Rabbi's Blog

Join the new OZ Israel WhatsApp: https://chat.whatsapp.com/IdGUqTpy2nQE5Tvngwh0tn

Dear OZ family,

The dichotomy in how the events in Gaza are reported, and how they are treated in academia is breathtaking. One side, at its own peril, avoids and minimizes civilian losses, while the other side purposely puts its own people in harm’s way, and even prevents them from getting out of the way!
Yet oblivious protesters, academics, and reporters continue to report on the disparity in casualties. 
Arab countries, by now would have leveled Gaza in its entirety. Remember Black September in Jordan, in which 20,000 Arabs were killed by Jordan? Remember Homs, in Syria where many thousands were killed on the spot? Remember the atrocities of Sadaam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Qaddafi in Libya? These tyrants were vengefully lynched by their own people when caught. 

Israel treats the Gazans with far more care than Chamas does, yet you’d never know this by New York Times or CNN coverage. You’d never know this from much of academia, producing students with no mind for history or even current events, who maliciously malign Israel for sins regularly committed in the Arab world with barely a yawn. Words like “Genocide” or “Apartheid” are bandied about freely to describe Israel with no recognition of how Chamas eagerly practices these atrocities.

Where is the outrage over the murder of Paul Kessler in Los Angeles, or of students and teachers facing the wrath of their campuses all over the country for demonstrating support for Israel? Where is the outrage for all the Jews in Washington at the recent rally, who were not only, not given the opportunity to sit in the back of the bus, they were not allowed on the bus at all! If this had happened to African Americans, there would have  been outrage all over the country and there would have been wall to wall coverage at CNN,  NYT, WP, LAT, etc.

The truth must be told and we must tell it. We must make a daily tally of what we have done for Israel. During the Holocaust, the efforts made by many rabbis and Jewish communal leaders in this country, on behalf of the doomed, were mostly disregarded, as we had very little political clout.
But today, our efforts can make a big difference.
Keep making those calls. Another incendiary event is set to take place at Rutgers. The panelists are all rabid haters of Israel. Please see the attachment about this and call, especially if you’re a graduate or student. 

We know that truth will prevail. We have to push it and we will.

Stay safe and healthy 
Rabbi Allen Schwartz 
 

Shavuah Tov, I was informed that Rutgers College in New Jersey is hosting an event on December 7th, Race, Liberation and Palestine, hosted by anti-semites. Let's flood the College with E-mails to cancel the event. Forward my E-mail to them below, but sign your name at the bottom of the letter, and erase what I just wrote here. Furthermore, please Copy/Paste all addresses and Copy/Paste the Subject, but remove ACTION NEEDED

Subject: Race, Liberation, and Palestine: A Conversation with Noura Erakat, Nick Estes, and Marc Lamont Hill
To: To: President@rutgers.edu<president@rutgers.edu>; francine.conway@rutgers.edu<francine.conway@rutgers.edu>; secretary@oq.rutgers.edu<secretary@oq.rutgers.edu>; adrienne.simonds@rutgers.edu<adrienne.simonds@rutgers.edu>; amnewma@echo.rutgers.edu<amnewma@echo.rutgers.edu>
Cc: <francine.conway@rutgers.edu>, <secretary@oqrutgers.edu>, <adrienne.simonds@rutgers.edu>, <amnewma@echo.rutgers.com>

It has come to my attention that Rutgers will be hosting the program, Race, Liberation, and Palestine: A Conversation with Noura Erakat, Nick Estes, and Marc Lamont Hill. Aside from propagating false narratives about Israel and Hamas, stripping the Jews of their historical and continuous connection to the land of Israel, and negating the fact that more than half of the Jews in Israel are people of color, this event is certain to fan the flames of hatred on Rutgers campuses. Jewish students throughout the university report being fearful, even to go to class. According to Rutgers Hillel CEO Lisa Harris Glass, “It’s not just students who feel frightened, it is also Jewish faculty, and there is reason to feel that.” Throughout New Jersey and much of the country, Jewish students and faculty are being attacked, harassed, intimidated, and threatened. At Rutgers, an undergraduate was recently arrested and charged after making a death threat against Israeli students at the AEPi (predominantly Jewish) fraternity. Student groups at Rutgers have called Hamas’s massacre of Jews in Israel ‘justified’, and their actions against those they perceive to be Jewish have moved far beyond micro-aggressions. One of the featured speakers at the planned event, Marc Lamont Hill, was fired from CNN in 2018 after he stood before a United Nations meeting and called for “a free Palestine from the river to the sea.” From the River to the Sea is Hamas’s battle cry for the destruction of Israel. Even in the tinderbox of current political discourse, Mr. Hill still stands by his From the River to the Sea call for action. Though he claims the phrase is not antisemitic, the Rutgers student group that recently marched across campus carrying signs with swastikas and chanting that very phrase, well, they seem to have proved him wrong. Noura Erakat and Marc Lamont Hill do not present their views in a way that allows open dialogue or academic inquiry. Instead, they use fallacious and slanderous labels such as apartheid and white colonialism. They make vilifying claims of genocide. They insist on using language that unjustly incites hate and violence against Jewish people. It is devastating to me that my alma mater would support such a program. This past September 28, as part of President Biden’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, eight federal agencies clarified, in writing, that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits certain forms of antisemitic, Islamophobic, and related forms of discrimination in federally funded programs and activities. Antisemitism has no place in government-funded institutions, just as anti-Muslim and racial and sexual harassment have no place. Pursuant to the Antisemitism Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Jewish people must be provided the same level of protection against harassment and discrimination that are provided to other minority groups. Rutgers has more Jewish students than almost any other university in the United States. It’s up to you to keep all of our students safe. Hate spreads faster than wildfire. White supremacists are already jumping on the bandwagon. Please do what’s right and stand against hate. I implore you to cancel the Race, Liberation, and Palestine event scheduled for December 7th. Thank you.