Political Correctness

January 29, 2021 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

BDS directly affects Israel but should concern all of us!

Boycotts, censorship and cancellations have become very popular words in 2020. From “Cancel Culture” to “Social Network Censorships” to “Boycott, Divestment & Sanction (BDS)”, people are being exposed to what it means to have our civil liberties reduced, altered, or even revoked. We are being exposed to the danger of such actions and the repercussions they will have on us and the next generations. Of all of these attempts at crippling our freedom, the BDS movement is most likely the least of them when it comes to affecting Americans. Outside of a certain segment of the evangelical community–vocally and militantly pro-Israel–the rest of the Church and most Americans either don’t care or don’t know about BDS. If you are one of my subscribers, this might only be a refresher, but this bears repeating.

BDS isn’t an invention of the Church, but it has become increasingly attractive to many Evangelicals, where some believe that it is a valid, yet a peaceful, way to protest against Israel. There are several problems with that train of thought, but let us first look at the source of the BDS movement. You might be surprised by what you discover.

It is ironic that most of the people taking such a political stand have very little knowledge of how it got started and by whom. This movement was started on July 9, 2005, by the Palestinian civil society and orchestrated by the current leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian BDS National Committee. Omar Barghouti is co-founder of and the main spokesperson for BDS. His organization claims that Israel must meet three obligations for BDS to stop:
1.   Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall;
2.   Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3.   Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

Too often, there is an unspoken expectation from the Palestinian side. Much of the “not-so-hidden” agenda of the Palestinian Authority is focused on the destruction of Israel and the Jews. At the time that the Palestinian people were invented in the mid-1960s, the problem of refugees didn’t exist. The Jewish people abandoned the use of the term Palestine when Israel was declared a State in 1948. The word became exclusively descriptive of the Arab side and was adopted by Arafat when he created the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization).

The creation of a Palestinian narrative that has been purported over the last 50 years of historical fabrications has helped the world turn on Israel. However, the Palestinian Authority doesn’t really care about the well-being of even their own “citizens”. If they did, they would never use some of their own people as human shields or use schools and hospitals to store weapons and explosives. They are obsessed with the demonization of Israel, the turning of David into Goliath! If they succeed, they are just one step closer to appearing justified when they attempt to annihilate Israel. It is actually quite scary to see how much the West has been swayed towards the Palestinian agenda over the last few decades. Although, some of the Palestinian agenda has been pushed back recently by the signing of the Abraham Accords and the additional countries joining ranks in establishing formal relations with Israel.

The Palestinian Authority takes great pains to misinform, or simply not inform, the people they are trying to influence with the facts surrounding their standoff with Israel. The proper word for it is “propaganda”! The hope is that most people would accept their lies and historical revisionism simply as facts, and too often they do! UN Resolution 194 contains one short paragraph out of 15 on compensation to refugees – not even Palestinian refugees in particular – but refugees in general. People truly need to verify statements before they buy them and then sell them back as facts. Interestingly enough, the only specific identifying term used in that resolution is “Palestine”, and within the context of that 1948 document, it is clear that it refers to the geographical area known as Israel, not a people group.

BDS was born out of a Palestinian desire to enroll otherwise unengaged and apathetic people in their fight against Israel. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas’ goal might be the total destruction of Israel, but that is not a good marketing technique to recruit supporters for their agenda. Creativity calls for other means of striking the Jewish people.

What if they could get support from different groups of people? This would greatly advance their agenda, wouldn’t it? BDS does just that and it does it well, in the government, the entertainment industry, the universities, and even some Christian denominations such as The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) whose General Assembly voted in the spring of 2014 to divest from three companies engaged in business within Israel (Caterpillar Inc., Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions). This is the same PCUSA that unsuccessfully tried to blot out the name Israel from their prayer and hymn books in 2014, leading to a split within the denomination.

Originators of BDS count on the altruistic feelings associated with boycotting for a social justice issue. It becomes easy for anyone to feel good by refraining from buying Israeli products. This seems like a peaceful and worthy protest that could (from their perspective) make a difference and force Israel away from occupation, apartheid and crimes against humanity. Of course, the current BDS supporters are plagued with decisions to boycott that force them to be very inconsistent at best. Divestment is usually a matter of reinvesting your funds elsewhere, and there are plenty of opportunities for such a move. When it comes to boycotting, it is a bit trickier, especially if you want to be consistent and do it with integrity. People will easily stop buying Jaffa® oranges or Osem® cookies from Israel, but don’t ask them to stop using the Intel® chip in their personal computers or their mobile phones altogether (both originated from Israeli ingenuity). The boycott crosses into academia and entertainment as well as business.

