Off to School (Part One)

College classes are starting!

And, we are sending a fresh crop of Jewish High School students to college and universities

around the country… completely unprepared! 

Completely unprepared for the rapidly increasing hatred and anti-Semitism they are going to face both inside and outside the classroom. 

Completely unprepared for false claims of atrocities they are going to hear screamed into their ears. 

Completely unprepared to substantiate the facts of what actually has happened.

And completely unprepared to represent the case for Israel and the increasingly necessary case for Jews in the United States.

The “war of words” faced on campus (and increasingly around town) begins with FIVE BASIC points of contention…  and expands from there. 

1. Anti-Semitism masquerading as opposition to Israeli policy.

2. The “Big Lie” and the intentional misuse of “Genocide”

3. Jews in the Middle East described as invaders from Europe

4. BDS camouflaged as a Human Rights Issue.

5. And, false claims regarding what is and is not a War Crime.

For each of the above, there are clearly identifiable fact-based arguments, strategies and international standards… Yet, the vast majority of college bound Jewish students simply do not know them… which is not surprising given their parents don’t know them either.  

So, whatever you do, do not point your fingers at the younger generation!   Their lack of preparedness lies squarely on our shoulders.  We didn’t teach ourselves and then we didn’t teach them.   We need to stop sticking our heads in the sand like ostriches.  While the Polyanna’s among us believe this wave of anti-Semitism is going to magically disappear if they can just keep their heads down long enough, the more alarmed among us believe the tide of anti-Semitism is a rapidly growing tsunami with potentially life-threatening implications.  They argue that millions of dollars of dark money and years of planning have gone into laying the foundations for worldwide anti-Semitism and potentially another holocaust. 

The concern is, “snowballs that are allowed to pick up momentum become avalanches…” eventually sweeping away everything in their path.

Ask yourself, “Is it reasonable or logical given the last 2,000 years of Jewish history to sit on the sidelines watching this particular snowball picking up steam?” 

Hoping for the best has not proven to be a good survival strategy for Jews in the past.  Is keeping a low profile and hoping this will all blow over a rational choice for today?

I will let Albert Einstein answer that question for all of us…

1. So, how do you “unmask anti-Semitism masquerading as a policy dispute?”   

Simple. 

• A) If it is a fabricated accusation, it is anti-Semitism.  

• B) If it a valid criticism, all you have to do is a simple “Double Standard Check.”

If the only country a person condemns for that particular behavior is Israel or the only group a person attacks for specific actions are Jews, both the person and the attacks are anti-Semitic.  

It really is that simple.

Criticism is not anti-Semitic.  Selective/exclusive criticism is.

For example, criticizing Israel for the government’s tolerance of attacks on Arabs living in the West Bank is not Anti-Semitism.  When I was in Israel last year, I was appalled by the brazen actions of the radical No'ar HaGva'ot (Hilltop Youth) and the Netanyahu government’s tacit approval.  For the over two weeks I was in Israel, there were daily attacks on Arabs in the West Bank by far-right radical Jews.  They attacked a mosque, burned stores and vehicles owned by local Arabs and even attacked IDF soldiers protecting Arab farmers harvesting their olive crops.  This is reprehensible.  And, it is even more reprehensible that the perpetrators arrested by the IDF were routinely released when they were turned over to local police.  And, it is even more reprehensible that radical right-wing Jews arrested in the West Bank for attacks on Arabs, Arab property or IDF soldiers only face a 5% conviction rate.  

Am I an anti-Semite?  Is my criticism anti-Semitic? On the surface, no.

However, if I refuse to criticize Egypt, Syria and Iraq for their treatment of Coptic Christians, refuse to criticize Iraq for the persecution of Yazidis, refuse to criticize Iran for the treatment of the Bahai and murder of thousands of unarmed civilian protestors and refuse to condemn the murder of ethnic black Masalit, Fur, and Zaghawa Muslims at the hands of the Arab Muslim government of Sudan, my criticism of Israel is “Selective/exclusive” the result of a “double standard” rooted in religious hatred and therefore, anti-Semitism.

Now do the same exercise for civilian deaths in Gaza.   It is not inherently anti-Semitic to criticize Israel for what the Hamas Health Ministry claims is 50,000 civilian deaths in the Gaza war.  But it is inherently anti-Semitic to refuse to condemn Hamas for using civilians as Human Shields.  It is inherently anti-Semitic to refuse to criticize Syria, Russia and Iran for over 300,000 Arab civilian deaths in the Syrian civil war.  It is inherently anti-Semitic to refuse to condemn Yemen for 377,000 Arab civilian deaths in their civil war. It is anti-Semitic to refuse to condemn ISIS and Al-Qaeda for 175,000 Arab Civilian deaths during sectarian fighting in Iraq. And, it is anti-Semitic to refuse to condemn the Sudan Armed Forces for 60,000 plus black Muslim civilians murdered in cold blood in Darfur. 

Once again, if the criticism of “Civilian Casualties” is “Selective/Exclusive,” it is an anti-Semitic Double Standard.

If the outrage is rooted in a sincere passion for defending/protecting Muslim civilians, any rational human being will be far more outraged by 900,000+ unarmed and defenseless civilians killed by Arab forces than they are by 50,000 civilians killed by Jewish forces attacking military targets that have been hidden among civilians.  In this case, the anti-Semitic attack is further revealed by the fact that the masses shouting “From the River to the Sea” are not at all concerned by Arab civilians being killed by Arabs and never acknowledge the moderate Arabs routines executed by Hamas in Gaza because their selective/exclusive outrage is reserved for Arab civilians being killed by Jews.

While I personally never confront protestors, I never hesitate to confront this type of anti-Semitism in personal or professional settings… If “they” feel it is appropriate to bring the Israeli Genocide up, it must be appropriate for me to show genuine interest in what they have to say.

Word to the wise, never start by calling the person an anti-Semite!   I simply use the active listening skills I learned in college communication classes and couples counseling to ask questions like.  Is it the civilian deaths in Gaza that bother you or the fact that they are being killed by Israeli forces?  If they answer the latter (which seldom happens), they have made my case.  If they answer the former, I then ask them when, where and how they expressed their outrage about the 300,000 Arab civilians killed in Syria (many by poison gas), the almost 400,000 Arab civilians killed in Yemen, the tens of thousands of black Muslims being routinely slaughtered in Sudan… and then as the icing on the cake, I ask them when, where and how are they protesting the million plus Uyghur Muslims being held in Chinese forced labor camps… I then ask them what are they doing right now to right those vastly greater wrongs?  Once it has been made clear that they only care about Arabs/Muslims if they are being killed by Israel, I point out that their selective/exclusive outrage is indeed rooted in anti-Semitism.  

Uncomfortable?  Yes.  Necessary?  Yes.

Allowing “The Big Lie” propaganda machine espoused by Hitler and Goebbels to take root is what German Jews did in the lead up to the Holocaust… allowing a snowball to pick up size and momentum is inviting an avalanche.

For the past two thousand years and for the next two thousand years, anti-Semitic attacks are revealed wherever and whenever the criticism/outrage is focused SOLELY on Israel or Jews.  And it is this double standard/hypocrisy of tolerating elsewhere what Israel or Jews are exclusively criticized for that must be called out on the spot.

In Part 2 we will take a deep dive into the power of propaganda, “The Big Lie” and how perception is indeed reality.