Vanessa, you really touched a nerve with this article.
I was one of those people who marched for civil rights. I was one of those people who supported gay rights. I was one of those people who supported women's equality. Like many Jews of my generation, I believed that solidarity meant reciprocity and that standing up for others would create lasting alliances based on shared principles.
What October 7 and its aftermath taught me is a much harder lesson. Many of those alliances turned out to be far more conditional than we believed. When Jews were the victims, many of the people and movements we had supported either went silent, rationalized what happened, or quickly redirected blame back onto us.
It is disappointing. It is painful. But it is also reality, and reality has to be faced honestly.
That doesn't mean we become bitter. It means we stop being naïve. We keep plugging along, keep building our own communities, keep defending ourselves, and keep standing up for what is right, but without the illusion that others will necessarily stand up for us in return.
And on the cultural point you make, I would strongly recommend a book that one of my subscribers suggested to me: Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell. Whether people agree with every conclusion or not, it challenges many assumptions and forces readers to think more deeply about culture, behavior, success, and responsibility.
In any case, I think you're right on target. This is an uncomfortable conversation, but it is one that needs to be had.
"It is disappointing. It is painful." -- I disagree, it is disgusting and appalling. I don't believe in feeling pain over this stuff,. Outrage is much more appropriate. Pain hurts oneself.
You fell for the same tikkun olam B.S. as the ADL, which I stopped supporting over a decade ago because it went all out for the same causes as you. But your job isn't defending Jews, as is that of the ADL!
Meyer Kahane was an extremist, but he was on to something. Jews defend every person or cause but their own.
A. Kauffmann, I think you're making a lot of assumptions about me that simply aren't true.
You mention Rabbi Meir Kahane. I actually had lunch with him twice and was a member of the JDL. So please don't assume that because I support certain causes or believe in equal rights that I somehow come from the same place as the ADL or the modern institutional Jewish world. In fact, I have been one of the loudest critics of the large, bloated Jewish organizations and the bureaucratic swamp they have created.
And no, I don't think it is weakness to feel disappointment or pain. Quite the opposite.
When you actually invest yourself in causes, when you march for civil rights, when you stand up for people being mistreated, when you support equal rights, when you spend time with friends dying during the AIDS crisis and visit them in hospice, when you put real effort and real emotion into helping other human beings, then yes, it is painful when some of those same movements later abandon you or turn against you.
That isn't weakness. That's being human.
You are entitled to feel outrage. I understand the outrage. I feel plenty of it myself. But please don't tell other people how they should feel. Disappointment, hurt, betrayal, outrage — these are all legitimate responses.
My primary concern is and always will be the Jewish people because they are my people. But caring about Jews does not require me to stop caring about everyone else. I don't believe the two are mutually exclusive.
So while we may disagree about the emotional response, I think we probably agree on more than you realize.
By the way, the Rebbe became an extremist in the end right before he moved to Israel, but he was one of the most charming, intelligent, and caring people I have ever met. He would be turning over in his grave to see how the diaspora Jews are so disorganized, so strategically weak, and so passive.
I have no problem with having concerns for others but our response with such movements as Tikkun Olam has diluted concern for our own especially when the very people we have helped turn against us. It’s time to put Jews first. In the end, no one is coming to rescue us but ourselves.
I greatly appreciate this convo today between you, Kaufman and Segal- we need more of this tough dialog and we need more loud unified action to fight this neverending battle against Jewish hatred and overcome the betrayal of our so called Jewish leaders who have failed us.
Sam, I actually enjoyed the give and take as well. It lights the fire in my belly.
I know I private messaged you and asked you to support me and subscribe to my free Substack, fredericktatala.substack.com. I hope you do so. Have a great weekend.
My main point on “pain” was that — my view — it is self-harming. I find that developing a plan to combat something harmful to me is much more satisfying — and less painful! — than being upset about it. Jews often talk about hos “painful” are the various indignities to which they are subject. I believe is just fighting back.
It is rare for a black op-ed writer to not incessantly talk about blacks. Yet apart from Stephens, Weiss and a handful of others, of the more than 1000 Jewish journalists, they remain either mute or like fools like Michelle Goldberg and Tom Friedman, spend more time criticising Jews than defending.
Tom Friedman is a moral monster who would rather Israel cease to exist than fail to live up to what his demented imagination believes a Jewish state must be.
