus. This initiative will organize peer education programs on progressive Zionism, bring Israeli social justice and peace advocates to campus, and offer progressive volunteer programs with Israeli counterparts to build a cohort of well-informed young Jewish leaders who are passionately committed to American Jewish life and Israel.

We are seeking to raise $25,000 before the end of the year in order to pilot The Third Narrative on Campus at five schools starting in January 2018. This is just the beginning.

I know how Ameinu and The Third Narrative can change the life of a young progressive American Jew -- and the impact it can have on their involvement with Israel and the Jewish community. With your help, we can engage many more young progressive American Jews and make a profound difference in the next generation of Jewish leadership. Please join us today with a gift of $36, $50, $100, $500, or whatever you can afford.

Donations can be made online through TTN.

Thank you for your support of the next generation of Jewish leaders.

Joshua Schwartz
Northwestern University, Class of 2015
Ameinu Board of Directors

P.S. If you would like to support this initiative by check, please make it out to Ameinu, a 501c3 tax exempt organization, and send it to Ameinu, 25 Broadway, New York, NY 10004. Note “TTN on Campus” on the memo line.

Jerusalem and environs in photos in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif in 1877

Temple Mount - Muslims leaving for Nebi Musa festival, 1910

Damascus Gate in 1870

Outside Damascus Gate, 1860

German Colony (in Jerusalem), 1900. 

Germany Colony in Jerusalem, 1900

Hezekiah's Pool in Jerusalem, 1862.

Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem, 1898

Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem, 1898

Valley of Jehoshaphat with Absalom's Tomb (just to the east of the walled Old City), 1877

Main road from Shechem (Nablus) to Jerusalem, 1913

Rachel's Tomb, 1900

 Source of the photographs: First Photos of Eretz Yisrael.

Growing Antisemitism in Sweden

Anti-Semitism in Sweden now mostly comes from Muslim extremists and the left-wing, not from right-wing extremists.

STOCKHOLM — This past Saturday, a Hanukkah party at a synagogue in Goteborg, Sweden, was abruptly interrupted by Molotov cocktails. They were hurled by a gang of men in masks at the Jews, mostly teenagers, who had gathered to celebrate the holiday. 

Two days later, two fire bombs were discovered outside the Jewish burial chapel in the southern Swedish city of Malmo. 

Who knows what tomorrow may bring? 

For Sweden’s 18,000 Jews, sadly, none of this comes as a surprise. They are by now used to anti-Semitic threats and attacks — especially during periods of unrest in the Middle East, which provide cover to those whose actual goal has little to do with Israel and much to do with harming Jews. 

Both of these recent attacks followed days of incitement against Jews. Last Friday, 200 people protested in Malmo against President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The protesters called for an intifada and promised “we will shoot the Jews.” A day later, during a demonstration in Stockholm, a speaker called Jews “apes and pigs.” There were promises of martyrdom. 

Malmo’s sole Hasidic rabbi has reported being the victim of more than 100 incidents of hostility ranging from hate speech to physical assault. In response to such attacks, the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a travel warning in 2010 advising “extreme caution when visiting southern Sweden” because of officials’ failure to act against the “serial harassment” of Jews in Malmo. 

Today, entering a synagogue anywhere in Sweden usually requires going through security checks, including airport-like questioning. At times of high alert, police officers with machine guns guard Jewish schools. Children at the Jewish kindergarten in Malmo play behind bulletproof glass. Not even funerals are safe from harassment. 

Jewish schoolteachers have reported hiding their identity. A teacher who wouldn’t even share the city where she teaches for fear of her safety told a Swedish news outlet: “I hear students shouting in the hallway about killing Jews.” Henryk Grynfeld, a teacher at a high school in a mostly immigrant neighborhood in Malmo, was told by a student: “We’re going to kill all Jews.” He said other students yell “yahoud,” the Arabic word for Jew, at him..... 

Historically, anti-Semitism in Sweden could mainly be attributed to right-wing extremists. While this problem persists, a study from 2013 showed that 51 percent of anti-Semitic incidents in Sweden were attributed to Muslim extremists. Only 5 percent were carried out by right-wing extremists; 25 percent were perpetrated by left-wing extremists. 

