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Home , Dalal Mughrabi, Dani Dayan, Elyakim Rubinstein, Shmuley Boteach

בס״ד associated with classic  עש״ק פרשת חיי שרה 24 Cheshvan 5779 NEWS like the November 2, 2018 blood libel to Issue number 1218 A collection of the week’s news from Israel characterize Israel or ). From the Bet El Twinning / Israel Action Committee of But much of the self-styled human Jerusalem 4:09 rights community has studiously Toronto 5:49 Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation ignored the IHRA framework. Groups such as Amnesty International, Watch and the World Council of Churches reject the Commentary… definitions described above, and frequently stray into anti-Semitic territory in their incessant and fierce criticism of Israel. They also have studiously Israel’s Role in the Struggle against Antisemitism ignored the vast amounts of anti-Semitic materials emanating from the By David M. Weinberg Arab world. Education and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett rushed to Today, everybody agrees that combating “cyberhate,” including Pittsburgh this week to represent the government of Israel at memorial antisemitism and anti-Zionism, is a top priority. Israel’s Justice Ministry events following the terrorist massacre in the Tree of Life Synagogue. So even has a department dedicated to the fight against online incitement. did Israeli Consul General in New York Dani Dayan. And the Global Forum against Antisemitism, now under the auspices of Prime Minister and his cabinet offered every the Israeli Foreign Affairs and Diaspora ministries, is tackling Christian possible assistance to American Jewry. A semi-secret cabinet-level forum, theological antisemitism, Holocaust revisionism, Palestinian denial of including Mossad representatives, is scheduled to meet to discuss security Jewish history, campus antisemitism, legislative assaults on Jewish for world Jewry. practices like ritual slaughter and , and even antisemitism in Israeli solidarity with US Jews at this time of suffering is worthy and sports. important, even if some US Jews were quick to reject the Netanyahu Some experts warn that unless the rising tide of hate crimes in the US government’s good wishes. In today’s highly charged political is turned back, American Jewry will have to undergo a process of environment, they see guns laws and the rhetoric of President Trump as part European-style fortress-ization. Synagogues and Jewish community of the problem, and they feel Netanyahu is too close to Trump. centers in the US may need to be protected from neo-Nazis just as I think it is a big mistake on the part of these US Jews to politicize the synagogues and Jewish community centers in Europe are protected from fight against antisemitism, and to willy-nilly drive the liberal-conservative radical Islamists. divide into that fight, when healing and harmony are the much better and This means the adding of multi-layered defenses to Jewish sites, more needed sentiment in world Jewish affairs. including security screening with armed guards, surveillance systems, It’s worth appreciating the fact that Israelis have a come a long way in panic rooms and sterile zones. learning to value the Jewish Diaspora. Not always has the State of Israel If this is the unfortunate fate of American Jewish institutional life – I seen the struggle against antisemitism around the world as its fight. This is hope not! – Israeli security expertise undoubtedly will prove helpful. not something to be taken for granted. In the meantime, Israeli and Diaspora Jews should band together to For the first 25 years of Israel’s existence, the unspoken attitude in draw strength from solidarity, jointly combat hate, and raise the flag of Jerusalem was, “If Jews abroad have a problem with anti-Semites, they can unafraid and vibrant Jewish life everywhere. Keep partisan politics out of always migrate to Israel.” Immersed in the business of building and it. (Jerusalem post Nov 1) defending the Jewish nation-state, Israel’s leaders had no time for “troubles of the Diaspora past.” Attitudes began to change after the Yom Kippur War. The campaign of The Left lectures us about hate speech? By Eitan Orkibi political delegitimization against Israel launched by Arab countries led to Did you oppose the ? Well, then, you are a part of the the infamous “Zionism is Racism” resolution at the UN, and a ton of incitement. Do you support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? You propaganda that blended anti-Zionism with antisemitism. The Big Lie play a part in encouraging violence against people on the Left and entered intellectual discourse. minorities. During the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, did you prefer After the Rue Copernic Paris Synagogue bombing in 1980 and other Republican candidate to Democratic candidate Hillary terrorist attacks, prime minister took the decision to have Clinton? You are buddy-buddy with neo-Nazis. To this day, you continue Israeli officials begin advising Jewish communities abroad on security to obfuscate your role in the incitement that preceded the assassination of measures, and response to antisemitism began to find its place on Israel’s late Prime Minister . agenda. This is the message