BDS proponents often nip the pro-Israel narrative in the bud by loudly condemning Israel, which has become the hip, liberal mantra du jour, even though their own narrative is flawed and biased. Christians don’t want to be labeled as “haters”, especially of Jews. What they may do is find an easier way to participate in BDS rather than an all-out boycott. Divestment can be done silently. When sanctioning comes, they will have to make a choice – and I pray it is a decision based on biblical insight.
• BDS uses a false premise of Israeli occupation and apartheid policies. It is our responsibility to expose their lies and educate those who don’t know BDS or who believe that it is a cause worth fighting for.
• BDS proponents are inconsistent in their boycott and need to be made aware of their hypocrisy or ignorance about Israel’s contribution to the modern world (and the list of those contributions keeps growing every day), not to mention all the everyday products used by millions.
• BDS sends the wrong message to a lot of people thinking that they are helping to make the world a better place when in fact they are supporting anti-Israel, anti-Semitic terrorists.
• BDS counts on people’s ignorance and natural desire for justice to sell their falsified agenda of Palestinian victimhood.

BDS is dangerously infecting the masses with the wrong idea about Israel. It is evident that Israel isn’t “100% squeaky clean” when it comes to politics, but they are a far cry from the picture that BDS is painting. People might have different opinions on how antisemitic the BDS movement is, or if it even is, but one must wonder why BDS aims at stopping Israel from their “crimes” against Palestinians, and yet, they are turning a blind eye to all the other countries where real crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansings are taking place. What an obvious case of a double-standard!

BDS becomes very dangerous when it reaches the political realm and can turn into official policymaking and even bills and laws. Recently, the Biden administration picked Mr. Maher Bitar as the Senior Director for Intelligence on the NSC. The NSC or National Security Council describes itself as follows, ” The National Security Council (NSC) is the President’s principal forum for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his or her senior advisors and cabinet officials.” Maher Bitar’s résumé includes a very long list of anti-Israel involvement, BDS support, radical Islamist terrorism, and plain and simple antisemitism. Shouldn’t the Senior Director for Intelligence on the NSC be an unbiased intelligence professional?

BDS might be only aimed at Israel with its destructive agenda, but it is the symptom of a much greater threat to Western civilization. We can and must expose it, denounce it and fight against it.

Additionally, another thing we can do is to make sure that we do our best to buy Israeli products in the USA to beat the BDS proponents at their own game. There are sites offering a partial list of what BDS wants you to boycott. While the mentioning of this list doesn’t mean that this author endorses all of it, you will undoubtedly find plenty of brands that you already support; just review them, keep at it, and tell others. This would be a strong application of Genesis 50:20 when Joseph proved to his brothers that what some want to use for evil, God can turn around and use for good: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”

What BDS proponents, by commission and omission, too often have in common is a lack of a biblical approach to Israel and the Jewish people. Biblical truth provides a solid foundation for Israel. It describes a people created by God through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the twelve Tribes of Israel as well as precise land boundaries starting early in Genesis 12 and continuing through chapters 15, 17, and following. Zionism isn’t this evil colonialism feeding on Arab blood, yet without a biblical backbone, Zionism lacks the strength to fight the hypocrisy, hatred and double standard of the BDS campaigns around the world. BDS relies on the Bullying, Delegitimizing and Slandering of Israel and does it on a foundation of lies that can be debunked. If truth really matters, let us speak up! So instead, let’s Buy, Defend and Support Israel, Israeli products and corporations.