Swedish politicians have no problem condemning anti-Semitism carried out by right-wingers. When neo-Nazis planned a march that would go past the Goteborg synagogue on Yom Kippur this September, for example, it stirred up outrage across the political spectrum. A court ruled that the demonstrators had to change their route. 

There is, however, tremendous hesitation to speak out against hate crimes committed by members of another minority group in a country that prides itself on welcoming minorities and immigrants. In 2015, Sweden was second only to Germany in the number of Syrian refugees it welcomed. Yet the three men arrested in the Molotov cocktail attack were newly arrived immigrants, two Syrians and a Palestinian. 

The fear of being accused of intolerance has paralyzed Sweden’s leaders from properly addressing deep-seated intolerance. 

Some of the country’s leaders have even used Israel as a convenient boogeyman to explain violence. After the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, Sweden’s foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, explained radicalism among European Muslims with reference to Israel: “Here, once again, we are brought back to situations like the one in the Middle East, where not least, the Palestinians see that there isn’t a future. We must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence.” 

In an interview in June, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven was askedwhether Sweden had been naïve about the link between immigration and anti-Semitism. His response was typical of the way in which leading politicians have avoided giving straight answers about the threat against the country’s Jews: “We have a problem in Sweden with anti-Semitism, and it doesn’t matter who expresses it, it’s still as darn wrong.” 

But the problem has grown so dire that it finally forced Mr. Lofven to admit in an interview this month: “We will not ignore the fact that many people have come here from the Middle East, where anti-Semitism is a widespread idea, almost part of the ideology. We must become even clearer, dare to talk more about it.”.....

Why I signed the Jewish Studies scholars statement on Jerusalem

I signed this statement criticizing Trump's decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel and move the American embassy to Jerusalem. I signed not because I think that Jerusalem isn't the capital of Israel (the Knesset, the Supreme Court, and most government ministries are there - it's obviously the capital of Israel, no matter what other nations say), but because Trump's announcement does not acknowledge that Palestinians also have a legitimate claim to Jerusalem. I believe that Jerusalem should be the capital of both Israel and a future Palestinians state. 

Jerusalem is one of the central issues to be decided in any peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, and predetermining its status forecloses upon the possibility that the city could be a capital of both states.

Jewish Studies Statement on Jerusalem Declaration

We write as Jewish Studies scholars to express our dismay at the Trump administration's decision to reverse decades of bipartisan U.S. policy by declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and authorizing the relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv, outside of a negotiated political framework that ends the legal state of occupation and ensures respect for the rights of all Israelis and Palestinians to Jerusalem. 

Jerusalem is of immense religious and thus emotional significance to Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike. It is the focus of national aspirations for both Israelis and Palestinians. We hope one day to see a world in which all inhabitants of the land enjoy equal access to the city’s cultural and material resources. Today, unfortunately, that is not the case. 

As the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem* has documented, Palestinian residents of Jerusalem endure systematic inequalities, including an inequitable distribution of the city's budget and municipal services, routine denial of building permits that are granted to Jewish residents, home demolitions, and legal confiscation of property for Jewish settlement. In addition, Palestinians in the West Bank, unlike Jewish Israelis resident in that territory, require a special permit to visit Jerusalem’s holy sites.

In this context, a declaration from the United States government that appears to endorse sole Jewish proprietorship over Jerusalem adds insult to ongoing injury and is practically guaranteed to fan the flames of violence. We therefore call on the U.S. government to take immediate steps to deescalate the tensions resulting from the President’s declaration and to clarify Palestinians’ legitimate stake in the future of Jerusalem.

*http://www.btselem.org/jerusalem 

Kayla Moore - "One of our attorneys is a Jew"

At a campaign rally for Ray Moore tonight in Midland City, AL, Kayla Moore spoke about accusations of antisemitism against her husband.

Kayla Moore, wife of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, accuses media of painting couple as anti-Semitic. pic.twitter.com/Vcczj6pNPv

— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 12, 2017

Let's say you are teaching a class about anti-semitism, and you don't know how to show your students what anti-semitism looks like in today's America. Kayla Moore has solved your problem. https://t.co/SoZ6Q2PkHM

— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) December 12, 2017

I will face this problem next semester.

Kayla Moore said:

"Fake news will tell you that we don't care for Jews. I'm telling you all this because I've seen it and I just want to set the record straight while they're here. [waving to reporters] [cheering from the crowd]. One of our attorneys is a Jew. [cheering and clapping]."' 

