Behind the Aegis
Behind the Aegis's JournalFormer U.S. anti-Semitism Envoy Warns of European Governments Trying to Distort Holocaust History
Source: Ha'aretz (Jul 07, 2017 2:45 AM)
This week, two events which made headlines in Israel and among the U.S. Jewish community turned attention to attempts by Eastern European governments to downplay and distort their countries' histories with regards to the Holocaust.
The first event was a diplomatic skirmish between Israel and Hungary over the Hungarian prime minister's speech praising Miklos Horthy, Hungary's leader during World War II who was complicit in the mass extermination of the country's Jewish population. The second event was Donald Trump's speech in Warsaw on Thursday, in which the U.S. president praised the Polish people for the 1944 anti-Nazi uprising, but in accordance with the line of the current government in Poland didn't mention any Polish involvement in the Holocaust.
The current governments of Poland and Hungary share a somewhat similar approach to their countries' dark history with regards to the Holocaust. Over the last years, both governments have been trying to downplay that history, and present the events that took place during the German occupation of the two countries as if they were entirely the fault of the Germans, with little to no responsibility falling on the local governments and populations.
Viktor Orban, Hungary's far-right prime minister, was accused last week by the U.S. Holocaust Museum of trying to rewrite history and of insulting the victims of the Holocaust. Poland, meanwhile, passed a bill last year which criminalizes the use of phrases pointing at Polish responsibility to the mass murder of the country's Jewish population.
Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-1.800094
Anti-Semitism, other hate must be confronted
This past weekend, someone draped a sign over a Holocaust memorial at a synagogue in Lakewood saying: “Heebs will not divide us.” Fliers with other messages attacking Jews were distributed on cars.
This was presumably in response to recent news coverage of welfare fraud and arrests within the Lakewood Jewish community.
I knew that New Jersey had the fourth-highest number of hate groups in the country — not bad for such a small state — so I wasn’t terribly surprised by this turn of events, especially when I recall several other recent anti-Semitic events in our area.
However, as I looked back over these and other recent news articles concerning the Jewish community, I was shocked at the number of blatantly anti-Semitic and hateful comments posted online and on Facebook — often without any response or rebuttal. As someone who grew up in New Jersey and is a proud resident, I didn’t realize how much fertile ground for hate and anti-Semitism existed in our own backyards.
For example:
•“Jews usually trick you through knowledge of how to trick you…a regular criminal will just rob you straight away – Jews have finesse about doing it…like doctors and lawyers”
more...
Top Democrat urges Trump to appoint anti-Semitism envoy, Jewish liaison
Source: The Times of Israel
WASHINGTON — A top Senate Democrat urged US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to appoint a White House liaison to the Jewish community and special envoy to combat and monitor anti-Semitism (SEAS), roles that have been vacant since he took office.
Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, who serves as the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called those two positions “critical to the global and domestic fight against anti-Semitism” and said they were needed amidst an uptick in anti-Semitic episodes worldwide.
“With the recent increase in incidents of anti-Semitism in the United States and in some other countries, as well as a rise in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, I am concerned that the Administration has failed to designate points of contact for Jewish international and domestic communities,” Cardin wrote in a letter to the president.
Last month, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggested to a House of Representatives panel that hiring an anti-Semitism envoy wasn’t necessary and that the overall effort to combat anti-Semitism would be more efficacious without one.
--snip---
While not congressionally mandated, every US president since Jimmy Carter has appointed and maintained a White House Jewish liaison.
Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/top-democrat-urges-trump-to-appoint-anti-semitism-envoy-jewish-liaison/
While not a favorite source, it is factual and noteworthy.
(Jewish Group) New study reveals Europes rising anti-Semitism forces Jews to leave or hide
THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP!
Why do half of French Jews want to leave France? The rise of violent anti-Semitism beginning around the turn of the century has made French Jews justifiably concerned about their personal safety.
A University of Oslo study published in June is one of the most methodologically sophisticated and comprehensive reports in dissecting the growth of Europe’s anti-Semitism problem.
Authored by Dr. Johannes Due Enstad of the Center for Research on Extremism, the study documents violent anti-Semitism from 2005-2015, analyzing seven countries based on comparable data for France, the U.K., Germany and Sweden, with additional non-comparable data for Norway, Denmark and Russia.