There’s a difference between turning towards painful experience and meeting it, which allows you to address its causes; and ignoring it or pretending it’s not there, which tends to make it worse and leaves you reactive rather than responsive. There’s no shame in Acknowledging that it is painful to see what’s happening, to be betrayed and gaslit, to see fellow Jews working against their own . Pretending one doesn’t feel pain is more harmful to oneself than meeting it
A. Kauffmann, I understand your point, but I think we're using the word "pain" differently.
For me, disappointment and pain are not passive emotions that lead to inaction. Quite the opposite. They are often what trigger action. When I say I was disappointed, I don't mean I sat back and felt sorry for myself. I mean I looked at people and movements I had supported for years and realized many of them were not what I thought they were.
That realization was painful, but it also motivated me. I write. I speak out. I argue. I try to persuade people. I don't simply accept things.
In my experience, disappointment and outrage are not opposites. Disappointment is often what produces outrage, and outrage can produce action.
And by the way, before assuming I somehow spend my time "kissing ass" to the Left, I invite you to read some of my writing. You may discover very quickly that I'm not exactly known for pulling punches. Feel free to subscribe to my free Substack and judge for yourself:
One of our greatest friends—truly a friend; not just an ally—is Pastor Dumisani Washington, who founded the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel (IBSI). His book, “Zionism and the Black Church,” particularly Chapters 4 through 6, masterfully articulates King’s legacy; how Black America was hoodwinked by Arafat and his cronies into vilifying its Jewish allies; and how the former Black-Jewish partnership needs to be resurrected. I urge all readers to buy his book; follow Pastor Washington on social media; and consider donating to the IBSI.
many years ago I watched on TV an interview with Kahane... I agreed with most everything he said during that interview. I thought Farrakhan is a respected leader in the Black community despite murdering Malcolm X. Kahane was disruptive with his brand of Jewish power. I didn't support Kach's anti Arab racism. Israel banned it...not that it did Israel any good for pr. Everything Israel does I read....is designed to hide how thoroughly malevolent is the one Jewish majority nation. So to the last paragraph... yes. The Tree of Life synagogue had to have a debate over how much it would tolerate Zionism.
Thanks for bringing this issue out in the open, which has been a simmering resentment for at least a generation. What was not mentioned so far is the binding source of our cohesion and success over the millennia which is too often overlooked, as it was in this piece: Torah.
We were warned 3300 years ago this would happen to us as we spread light onto the world, and it has occurred over and over again. Yet, against all odds, we survive, rebuild, and imbed ourselves in cultures that thrive when they, at least temporarily, accept us.
Then, sadly, almost inevitably, we are turned on with the inversion of truth so aptly and shockingly demonstrated after October 7th. I could go on by outlining the many causes and organizations the Jewish people have not only supported, but often were instrumental in building, sometimes at the expense of supporting our own, but enough said. “Canaries in the coal mine” are we. Push us out at your own peril
Jews have long been the useful idiots for black organizations. Starting with funding the creation of the NAACP, Jews have helped blacks. But the article overlooks something actually worse than what is described. Blacks have long been the most antisemitic identifiable group in the US. Pew polls as recently as 2023 showed 44% of black to have antisemitic views. That long predates October 7.
Blacks identify with Palestinian Arabs. Blacks are humiliated by Jewish history, where Jews suffered vastly more, but despite it all, accomplished what blacks could not, in nearly all fields of endeavor.
This is not news. It is merely confirmation of facts that were hidden in the misplaced Jewish tendency to empathize with all suffering -- except their own.
We tried repairing the world for 3000 years. You know the saying, it is insane to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.
For decades now, when Jews are violently assaulted in New York City, it's been by blacks. You know, bricks smashed into Jews' faces. Knifings. Subway attacks. Blacks aim for Jews, particularly "identifiable" Orthodox Jews.
Antisemitism on the part of blacks didn't just stop with Jesse Jackson's name-calling, "Hymietown." It was also pogroms in Crown Heights.
Well, that's what comes of marching with Martin Luther King Jr.
Don’t kid yourself—black anti-semitism is nothing new. It’s been going on in the US since the late 60s, at least and is the reason why former Jewish leftists Marty Peretz and David Horowitz changed sides.
My father ran into Stokeley Carmichael in Honolulu airport in the 60s. Stokely called my 6’5”, veteran father a “Jewboy” and threatened to riot in an affluent Jewish suburb in which he thought we lived. (Ours was actually very modest). The black-Jewish alliance that liberal Jews get so misty-eyed over was always a one-way alliance, on behalf on blacks.