Kayla Moore's expression when she said "is a Jew."

"We've had very close friends who are Jewish, and rabbis, and we also fellowship with them. [more cheers and whistles."

Jews! and rabbis!

And they "fellowship" with them. I didn't realize the word was a verb as well as a noun.

From an article, "Fellowship is a verb!" by Ray McDonald (a Methodist minister):

What do you think of when you hear the word fellowship? According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, fellowship can be a noun or a verb. As a noun, it might mean companionship or company. It might mean a community of interest, activity, feeling or experience, a company of equals or friends. As a verb, it seems to be exclusively used by churches as in; to join in fellowship especially with a church member. 

I like looking at fellowship as a verb. It is active! It is doing something – being together – enjoying each other’s company. We come together on Sunday mornings to praise and worship God together. In doing so – we are fellowshipping together. We are being involved with one another’s lives.

Does Kayla Moore mean that they meet together with their Jewish friends to pray and worship God together? (And if so, who do they all pray to?). Or just that they're involved with each others' lives, as friends? And who are these friends? Could we have a few names?

Somehow I don't find Kayla Moore's words particularly convincing. If she really had close Jewish friends, I doubt she'd be making speeches about them. And if she wants us to think that she and her husband are free of anti-Jewish animus, talking about their Jewish lawyer is hardly the way to go about it, since it's such a stereotype.

I hope that Roy Moore will lose the Senate race tomorrow.

"We want 48" - Anti-Israel and anti-semitic demonstration in Times Square

Many of the protests around the world against Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli's capital and his decision that the U.S. Embassy should be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem have been marked by open antisemitism, including here in the United States.

A rally in Times Square on Friday, December 8, loudly proclaimed that the goal was one state - Palestine, not two states beside each other, and demanded a third intifada and revolution. They want an end to Israel and its total replacement by Palestine.

These were some of the chants:

"We don't want no two-state, we want 48" (Israel was founded in 1948; the problem isn't just the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem).

"With spirit and blood we'll redeem Al Aqsa" (in Arabic)

"There is only one solution: Intifada Revolution."

"Khaybar Khaybar Ya Yahud Jaish Muhammad saya'ud" - "Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews: Muhammad's army will return." This refers to a battle in the early 600s, when a Jewish tribe in Khaybar, Arabia, was defeated by the troops of Muhammad.

"Intifada Intifada. Long live Intifada."

"From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free." 

"When people are occupied, resistance is justified." 

"Palestine is ours alone." 

The rally was organized by Palestinian American Community Center in New Jersey, New York City SJP, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, NY4Palestine, and Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, but the speakers also came from other organizations, including the International Action Center and the Palestinian Youth Movement in New York (the speaker from this organization referred to the "Zionist Entity" not to Israel).

If you watch the longer video, you'll see a Jewish man wearing a streimel - the token representative of Neturei Karta, I assume, who makes it possible for the demonstrators to claim that they are not antisemitic.

For a longer video of the rally:

On not normalizing Nazis

So we’re gonna do this now, huh. https://t.co/E3mSS221ee

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

Just a nice holiday weekend. Some end-of-autumn yardwork, maybe some shopping, and a little Nazi normalizing in the paper of record.

OK. Let's do this.

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

See, once you've decided to become a Nazi? I literally don't care about the rest.

There were a million 'regular person' things about Nazis in WWII as well. Those things don't matter. What matters is what they allowed and what they did.

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

"Ms. Hovater, 25, was worried about Antifa bashing up the ceremony. Weddings are hard enough to plan for when your fiancé is not an avowed white nationalist."

Imagine, living under the threat of violence because of what you are.

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

You know what I remember before 2017? When identifying as a Nazi was so toxic you didn't get a puff-piece write up in the New York Times. pic.twitter.com/ncpKNErRUB

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

We know, guy.

People who voted for Donald Trump? We know. pic.twitter.com/DBSOXtKzzQ

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

"It was a weeknight at Applebee’s in Huber Heights, a suburb of Dayton, a few weeks before the wedding."

Awesome! Hope they enjoyed their meal. Holocaust victims frequently starved to death. pic.twitter.com/to3QYuMCHs

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

"The couple, who live in nearby New Carlisle, were shoulder to shoulder at a table, young and in love."

