angrybell

[angrybell]

[angrybell]

I'm proud right now more than ever to be part of this amazing army We stand with our Druze brothers and sisters❤️

[angrybell]

[angrybell]

SURGING ANTISEMITISM AS REACTIONARY TO ISRAELI POLICY

Since October 7th – and long before then, for those of us who have been paying attention – Jews have been told, ad nauseum, that Israel bears at least some responsibility for the concerning surge in global antisemitism. 

Most recently, Jewish actor and longtime activist Mandy Patinkin argued in a New York Times interview that the antisemitism we are seeing around the world today is a reaction to the policies and actions of the Israeli government and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

In the past, I have shared many of Patinkin’s criticisms of Israeli policy. But this particular argument is neither “criticism” nor, in my view, at all legitimate – at least not if we hold Jews to an equal standard as any other human being on the planet. 

Unfortunately, Patinkin is hardly the only one who holds this view. A recent Anti-Defamation League survey found that one out of every four Americans think that the recent antisemitic attacks are “understandable,” and 27% think that Jews should collectively answer for Israel’s actions.

HOW TO SPOT A BIGOT

There are many, many governments around the world that are deserving of harsh condemnation. Millions of people certainly argue that Israel is among them. Condemning the policies, rhetoric, and behavior of any particular country is notbigoted in and of itself. In fact, it’s important if we want the world to become a better, fairer place. What’s not legitimate, however, is to project our criticisms of any given country onto the country’s citizens as a whole. 

For example, those who project their hatred of the Chinese Communist Party onto all Chinese individuals – or even all East Asians – are not criticizing the Chinese government. They are bigots – specifically, racists and xenophobes. When Asian Americans were targeted in hate crimes during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us rightfully blamed the perpetrators, not the Chinese government or the virus. 

The very same logic should apply to those who lash out against Israelis – or even all Jews, about half of whom are not even Israeli citizens. Antisemites – and no one else – are responsible for antisemitism, no matter what Israel does or doesn’t do.

ANTISEMITISM AS AN INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCE OF JEWISH BEHAVIOR

Blaming Jews – or groups of Jews – for antisemitism is the oldest trick in the book. Antisemitism, after all, moves through conspiracy theories. At the heart of these conspiracy theories is the idea that Jews are somehow capable of manipulating the behavior of others. 

For thousands of years, the Christian church justified antisemitic persecution on the basis that Jews had rejected Jesus on the cross. In other words: it was Jewish behavior that supposedly justifiedbigotry against us. 

For a more recent example, take the pogroms of the Russian Civil War, during which some 250,000 Jews were slaughtered in what historians recognize as a pre-Holocaust genocide, primarily at the hands of anti-Bolshevik forces. 

These antisemitic slaughters, too, were allegedly “reactionary.” After all, the anti-Bolshevik pogromists were simply responding to the conspiracy of Judeo-Bolshevism.

ANTISEMITES HAVE AGENCY

There are many, many governments around the world that are deserving of harsh condemnation. Millions of people certainly argue that Israel is among them. Condemning the policies, rhetoric, and behavior of any particular country is not bigoted in and of itself. In fact, it’s important if we want the world to become a better, fairer place. What’s not legitimate, however, is to project our criticisms of any given country onto the country’s citizens as a whole. 

For example, those who project their hatred of the Chinese Communist Party onto all Chinese individuals – or even all East Asians – are not criticizing the Chinese government. They are bigots – specifically, racists and xenophobes. When Asian Americans were targeted in hate crimes during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us rightfully blamed the perpetrators, not the Chinese government or the virus. 

The very same logic should apply to those who lash out against Israelis – or even all Jews, about half of whom are not even Israeli citizens. Antisemites – and no one else – are responsible for antisemitism, no matter what Israel does or doesn’t do.

LET'S UNPACK THIS

(1) Whether Israel claims to represent worldwide Jewry or not is irrelevant. When a Jewish business is vandalized in Athens or a Jew is bludgeoned in Los Angeles, it is the perpetrator of the crime – and only the perpetrator of that crime – that bears responsibility for their actions.

(2) Jews sure as hell were not “safe” prior to October 7, 1967, or 1948. To argue that the key to Jewish safety is Palestinian safety is a flawed and blatantly ahistorical argument at best.

(3) “Jewish people in diaspora have become a proxy for the world’s frustration with the leaders of a nation state” is textbook xenophobia. And yet this creator seemingly resents Israel for this more than they resent the xenophobes in question.

IS ISRAEL...ANTISEMITIC?

Another ridiculous argument that commonly circulates social media is that it is actually Israel that is “antisemitic,” not the antisemites who engage in antisemitism, either because:

(1) Israel’s behavior “provokes” antisemites. 

But again, in this context, whatever Israel does or doesn’t do is irrelevant. Antisemites are human beings who have agency over their own actions...regardless of what Israel does or doesn’t do. Just like a woman’s short skirt doesn’t “make” a rapist rape, Israel’s behavior doesn’t “make” an antisemite carry out antisemitic hate crimes.

(2) Israel gives Jews and/or Judaism a bad name.

Again, even if you believe that to be true, you still have agency over your own thoughts and behavior. Do you think bigotry and/or hate crimes against Muslims are justified because ISIS – which claims to embody true Islam – gives Islam a “bad name”? And if not, why is it that you do not apply the exact same logic to Jews, whatever your feelings toward Israel?

For a full bibliography of my sources, please head over to my Instagram and  Patreon. 

rootsmetals

I’m so tired!!!