December 26, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Antisemitism 2020: A Year in Review – Part I

There are many topics that could be covered to punctuate the year 2020. Most of them are unusually different from previous years. The race riots, the pandemic, or the elections are just three of them. It could also be argued that 2020 will be remembered as the year when we became the Divided States of America. Nobody in America ever saw such polarization between neo-liberals and conservatives, and the chasm will probably get wider as time progresses. There is also a way to look at Jewish life through the year 2020; Antisemitism! I have been monitoring antisemitism domestically and globally for over two decades, and once a year, I review what events have made each year unique from that perspective. 2020 is no different. Events varied from wake-up calls to challenges to crimes, and they were both domestic and global. Keep in mind that even a global act of antisemitism has many ripple effects that will reach the United States. So, let’s review the year a month at a time:

January 2020: International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Every January 27, we are reminded to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. As multiple heads of state and key representatives gather to pay tribute to the victims and the helpers (Righteous Among the Nations), the rest of the world is also invited to post a photo of themselves with the hashtag #WeRemember. But Hashtags will not defeat Holocaust deniers, historical revisionists and antisemites. Hashtags are the bumper stickers of the twenty-first century, they make a statement in passing as they move to their eternal abode in cyberspace. Instead, people can visit one of the numerous US-based (30 states) Holocaust memorial/museums, read on the topic, share with the next generation and/or attend conferences and peaceful protests.

February 2020: The Aalst Carnival in Belgium
The city of Aalst, Belgium has officially held its carnival since 1923. Parades of that sort actually go back to the Middle Ages. Aalst almost always makes the news for its 3-Day carnival. The organizers repeatedly claim that the satirical tone of the carnival is to be remembered when one considers any of its floats. They regularly ridicule the Jewish people.
The “Aalst Jews of 2020” were wearing oversized shtreimels (fur hats), dressed in black this year, but the bottom half of their bodies were that of insects or vermin; ants to be exact (don’t miss the extermination innuendo here). Joining the crowds were dozens of people wearing caricatural orthodox Jewish garb and large fake crooked noses, not to mention the many flyers with stereotypical renditions of Jews with side curls, crooked noses and curly hair, and the many people wearing Nazi uniforms…All of it in the name of innocent satire!

March 2020: The Covid-19 Vaccine versus BDS
As of March, 149 countries had been infected. The global number of cases exceeded 150,000 and deaths were over 5,600. We thought that it was bad, but we knew nothing yet. Several countries in the world were racing against the clock to research, discover, test and manufacture a vaccine for Covid-19. At the forefront of these modern countries was Israel.
And then, there were the usual BDS movement people across the globe, selling the false idea that Israel is an occupying, colonialist and human rights violating country. They convince a plethora of uneducated people to boycott Israel. Evidently, they boycott whatever is not going to be too inconvenient. So, here is the million-dollar question: “Would BDS people refuse the vaccine if it came from Israel?” They should if they were consistent and ethical.

April 2020: A New Bible Without Israel
The Danish Bible Society published a new Bible known as “The Bible 2020.” It should be called the RTV (Replacement Theology Version.) This Bible is no Bible at all, and it is a very dangerous document. It chose to inaccurately replace or just ignore the word “Israel” (73 times in the New Testament), calling it instead “the land” or “the people.”
It is just one more proof showing us how close we are from the final chapter in the “Real Bible”, where Messiah Yeshua returns to establish his kingdom after fighting all those who went against Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:10), and establishes His messianic kingdom with His people among which the Jews will be the head and not the tail. That is the biblical truth that includes Israel AND excludes the enemies of Israel.

May 2020: Trump, Ford and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion!
In May, President Trump made a very uncomfortable comment as he was visiting a Ford factory in Michigan. As he was addressing executives about the founder of Ford Motors, Henry Ford, he said, “The company was founded by a man named Henry Ford, good bloodlines, good bloodlines. If you believe in that stuff, you got good blood.”
Ford’s antisemitism is indelibly printed in the chronicles of history. It cannot be denied, it shouldn’t be minimized and will not be forgotten. I do not believe that President Trump was promoting Eugenics or racial superiority in the way that Henry Ford did when he published The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, but his statement can be used against him by his enemies and also by those who espouse such a view, linking President Trump to a group of fringe antisemites that already are believed by some to support him.

