Antisemitism is as Antisemitism Does
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Antisemitism is as Antisemitism Does
This webpage presents an email exchange from the minister from my neighborhood’s Unitarian Church, one in which he let his antisemitic flag fly. He asked a favor of me: could I help him sound less antisemitic in an upcoming statement about his congregation's condemnation of both the Israeli and US governments over actions in Palestine?
That's an easy "no."
Let me provide some context.
In January of 2023 (10 months before the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel), a local "peace" group (Simple Simons for Propaganda or SS4P) announced they were holding a forum with the much-misnomered organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). JVP is bad news. Rather than go into detail here, please check out research on JVP, linked below. The forum was being held at The Castle, the gathering spot for our local Unitarian Church meets. The building itself really is a castle, built almost 140 years ago by a wealthy businessman. It was his home; after he died it changed hands many times, Today it is where the local Unitarians meet. Many of the congregants are also SS4P members.
When SS4P first announced they were hosting JVP, members of the local Jewish community reached out numerous times. We wanted to express our concerns about JVP and its antisemitic messaging. SS4P members refused to meet with us.
People in our neighborhood--Jewish and Christian--wouldn't stand for this. A furious discussion developed on our neighborhood Facebook page, where SS4P first announced the JVP forum. To a person, JVP was condemned for what it is: a disingenuous group that foments antisemitism. Consider this example from the JVP Twitter feed.
A typical tweet on the JVP social media feed. Note the term "Jewish Supremacy." Who originated this term? Former KKK Grand Dragon David Duke in his 2002 book Jewish Supremacism: My Awakening on the Jewish Question.
Compare the JVP tweet to this selection from page 12 of Duke's book. Both offer "reasoned" language with gaping holes in history and context. Both use the term "Jewish Supremacy/Jewish Supremacism" to bolster their propaganda. Both are antisemitic to the core.
One member of SS4P continued to defend JVP within the Facebook group pushback. He was pilloried time and again. Still, he soldiered on, defending JVP and the SS4P forum.
The JVP forum went on as scheduled. In the aftermath, the minister and a member of the church's board of directors met with a group from our neighborhood Jewish community, including me. The meeting did not go well, as you shall see.
Then, in an obvious act of retaliation, SS4P announced that they were bringing in JVP to The Castle for a second time. This was just two months after the first event. The new forum was titled “What Antisemitism Is and Is Not.” The event had just two panelists speaking: Brant Rosen, who serves as the "rabbinical" adviser to JVP, and a JVP member who was billed as a Marxist professor from the University of Notre Dame. The forum was announced on Facebook about 10 days in advance. This time there was no engagement. No one wanted to give these people any more oxygen.
Then, with just one week to go before the event, I received an email, "inviting" me to participate. It was obvious that someone said something to SS4P. I assume they didn't want to look like this was the retaliatory action that it was, hence the last-minute invitation. More on that below.
Additionally, the minister’s assertion in his email that he and I did “engage a bit” over the JVP event is a gross understatement, as you will see. Additionally, the antisemitism forum he refers to was held by another church, an answer (in part) SS4P's open contempt for their Jewish neighbors. You can read the White Paper I refer to when you visit the links below.
TRIGGER WARNING: My response to the minister includes graphic explanations of what happened on October 7, 2023 at the hands of Hamas. Additionally, there is a common slur used on Jews. I have somewhat altered the words, though it is obvious what they are. The real words were used in the original sent to the minister. If you are a victim of sexual assault or antisemitism, proceed with caution or skip altogether.
First, the initial email sent Friday, October 18 from the Unitarian Church to me and other members of our local Jewish community. It was sent on the night of Shabbat and Sukkot, the Jewish sabbath and an important Jewish holiday. Poor timing, I would say. Go figure. I have redacted names and changed a few identifying details. However, there are some clues laced within so that you might be able to find the guilty parties.
Xxxx-
I am XXX, Minister at Unitarian Church. We engaged a bit last year, first over the issue of JVP speakers, and then at the forum run by Rev. XXX the XXX Church antisemitism forum.
I am trying to reach you now because our congregation is preparing to make a statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and a limitation to U.S. military aid for Israel.
I assume that the Jewish community in XXX holds a wide range of opinions on these issues — that some are supportive of these positions and others fully opposed. Consensus is not my concern here.
What I care about is making sure that if we do make such a statement that it can be received in a way that is not perceived as antisemitic. We are actively taking a position that opposes many of the current actions of the Israeli government and the U.S. government. We are acutely worried about the well-being of the Palestinian people in Gaza, in Israel, and in the surrounding nations. None of us know how this issue can be resolved, but we are aghast that an apparent genocide is being perpetrated in the name of a secure Israeli state.