The nation of Islam’s proliferation in the Black community opened the door. We and Black people are suffering the consequences of both being weakened by being played against each other. As horrible as it is to say, they have lost me as an ally. I am never going to fight against civil rights. I am too busy fighting against Jew hate, to focus on issues that don’t affect my community. When the cycle of jew hate subsides, I am not going to rejoin their fight. I’m autistic and don’t forgive betrayal.
James Clyburn, dem, House of Representatives, SC, told Jews to Get Over the Holocaust. He was echoing the words coming from The Nation of Islam, going back to the 1960s, “the inexcusable crime was the remembering of the Holocaust, it minimized, suppressed and extinguishes the humiliation of the Blacks.” This, while after the Holocaust about 245,000 Jewish survivors are still living across more than 90 countries.
We still do have many Black friends, and there are many Black Jews But the generational rise of belief in Marxism, Critical theory and Critical Race theory have severely damaged and misdirected the civil rights movement.
The primary historical periods of the transatlantic slave trade span from the 15th century (the 1400s) to the 19th century (the 1800s). Over these 400 years, the dynamics between European traders and African kingdoms evolved from sporadic coastal raiding to highly organized, state-level commercial networks.
Historical data archives like the Slave Voyages Database show how the scale of the trade shifted dramatically across these centuries.
Without the cooperation between African warrior tribes or kingdoms, the transatlantic slave trade could not have succeeded.
Don't forget the historical impact of Islam on the African slave trade.
For decades many black leaders have monopolized the victim label. It became an industry. After October 7th and before, when Jews became the oppressed, blacks had to share that seat at the table and weren’t happy. Their response was to turn against any who would challenge their exclusive narrative.
Antisemitism had been integrated into black activism for decades before oct 7. They didn’t suddenly turn against us. It was just the defining moment when we needed our friends most that we saw the extent. It’s important that how we talk about these issues be accurate- we need to be aware of the failures in our own perceptions about how bad it was earlier, when we might’ve had a chance to address what was going on. Jews have had our heads in the sand for too long, not understanding the nature of the threat
In the past through organizations like ADL and various Federations we preferred to reason together to understand them. I’m done trying to understand Jew Hatred. I refuse to use the term antisemitism.
I agree, I am talking about the need to call out the lies and to push back on the corruption of the narrative in academic studies of the middle east, and to have been vocal about pushing back
None are so blind as those who refuse to see. I remember in 2020 my rabbi leading a contingent of our congregation on a march under the banner of Black Lives Matter. My Rabbi is an ardent Zionist but he is also a liberal. I flat out told him that BLM was a Marxist, Jew hating organization that we had no business supporting. I told him lead a march for justice for Floyd under our own banner if you want but keep away from BLM. He didn't listen. I moved away and he's retired but I am pretty sure he's woken up to some extent.
True. I remember we were told at work we could attend a BLM rally. This was a medical workplace at a children’s hospital. (White coats for Black lives) and bullshit. (I’m a retired pediatrician but was working during that time). I didn’t participate. I knew what BLM was. Many physicians masked and socially distanced held their posters and took a knee for ‘black lives’. The hospital photographer took pictures and these were used for marketing for residents and fellows. A big fucking performance.
BLM was formed in 2014, a branch of the Antisemitic Nation of Islam, home of Farrakhan. BLM supports the Antisemitic BDS, the boycott, divest and sanction of one county only, Israel. BDS leader Omar Barghouti acknowledged that the goal of the BDS is to destroy Israel.
It’s amazingly sad how many people today manage to learn the narratives that make them resentful, racist, or antisemitic, yet have little interest in learning history like the deep friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
King and Heschel stood together, marched together, and viewed each other as moral partners in the fight for justice. That history should be taught far more than the division and resentment constantly pushed today.
One of the dumbest things I ever did was interrupt a long vacation and drive 7 hours each way with my wife to march in a George Floyd/BLM protest. I genuinely thought I was standing against all racism. Instead, I later realized I was supporting a movement where too many people openly spread, tolerate or excuse antisemitism against Jews like me.
The irony is hard to miss — marching against ignorance and racism alongside people who carried their own forms of hatred and prejudice. Never again.
No surprise—and it probably wouldn’t have changed anything. When someone is inclined to hate based on race, religion, skin color, sex, or similar, facts rarely matter except when they can be selectively used to reinforce that biased sickness and validate what is ultimately just prejudice.