now being promoted by the Israeli Left in a With the disintegration of the Communist bloc, an enhanced role for patronizing and reproachful tone. And in order to denounce you as Israeli diplomacy regarding antisemitism also became more necessary and encouraging killers, you are being told it is not just your culture of possible. Jerusalem intervened and pressed for government crackdowns on discourse but your entire worldview that makes you "closer in many ways official and street manifestations of antisemitism in the emerging states of to the world of the [Tree of Life Synagogue] murderer than that of the the former USSR. murdered." Yes, that is a real quote. In the late 1980s, then-cabinet secretary (and later Supreme Court While disturbing and sick, this tactic can very easily be applied to the justice) Elyakim Rubinstein established an “Inter-Ministerial Forum for other side. In many ways, for example, the Israeli Left is closer to Nashat Monitoring Antisemitism,” and expanded it to include Diaspora Jewish Milhem, the Arara resident who murdered two Israelis and wounded seven representatives and academic experts. The forum compiled reports on at a bar on 's Dizengoff Street and then murdered the taxi driver antisemitism around the world and eventually won a place on the Israeli who picked him up, than it is to the Right. cabinet’s agenda, reporting once a year. Like many on the Left, Milhem opposed the occupation and believed The 2001 World Conference against Racism, known as Durban I, the settlements were a violation of . Like others on the turned into one of the greatest displays of organized anti-Jewish and anti- more radical Left, he also believed that Israeli soldiers perpetrate war Israel hate ever. It was a horrible watershed moment that clarified how crimes and the Israeli Air Force massacres innocent people. Who knows, antisemitism had become a strategic threat. It traumatized even many he could have been inspired by Gideon Levy's column slamming the IAF Israelis. for bombing targets in the or former Prime Minister In 2003, then-minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora affairs Natan Ehud Barak's remark that had he been Palestinian, he would have become Sharansky founded the Global Forum against Antisemitism (of which I was a terrorist. the coordinator), involving Jewish leaders and intellectuals. “The State of You know what? It could be that the three members of the Jabarin clan Israel has decided to take the gloves off and implement a coordinated from Umm al-Fahm who murdered two Israeli police officers on the counteroffensive against antisemitism,” Sharansky wrote. “The State of Temple Mount never read the newspaper, never listened to the Israel will play, as it always should, a central role in defending the Jewish tales of the human rights organization B'Tselem or watched the obligatory People.” roadblock scene that comes up in so many Israeli movies. But why would In 2016, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) they need to do that when they have lawmakers from the Joint Arab List? adopted a working definition of antisemitism based on Sharansky’s work, Was it not MK Hanin Zoabi who screamed that they need to "wipe the which includes prohibitions on using double standards to single out Israel floor" with non-Jewish members of Israel's security forces? or denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination. (By this Can anyone seriously deny the demonization industry's presence in the definition, it is anti-Semitic to claim that the existence of a State of Israel is propaganda of organizations against the occupation and the rhetoric of a racist endeavor, to compare Israel to Nazi , or to use symbols "peace activists"? I am not talking about those on the margins, but rather

Readers are requested to please mail contributions to: BAYT - re: Israel News, 613 Clark Avenue West, Thornhill, Ontario. L4J 5V3 Annual Rates: Friend - $36, Supporter - $50, Benefactor - $180. Dedications are welcome at $120/week. Call (905) 886-3810 for further info. See Israel News on the internet at www.bayt.ca and www.frumtoronto.com or email [email protected] to request to be added to the weekly email. Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of BAYT. the spokespeople and leaders on the Israeli Left who equate Israel with Nazi worst Nazi verbiage by calling Jews “termites,” directly implying the need Germany, slander IDF soldiers and publicly accuse Israel of intentionally for their extermination. carrying out massacres. What is all this if not an alibi for a murder? We dare not forget Students for Justice in Palestine, who hold tributes Someone out there is reading you guys, learning, and reaching the to terrorist “martyrs,” such as Dalal Mughrabi, who carried out the necessary conclusion. greatest antisemitic attack in Israel’s history, murdering 38 Israelis, seven And while this hateful rhetoric may not directly influence the mind of a of whom were under the age of six. killer, it certainly contributes to the creation of a cultural climate that Then we could point to the extreme right and the growing number of accepts with understanding, if not empathy, the murder of Jews. It is the neo-Nazi filth who marched in Charlottesville to the chant of “Jews will