You have always been very direct with us. I would deeply appreciate the chance to touch base with you, and maybe a couple of the others who joined with you on the earlier occasion. I don’t want to blindside you, and I do wish to be able to learn about any aspects of our possible statement that ring of antisemitism to you.
I can be reached at XXXXX or at XXXXX (cell). I think it would be good for us to engage again, and hope you can choose to contact me about this or put me in touch with another who might.
Thank you. Shalom and Salaam.
Rev. XXXXXX
XXXXXX Unitarian Church
My response, Sunday, October 20. I pulled out my Jewish Space Laser and turned it on “high blast” mode. I do use graphic language in describing the Hamas attack, emphasizing to this idiot what he chose to ignore. I also included excerpts of an antisemitic email sent to me by a member of SS4P. I doubt Rev. XXXXX read my entire email. But you will!
Reverend XXXXX
Thank you for reaching out. First off, I am speaking for myself and no one else. Certainly what is happening to the innocent people of Palestine is horrific. But stating that you are “aghast” at what is happening in Gaza as “an apparent genocide is being perpetrated in the name of a secure Israeli state” is deeply misguided and tone deaf to both sides. While your intentions might be good, your email leaves out one major factor: the savage attack on Israel out of Gaza by Palestine’s Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. An attack in which 1,200 Israelis and other nationalities were brutally murdered. While most were Israelis, there were others. Americans. Thai. Filipino. Nepalese. Ukrainian. Russian. Argentinean. French. German. Chinese. Nepalese. Sri Lankan. Tanzanian. An attack where 240 people were dragged into Gaza as hostages: women, men, children, infants, a woman who worked for peace between Israel and Palestine, a woman who was a survivor of the Holocaust
An attack in which 1,200 Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others were slaughtered without mercy.
And an attack in which a member of my extended family was hacked to pieces by Hamas terrorists.
Since that monstrous day, the Israeli hostages have been tortured, raped, and murdered. Among the many victims: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose family, originally from Chicago, is close friends with a dear friend of mine. Hersh’s arm was blown off at the elbow on October 7 by a Hamas grenade. He was held hostage for nearly eleven months. On August 31, Hersh’s body, and the bodies of Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino, were found in a tunnel built beneath Gaza by Hamas. Goldberg-Polin, Gat, Yerushalmi, Lobanov, Sarusi, and Danino were all shot in the head multiple times at point-blank range. That killing field, as you probably know, is part of a vast tunnel system built beneath Gaza by Hamas with funding provided by Iran and other global bad actors.
The Hamas Charter openly calls for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. It quotes “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a fraudulent document created by late 19th-century Russian officials. It claims that Jews are intent on world domination, and hence must be eradicated from the earth. The Protocols served the purposes of tsars, Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, and now Hamas terrorists, who control every level of what goes on in Palestine.
You claim you want to avoid sounding antisemitic. But to say Israel has no right to defend itself, to stand down when it is ferociously attacked by terrorists determined to annihilate Jews everywhere, is antisemitic to the core.
I urge you to watch the footage filmed by the Hamas terrorists on October 7 with their GoPro cameras—as I did. The footage is a horror beyond the scope of civilized imagination. Machine guns firing into outhouses where terrified concertgoers are hiding. Eyes and brains gouged out with broomsticks. Heads hacked off with garden hoes. Infants burned alive. Women literally being r@ped to death. Hamas terrorists firing nail guns into women’s v@gi n@s. Hamas stuffing live hand grenades into women’s v@gi n@s. Women’s bre @sts being ripped from their bodies by gleeful terrorists, who then kick around these severed bre@ sts like soccer balls. Videos of this carnage was sent to victims’ families by the perpetrators. The attackers phoned their own families, bragging to eager mothers and fathers of these barbarous triumphs.
It is vital to bear witness to this ruthless melee, the largest wholesale execution of Jews since the Holocaust. This bloodthirsty sadism is collected at https://www.hamas-massacre.net. Watch it with open eyes. When you are done, watch the documentary Screams Before Silence, as the many Israeli rape victims, multiple eyewitnesses, released hostages, first responders, medical and forensic experts, and survivors of the Hamas massacres explicitly detail the savagery inflicted on them. Screams Before Silence can be viewed at https://www.screamsbeforesilence.com.