It didn't change anything because it wasn't challenged from the get-go, at the root of the problem. How do you stop or deal with bullies, you put them in their place instantly.
"Jew Boy with the yarmalke on your head, I wish you waz dead." frm Harlem on my Mind at the Met Museum NYC in the mid sixties. I have never forgotten the dispute over that line in the catalog as worthy of inclusion for portraying the alleged oppression of Black people at the hands of Jews, especially the Jewish slum lords. My black coworker....we were "kids" was reading Julius Nyere for Black African Nationalism. Now we have a new generation of Black Jew hatred centered on "palestine activism." It simmered before...now it's roiling. There are Black people who speak out...not many but they are there. HLGates did a fair enough job with his recent PBS on Jews and Blacks. He didn't really get into today's full scale full blown anti Zionist hate, anti Israel hate and the Jew Hate. We may be happy for the scraps of kindness now being proffered to us from certain parties but full blown Jew Hate is part of the Black community as it long ago embraced Black Nationalism, Islam as authentically African, and Third world solidarity whch very much leaves "white" Israel to twist in the wind. Or fight like hell which it has done since Oct. 7th....with minimal support from USA Jews. I'll see what tomorrow's Yeshiva driven NYC parade has to offer in good spirits. As the racist mayor has made it "abundantly clear" how he feels about Israel.
This article makes an excellent point by relating Jewish success to Jewish behaviors which are shaped by Jewish culture. It's a point that does not receive wide attention yet other groups could learn from it. Instead people want to believe there is a conspiracy afoot.
The "mechanism for Jewish success" is hiding in plain sight. It's called belief in the one true G-d, educating yourself in the Torah, and trying the best that you can to follow it.
"Jews are now perceived not as a vulnerable minority, but as “white,” “privileged,” or “oppressors.” This is nonsense. Jews are not “white” (though some are European or have European ancestry)"
Definition of "White:" of European origin and Christian religeo-cultural heritage.
Definition of "Jewish:" of Levantine origin and Jewish religeo-cultural heritage.
For some reason, historian John Hunwick overlooked the brisk Barbary slave trade conducted by Black Slavers who emptied whole coastal European villages into the cargo holds of their ships.
" 'oppression”'is treated as uniquely 'white' and uniquely European — both labels that many Black people place onto Jews, often inaccurately."
When and where are these labels accurate? Inquiring minds want to know.
"modern coalition politics"
A softened depiction of Intersectionality, a key component of Critical Race Theory.
"Zionism is the belief that Jews, like every other people, have the right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland."
Accurate definition of political Zionism, one of the many manifestations of the phenomenon. It goes back to Psalm 137 composed between 597 and 538 BCE.
"Groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are not civil rights organizations; they are Islamist movements rooted in extremist ideologies."
And here is the fundamental Western error of ethnocentrism. Islamist movements are rooted in Islam and Islam is based on the Qu'ran and Hadiths. Those following the instructions of their sacred texts are not extremists. They are zealots, devotees, purists, pietists doing what their religion demands of them if they are to be True Believers.
"That narrative destroys agency. "
Might a more forthright description be that it denies free will.
"Historically, successful minority groups almost always develop strong internal cultures"
Jewish assimilation is destroying that internal culture, and we are witnessing the tragic consequences of it today as intermarriage bleeds Jewish identity into the dominant culture and increasing numbers of Jewish youth find cannot identify with Israel, thus rejecting a crucial element of Jewish meaningfulness that united us together down through the ages and ensured our survival and continuity.
Vanessa, you really touched a nerve with this article.
I was one of those people who marched for civil rights. I was one of those people who supported gay rights. I was one of those people who supported women's equality. Like many Jews of my generation, I believed that solidarity meant reciprocity and that standing up for others would create lasting alliances based on shared principles.
What October 7 and its aftermath taught me is a much harder lesson. Many of those alliances turned out to be far more conditional than we believed. When Jews were the victims, many of the people and movements we had supported either went silent, rationalized what happened, or quickly redirected blame back onto us.
It is disappointing. It is painful. But it is also reality, and reality has to be faced honestly.
That doesn't mean we become bitter. It means we stop being naïve. We keep plugging along, keep building our own communities, keep defending ourselves, and keep standing up for what is right, but without the illusion that others will necessarily stand up for us in return.