Israeli Left for whom it is so urgent we cherish the new children's book by not replace us.” We could certainly blame the festering scourge of white- terrorist Walid Daka, who murdered IDF soldier Moshe Tamam, and supremacist scum, who have increasingly turned to violence to express shower Arab Israeli poet Darin Tator, jailed for incitement, with praise. their hate-riddled thoughts. The Right constantly warns about the disgusting incitement in the Both extreme left and extreme right have shown horrible strains of Palestinian education system and media but that doesn't elicit anything antisemitism. other than a shrug of the shoulders from the Left. We must also blame nations like Iran that openly call for and fund The time may have come to demand that political correspondents, who violence against Jews across the world. We must also point to those have so much to say about Trump, Netanyahu and their supporters but who’ve offered them support. I will not politicize the murder of 11 Jews, consistently avoid touching on the truth about the sickening levels of so I will not point fingers or name parties. But dare not forget that the Iran incitement in the Palestinian Authority, engage in a little soul-searching. nuclear agreement was negotiated by the all while the Perhaps we should also demand accountability from the "spiritual mullahs threatened Israel with complete annihilation. Will those who leaders" on the Left who maintain friendly relations and even exchange negotiated it expect us to overlook their agreement with Iran, despite the letters with former Secretary General in the Marwan nation’s funding and execution of arguably the deadliest anti-Semitic Barghouti, who was convicted of five counts of murder? We might also attack in modern history at the AMIA Jewish Community Center in demand explanations from left-wing activists and their elected officials who Buenos Aires, which left 85 dead and hundreds more wounded? Do the make pilgrimages to the Palestinian Authority's Muqataa government parties who were in power then assume we will forget that it insisted on compound in Ramallah. These people bear considerable responsibility for forking over billions of dollars in cash to this international standard-bearer the international legitimacy now enjoyed by the Holocaust-denying terrorist for antisemitism, while never once condemning those mullahs for their and elderly PA President Mahmoud Abbas, whose regime honors and pays unspeakable sins in both word and action? salaries to the murderers of Jews and teaches its young people to follow As a Jew I am extremely grateful to President Trump for the their "heroes." unparalleled support he has shown Israel in the Oval Office. But that did Before they preach to the Right, those on the Left should brush up on not stop me from publicly and strongly criticizing the president for his their ideological environment, because some of its most articulate purists failure to insufficiently condemn the white supremacists in Charlottesville. have more blood on their hands than Netanyahu, Trump and their There was nothing but evil on the neo-Nazi side. supporters in Israel and around the world will ever have. And no, as I write But if we are to criticize serious failure, as we must, then we must this, my hand is not trembling. (Israel Hayom Oct 31) similarly laud significant success. In defending Israel, Trump has exceeded our expectations. He and his soon -departing Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley Politicizing the Massacre of Eleven Pittsburgh Jews Must Stop brought the fight for Israel at the UN to the highest bar yet. He moved the By Shmuley Boteach American embassy to the Jewish people’s eternal capital in Jerusalem, This past Saturday, the Jewish day of rest, a middle-aged man burst into which neither Bush nor Obama did, despite the latter’s promises to do so a baby-naming service at a Pittsburgh synagogue. What followed was the in 2008. deadliest antisemitic attack in American history. Eleven men and women, President Trump has already made the decision to remove our nation who had come only to celebrate and pray, were gunned down, their blood from the disastrous nuclear agreement signed with Iran, which he called pooling around their scattered prayer books. A heroic team of local police out as a “rogue state.” As we speak, his administration continues its work officers charged the Shul under heavy fire. Though many sustained severe to re-enact sanctions and clear a way out of the Iran deal, not only for our injuries, the massacre was finally brought to an end. The gunman was own nation but for our allies in Europe and across the world. captured and should, in my opinion, face the death penalty. President Trump also signed into law the Taylor Force Act, which In the days since the attack, President Trump has unequivocally finally sought to put an end to the Palestinian Authority’s sadistic practice condemned the slaughter as an “anti-Semitic act of pure evil.” The of handing out actual monetary rewards to those who have killed Jews. president declared “the widespread persecution of Jews” to be “one of the Believe it or not, throughout the Obama administration, the Palestinian ugliest and darkest features of human history,” and one that he vowed to