Aw, young love. Chaim Hirszman found the dead body of his wife and had to shave it. pic.twitter.com/Y7k35CrAq9

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

"He was in a plain T-shirt, she in a sleeveless jean jacket."

Neat! Just like regular people! Jewish women were stripped naked to humiliate them before their deaths and then they were buried in mass graves. https://t.co/yZinJMZmxj

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

"She ordered the boneless wings."

Yummy!

Mordechai Ansbacher saw people begging for potato peels, and when Jews were liberated from camps, some were so shockingly emaciated they looked like skeletons. pic.twitter.com/r67JKNzsYd

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

"Her parents had met him, she said, and approved of the match."

It's good to have supportive parents. Of the entire Frank family, only father Otto survived. pic.twitter.com/1c4cFKXGI0

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

"The wedding would be small."

But not as small as the gap in the wall this fleeing boy tried to squeeze through. pic.twitter.com/buJFYyY20G

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

"But his tattoos are innocuous pop-culture references: a slice of cherry pie adorns one arm, a homage to the TV show “Twin Peaks.”"

How very relatable. They would gas Jews in transport vans. pic.twitter.com/1I98gS7YE6

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

"He says he prefers to spread the gospel of white nationalism with satire."

How nice. Each successive group of Jews had to lie down on the bodies of those that had already been shot. pic.twitter.com/BrRhWmEQph

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

"He is a big “Seinfeld” fan."

Oh is he. Is he really. Hannah Lewis watched Nazis shoot her mother dead. Here's what she has to say now. pic.twitter.com/isBagavbpA

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

“I guess it seems weird when talking about these type of things,” he says. “You know, I’m coming at it in a mid-90s, Jewish, New York, observational-humor way.”

They stacked Jewish bodies like firewood, you unbelievable shit. There is footage. Here's an observation. Make a joke. pic.twitter.com/pw1OqkqhBL

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

Normalizing is exactly what these Nazis need. And nothing helps that more than a noncritical article about how normal they are from the @nytimes, which should be fucking ashamed. pic.twitter.com/HFqk0yjKuv

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

I don't care about their fondness for NPR
I don't care about their four cats
I REALLY don't care about their bridal registry

They're Nazis, and they're looking to recruit, and they think they president and the GOP are with them.

And they are right.

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

Sort of feels like if a Nazi party hadn't taken over, there wouldn't suddenly be Nazis all over the place. Right?

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

One thing I remember about the first 40 years of my life, is, if you were a Nazi, then it didn't matter what other normal shit you had going on, you weren't normal.

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

For the memory of the victims, how dare we.
For the sake of the survivors, some who are STILL ALIVE, how dare we.

There's no extra points for being the ignorant Nazi, the one who just didn't know.

How dare we.

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

I'll end with these words I posted on Facebook exactly a year ago, reeling from the election of what I knew to be a Nazi president.

I was told I was over-reacting.

I really don't think so. pic.twitter.com/hkkik0Ksrk

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 25, 2017

Yeah, so 4:30 vs. 7:30 makes a hell of a difference, @nytimes but we see you. pic.twitter.com/VxfQ0KqaLA

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 26, 2017

The time to realize what story to write in this situation was 70 fucking years ago, @nytimes.

We need a biased newspaper. We need it biased in favor of humanity.

To hell with this 'both sides' fair and balance sickness in this country.

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 26, 2017

We're not interested in the halfway point between 'almost too late' and 'when they came for me it was too late to speak,' @nytimes.

Handle your shit.

— Julius Goat 🦆 (@JuliusGoat) November 26, 2017

Review of "Undeclared Wars with Israel: East Germany and the West German Far Left"

Jeffrey Herf. Undeclared Wars with Israel: East Germany and the West German Far Left, 1967-1989. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Illustrations. 493 pp. $29.99 (paper), ISBN 978-1-107-46162-8; $99.99 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-107-08986-0.