And on the cultural point you make, I would strongly recommend a book that one of my subscribers suggested to me: Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell. Whether people agree with every conclusion or not, it challenges many assumptions and forces readers to think more deeply about culture, behavior, success, and responsibility.
In any case, I think you're right on target. This is an uncomfortable conversation, but it is one that needs to be had.
"It is disappointing. It is painful." -- I disagree, it is disgusting and appalling. I don't believe in feeling pain over this stuff,. Outrage is much more appropriate. Pain hurts oneself.
You fell for the same tikkun olam B.S. as the ADL, which I stopped supporting over a decade ago because it went all out for the same causes as you. But your job isn't defending Jews, as is that of the ADL!
Meyer Kahane was an extremist, but he was on to something. Jews defend every person or cause but their own.
A. Kauffmann, I think you're making a lot of assumptions about me that simply aren't true.
You mention Rabbi Meir Kahane. I actually had lunch with him twice and was a member of the JDL. So please don't assume that because I support certain causes or believe in equal rights that I somehow come from the same place as the ADL or the modern institutional Jewish world. In fact, I have been one of the loudest critics of the large, bloated Jewish organizations and the bureaucratic swamp they have created.
And no, I don't think it is weakness to feel disappointment or pain. Quite the opposite.
When you actually invest yourself in causes, when you march for civil rights, when you stand up for people being mistreated, when you support equal rights, when you spend time with friends dying during the AIDS crisis and visit them in hospice, when you put real effort and real emotion into helping other human beings, then yes, it is painful when some of those same movements later abandon you or turn against you.
That isn't weakness. That's being human.
You are entitled to feel outrage. I understand the outrage. I feel plenty of it myself. But please don't tell other people how they should feel. Disappointment, hurt, betrayal, outrage — these are all legitimate responses.
My primary concern is and always will be the Jewish people because they are my people. But caring about Jews does not require me to stop caring about everyone else. I don't believe the two are mutually exclusive.
So while we may disagree about the emotional response, I think we probably agree on more than you realize.
By the way, the Rebbe became an extremist in the end right before he moved to Israel, but he was one of the most charming, intelligent, and caring people I have ever met. He would be turning over in his grave to see how the diaspora Jews are so disorganized, so strategically weak, and so passive.
I have no problem with having concerns for others but our response with such movements as Tikkun Olam has diluted concern for our own especially when the very people we have helped turn against us. It’s time to put Jews first. In the end, no one is coming to rescue us but ourselves.
Being an agnostic, it was not Tikkun Olam that made me help others. And I totally agree with you. We have to take care of ourselves first.
I greatly appreciate this convo today between you, Kaufman and Segal- we need more of this tough dialog and we need more loud unified action to fight this neverending battle against Jewish hatred and overcome the betrayal of our so called Jewish leaders who have failed us.
Sam, I actually enjoyed the give and take as well. It lights the fire in my belly.
I know I private messaged you and asked you to support me and subscribe to my free Substack, fredericktatala.substack.com. I hope you do so. Have a great weekend.
Virtually all reform Jews are at best agnostic. Their support of what they call Tikkun Olam has nothing to do with religious belief.
You're right, but in my case, I'm not a reformed Jew either.
My main point on “pain” was that — my view — it is self-harming. I find that developing a plan to combat something harmful to me is much more satisfying — and less painful! — than being upset about it. Jews often talk about hos “painful” are the various indignities to which they are subject. I believe is just fighting back.
It is rare for a black op-ed writer to not incessantly talk about blacks. Yet apart from Stephens, Weiss and a handful of others, of the more than 1000 Jewish journalists, they remain either mute or like fools like Michelle Goldberg and Tom Friedman, spend more time criticising Jews than defending.
Tom Friedman is a moral monster who would rather Israel cease to exist than fail to live up to what his demented imagination believes a Jewish state must be.
There’s a difference between turning towards painful experience and meeting it, which allows you to address its causes; and ignoring it or pretending it’s not there, which tends to make it worse and leaves you reactive rather than responsive. There’s no shame in Acknowledging that it is painful to see what’s happening, to be betrayed and gaslit, to see fellow Jews working against their own . Pretending one doesn’t feel pain is more harmful to oneself than meeting it
A. Kauffmann, I understand your point, but I think we're using the word "pain" differently.
For me, disappointment and pain are not passive emotions that lead to inaction. Quite the opposite. They are often what trigger action. When I say I was disappointed, I don't mean I sat back and felt sorry for myself. I mean I looked at people and movements I had supported for years and realized many of them were not what I thought they were.
