I was scheduled to be a panelist on an event in May at the Jewish Library in San Francisco– “Reclaiming Jewish Activism.” After a library funder, the Bureau of Jewish Education, found out I was on the panel, the news traveled up to the Jewish Federation which put pressure on the Library to cancel the event because I was too controversial–apparently because of the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco guidelines re BDS.
The whole audacious narrative is described in the eloquent detail in the letter attached and also posted online (http://www.scribd.com/doc/87356879/Jewish-Library-Letter). The team of event planners and panelists (including me) sent the letter to the Jewish Library this week as well as to the Federation and other partners.
Today we are making this letter public. I want to share this with the hope that people will expose this blatant censorship and silencing of dissent. This follows on the heels of the Peter Beinart event being cancelled here in the Bay Area. Reut Institute was right – the Bay Area is on the frontlines for this issue!
Luckily we found an alternate Jewish location in SF to host the event – synagogue Sha’ar Zahav.
RE: “the news traveled up to the Jewish Federation which put pressure on the Library to cancel the event because I was too controversial” ~ Rae Abileah
MY COMMENT: And yet, the Jewish Federations apparently consider “Pastor” John Hagee to be “oh so kosher”! If that don’t beat all.
SEE: Houston Jewish Federation, Jewish Agency Fund Im Tirzu’s Assault on Israeli Universities ~ by Richard Silverstein, Tikun Olam, 3/17/10
ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/08/17/im-tirzu-calls-for-academic-funding-boycott-of-anti-zionist-ben-gurion-university-receives-100000-from-john-hagee-via-jewish-agency/
ALSO SEE: Pastor Hagee: The Antichrist Is Gay, “Partially Jewish, As Was Adolph Hitler”, by Max Blumenthal, Huffington Post, 6/02/08
LINK – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/pastor-hagee-the-antichri_b_104608.html
P.S. God bless synagogue Sha’ar Zahav!
Breaking news: Jewish library bans thinking. Great headline you guys. Where are you headed with this policy?
Thanks for the article about the battle over which types of Jewish activism are acceptable to the Jewish Community Relations Council, and which types of activism are not acceptable. This particular battle illuminates a larger issue. A decade or two ago, American Jews supported Israel, with rare exceptions. Now, Israel is a divisive issue, and the San Francisco battle is a case in point. The days of monolithic support for Israel are over.
We’ll learn more about this topic when Norman Finkelstein’s new book is published in late April: “Knowing Too Much: why the American Jewish romance with Israel is coming to an end.” From Finkelstein’s website, his basic argument is as follows:
American Jews are liberals, Israel’s policies are an affront to liberal values, it’s getting harder and harder to disguise Israel’s policies, American Jews are highly educated and can find out the truth about Israel policies. So support for Israel is declining among liberals, including Jewish liberals.
Finkelstein goes on to say that older Jews and orthodox Jews continue to support Israel. However, the majority of US Jews (90%) are not orthodox, and the views of younger Jews will be increasingly dominant as the older generation passes from the scene.
As usual, Finkelstein backs up his opinions with facts and figures.
American Jews have hijacked liberalism just as neocons hijacked Conservatism.
Marc Lynch on C Span Washington Journal this morning got an earful. Look for CAMERA to go apes– t — especially as C Span aired the segment at least twice, Sunday Apr 1 at 9:18 am and again on Sunday Apr 1 at 6:43 pm http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/JMarc
Lynch runs the Middle East affairs department at George Washington University and is part of Center for a New American Security. CNAS is the outfit that published the “game changing” strategy on Iran, to which Dennis Ross was the major contributor http://www.cnas.org/USOptionsinIran
Lynch was on Washington Journal to talk about Syria. His commentary was logically inconsistent — “we don’t have good information about what is going on” and “it’s extremely difficult to know who is doing what, especially in complex urban environments,” but Lynch was slam dunk positive that Assad is a dictator and that he’s killing or has killed thousands of his own people, and Christians and Alawites remain loyal to Assad’s government, which has always protected Christians and Alawites, because they have not yet been convinced that they will be protected if they defect.
Lynch conceded that doing Syria “is not as easy as Libya,” where US was able to slaughter Qaddafi like an animal “without putting boots on the ground.” Not only are leaders that the US doesn’t like dehumanized, so are the soldiers who are sent in to kill them.
Two calls were noteworthy; one at about 20 minutes into the program recited names of witnesses who had information that the US was sending terrorists into Syria from neighboring states.
The second man who called, at about 24 min, cited the situation in which a woman who had been a consul in Middle East went to State Department to report her findings. She was dismayed to observe that one after another after another of the State Dept. Middle East-related offices are staffed by Israelis. The male caller said the State Department is occupied territory, which accounts for the dissonance in US policy, and that Americans should rise up against this untenable set of circumstances.
Word is getting out, and one way or another, onto MSM.
Krauss, he or she probably means it exactly as written.
But this kind of thing is stupid, really and embarrassing and counterproductive, especially if you oppose BDS. Let words and ideas flow freely.