Lest we forget our final departure from Spanish shores … or perhaps for many, the blood-burning auto de fe pyres highlighting a certain people’s ecstasy, finally returned? Cyclical or just plain sick.
Flames are murderous and meant to terrorize – words are often just as ‘incendiary’ . . . and the NYT mysteriously changes its headline (articulated in the op-ed linked below).
“The recent attacks in Harrisburg, Washington, and now Boulder are not surprising. They are what happens when ideology-driven activism trumps ethical journalism, when antisemitism becomes a political football, and when the boundaries between free speech and calls for violence blur — creating a dangerous and deadly reality for American Jews.”
Depends on the Context — words, speech, actions — from Columbia U to Colorado . . .
Kill Zionists — kill all Zionists . . . are these not incendiary words — from the leader of Columbia’s antisemtic encampment “movement.” And then this, in a telephone response to him by the then President of Columbia University, parenthetically Shafik, an Egyptian National, “Are you Okay?” — (In a since-deleted post on X, James acknowledged in April that he had said several months earlier in an Instagram Live video: “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” and “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.” — In the now-deleted April post
Equally wondering if “Globalize the Intifada” might possibly fall under the rubric of incitement, such as yelling fire in a crowded theatre? To many in American academia, antisemitism-Jewhate — depends on the context. Perhaps it might be helpful for us to see that for these people to finally move from incendiary words to actual firebombing and flamethrowing is not so much a “freedom of speech” issue, but instead just more of incendiary Jewhate . . .
Free Palestine: Was so long ago that we do not remember it — a freedom-fighting-firebomber sets fire to the Governor’s House on the first night of Passover, his family and guests were asleep, a now forgotten ‘freedom fighter’ moves through the residence that he has turned ‘from a House to an Oven’ attempting further murderous-intent with a hammer: “I did it for Palestine . . . ”
Murder of two Jews outside of the Jewish Museum in Washington D.C. — the murderer only knew that they were Jews — this young freedom fighter from Chicago, radicalized perhaps by his parents, or maybe just by Jew-hate, yells as he is led away: “Free Free Palestine” — free from what? Perhaps he meant free of the Jews. I am surprised that he didn’t bring lighter fluid . . . oh wait.
Flamethrower-carrying Egyptian National here in this country, beyond his (visa) expiration date — deliberately carrying out a flamethrowing/burning of 8 Jews, all of whom were demonstrating for the freedom of Israeli Hostages, including an 88-year-old Holocaust Survivor.
Burning . . . Molotov cocktails . . . somewhat reminiscent of ‘the ovens’ — as Americans, and as Jews, where are we all now?
Wondering these days, are we still the same people who have hoped that it was long ago and that it all just goes away?
Asking for a friend.
“Freedom of Speech” in America — what does it mean for those who use it to burn and murder Jews? — Parenthetically, for our consideration, Cancel Culture is raising its ugly head in America these days. Cancelling Jews and Gentiles who dare speak up . . . wondering about the Torah and the cycles of time . . . let’s have a look at ‘certain speech’ in the Torah this week.
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃
יהוה spoke to Moses:
דַּבֵּ֤ר אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹן֙ וְאֶל־בָּנָ֣יו לֵאמֹ֔ר כֹּ֥ה תְבָרְכ֖וּ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אָמ֖וֹר לָהֶֽם׃ {ס}
Speak to Aaron and his sons: Thus shall you bless the people of Israel Say to them:
יְבָרֶכְךָ֥ יְהֹוָ֖ה וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ׃ {ס}
יהוה bless you and protect you!
יָאֵ֨ר יְהֹוָ֧ה ׀ פָּנָ֛יו אֵלֶ֖יךָ וִֽיחֻנֶּֽךָּ׃ {ס}
יהוה deal kindly and graciously with you!
יִשָּׂ֨א יְהֹוָ֤ה ׀ פָּנָיו֙ אֵלֶ֔יךָ וְיָשֵׂ֥ם לְךָ֖ שָׁלֽוֹם׃ {ס}
יהוה bestow [divine] favor upon you and grant you peace!
וְשָׂמ֥וּ אֶת־שְׁמִ֖י עַל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַאֲנִ֖י אֲבָרְכֵֽם׃ {ס}
Thus they shall link My name with the people of Israel, and I will bless them.
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Jews are scared — what a surprise.
Below, while politicians debate the best approaches to the re-emerging and exponential growth of antisemitism-jewhate, from designating terror groups to calling for immigration crackdowns, Jewish communities in America and around the world remain on edge, feeling unsafe and unheard.
Perhaps nothing better underscores Jewish communal concerns at this moment than an op-ed, published in The New York Times on Tuesday by National Council for Jewish Women CEO Sheila Katz.
note the Times was ‘forced’ or ‘chose’ to change their headline
Here’s an Excerpt from today’s NYT:
“When antisemitism emerges within progressive spaces, cloaked in the language of justice, too often it is met with silence and discomfort, creating echo chambers where dangerous ideas are amplified rather than confronted,” Katz wrote. In response to sounding the alarm about antisemitism in left-wing circles, she said, “we have been gaslit, ignored and told that our fear is overblown, our outrage unjustified. Among many groups that have fought to secure and reclaim civil rights, voting rights and reproductive rights, we have seen antisemitism dismissed as not bad enough to matter, our grief met with cynicism, our safety treated as optional.”
Some Americans waking up to their morning news on Tuesday saw “Jews Are Afraid Right Now” as the Times headline accompanying Katz’s piece. But for the first several hours it was posted, the op-ed had a different headline: “American Jews Are Paying for the War in Gaza” — an approach to both the Israel-Hamas war and antisemitism in America that plays into the dual-loyalty tropes that American Jews have fought long before the Oct. 7 attacks.
The Times quietly changed the op-ed’s headline to the milquetoast “Jews Are Afraid Right Now” — which, while correct, missed Katz’s core point: “At rallies and on campuses, in coalition rooms and online spaces, slogans sometimes directly drawn from Hamas’s terrorist manifesto have been chanted and painted on placards, and shouted from stages and in the streets. ‘Globalize the intifada.’ ‘By any means necessary.’ ‘From the river to the sea.’ ‘Zionists out.’ These are not simply words; they can be interpreted as calls for violence.”
The Boulder attacker told investigators he wanted “to kill all Zionist people” — not dissimilar from comments made by the Capital Jewish Museum shooter, who declared, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” after gunning down Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. The arsonist who set the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion on fire said he committed the crime because of what Shapiro, one of the most prominent Jewish politicians in the country, “wants to do to the Palestinian people.”
From academia to activism to journalism, there is a reticence in left-wing circles to acknowledge that inciting language around the Israel-Hamas war can have a dangerous impact.
A year and a half ago, Ivy League administrators were pressed on whether “From the river to the sea” was a genocidal chant. The response, given by the since-ousted presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, was that “it depends on the context.”
In this case, the context is the firebombing of elderly Jews calling for the release of hostages in Gaza. Last month, the context was the gunning down of a young couple outside a Jewish organization’s event focused on humanitarian aid in Gaza. In April, the context was the arson of the residence of a Jewish governor on the first night of Passover.
The recent attacks in Harrisburg, Washington, and now Boulder are not surprising. They are what happens when ideology-driven activism trumps ethical journalism, when antisemitism becomes a political football, and when the boundaries between free speech and calls for violence blur — creating a dangerous and deadly reality for American Jews.
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