That realization was painful, but it also motivated me. I write. I speak out. I argue. I try to persuade people. I don't simply accept things.
In my experience, disappointment and outrage are not opposites. Disappointment is often what produces outrage, and outrage can produce action.
And by the way, before assuming I somehow spend my time "kissing ass" to the Left, I invite you to read some of my writing. You may discover very quickly that I'm not exactly known for pulling punches. Feel free to subscribe to my free Substack and judge for yourself:
https://fredericktatala.substack.com/
Be well and keep fighting the good fight.
One of our greatest friends—truly a friend; not just an ally—is Pastor Dumisani Washington, who founded the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel (IBSI). His book, “Zionism and the Black Church,” particularly Chapters 4 through 6, masterfully articulates King’s legacy; how Black America was hoodwinked by Arafat and his cronies into vilifying its Jewish allies; and how the former Black-Jewish partnership needs to be resurrected. I urge all readers to buy his book; follow Pastor Washington on social media; and consider donating to the IBSI.
many years ago I watched on TV an interview with Kahane... I agreed with most everything he said during that interview. I thought Farrakhan is a respected leader in the Black community despite murdering Malcolm X. Kahane was disruptive with his brand of Jewish power. I didn't support Kach's anti Arab racism. Israel banned it...not that it did Israel any good for pr. Everything Israel does I read....is designed to hide how thoroughly malevolent is the one Jewish majority nation. So to the last paragraph... yes. The Tree of Life synagogue had to have a debate over how much it would tolerate Zionism.
We need 10 million more Kahanist Jews in the diaspora . I am one fervently and so are my children
Outstanding thank you. Keep on keepin on !
Thanks for bringing this issue out in the open, which has been a simmering resentment for at least a generation. What was not mentioned so far is the binding source of our cohesion and success over the millennia which is too often overlooked, as it was in this piece: Torah.
We were warned 3300 years ago this would happen to us as we spread light onto the world, and it has occurred over and over again. Yet, against all odds, we survive, rebuild, and imbed ourselves in cultures that thrive when they, at least temporarily, accept us.
Then, sadly, almost inevitably, we are turned on with the inversion of truth so aptly and shockingly demonstrated after October 7th. I could go on by outlining the many causes and organizations the Jewish people have not only supported, but often were instrumental in building, sometimes at the expense of supporting our own, but enough said. “Canaries in the coal mine” are we. Push us out at your own peril
Jews have long been the useful idiots for black organizations. Starting with funding the creation of the NAACP, Jews have helped blacks. But the article overlooks something actually worse than what is described. Blacks have long been the most antisemitic identifiable group in the US. Pew polls as recently as 2023 showed 44% of black to have antisemitic views. That long predates October 7.
Blacks identify with Palestinian Arabs. Blacks are humiliated by Jewish history, where Jews suffered vastly more, but despite it all, accomplished what blacks could not, in nearly all fields of endeavor.
This is not news. It is merely confirmation of facts that were hidden in the misplaced Jewish tendency to empathize with all suffering -- except their own.
We tried repairing the world for 3000 years. You know the saying, it is insane to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.
—Jews suffered vastly more, but despite it all, accomplished what blacks could not, in nearly all fields of endeavor.
This is the root of the hatred: envy and resentment.
That’s the root of Arab hate of Israel also.
no doubt
For decades now, when Jews are violently assaulted in New York City, it's been by blacks. You know, bricks smashed into Jews' faces. Knifings. Subway attacks. Blacks aim for Jews, particularly "identifiable" Orthodox Jews.
Antisemitism on the part of blacks didn't just stop with Jesse Jackson's name-calling, "Hymietown." It was also pogroms in Crown Heights.
Well, that's what comes of marching with Martin Luther King Jr.
Let no good deed go unpunished.
People forget.
That's all true. And Jackson was a bad guy to the end. It's as if Theodore Herzl had hated blacks.
Don’t kid yourself—black anti-semitism is nothing new. It’s been going on in the US since the late 60s, at least and is the reason why former Jewish leftists Marty Peretz and David Horowitz changed sides.