Since they feel unsafe as a direct consequence of violent anti-Semitism, one in five Jews in Sweden and the U.K., one in four in Germany, and as mentioned previously, half of the Jews in France have considered emigrating. But it is not just something that Jews think about. In 2015, 10,000 Western European Jews departed for a new life in Israel, the largest number leaving Europe since 1948.
There is no upward or downward trend in the period measured. There is a consistently elevated level of anti-Semitism compared to the 1990s.
French Jews are more likely than German, Swedish and British Jews to have personally experienced a violent attack in the final five years covered by the study. Although the incidence of anti-Semitism for France is the highest, responses about personal attacks during the study’s final five years from Swedish and German Jews is not far behind. The largest gap in anti-Semitism is between British Jews and Jews living in Norway, Denmark and Russia.
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Sickening displays of anti-Semitism after welfare fraud arrests in Lakewood
LAKEWOOD — Vandals posted a banner containing an anti-Jewish slur on a Holocaust memorial in front of a local synagogue less than a week after several residents of Lakewood’s Orthodox Jewish community were charged with welfare fraud.
Photos posted online Sunday by the state chapter of the Anti-Defamation League show the banner covering the memorial in Lakewood. A message on the covering included an ethnic slur for Jewish people and they “will not divide us.” Underneath that is bloodandsoil.org, the website for a white nationalist group.
Also this week, Anti-Semetic fliers have been seen around town, referencing the same group, complaining of “thieving Jews”” — an apparent reference to the welfare fraud arrests.
Detective Lt. Gregory Staffordsmith of the Lakewood Police Department said authorities were alerted to the issue just before noon on Sunday after a call from a rabbi at Congregation Son of Israel.
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https://twitter.com/ADL_NJ/status/881567799742693378
https://twitter.com/ADL_NJ/status/881567556041138176
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Sounds about right.
A Brief History of 'Lugenpresse,' the Nazi-era Predecessor to Trump's 'Fake News'
(This article was originally published on February 21, 2017 and re-upped after President Trump tweeted a spoof video of himself "beating up" CNN, which the network denounced as incitement to violence against reporters.)
President Donald Trump’s go-to argument that unwelcome reports are “fake news” spread over the weekend to key figures in the Republican establishment, and as the vitriol ramped up, major media outlets hit back. On Friday, CNN anchor Don Lemon cut off pro-Trump guest Paris Dennard live on air, and not long after Trump tweeted, “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” Come Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus got into a heated debate with Chris Wallace on Fox News, of all venues.
The sense of panic and anger in the mainstream media, the conservative Fox News included, is reasonable. The accusation of “fake news” or “lying press” has an ominous precedent, tracing back to the history of the German phrase “Lügenpresse.” (At a campaign rally in October 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio, the Atlantic’s Rosie Grey even caught two Trump supporters on tape using the original German word. “Lügenpresse! That’s what you are,” one white man shouts, coaching another on how to say the term, and elaborates: “You’re all in bed with the Clintons. You’re all bought and paid for, every one of you.”)
Originally coined by the German author Reinhold Anton in 1914, the term Lügenpresse was used during World War I to refer to “enemy propaganda.” Some 30 years later Hitler and the Nazis appropriated the term to weaken opposition to the regime, primarily “accusing” Jewish, communist, and later the foreign press of disseminating fake news.
The phrase made a comeback in Germany in 2014, when the anti-immigrant PEGIDA movement accused the media of “not telling the truth” about crimes committed by refugees and immigrants, primarily those displaced by ISIS in Syria and Iraq. In January 2015, some 25,000 protesters attended a PEGIDA march in Dresden, chanting “Luegenpresse, halt die Fresse" (“shut up, lying press”).
"Luegenpresse" subsequently earned the notorious "Unwort des Jahres" (Non-Word of the Year) dishonor given out annually by a German linguists' panel of experts.
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Reddit User Behind Trump's anti-CNN Video Has History of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia
Source: Ha'aretz (Jul 03, 2017 1:25 AM)
The Reddit user who posted a spoof video showing President Donald Trump beating up CNN has a history of racist posts.