June 2020: Black Lives Matter but BLM doesn’t
2020 saw the tragic death of George Floyd and the rise of the BLM movement. But before we blindly join and support the BLM movement based on somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction, from a mix of compassion, rightful indignation and misplaced guilt, we should investigate who the BLM movement supports and promotes.
Black Lives Matter clearly supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions). BDS has been pushing for a total boycott (academic, cultural and economic) of Israel and those who support Israel and Israeli products and companies. It has made great strides towards convincing people across the globe that Israel was the perpetrator of crimes against humanity, oppression, invasion and persecution. BLM is also one of more than 150 organizations within the coalition known as Movement for Black Lives (M4BL.) Let’s support all black lives, but not through a manmade movement that has a shaky foundation at best. Rather, because of our Messiah who supported all lives, enough to die for them. We all should support black lives and it definitely matters how we do it!

Part II with the rest of 2020 will be published next week.

December 4, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Asking Wolves to Tend Sheep Never Ends Well for the Sheep!

2020 has been a year that the world will remember even though all of us wish we could forget it. Inevitably and sadly, when the world goes through a crisis, there is always a segment of the population that will favor blaming the Jews for that crisis. So, it has been no different with the current Covid-19 pandemic, as some have irrationally accused Israel and the Jews of the virus. Conspiracy theories abound!

The result has been a global surge in acts of antisemitism. At the same time, people are trying to come to an agreement on some kind of an international definition for antisemitism in a concerted effort to fight it more holistically, and that is commendable. As it stands, most of the world has been adopting the United States Department of State’s definition that is as follows, “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” I honestly find it surprising that The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) adopted that same definition in 2016. Additionally, they were quick to clarify that it was a non-legally binding definition. In other words, these are just words.

But even then, that definition is a start, although I find it to be a bit vague or possibly too soft. When I hear “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews”, I feel like the use of defining terms should have a bit firmer. For instance, I would have stated “a certain perception of Jews, which is expressed as hatred toward Jews”, because I have yet to see any iteration of antisemitism not being hatred of the Jews or Israel. Then, the definition goes on to say that antisemitism can be “rhetorical and physical”, and we know that to be true, but by introducing the idea that antisemitism may be expressed as hatred, we now open the door to the possibility that rhetorical or physical acts of antisemitism may not be hateful and thus, could be justified. Simply stated, this definition is too soft and too vague. But this is not the only challenge with trying to combat antisemitism. We also have to look at who is speaking against the oldest hatred and how they are possibly spinning the concept to fit their agenda.

When a conference or seminar is organized, it is common sense to gather a panel of the foremost experts on the topic at hand. The last thing that the organizers want to be accused of, is that they have gathered a panel of people who have not earned the right to speak on any given topic. You would not gather a group of white supremacists or KKK members to speak on the ills of slavery, just like you would not ask a group of neo-Nazis to speak on Israel’s right to exist. In reality, such gatherings might take place, but nobody would take them seriously, let alone attend the conferences. Well, you would think so, but this is 2020 after all, and the sky is the limit when it comes to the irrational, and when the working definition of antisemitism is non-legally binding, strange things can happen.

So, when I found out that a webinar-panel discussion was scheduled for mid-December, on the topic of “Dismantling Antisemitism, Winning Justice”, I got excited, be it for a very short moment until I realized who was on the panel. I expected experts like Manfred Gerstenfeld, the Israeli former Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, who also founded and directed the Center’s Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism program, or maybe Deborah Lipstadt an American historian, author and Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. These people are just two of many experts I can think of on the topic of antisemitism.

Well, imagine my surprise when I found out that the webinar on dismantling antisemitism will be led by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Marc Lamont Hill, Peter Beinart and Barbara Ransby. This would provide great material for a Saturday Night Live skit if the topic wasn’t so tragically serious.

Rashida Tlaib just finished participating in a conference titled ” Against All Odds: Palestine beyond 2020“, organized by American Muslims for Palestine. She was also joined by congresswoman Ilhan Omar and terrorist supporters like Hatem Bazian or Tarek Hamoud who has is tied to Hamas. At the end of the conference, Miss Tlaib retweeted “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free ” which is a euphemism for the total destruction of Israel and all Jews.

Marc Lamont Hill was employed by CNN until he made some very antisemitic comments and also claimed that we all need to strive for a free Palestine from the river to the sea. Additionally, he was part of a fundraiser for a known terrorist.

American Jewish journalist Peter Beinart is also on that panel. He has called the Jewish state a cancer. He goes as far as comparing modern Israelis and American Jews to Nazis against the Palestinians. Yes, Mr. Beinart is Jewish! Whatever that means to him.