My father ran into Stokeley Carmichael in Honolulu airport in the 60s. Stokely called my 6’5”, veteran father a “Jewboy” and threatened to riot in an affluent Jewish suburb in which he thought we lived. (Ours was actually very modest). The black-Jewish alliance that liberal Jews get so misty-eyed over was always a one-way alliance, on behalf on blacks.
The dirty little secret is that a huge amount of anti-semitic incidents in NYC and likely other cities is well are conducted by blacks.
No secret. Not even to this non-Jew. You have to try hard not to notice who's been attacking New York City Jews all these years.
More like the truth that dare not be spoken.
The nation of Islam’s proliferation in the Black community opened the door. We and Black people are suffering the consequences of both being weakened by being played against each other. As horrible as it is to say, they have lost me as an ally. I am never going to fight against civil rights. I am too busy fighting against Jew hate, to focus on issues that don’t affect my community. When the cycle of jew hate subsides, I am not going to rejoin their fight. I’m autistic and don’t forgive betrayal.
James Clyburn, dem, House of Representatives, SC, told Jews to Get Over the Holocaust. He was echoing the words coming from The Nation of Islam, going back to the 1960s, “the inexcusable crime was the remembering of the Holocaust, it minimized, suppressed and extinguishes the humiliation of the Blacks.” This, while after the Holocaust about 245,000 Jewish survivors are still living across more than 90 countries.
We still do have many Black friends, and there are many Black Jews But the generational rise of belief in Marxism, Critical theory and Critical Race theory have severely damaged and misdirected the civil rights movement.
The primary historical periods of the transatlantic slave trade span from the 15th century (the 1400s) to the 19th century (the 1800s). Over these 400 years, the dynamics between European traders and African kingdoms evolved from sporadic coastal raiding to highly organized, state-level commercial networks.
Historical data archives like the Slave Voyages Database show how the scale of the trade shifted dramatically across these centuries.
Without the cooperation between African warrior tribes or kingdoms, the transatlantic slave trade could not have succeeded.
Don't forget the historical impact of Islam on the African slave trade.
For decades many black leaders have monopolized the victim label. It became an industry. After October 7th and before, when Jews became the oppressed, blacks had to share that seat at the table and weren’t happy. Their response was to turn against any who would challenge their exclusive narrative.
Antisemitism had been integrated into black activism for decades before oct 7. They didn’t suddenly turn against us. It was just the defining moment when we needed our friends most that we saw the extent. It’s important that how we talk about these issues be accurate- we need to be aware of the failures in our own perceptions about how bad it was earlier, when we might’ve had a chance to address what was going on. Jews have had our heads in the sand for too long, not understanding the nature of the threat
In the past through organizations like ADL and various Federations we preferred to reason together to understand them. I’m done trying to understand Jew Hatred. I refuse to use the term antisemitism.
I agree, I am talking about the need to call out the lies and to push back on the corruption of the narrative in academic studies of the middle east, and to have been vocal about pushing back
Blacks turned on Jews in 1968.
None are so blind as those who refuse to see. I remember in 2020 my rabbi leading a contingent of our congregation on a march under the banner of Black Lives Matter. My Rabbi is an ardent Zionist but he is also a liberal. I flat out told him that BLM was a Marxist, Jew hating organization that we had no business supporting. I told him lead a march for justice for Floyd under our own banner if you want but keep away from BLM. He didn't listen. I moved away and he's retired but I am pretty sure he's woken up to some extent.
I too always knew that BLM would never stand up for Jews. I don’t get why people are surprised.
More than not stand up for Jews. Was deeply anti-semitic from the getgo.
True. I remember we were told at work we could attend a BLM rally. This was a medical workplace at a children’s hospital. (White coats for Black lives) and bullshit. (I’m a retired pediatrician but was working during that time). I didn’t participate. I knew what BLM was. Many physicians masked and socially distanced held their posters and took a knee for ‘black lives’. The hospital photographer took pictures and these were used for marketing for residents and fellows. A big fucking performance.
BLM was formed in 2014, a branch of the Antisemitic Nation of Islam, home of Farrakhan. BLM supports the Antisemitic BDS, the boycott, divest and sanction of one county only, Israel. BDS leader Omar Barghouti acknowledged that the goal of the BDS is to destroy Israel.
https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/mlk-and-heschel-deep-interfaith-friendship?utm_source=chatgpt.com
It’s amazingly sad how many people today manage to learn the narratives that make them resentful, racist, or antisemitic, yet have little interest in learning history like the deep friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
King and Heschel stood together, marched together, and viewed each other as moral partners in the fight for justice. That history should be taught far more than the division and resentment constantly pushed today.