[angrybell]

And you shall place from your splendour upon him in order that the whole congregation of the Children of Israel will pay heed” (Num. 27:20)

In Torah portion Pinchas, Moses follows God’s instructions and appoints Joshua as his successor. Joshua will be the leader to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land. The Talmud says that the elders of Israel who witness this transfer of power remark “The face of Moses is like the face of the sun, whereas the face of Joshua is [only] like the face of the moon. Oh the embarrassment, oh the shame.” (Bava Basra 75a) Some commentators explain that the elders are embarrassed on Joshua’s behalf that the future leader’s face does not shine with Moses’ holy radiance. But why would Joshua be embarrassed? The Torah itself says that Moses is the greatest prophet of all time, because only he knew God face to face (Deut. 34:10). 

Rav Itzele Volozhin (1780-1849) presents a different interpretation. The shame referred to by the elders is their own shame, not Joshua’s. Rav Itzele compares them to a group of poor men who are offered an opportunity to work for a rich merchant. Nobody takes the merchant’s offer except for one man who works hard and becomes very rich. Later, he runs into his old friends and they hide their faces in shame. “Why are you embarrassed?” he asks. “Sure, I’m wealthy, but my boss is much wealthier than I am!” His friends reply, “Your boss’ family was blessed with great wealth. We paupers can’t compare ourselves to him. But you were poor like us, and we had the same chance as you to become rich. But you took that chance and we squandered it! That’s why we’re embarrassed.” The Israelite elders aren’t mocking Joshua for being lesser than Moses. They’re kicking themselves for not being as great as Joshua.

Image: “Joshua and Moses” by J.G. Schreiner, c. 1840

[angrybell]

urikurli

I just found myself walking through a small street in Tel Aviv where all the wall art is dedicated to the children kidnapped by Gaza on October 7. It's a good thing this art exists, because people are very quick to forget.

[angrybell]

muslim_zionist18

No Jews, No News. 

[angrybell]

Rabbi Benny's Weekly Torah Thought... Keeping it short, contemporary and meaningful.

[angrybell]

Western secularists can’t understand the Islamist mindset

The skewed coverage of the slaughter of the Druze in Syria, minimising the role of fanatical jihadis, points to a misunderstanding by the West of what drives Islamists to commit their atrocities, argues Melanie Phillips in JNS News:

Suwaida, scene of a massacre, is a mainly Druze town

Western leaders don’t know about or understand such things because they choose to shut their minds completely to the realities of the Islamic world and the fanatical Islamist mindset. They view the world through a Western prism that depicts everyone from other cultures as being governed, as they themselves are, by reason and self-interest.

Secularists are unable to understand any religious mindset, which seems to them too ridiculous to take seriously. They believe accordingly that Islamists are driven to commit their terrible atrocities from oppression, dire poverty or despair. They can’t grasp that, on the contrary, the jihadi ecstatically believes himself to be fulfilling a sacred duty in murdering unbelievers because this is the work of God.

Such Westerners accordingly seize upon any apparent confirmation that religious fanatics are deep down just like themselves. That’s why they all swooned over al-Julani.(Syria’s leader – ed)

A reformed jihadist confirms their belief that Islamist mass murderers are, in fact, charming and delightful individuals who are simply thrilled to give up the beheading and raping and burning alive in order to hobnob with world leaders, swan around in official cars and leave all their youthful excesses behind.

So, goes this thinking, there’s no need to be frightened by people like that at all. They’re basically fine. All they need is to be given a chance.

Read article in full

[angrybell]

[angrybell]

Shabbat Shalom!

May we all have peace and safety on Shabbat!  May our soldiers be effective and return home safely.  And may our hostages be returned safe, healthy and whole.

Pinchas (NUMBERS 25:10-30:1)

[angrybell]

Shabbat Shalom

Wishing you all a quiet, peaceful and safe Shabbat.

[angrybell]

Consolidated PBY Catalina

[angrybell]

Until they start taking about getting nukes built, they’re not serious, they’re just virtue signaling.

For years, the youth led the climate conversation — organizing school walkouts, sharing colorful infographics, and heckling Democratic lawmakers from the left. The tone was carried by urgency and moral judgement: “We have 12 years left.” Anything less than net zero emissions was seen as a betrayal. But now, as Gen Zers and younger millennials enter full-fledged adulthood — paying rent, dealing with utility bills, job-hunting and even starting families — they are souring on climate alarmism. Affordability concerns are giving way to a sense of realism about energy and the environment, as abstract climate goals and financially impractical policies fall by the wayside. Despite activist narratives, a majority of voters — including over half of Gen Z and millennials — support the use of fossil fuels and even nuclear energy. While true preservation still ranks as their top environmental priority, economic concerns with employment, growth and prices far outweigh the lofty goal of “carbon neutrality.”  Marches and memes were free. Heating your apartment or filling up the car with gas isn’t. Most Gen Z and millennial voters simply can't afford solar panels or electric vehicles. Purity politics and utopianism take a backseat to pocketbook issues. 

Interesting how regular people immediately become less left wing when they enter the workforce and have to interact with reality as it exists and not how ivory tower academics tell them it should exist.

[angrybell]

[angrybell]

proofoflifeanthology

The Proof of Life anthology series was created to uplift the voices of allies who speak out against antisemitism. Today, we use that same platform to say: we see you, we grieve with you, and we stand beside you. Am Yisrael Chai. The fight for dignity and peace is one we share.