Barbara Ransby is a professor in Chicago and she supports terrorist Rasmea Odeh. She has also promoted violent protests against Israel.

These will be the four speakers on this panel dedicated to the dismantling of antisemitism. Is this to be taken seriously? You better believe it is. These people really believe that they have a message that can make a difference. Maybe they think that by eradicating Israel and eliminating all Jews, antisemitism will cease to exist. After all, “no more Jews” means no more need for antisemitism. What a farce! I find it hard to believe that anybody would take this webinar seriously, but then I looked at who was organizing such an event and I was shocked even further.

The event is co-sponsored by several “Jewish” organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now, Jewish Currents and the Jewish Vote, among other groups. A quick perusal of these Jewish groups will reveal that they are JINOs or “Jewish in Name Only.” They actually are a disgrace to the Jewish people, the memory of the Holocaust and the modern state of Israel. These groups have proven to have no affinity for the people they claim to represent. They are very liberal organizations that in the name of social justice will quickly throw Israel and the Jews under the bus. They regularly claim that Israel is occupying stolen Palestinian land and that Jews are weaponizing antisemitism to their advantage.

We are told by the event website, “Join social justice movement and political leaders as they share what fighting antisemitism looks like to them and how it connects to their own liberation struggles. Panelists will address their own experiences of fighting oppression, how they learned about and have experienced antisemitism.” I cannot wait to hear how self-proclaimed Palestinian American Rashida Tlaib and African America Marc Lamont Hill have experienced antisemitism.

I am actually not sure if these panelists believe that they can solve antisemitism. Are they so delusional that they could see themselves as the providers of a solution against antisemitism, but still see Israel as a threat to the world and Jewish people as colonizers and murderers? I realize that 2020 has been an upside-down year on so many levels, but to let wolves tend the sheep will never end well for the sheep. If these people are the experts on antisemitism, we are so doomed!

November 30, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Please Do Not Associate George Floyd with the Holocaust!

There is a myriad of events that punctuate our daily lives and end-up finding their place in the history of human tragedies. These events are remembered by subsequent generations in the hope that people will not repeat their mistakes. These are very good intentions, but they don’t always work, especially when you link historical tragedies that have nothing in common. Enter George Floyd and the Holocaust!

Recently, the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center based in Florida opened a new exhibition called ” Uprooting Prejudice: Faces of Change.” The exhibit displays a series of photographs by John Noltner from Minneapolis. The site goes on to explain, “When someone faces an act of antisemitism, racism, or any form of identity-based hate, whether it results in death or not, there is an uprising of many emotions. We felt it was important to bring the human experience of the aftermath to our museum. ” The exhibit is made of 45 different faces from strangers on the scene of George Floyd’s death, accompanied by a brief message. I command John Noltner for his initiative and creativity in shooting the portraits of those around the tragedy. Events like these must be documented from as many angles as we possibly can. My concern is not with the contents of the exhibit, but with the choice of location to display it.

In a recent interview, John Noltner shared that when he arrived on the site of George Floyd’s death, there was pain, frustration and mourning. I couldn’t agree more with him. We cannot dismiss the tragedy of Mr. Floyd’s death and the wrongful action of some of the local police force. Justice must be served for those who broke the law and as a country, we remember Mr. Floyd and mourn with his loved ones. Additionally, without rehashing the obvious, all lives matter and will always matter. As a reminder, our behavior should be guided by biblical principles such as:

• Humans are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) – God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
• Human life is precious to the Lord (Jeremiah 1:5) – “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
• Human life is to be respected (Leviticus 19:32) – You shall rise up before the gray-headed and honor the aged, and you shall revere your God; I am the LORD.
• We are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18) – You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.
• God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34-35) – And Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.
• All of us are in need of the same Redeemer (John 3:16) – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

This being said, the new exhibit on display at the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center is simply out of line and offensive. There are plenty of ways to put on an exhibit about racism and social injustice, and this at many venues, but not at a Holocaust memorial facility. Now we are simply comparing apples to oranges. I am not implying that the Holocaust is more important than any other genocides–although it could be argued since it is the only attempt at completely destroying a people group where the perpetrators went out of their ways to bring the victims back to their deaths. Yet, my focus is not on the importance or priority of the Final Solution, but rather on the difference between it and the wrongful death of George Floyd.