Authority was giving out enormous sums to those serving prison sentences fight. “It will take all of us working together to extract the poison of for murdering or attempting to murder Jews in Israel. In the last year, the antisemitism from our world,” the president went on, asking Americans to Palestinian Authority allocated over $315 million — or eight percent of its “unite to conquer hate.” entire overall budget — to their outrageous system of terrorist welfare. All The shooter, 46-year-old Robert Bowers, announced his arrival at the this from the hundreds of millions of dollars the PA receives annually synagogue by screaming “all Jews must die.” He allegedly later told police from the United States in foreign aid — or received, considering Trump officers that Jews were committing “genocide against his people.” Pretty has finally begun to cut it. ironic that. A racist Jew-hater claiming the Jews are guilty of genocide just In fact, if Robert Bowers had been a Palestinian and his eleven victims one week before the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Jews living in Israel, he and his family would have been collecting their On social media, Bowers had frequently attacked not only Jews but terror-pension for the rest of their lives. And until the passing of the President Trump for his closeness to Jews, to whom he referred in the most Taylor Force Act, would have thanked us for the cash. grotesque terms. “Trump is surrounded by k****,” the rancid killer Ultimately, though, what makes the accusations of antisemitism lamented, “there is no #MAGA as long as there is a k*** infestation.” against Trump especially unfair is the fact that beyond just having Jewish Despite these facts, however, many people have come close to blaming friends and associates, he is the first president of the United States to have Trump for the shooting. , widely expected to run for the Jewish children and grandchildren. presidency in 2020, seemed to do so when he tweeted, apparently to the Even Trump’s worst enemies would admit that he loves and deeply president, that “words matter” and “silence is complicity.” Famed cherishes his daughter Ivanka, who is herself an Orthodox Jew. He economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman suggested that supported her decision to join the Jewish people through the strictest Trump was to blame, at least in part. Speaking sarcastically, Krugman processes of conversion, before throwing her a kosher wedding. Through tweeted a link to the story with the caption, “but none of the white his daughter, Trump now has three Jewish grandchildren who attend supremacist terrorism has anything to do with Trump, oh no.” The Jewish schools. His son-in-law Jared Kushner and Ivanka regularly attend Washington Post, also, featured an op-ed on its homepage titled “How synagogue themselves. Culpable is Trump for the Shooting?” The author of that piece, GQ’s Julia For Trump, the looming threats facing Jewish community centers have Ioffe, tweeted “a word to [her] fellow American Jews: This president makes become, if anything, entirely personal. this possible. Here. Where you live. I hope the embassy move over there, As yet more Jewish blood is absorbed into the earth, we cannot allow where you don’t live was worth it.” these events to be sharpened into spears to be hurled against political To politicize the murder of 11 Jews — let alone the worst antisemitic opponents. That would only deepen the divides within a nation that attack on American soil in our nation’s history — is lamentable. desperately needs to heal. We must instead take a moment to reflect upon Antisemitism and its tragic incarnation in this devastating attack are caused who are the ones truly spreading hateful gospels against the Jewish people, by those who actually hate Jews and call for violence against them. Sadly, and do everything in our power to ensure that they are weakened, silenced, there has never been a monopoly on antisemitism. It stems from both the and eventually brought down. (Algemeiner Oct 29) extreme left and the extreme right. It was the hard left that first accused the Jewish state of genocide and the IDF of being the Gestapo, and they have for years depicted Israel and Block the Palestinian Authority’s Hostile Takeover By Anat Roth the Jews within it as oppressors and murderers who deserve the waves of The Khan al-Ahmar affair has outraged Israelis for different reasons. terror that they are repeatedly forced to endure. Witness Jew-haters like It illustrates the discrimination between Palestinian squatters and the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who just last week employed the settlers at Migron, Givat HaUlpana, Amona and Netiv Ha’avot, in whose cases the state has followed the absolute letter of the law as stipulated by new flavor— PeCAN Resist!