Reviewed by Philipp Lenhard (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Historisches Seminar Jüdische Geschichte und Kultur)

Published on H-Judaic (November, 2017)

When the German terrorists Wilfried Böse and Brigitte Kuhlmann hijacked Air France Flight 139 on June 27, 1976, and separated Jewish and Israeli from non-Jewish hostages, the Nazi past seemed to resurge in a new, left-radical disguise. Since 1969, German leftists had maintained close contacts with Palestinian terrorist groups, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Fatah, the two largest groups forming the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). As a result of this collaboration, a series of anti-Jewish attacks were carried out in West Germany throughout the 1970s in the name of a so-called resistance against US imperialism and Zionist racism. The hijacking of the Air France flight and the “selection” of the Jewish passengers represent the zenith of German left-wing anti-Zionism that declined in the 1980s and has been increasingly challenged by leftist supporters of Israel since the 1990s.[1] However, the fine line between criticism of Israeli politics, hatred against Israel, and antisemitism remains an urgent issue today.[2] 

Historical research takes on an important role in uncovering the history of anti-Zionism and antisemitism in their manifold forms. Scholars of Jewish history have long argued that both Jewish and non-Jewish anti-Zionism prior to the Holocaust cannot easily be equated with antisemitism because the rejection of Zionism often stemmed from a universalist critique of nationalism as it had evolved from the ideas of the European Enlightenment. [3] At the same time, late nineteenth-century antisemites already used anti-Zionist ideas to denounce Jews as being incapable of running a state.[4] After the extermination of European Jewry and the foundation of the state of Israel, anti-Zionism was directed not only against an ideology but also against the existing Jewish state of Holocaust survivors and their children and grandchildren. Thus, any attempt to critique Zionism before the mass murder has to at least face the accusation of historical blindness. Socialist and Communist movements and parties as well as the Communist regimes after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, including the German Democratic Republic (GDR), founded in 1949, only one year after the foundation of the Jewish state, had to face this conflicted heritage. In most cases, pre-Holocaust anti-Zionism was perpetuated or even radicalized under the influence of Joseph Stalin’s anti-cosmopolitan and anti-imperialist doctrines. 

Notes 

[1]. Despite its overall pro-Palestinian agenda, the Far Left party Die Linke emphasizes that “Israel’s existence and the history of its foundation are irrevocable consequences of the Shoah and the extermination of European Jewry, a historical consequence of a centuries-old antisemitism that predates Nazi Fascism and that encompasses more than the European-Christian history of persecution. This world-historical emancipation is worth our unrestricted solidarity, and this possibility will be defended in all future” (translation mine). Die Linke, https://www.die-linke.de/detail/eine-friedliche-zwei-staatenloesung-muss-ziel-bleiben/ (accessed October 12, 2017). Compared to other European leftist parties, this statement shows a profound transformation of the German left wing’s diction over the course of the last decades. 

[2]. In a recent book about Operation Entebbe (Legenden um Entebbe: Ein Akt der Luftpiraterie und seine Dimensionen in der politischen Diskussion [Münster: Unrast, 2016]), edited by the Far Left activist Markus Mohr, antisemitism from the left is systematically downplayed, which has aroused a heated debate in the left-wing weekly Jungle World. 

[3]. See for the transition Léon Poliakov, Vom Antizionismus zum Antisemitismus (Freiburg im Breisgau: Ça Ira, 1992).

[4]. See, for example, Eugen Dühring, Die Judenfrage als Racen-, Sitten- und Culturfrage (Karlsruhe, Leipzig: H. Reuther, 1881), 110n. 

For the rest of the review: Herf.

Academic boycotts and the Society of Biblical Literature

I just noticed that the SBL recently posted a statement opposing academic boycotts. It doesn't mention any particular boycott, but I suspect it has something to do with the BDS movement.

Statement on Academic Boycotts 

SBL’s mission statement enumerates the core values of the Society, including respect for diversity, openness to change, and critical inquiry that reflects SBL’s full international context. In order to fulfill this mission, SBL considers academic boycotts an obstacle to the free exchange of ideas, a bedrock principle for scholarly discourse. SBL’s statement on academic freedom elaborates the principles supporting critical inquiry and participation. Both the statement on academic freedom and this statement on academic boycotts are in accordance with the positions of AAUP.

Rather than engaging in academic boycotts, the Society provides opportunities for organizing academic sessions, including those that address controversial issues. Such sessions, as with all sessions and panels at SBL conferences, relate to the scholarly mission of the Society, are open to all of its members, and provide analysis of complex and sometimes competing points of view. The Society recognizes that members, individually and in groups, exercise their right to participate according to their conscience and interest. 