One of the dumbest things I ever did was interrupt a long vacation and drive 7 hours each way with my wife to march in a George Floyd/BLM protest. I genuinely thought I was standing against all racism. Instead, I later realized I was supporting a movement where too many people openly spread, tolerate or excuse antisemitism against Jews like me.
The irony is hard to miss — marching against ignorance and racism alongside people who carried their own forms of hatred and prejudice. Never again.
Selma the 2014 remake directed by Ava DuVernay completely erased any Jewish connection to this period in history.
No surprise—and it probably wouldn’t have changed anything. When someone is inclined to hate based on race, religion, skin color, sex, or similar, facts rarely matter except when they can be selectively used to reinforce that biased sickness and validate what is ultimately just prejudice.
It didn't change anything because it wasn't challenged from the get-go, at the root of the problem. How do you stop or deal with bullies, you put them in their place instantly.
Excellent article. Also— there is such a thing as black supremacy and Islamic supremacy.
"Jew Boy with the yarmalke on your head, I wish you waz dead." frm Harlem on my Mind at the Met Museum NYC in the mid sixties. I have never forgotten the dispute over that line in the catalog as worthy of inclusion for portraying the alleged oppression of Black people at the hands of Jews, especially the Jewish slum lords. My black coworker....we were "kids" was reading Julius Nyere for Black African Nationalism. Now we have a new generation of Black Jew hatred centered on "palestine activism." It simmered before...now it's roiling. There are Black people who speak out...not many but they are there. HLGates did a fair enough job with his recent PBS on Jews and Blacks. He didn't really get into today's full scale full blown anti Zionist hate, anti Israel hate and the Jew Hate. We may be happy for the scraps of kindness now being proffered to us from certain parties but full blown Jew Hate is part of the Black community as it long ago embraced Black Nationalism, Islam as authentically African, and Third world solidarity whch very much leaves "white" Israel to twist in the wind. Or fight like hell which it has done since Oct. 7th....with minimal support from USA Jews. I'll see what tomorrow's Yeshiva driven NYC parade has to offer in good spirits. As the racist mayor has made it "abundantly clear" how he feels about Israel.
This article makes an excellent point by relating Jewish success to Jewish behaviors which are shaped by Jewish culture. It's a point that does not receive wide attention yet other groups could learn from it. Instead people want to believe there is a conspiracy afoot.
The "mechanism for Jewish success" is hiding in plain sight. It's called belief in the one true G-d, educating yourself in the Torah, and trying the best that you can to follow it.
"Jews are now perceived not as a vulnerable minority, but as “white,” “privileged,” or “oppressors.” This is nonsense. Jews are not “white” (though some are European or have European ancestry)"
Definition of "White:" of European origin and Christian religeo-cultural heritage.
Definition of "Jewish:" of Levantine origin and Jewish religeo-cultural heritage.
For some reason, historian John Hunwick overlooked the brisk Barbary slave trade conducted by Black Slavers who emptied whole coastal European villages into the cargo holds of their ships.
" 'oppression”'is treated as uniquely 'white' and uniquely European — both labels that many Black people place onto Jews, often inaccurately."
When and where are these labels accurate? Inquiring minds want to know.
"modern coalition politics"
A softened depiction of Intersectionality, a key component of Critical Race Theory.
"Zionism is the belief that Jews, like every other people, have the right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland."
Accurate definition of political Zionism, one of the many manifestations of the phenomenon. It goes back to Psalm 137 composed between 597 and 538 BCE.
"Groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are not civil rights organizations; they are Islamist movements rooted in extremist ideologies."
And here is the fundamental Western error of ethnocentrism. Islamist movements are rooted in Islam and Islam is based on the Qu'ran and Hadiths. Those following the instructions of their sacred texts are not extremists. They are zealots, devotees, purists, pietists doing what their religion demands of them if they are to be True Believers.
"That narrative destroys agency. "
Might a more forthright description be that it denies free will.
"Historically, successful minority groups almost always develop strong internal cultures"
Jewish assimilation is destroying that internal culture, and we are witnessing the tragic consequences of it today as intermarriage bleeds Jewish identity into the dominant culture and increasing numbers of Jewish youth find cannot identify with Israel, thus rejecting a crucial element of Jewish meaningfulness that united us together down through the ages and ensured our survival and continuity.