—is intended to entice consumers because a the High Court of Justice. It’s a testament to the government’s weakness in portion of the sales will go to support groups opposing U.S. President the face of leftist organizations, the current media climate and diplomatic Donald Trump. According to the company, the point of the project is pressure. It sends a message of feebleness and inability to govern over aiding four left-wing groups: the Women’s March, Color of Change, criminality and unlawful activity in strategic areas, and points to the state’s Honor the Earth and Neta, which are “creating a more just and equitable unwillingness to implement its own decisions. nation for us all, and who are fighting President Trump’s repressive But most disconcerting is the lack of decisive response to the agenda.” phenomenon, which poses a significant threat to Israel. But the inclusion of the Women’s March opens the company up to The outpost of Khan al-Ahmar is not an unusual case of illegal charges of rank hypocrisy. When you become a funder of a group like the Palestinian construction. It is a comprehensive system which the Palestinian Women’s March, whose leaders have openly embraced and defended one Authority has orchestrated against the State of Israel for the past decade, to of the country’s most notorious hate-mongers and anti-Semites, it’s clear seize control of strategic parts of Area C, which is under Israeli civil and that your claim to be working for a more equitable society is bunk. That military control, in contravention of the Oslo Accords. This strategic ought to be obvious in the wake of the Oct. 27 synagogue shooting in initiative was devised and spearheaded by former P.A. Prime Minister Pittsburgh, perhaps the worst act of anti-Semitic violence in the history of Salam Fayyad. In 2008, Fayyad opened an official bureau to coordinate the United States. activities on the ground—the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, The Women’s March rose to prominence because it was the group that which receives tens of millions of euros from the European Union. organized the biggest anti-Trump rallies over the last two years, including This sprawling takeover is implemented, first and foremost, by the massive protest against his inauguration in January 2017. The group methodical and organized settlement of in select strategic thrived because it was able to channel the anger of those who wished to areas. Those willing to squat in abandoned structures and areas receive “resist” Trump while also tapping into the spirit of the #MeToo economic incentives from the P.A. Likewise, these settled areas benefit movement. The distinctive pink hats its supporters wear that are supposed from investment in infrastructure—from paved roads to the development of to depict female genitalia became a ubiquitous symbol of the resistance. water reservoirs, pipelines and irrigation systems. Ultimately, this But Women’s March’s hard-core leftism isn’t so much the issue as is the settlement endeavor is expedited through agriculture. The settled areas are cozy relationship it has with prejudice against Jews. systematically developed with terraces and fields for grazing and crop Two of its leaders are open supporters of Nation of Islam leader Louis growing, in large part encouraged by the governments of Holland, Farrakhan and of notorious anti-Zionists. and . Women’s March co-president Tamika Mallory attended a “Savior’s Khan al-Ahmar, situated in the E1 area and adjacent to Highway 1 Day” address in Chicago given by Farrakhan and was among those (Israel’s main east-west artery), is just one example among many of the cheering him as he spouted his usual litany of anti-Semitic smears, in P.A.’s efforts to take control of strategic areas by squatting them. Aside which he blamed Jews—whom he accused of controlling Hollywood and from Khan al-Ahmar, there are dozens of other similar illegal outposts in the media—for harming women. Afterwards, a smiling Mallory posed for the area, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians. a picture with the hate-monger. The solution Israel has proposed to the residents of Khan al-Ahmar Just as bad is the fact that another key leader of the Women’s March is could significantly improve their standard of living. If this were truly the Linda Sarsour, the Palestinian-American activist who is a prominent goal and interest of the P.A. and its supporters, they would take the offer supporter of the BDS movement targeting Israel. Sarsour has made it clear with open arms. However, from the perspective of Palestinian leaders, that Zionists, even those who are fellow liberal Trump-haters, aren’t relocating the residents to a different place impairs their efforts to hijack welcome at the group’s marches. She is also a big fan of Farrakhan, but Highway 1; hence, their fervent efforts to torpedo the government’s neither that nor her hate for Israel and those who support it haven’t proposal. prevented her from becoming a darling of the political left and its media Although the status quo hasn’t changed in an official sense, recently the cheering section. impression has been of gradual momentum towards Israeli annexation of When confronted about their support for Farrakhan, the Women’s Area C. This impression is mistaken. March refused to back down or to get rid of Mallory or Sarsour. To the However, in recent years, mainly since Ayelet Shaked was appointed contrary, they remain the faces of a group that is not only lauded for their Justice Minister, important measures have been implemented to regulate anti-Trump activism, but now also has the support of Ben & Jerry’s—the settlement and normalize life in Judea and Samaria—from the Regulation