You tell me that “I do wish to be able to learn about any aspects of our possible statement that ring of antisemitism to you.” Consider the unbridled antisemitism played out every day in streets around the world. Consider the in-your-face antisemitism poisoning college campuses throughout the United States. Consider the Jewish students harassed—often violently—by fellow students claiming to be “protesters” while hiding their faces so they cannot be identified. Consider these “protestors” are “demanding” a ceasefire “by any means necessary.” Consider the hundreds of Jewish students who are blocked from accessing their classes for the crime of being Jewish, and thus “Zionists,” a stand-in word for other age-old slurs. Consider the stickers of the Israeli flag, its Star of David replaced with a Nazi swastika, slapped outside of Hillels that are supposed to be safe spaces for Jewish students to meet, just like any other college student. Consider the “protestors” burning Israeli and American flags while they wave the banner of Hamas. Consider the campus marches, where “protestors” display signs reading “Keep the world clean,” illustrated with graphics depicting the Star of David being shoved into garbage cans.
And consider, too, the violent antisemitism inflicted on Jews in this country for no reason other than “Israel.” Consider the attack on an elderly Jewish couple last October in Lincolnwood, where “protestors” beat their victims with flagpoles bearing the Palestinian banner. Consider the actions at the Logan Theater this past March, where “protestors” attempted to stop the screening of the documentary Nova, a film which included the bloody footage filmed by Hamas terrorists. These “protestors” stormed the theater lobby. These “protestors” swarmed a Jewish man who wanted to see the film, threw him against a parked car, and then proceeded to beat him with punches and kicks to his body and head.
Consider the online harassment of Jews by “protestors,” something to which I can personally attest. Last December, in the midst of Chanukah, an unknown person posted violent scatological rapey things about me, provided my social media information, and urged readers to contact me. The post was disturbing enough that I went to the police station to report it. The police department had patrol cars drive past my house many times to make sure we were safe. Thankfully no one took this anonymous “protestor” up on the offer. But consider the potential consequences had someone answered this call to action. And consider I’m one just one of thousands in America and around the world who are on the receiving end of this harassment. I’m one of the fortunate people, in that no one acted on this provocation. I know many others who have not been as lucky as me.
You say “We are acutely worried about the well-being of the Palestinian people in Gaza, in Israel, and in the surrounding nations. None of us know how this issue can be resolved, but we are aghast that an apparent genocide is being perpetrated in the name of a secure Israeli state.”
In other words, Israel is the only country in the world has no right to defend itself when it is attacked. Since the October 7 massacre, numerous rockets have been launched at Israel from Gaza. Iran sent an attack drone strike aimed at Israel. Hezbollah fired numerous rockets into northern Israel. Once such attack killed 12 Druze children playing a game of soccer. Terrorists have openly used guns and knives to attack innocent Israelis at cafes and bus stops in Tel Aviv and elsewhere, What do you propose the Israeli government, the Israeli people, and the IDF do in response to all these attacks? Shrug their collective shoulders and say, “oh, well. We don’t want to upset anyone by protecting our people, be they Jews, Christians, Muslims, or Druze children murdered for the crime of playing soccer in Israel”?
You write “We engaged a bit last year, first over the issue of JVP speakers.” I would argue that this was more than “engagement.” At our initial meeting, you stated, “I can’t trust a Jew.” After an uncomfortable silence, you said this was a joke. I’ve been on the receiving end of such jokes my entire life. They are not funny. They are threatening.
In the midst of the “engagement,” in which we asked only to express our concerns to SS4P hosting JVP at The Castle, an email was sent to me and others by SS4P member XXXXX He wrote:
“Like XXX and others at the SS4P, I also question your motives. First you made distortions of facts to try to get SS4P to silence JVP by cancelling their invitation to our Jan 21st forum. When we refused, the three of you responded by calling XXX, XXXX, and me antisemitic. When we did not cave in to that, you called SS4P antisemitic and tried to involve the XXXXX Unitarian Church. Those tactics are common among AIPAC, ADL, and other apologists for the Netanyahu regime. While free in your criticisms and name-calling, you refuse to say what you do support. Therefore, we were left to wonder who you are working for and where you get your talking points and tactics from. The tactics of name-calling and division have not and will not work on us. XXXX is my friend and I stand with him and his principles and motives on behalf of peace and justice for all. (Emphasis added)”
First none of this is true. On numerous occasions, we asked to meet with SS4P to express our concerns over JVP’s online messaging and other elements of the organization which, under the guise of being anti-Zionist, are deeply antisemitic, as detailed in my White Paper (which I gave you). In response, Mr. XXXXX accused us of operating on behalf of some shadowy Jewish organization. This is one of the oldest antisemitic stereotypes of history, straight out of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Mr. XXXXX claim was something I’d previously seen written about me, almost word for word, on the antisemitic website Stormfront. The only difference was that in the case of Stormfront, they called me by a slur (“k! ke” to be specific). I informed SS4P about this parallel.