The Society furthermore provides procedures for making public statements that are directly related to its mission or to the professional interests of its members.

Why I oppose the academic boycott of Israel; why the AAR should not support BDS

Because there are people starting to organize for support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement at the American Academy of Religion (whose annual meeting is happening right now in Boston, in conjunction with the Society of Biblical Literature; for some details, see this article in Haaretz: https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-1.823743), I thought it made sense to republish my letter against the academic boycott of Israel. I wrote it in 2014, when the American Studies Association voted to support the academic boycott, and a pro-boycott speaker, Professor Eric Cheyfitz came and spoke at Ithaca College in support of the boycott.

When I saw the poster (for Cheyfitz's talk at Ithaca College), I began to reflect how my academic work has been immensely enriched by my studies in Israel. When I was a graduate student at Harvard, I went to Israel for two years, 1987-89, to improve my Hebrew and take courses at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Studying there gave me the opportunity to learn from some of the most prominent scholars in several fields of Jewish Studies. I took a course on early Jewish mysticism with Professor Rachel Elior, and found my dissertation topic. I took many other courses in Jewish Studies that were not, at that time, offered at Harvard, including a course on the Zohar, another one on the range of interpretations of Genesis 38 (the story of Judah and Tamar) with Yair Zakovitch (Bible) and Avigdor Shinan (Midrash), a course on the Septuagint with Emanuel Tov (one of the world experts on the study of the Septuagint), a reading course with Michael Stone on 3 Baruch, a course on Midrash with Avigdor Shinan (a world expert on Midrash), a course in Biblical Aramaic, etc. I had originally intended to spend only a year in Israel but I was so interested that I decided to spend a second year at the Hebrew University. 

I returned to Israel for the 1992-93 academic year to do research for my dissertation. I consulted with Professor Elior frequently and audited another class of hers on the Hekhalot literature. If I had not been able to go to the Hebrew University and the National and University Library for research, I probably could not have finished my dissertation. The National Library houses the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, and it was there that I learned how to read medieval manuscripts from others in the community of scholars who also used the library.

I went to Israel again for the 1998-1999 academic year, benefiting from a Lady Davis Fellowship given to me by the Hebrew University. While there, I worked on research topics that arose out of my dissertation and explored new areas. I took a course at the university with Joseph Naveh on ancient Jewish amulets - we learned how to read, translate, and interpret them. I also participated in a year long seminar at the Hartman Institute on messianism and mysticism in Judaism. I gave a presentation there on Metatron as a messianic figure in 3 Enoch.

In the spring of 2012, when I was on sabbatical, I spent seven months in Jerusalem working on my second book, Angels' Tongues and Witches' Curses: Jewish Women and Ritual Power in Late Antiquity.

Since my first stay in Israel in 1987-89, I have visited almost every year to do research. Since the summer of 2006, I have gone every summer for up to two months. In terms of my research, Israel is really my academic home. I use the National Library and participate in the community of scholars and scholarship there. In the last couple of years I have met graduate students at the library who are working on their dissertations and I have been able to be helpful to a few of them in their research. Since I teach at a primarily undergraduate institution, I don't teach any graduate students, and I value the opportunity to be able to advise current students.

The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) has issued guidelines for how people should boycott Israeli academia. They include "refrain[ing] from participation in any form of academic and cultural cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli institutions." Participation includes "Academic events (such as conferences, symposia, workshops, book and museum exhibits) convened or co-sponsored by Israeli institutions." The events include events held both in Israel and abroad that are sponsored by Israeli institutions. They are also opposed to study abroad programs in Israel, under the reasoning that "These programs are usually housed at Israeli universities and are part of the Israeli propaganda effort, designed to give international students a “positive experience” of Israel." In addition, official representatives of Israeli academia who give talks at international venues should be boycotted, as well as special honors given to these recipients. They also oppose any Palestinian/Arab-Israeli collaborative research projects or events. The boycott campaign opposes any events and projects that bring Palestinians and/or Arabs and Israelis together, "unless based on unambiguous recognition of Palestinian rights and framed within the explicit context of opposition to occupation and other forms of Israeli oppression of the Palestinians." The boycott campaign also calls for not publishing or refereeing articles for academic journals based in Israeli universities.