moral equivalent of the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for the Law, to making legislation more compatible with Judea and left. Samaria, to the state’s efforts to counter the High Court’s anti-settlement When asked about Mallory and Sarsour, the ice-cream company was rulings. agnostic about their support for anti-Semitism. With that, “under our noses” the P.A. is flooding the area with tens of “We’re comfortable with the idea that the people and the causes we thousands of invaders, and using them to slowly annex and appropriate partner with may have a point of view different from our own on some Area C. As of today, the Palestinian invasion sprawls more than 7 percent issues,” a spokeswoman for Ben & Jerry’s was quoted as saying. “They into Area C, and the total area of Palestinian settlement is almost three can be controversial, just as we can. Linda may not agree with everything times larger than the area housing the entire Jewish settlement enterprise. we’ve done. But the work that she has done to promote women’s rights, as The basic assumption of the Palestinians and their partners is that co-chair of the Women’s March, is undeniably important and we are proud creating facts on the ground fosters an irreversible reality, and that any land to join her in that effort.” they are able to confiscate now will remain theirs under any future accord. Not satisfied with that, Ben & Jerry’s also released a statement from The government’s capitulation to pressure from elements trying to hurt Sarsour, saying, “We recommit ourselves to dismantling anti-Semitism Israel’s interests sends the message that there is a lack of governability, and and all forms of racism.” it encourages further criminality. Sarsour spoke out against the slaughter last weekend at a Pittsburgh Khan al-Ahmar’s immediate evacuation is imperative, therefore, to synagogue and is trying to position herself as a friend of the Jews, as long deliver a message that facts illegally created on the ground are reversible. as they aren’t Israelis or supporters of the Jewish state. But can one really Meanwhile, Israel must urgently formulate a comprehensive plan to remove dismantle anti-Semitism by supporting a Jew-hater like Farrakhan, and by the remaining Palestinian outposts, put an end to the P.A.’s hostile takeover championing a cause that advocates for denying to the Jews that which no of the land—and begin governing. (JNS Nov 1) one thinks to deny to any other people on the planet? Sarsour has been a hypocrite about anti-Semitism, and now the same can be said for Ben & Jerry’s. The Not-So-Sweet Taste of Hypocrisy about Anti-Semitism Some progressive Jews have already spoken out about disassociating By Jonathan S. Tobin from the Women’s March while Mallory and Sarsour remain at its head. Mixing food, especially ice-cream, with politics can be problematic. But the message from Ben & Jerry’s is that it’s OK to hate Jews as long as But Ben & Jerry’s—the iconic Vermont creamery founded by two Jewish you are “resisting” Trump. If liberal Jews, even those blaming Trump for guys from Long Island, N.Y.—became a huge success doing just that by Pittsburgh and act as if anti-Semitism is limited to the right, blithely convincing customers that their company’s support for progressive causes accept this outrageous proposition, then they have lost their moral justified eating a fattening, if not tasty, dessert. compass. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield hit the jackpot by building a business After Pittsburgh, zero tolerance for Jew-hatred must be a given. The that billed itself as having a social conscience, identifying itself with the only thing people of conscience, whether liberal or conservative, should effort to save the rainforest and naming flavors after pop-culture figures do is to “resist” Ben & Jerry’s new bitter taste. (JNS Nov 1) like lead guitar player of the Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia. Eating Ben & Jerry’s was a popular form of virtue signaling even before the term was invented. American Jewry’s False Prophets By Caroline B. Glick This was so tied to their identity as a brand that even after Cohen and Just hours after the largest massacre of Jews in America in US history, Greenfield sold their company to Unilever, the new owners believed that Monthly posted a piece by Franklin Foer. In his “Prayer for they had to continue the tradition of coming up with new flavors tied to Squirrel Hill, and for American Jewry,” Foer wrote, “Any strategy for liberal politics (think Americone Dream or the Tonight Dough, favorites of enhancing the security of American Jewry should involve shunning comedians Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon). [President Donald] Trump’s Jewish enablers. Their money should be But the latest Ben & Jerry contribution to the national palette isn’t so refused, their presence in synagogues not welcome. They have placed our much a feel-good cause as it is a reflection of our polarized politics. Their community in danger.” That is, in the shadow of the blood drenched synagogue, Foer declared Contrast Trump’s actions with Obama’s actions. Not only did Obama war on his fellow Jews. refuse to transfer the US Embassy to Jerusalem, he rejected even symbolic Between