Had Mr. XXXXX used similar ugly words and tropes that bigots continually fire at other minority groups over differences with SS4P, he would have rightfully been ejected from SS4P. In this case, however, I suspect he remains a member in good standing. Certainly, neither Mr. XXXXX nor SS4P nor you gave us an apology.
Then, in what was a clear-cut act of retaliation, SS4P brought back JVP for a panel on “What Antisemitism Is and Is Not.” The JVP representatives were their rabbinical leader Brant Rosen and a self-proclaimed Marxist professor from the University of Notre Dame. As you know, I was contacted with less than one week before the event, “inviting” me to participate. I was informed that there would be a pre-event Zoom call in which we would discuss what the two JVP panelists would discuss and what I would discuss.
I turned this down flat. First, no one tells me what I will talk about when it comes to antisemitism. Second, I did not want to give JVP nor SS4P any legitimacy with my presence. It is no small surprise that on the night of October 7, JVP released a statement, calling the Hamas terrorists “Palestinian fighters.” They then proceeded to blame Israel entirely for the massacre. Days later Brant Rosen wrote on his personal blog: “When I heard the initial reports of Hamas’ attacks on Israel this past Saturday, I will be completely honest – my first reaction was ‘good for them.’” He never once used the word “terrorist” or “terrorism” in his missive. Instead, he called these homicidal maniacs “Hamas militants.” In the ensuing months, both Rosen and JVP have all but ignored Israel’s suffering and the continued plight of the hostages. When Rosen and JVP do acknowledge it, it is in the most dismissive and flippant of manners.
To repeat, you write, “We are acutely worried about the well-being of the Palestinian people in Gaza, in Israel, and in the surrounding nations. None of us know how this issue can be resolved, but we are aghast that an apparent genocide is being perpetrated in the name of a secure Israeli state.”
What is happening between Israel and Hamas is not “an apparent genocide…being perpetrated in the name of a secure Israeli state.” It is the correct response to eradicate terrorism. I disagree that “none of us know how this issue can be resolved.” In fact, there is an opening for a solution to this “issue”, one that has been called for time and again by thousands—including the many courageous Palestinians who speak out against Hamas terrorists at their own risk of being tortured and murdered. The solution is this: Hamas releases the remaining hostages, be they alive or dead, and then surrender. With the removal of these inhuman killers, a path to peace can be forged. It will be a long, contentious, and arduous process, but it will be a beginning.
You tell me “I do wish to be able to learn about any aspects of our possible statement that ring of antisemitism to you.” Acknowledging the evil perpetrated in Israel at the hands of Hamas is a good start. Another suggestion: acknowledge the plague of antisemitism around the world by “protestors” claiming that Israel should be eradicated “from the river to the sea.” Some of these so-called “protests” are violent, some of them are deadly. And some of this antisemitism is fomented within the walls of The Castle by SS4P and “jokes” about not trusting Jews.
Other than this advice, I will not hand you nor your congregation a “Get Out of Antisemitic Jail Free Card.”
Again, the websites you must view for complete understanding are https://www.hamas-massacre.net and https://www.screamsbeforesilence.com.
Xxxxx
To no surprise, I have yet to receive an answer.
I'm sure the minister didn't want this email to be spread far and wide. He made a grievous error. If you don't want your emails to be republished, use this disclaimer:
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In the words of the great philosopher and social activist, Bugs Bunny: "Ain't I a stinker?"
I have done deep dives into the antisemitic swamp that is Jewish Voice for Peace. Consider this image from their Twitter feed in June 2022. A classic blood libel, this image would feel right at home in the Third Reich's publication "Der Strummer."
Here is the link to research on JVP. It includes a story for AISH, the aforementioned White Paper on JVP, a podcast interview, and a quiz, Who Said It: JVP or David Duke. The quiz has solid documentation. I dare any defender or supporter of JVP and JVP members to take the quiz. Get a single question wrong and they might want to reconsider the real JVP mission.
You should also check out the wealth of information about JVP, uncovered by the social influencer Roots Metal on her webpage and Instagram feed.
For more articles by Jewish authors, subscribe to the JPF on Medium (click on the image below).
They wanted your presence to give cover to their overt Jew-hatred. And, JVP is no representative of mainstream Jewish thinking. This church almost certainly knows that.
Powerful and disturbing exposé. Thank you