The user, who goes by HanAssholeSolo, posted the video on a pro-Trump subreddit, The_Donald, before Trump tweeted it with slight alternations on Saturday.
A review of HanAssholeSolo's Reddit feed turns up many an offensive post. The user often uses slurs to refer to African-Americans, Muslims and gay people.
---snip---
But he apparently didn't deem the anti-Semitic meme and comments such as "fuck Islam" as offensive enough to delete.
Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.799112
Of course the anti-Semitism isn't problematic enough to delete...for many people!
(Jewish Group) Anti-Semitism Is Creeping Into Progressivism
THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP!
Last weekend, organizers of a gay pride parade in Chicago ejected three people carrying pride flags emblazoned with a Jewish Star of David. Subsequent bizarre statements attempting to rationalize their action, claiming that Zionism is “an inherently white supremacist ideology” only exacerbated the sense that the organizers were deaf to the concerns of the Jewish community and engaged in anti-Semitism — denying Jews the same rights that were extended to other participants, basically to celebrate their identities as Jewish queer women.
While this incident could be dismissed as one fringe group in one city, the fact is that it does represent a wider school of thought that is fueling a trend of creeping anti-Semitism among some segments of the political left.
Over the past year, we have seen other examples that have raised eyebrows as intersectional intolerance has sprung up among the progressive community. Similar stories to the one in Chicago were reported at the Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City earlier this month.
---snip---
For an organization like the Anti-Defamation League, which was founded both to combat anti-Semitism and protect the Jewish people but also to secure justice and fair treatment to all Americans, these manifestations are upsetting. Frustration with particular Israeli policies does not excuse an irrational hatred of Jewish people who support its existence. But this occurs all too frequently, which provides an opportunity to make clear certain moral and practical distinctions.
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(Jewish Group) The Chicago Dyke March: The Ugly Intersection Of Progressivism And Anti-Semitism
(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP!)
I won’t bury the lede – triggering anti-Semites is a good thing.
There were anti-Semites at the Chicago Dyke March last Saturday, as there were at the Israel Day Parade in New York a few weeks ago. I have gone to great lengths to distinguish between anti-Semitism and opposition to the Israeli government, and have been called out on it by some old friends who’ve become quite right-wing on this issue. I have worked for years now with J Street to bring about a fair and equitable two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, and consider myself pro-Palestinian as well as pro-Israeli. What happened in Chicago, in spite of the backtracking of the Dyke March leaders, was anti-Semitism. This was part of their statement:
Chicago Dyke March Collective is a grassroots mobilization and celebration of dyke, queer, bisexual, and transgender resilience. Our priority is to ensure a safer space for those who are most marginalized. We welcome and include people of all identities, but not all ideologies. We believe in creating a space free from oppression, and that involves rejecting racist ideologies that support state violence. We welcome the support we have received from Jewish allies and marchers who are as invested in liberation as we are.
I identify, when asked, as queer, bisexual and trans, am quite resilient, and am offended that they believe they’re celebrating me by excluding me and those like me.
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About time someone called out the misuses of progressive values.
Beyond Anti-Semitism: The Biggest Progressive Problem At The Chicago Dyke March
The Chicago Dyke March is supposed to be an especially inclusive gathering of progressives. Shockingly, Jews carrying rainbow flags with the Star of David were asked to leave. One Dyke March collective member told the Windy City Times the women were told to leave because the flags “made people feel unsafe,” that the march was “anti-Zionist” and “pro-Palestinian.”
The Chicago Dyke March Collective later issued the following statement on Facebook which, in part, reads:
“Yesterday, June 24, Chicago Dyke March was held in the La Villita neighborhood to express support for undocumented, refugee and immigrant communities under threat of deportation. Sadly, our celebration of dyke, queer and trans solidarity was partially overshadowed by our decision to ask three individuals carrying Israeli flags superimposed on rainbow flags to leave the rally. This decision was made after they repeatedly expressed support for Zionism during conversations with Chicago Dyke March Collective members …
Read more: http://forward.com/scribe/376008/beyond-anti-semitism-the-biggest-progressive-problem-at-the-chicago-dyke-ma/
I am beyond disgusted to see this happening in the gay community, but not at all surprised.
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