a quarter and 30% of American Jews voted for Trump. A acceptance of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem. The Obama State quarter of American Jews intend to vote Republican in next week’s Department erased all the captions on archival photos of American election. Foer wants them all to be ostracized because, he says, they are dignitaries in Jerusalem that referred to the location as Jerusalem, Israel. dangerous. This petty act demonstrated a deep-seated hostility to the history of the Taken to its logical conclusion, Foer’s statement was also a declaration Jewish people and was nothing if not bigoted. of war against the Jews of Israel. For as much as Foer and his totalitarian Yet, by the lights of Foer, Ioffe, Milbank and their fellow American comrades hate Trump, Israeli Jews support him. More than 75% of Israeli Jewish Trump-haters, Obama was a friend of American Jews, and Trump Jews consider Trump a great friend. and his Jewish supporters are their enemies. Foer’s comrade Julia Ioffe from GQ magazine made clear the animosity Likewise, Trump’s decision to remove the US from the congenitally these leftist/anti-Trump American Jewish media figures harbor toward anti-Semitic UN Human Rights Council which Obama joined despite its Israel. In a post on Twitter that was at least as incendiary as Foer’s essay, open bigotry against Jews; his ending of funding to the genocidal, anti- Ioffe wrote, “And a word to my fellow American Jews: This president Semitic UN Refugee Works Agency for the Palestinians (UNRWA), makes this [massacre] possible. Here. Where you live. I hope the embassy which Obama expanded; and his decision to cut funding to the terrorist- move over there, where you don’t live was worth it.” financing Palestinian Authority – which Obama increased – and close the In other words, Trump’s support for Israel enables him to persecute PLO diplomatic mission in Washington – which Obama upgraded, were American Jews. By supporting Trump for supporting Israel, Israeli Jews moves of historic significance in the fight against antisemitism and for and Republican Jews enabled the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue. Jewish rights. Trump is the first president in a quarter century to make the Are they right? Do Israeli Jews and politically conservative American Palestinians and their international enablers pay a price for their rejection Jews facilitate antisemitism in America by supporting Trump? Is Trump an of peace and facilitation of terrorism and armed aggression against Israel anti-Semite who covers his malign intentions toward American Jewry by and Israeli Jews. supporting Israel? Are these actions bad for American Jewry? When Trump says that Although these questions are absurd on their face, now that The Israel has a right to defeat its enemies and respond to aggression, is he Washington Post’s Dana Milbank feels comfortable claiming that Jews are harming American Jewry? not safe in Donald Trump’s America, it is important to consider them. Of course not. So let us consider what Trump has done and said and compare his Trump’s Jewish antagonists in the US media and their partner, ADL actions and statements with those of his immediate predecessor, Barack executive director and former Obama White House official Jonathan Obama, who most of the American Jews who now blame Trump and his Greenblatt, insist that under Trump, anti-Semitic incidents in the US have Jewish supporters for the massacre in Pittsburgh supported. risen 57%. But as David Bernstein demonstrated this week at Tablet The first question we need to address is, what are Israel’s interests in its magazine, the ADL data everyone is citing tells the exact opposite story. relations with the US and how do those interests impact American Jews? The claim that anti-Semitic incidents have risen under Trump is not Israel has an interest in working in alliance with the United States to supported by the ADL data. counter common threats. What the data do show is that violent anti-Semitic attacks in the US Trump shares this interest, and has acted to advance it on multiple have decreased significantly since Trump took office, while they increased fronts. significantly during Obama’s presidency. And as the blogger Elder of Trump’s decision to abandon his predecessor’s policy of appeasing Iran Zion noted this week, the data show no causative relationship between in favor of a policy of working with Israel and the Sunni Arab states to either administration and the level of antisemitism. counter Iran’s regional aggression and power, and block the regime’s What is clear is that Trump has spoken far more seriously about efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, represents a fundamental shift in US antisemitism and the need to combat it than Obama ever has. foreign policy. It was welcomed by Israel as well as by the Sunni Arab In January 2015, an Islamic terrorist massacred and held Jews hostage at states of the . the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris. Obama refused to Is this a good or bad thing for American Jewry? acknowledge that it was an ant-Semitic attack and that the victims were Obama’s nuclear deal gave Iran a guaranteed path to nuclear armament killed because they were Jews. Instead he