Nobody in their right mind will argue with the fact that George Floyd was a victim of racism, abuse of power, violence and wrongful death. I am not taking any of this away, but please, let’s not compare the fate of Mr. Floyd with the fate of six million Jews during the Holocaust. Allow me to remind all of us about what the Holocaust brought onto European Jewry:

• Jews were packed in Ghettos • Jews were identified with a yellow star badge • Forced Labor • Starvation • Lethal Hygiene Conditions • Diseases (Typhus and Dysentery) • Sleep Deprivation • Experiments on Humans including pregnant women and babies • Extreme Violence • Gasing live people • Burning people in ovens • Mass shootings • Death Marches

None of those applied to George Floyd. Again, I am not implying that his wrongful death should be minimized, but simply that it should not be compared to the Holocaust. Having an exhibit about racism and social justice in the middle of a Holocaust Memorial makes no sense at all. Are the curators implying that the police officers abusing Mr. Floyd were like Nazis? Or are we so indoctrinated with the virus of political correctness that we will do and say anything to repair the damages? It ends up being an insult to Holocaust survivors and those they lost. It minimizes an event that has earned its place in the very center of the pantheon of human atrocities.

There are a place and a time for such an exhibit, and people should view it seriously so that they can process, mourn and heal, but not in the context of the Holocaust. How would the African American community feel if, in the middle of a museum dedicated to the memory and teaching of slavery in America, someone would set up an exhibit with portraits of rape victims and their testimonies? The lack of connection would be obvious and potentially offensive to either or both sides.

Today, more than ever in the history of mankind, our world is divided religiously, politically, economically and racially. We need to recognize each other’s worth regardless of our background and origins. We do not have to blur the lines of culture and religion, but simply recognize our differences while appreciating them as we thrive to move forward in the best unity possible. It is not as easy as it sounds. It requires effort, commitment, patience and some level of positive compromise. Erasing the line between racism and violence against the black community and the brutal death of six million Jews is not the way to go about it.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s words still resonate today as a guide for all of our communities to join hands and let God guide us: “I wonder what kind of conversion each of us need and our communities need after witnessing the senseless death of many of our Black brothers and sisters. What kind of conversation do we need to face the hatred and division in our communities and institutions? And what kind of strength and vision can we gather from those who are raising their voices to demand a better world for everyone. A world where one’s worth is not defined by their color of their skin, their legal or economic status but rather by a collective recognition and affirmation that we are all children of the same God, that each of us carry within the divine spark of Life.”

November 20, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

No Matter How Deep Antisemitism Runs, It Must be Uprooted!

It is one thing to expose the vile monster of global antisemitism week after week, but beyond the exposure, we must make an effort–at least individual if not corporate–to fight it. As a result of our voices and actions, in some cases, we can nip it in the bud or even reverse it. An encouraging–and yet limited– example of this, is what happened at CNN a few days ago in a statement made by senior anchorwoman Christiane Amanpour. My intention is not to freely bash Ms. Amanpour, but rather to analyze her statement and apology in the scope of the current rise in antisemitism.

During the second week of November, she made this statement, ” This week 82 years ago, Kristallnacht happened. It was the Nazis’ warning shot across the bow of our human civilization that led to genocide against a whole identity, and in that tower of burning books, it led to an attack on fact, history, knowledge and truth. After four years of a modern-day assault on those same values by Donald Trump, the Biden-Harris team pledges a return to norms, including the truth.”

She received a lot of criticism and days after, at the end of her program, she issued this apology, “and finally tonight, a comment on my program at the end of last week. I observed the 82nd anniversary of Kristallnacht, as I often do. It is the event that began the horrors of the Holocaust. I also noted President Trump’s attacks on history, facts, knowledge and truth. I should not have juxtaposed the two thoughts. Hitler and his evils stand alone, of course, in history. I regret any cause my statement may have caused. My point was to say how democracy can potentially slip away, and how we must always zealously guard our democratic values.”