While USACBI says that the boycott is aimed at Israeli academic institutions (on the pretext that they support the Israeli occupation), and not at individual Israeli scholars, it is difficult for me to see how this caveat really protects individuals. For example, my research at the Hebrew University in 1998-99 was financed by a Lady Davis grant. If I hadn't received the money, I wouldn't have been able to go for the year. In addition, Israeli scholars who go to international conferences are usually supported by travel grants from their institutions, as are academics in other countries. (It should be noted that the endorsement of the boycott by the American Studies Association states explicitly that "Routine university funding for individual collaborations or academic exchanges is permitted").

Every four years the World Congress of Jewish Studies is held at the Hebrew University. Scholars in Jewish Studies from Israel, Europe, the US, and other parts of the world give papers. Since USACBI maintains that events convened by Israeli institutions should be boycotted, this means that one of the primary conferences in the field of Jewish Studies would be able to function only for Israeli scholars. Again, boycotting this conference would have a direct effect upon individual scholars, both Israeli and from other countries. Despite the claim of the ASA that the boycott "does not seek to curtail dialogue between U.S. and Israeli scholars," it would actually have this effect, in that it would prohibit US scholars from going to conferences in Israel sponsored by any academic institution.

If scholarly organizations and academic institutions in the US decided to support the academic boycott, it would have a seriously deleterious effect upon the field of Jewish Studies, since it would prohibit American scholars from going to any conferences in Israel (which are usually sponsored by Israeli universities). Israeli scholars who headed institutes at Israeli universities would not be permitted to speak at American universities. I suspect that the boycott would also prohibit foreign scholars from receiving grants or fellowships at Israeli universities. Since the boycott campaign opposes study abroad in Israel, foreign students, on the undergraduate or graduate levels, would not be able to study at Israeli universities, or do dissertation or other research in Israel, and would therefore be cut off from the knowledge and connections they could gain from collaboration with Israeli scholars. When I went to the Hebrew University as a visiting graduate student in 1987-89, I enrolled in the university through the Rothberg International School. The academic boycott would have prevented that, directly impacting my academic career.

In addition, USACBI states,

While an individual’s academic freedom should be fully and consistently respected in this context, an individual academic, Israeli or not, cannot be exempt from being subject to boycotts that conscientious citizens around the world (beyond the scope of the PACBI boycott criteria) may call for in response to what is widely perceived as a particularly offensive act or statement by the academic in question (such as direct or indirect incitement to violence; justification — an indirect form of advocacy — of war crimes and other grave violations of international law; racial slurs; actual participation in human rights violations; etc.).

This means that USACBI (in agreement with PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel) supports boycotting individuals who, in its judgement, engage in incitement to violence, justification of war crimes, etc. How does USACBI define war crimes? What if a scholar wrote an article supporting retaliatory Israeli strikes against Hamas or Islamic Jihad terrorists who had just fired missiles into Israel (while at the same time cautioning against any strikes that could harm civilians)? Would that count as a "justification of war crimes"? 

If I wrote an essay for this blog maintaining that the separation wall had stopped many suicide bombers from entering Israel from the West Bank, would that count as justifying a "grave violation of international law," given that the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion in 2004 stating that the wall is illegal under international law? This part of the call to boycott could justify the boycotting of scholars in political science, international affairs, Middle Eastern politics, history, and other fields who write articles and books that justify any actions that USACBI consider to be war crimes, incitement to violence, etc., therefore also directly impacting individual scholars, Israeli or not.

"Alt-right" woman unclear on the concept

Unclear on the concept. "Wife with a Purpose," a Mormon ex-feminist, now supporter of the alt-right, "Trad Life," white supremacy, and antisemitism.

Steve Bannon Is Bad for the Jews - Bret Stephens

Bret Stephens: Steve Bannon Is Bad for the Jews

The Zionist Organization of America feted Stephen K. Bannon at a gala dinner in New York on Sunday night. What a disgrace.

What a mistake, too.

It’s a disgrace because no organization that purports to represent the interests of the Jewish people should ever embrace anyone who embraces anti-Semites. Jews have enemies enough. To provide those enemies with moral cover for the sake of political convenience or ideology corroborates the worst anti-Semitic stereotypes and strengthens the hand of those who mean us harm.