referred to them as “a bunch of within a decade. Since the Iranian regime has repeatedly pledged to folks in a deli.” annihilate Israel, the deal posed an existential threat to Israel. Following Saturday’s massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in To secure Senate approval – or rather, to avoid Senate disapproval – of Pittsburgh, Obama issued a statement that once again made no mention of his scandalous deal, the Obama White House directed a media and political the fact that the victims were Jews, and that they were killed because they strategy of intimidation of lawmakers and American Jewish leaders, were Jews. “All of us have to fight the rise of antisemitism and hateful abounding with anti-Semitic demonology. Democratic senators that rhetoric against those who love, love or pray differently. And we have to opposed the deal were under the influence of nefarious “foreign money.” stop making it so easy for those who want to harm the innocent to get their Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was transformed in Obama’s hands on a gun,” he emptily tweeted. media echo chamber into the enemy of America. AIPAC lobbyists who Obama notably also said nothing after Louis Farrakhan called Jews campaigned against the deal were branded as agents of a foreign power – “termites” last month. that is, traitors – seeking to undermine US interests for the benefit of a Trump in contrast, couldn’t be clearer in his condemnation of hostile foreign power – that is, Israel. antisemitism and his willingness to defend Jews from bigotry and The Obama administration’s aggression against Jewish Americans violence. Saturday, after calling the synagogue massacre “an anti-Semitic exercising their lawful right to petition their government was act,” Trump said, “Antisemitism and the widespread persecution of Jews unprecedented. The fight it waged against the American Jewish community represents one of the ugliest and darkest features of human history. The left the community weakened and vulnerable to attack from the Left as vile, hate-filled poison of antisemitism must be condemned and confronted never before. everywhere and anywhere it appears. There must be no tolerance for By disavowing the nuclear deal and endorsing of the Jewish antisemitism in America or for any form of religious or racial hatred or community, Trump delegitimized Obama’s bigoted assault against prejudice.” American Jews. Later Saturday, Trump stated the point even more sharply. “This evil Obviously, this is a good thing for American Jews. anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us. It’s an assault on humanity. It Israel has an interest in securing its position in the world and ending its will require all of us working together to extract the hateful poison of second-class status in the international community. That second-class status antisemitism from the world. The scourge of antisemitism cannot be was long emblemized in the US’s abject refusal to locate the US Embassy ignored, cannot be tolerated and cannot be allowed to continue.” in Israel to Israel’s capital city Jerusalem. That longstanding American As Prime Minister Netanyahu noted, no non-Israeli leader has ever refusal to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the City of David legitimized made such a strong commitment to fight Jew-hatred. the systematic persecution of Israel at the UN and in other international This then brings us back to Foer and his fellow Jewish American arenas. Trump-haters. What are they trying to protect as Jews when they call for Since Jerusalem has been the center of Jewish life and faith for 3,000 Trump to be shunned and his Jewish supporters to be kicked out of Jewish years, it is concrete proof that Israel is not a colonial implant and that Jews life in America? are the native people of the land. By refusing to recognize Israel’s The answer is blindingly clear. sovereignty in Jerusalem, the US joined the rest of the world in calling into No Jewish interest is served by standing against the friendliest question its very right to exist and lend credence to the antis-Semitic claim president American Jews have had. No Jewish interest is served by that Jews are foreigners in their historic homeland. weakening the president most supportive of Israel in the history of US- Trump’s decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem and his Israel relations. Indeed, far from serving the American Jewish community, subsequent decision to subordinate the American Consulate in Jerusalem to these Jewish Trump-haters are harming the community and endangering the US Embassy was a total renunciation of this long-standing bigotry its future. against the Jewish people. After watching these powerful American Jews abuse Trump for Trump’s action was self-evidently a good thing for American Jews. No standing with Israel and standing up to the anti-Semites at home and longer do American Jews need to justify their attachment to Israel. No abroad, no future president will have any impetus to even pay lip service longer do American Jews need to come on bended knee to the White House to the US alliance with the Jewish state and the fight against Jew-hatred. and entreat the president to recognize the historical record. (Jerusalem Post Nov 1)