Much was said in those two short statements. First, I must commend Ms. Amanpour for remembering the defining events of Kristallnacht. As a Jew who lost members of my family in the Holocaust, I make a point of remembering AND telling the current and future generations about the atrocities of Kristallnacht and how it triggered the Holocaust. Beyond the initial acknowledgment though, the statement quickly turned caustic. I find it interesting that Ms. Amanpour spoke of genocide against a whole identity, but couldn’t see herself using the words “Jews” or “Jewish.” It seems that whenever used in a positive context or to describe victimhood, people seem to shy away from such words, but when needed to describe “crimes against humanity”, “occupation of Palestinian land” or “colonization”, the word easily roll off one’s tongue. Another case of double-standards?

She was spot on, about the genocidal agenda, but she could only speak of an “identity” and a tower of burning books. The reality was that thousands of buildings, including many synagogues, were leveled, not to mention the death of over 100 Jewish people. But then, Ms. Amanpour described the massacre as “an attack on fact, history, knowledge and truth.” While there is an element of truth in that statement, it looks like these values were listed to facilitate a connection between Nazi ideology and Trump policies–a connection that is truly NOT based on fact, history, knowledge and truth. The fact is, Kristallnacht was an organized pogrom and boycott against the German Jewish community. It was all about the genocide of European Jewry. Her words appeared to be an attempt at minimizing and distorting the Holocaust.

The facts are that no other US administration has done more for Jewish people and other minorities than this current one. But was seems to be implied here is that President Trump has been leading an attack on fact, history, knowledge and truth against Americans across the board. This is a view that, while promoted by much of the more liberal media outlets, doesn’t justify comparing President to Hitler and his genocidal agenda.

Ms. Amanpour almost immediately received a lot of criticism from across various communities and issued an apology within a couple of days. The people spoke up and called CNN which resulted in the aired apology. Was she compelled, led, or forced to do so we do not know, but her apology was almost as damaging as her initial libel. She properly summarized Kristallnacht as “the event that began the horrors of the Holocaust” and even though she clearly said that she should have not compared Trump to Hitler, she still equated Trump’s policies to “attacks on history, facts, knowledge and truth.”

My concern is that Ms. Amanpour’s statement has graver consequences than a statement followed by an apology. It is a symptom of a deeper problem that I have tried to expose in the past. I see four issues in that apology:

• Her diatribe was not an isolated incident: She regularly accuses Israel of crimes not committed, based on her personal wrong assumptions about history and the geopolitical situation in the Middle East. She has gone as far as calling Jewish people terrorists and children murderers in 2008 on CNN when, in an interview, she stated “And, although the number is small, there are terrorists — Jewish terrorists, including some who would even kill Palestinians children.”

• Her diatribe unequivocally exposes her real mindset: I have said this before, the very fact that someone would be willing to make such comments about the Jewish people, or any other people for that matter, shows that it is part of their mindset. It is always good when they apologize, but these apologies are usually short-lived and often overshadowed by the next libel. The very fact that Ms. Amanpour thought to compare President Trump to Hitler is the bigger problem.

• Her apology was only skin deep: Ms. Amanpour probably got called in by her boss and asked to issue some kind of an apology to preserve ratings and control the justified ire of the Jewish community and of many other people of goodwill. Her half-baked apology didn’t sound sincere, and that is very sad.

• Her words don’t seem to put her job in jeopardy: Outside of this recent half-baked apology, claiming that she regretted having made her comments, her repeated diatribes have not been taken back or even put her CNN anchor’s position in jeopardy. She has repeatedly denigrated Israel and promoted the Palestinian narrative with no consequences affecting her job.

At the end of the day, I still think that it is a good thing that her libel was exposed for what it is and that she was forced to issue a statement of apology. Even if she wasn’t sincere, she needed to be exposed for her ignorance of history–willful or not– and blatant antisemitism.

• We must teach historical truth to others, especially our children and regardless of how uncomfortable any part of history was.

• We must show our Jewish community support when they are being attacked either verbally or physically.

• We must refrain from character assassination as retribution, no matter how frustrated and angry we might become.

• We have to stop believing that this doesn’t concern us if it is not directly affecting us personally.

• Ignorance should never be used as an excuse, especially in the age of instant communication.

• We cannot remain silent on the assumption that one voice will not amount to anything.

The Bible is actually clear about this as we read in Proverbs 24:10-12, “If you are slack in the day of distress, Your strength is limited. Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh hold them back. If you say, “See, we did not know this, Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?”

Not to speak is to speak, not to act is to act, and to look the other way turns us into co-perpetrators. We all have a choice!

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