Black Lives Matter: Not Just Communist,
But Viciously Anti-Semitic Too
No
matter the color of their skin, Jews are going to be labeled “white.”
June 29, 2020
Clare M. Lopez
By
the time violent rioters tore through the heavily Jewish neighborhood of
Fairfax, Los Angeles on the night of Saturday May 30, 2020, it was too late.
The vicious antisemitic, anti-Israel language of the M4BL and Black Lives
Matter’s demands that included accusations against Israel of “ apartheid ” and “ genocide ” had been brushed aside. Black Lives Matter (BLM) delegations had
traveled to the Middle East to endorse Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, Judea,
and Samaria and pose for photo ops with the Palestinian flag . Statements from
delegation leaders spoke of “ occupation, ethnic cleansing and brutality ”
that Israel supposedly has perpetrated against the region’s Arab-Muslim
population.
Even
when city after city across America went up in flames after the May 25, 2020
killing of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis by a white police
officer, with BLM ‘protesters’ assaulting private businesses, their owners, and
law enforcement officers alike, smashing store fronts, setting fires, and
destroying property, some among America’s Jewish leadership could hardly get
their statements of support out fast enough. Jewish American organizations, the
Reform Movement, rabbinical leadership figures, progressive and Zionist
activists, even the Hasidic Community of Crown Heights, Brooklyn in New York
City all practically fell over one another in their haste to endorse the BLM
movement.
The Jewish Federation of Santa Barbara was
no different. On June 13, 2020, the group – including, among others, the Jewish
Federation of Greater Santa Barbara, ADL Santa Barbara Tri-Counties, Santa
Barbara Congregation of B’nai B’rith and Santa Barbara Hillel – issued a
statement to condemn “racism” and “institutional biases.” The Focus Project ,
whose online website is remarkably empty, disseminated a set of talking points on June 16, 2020
that appear to date from September 2019. An increasingly popular trope is
included among them that distorts the ancient Jewish term ‘Tikkun Olam’ in a
way to make it seem like some kind of modern-day social justice program. In
fact, ‘Tikkun Olam ’
is a Kabbalist term that made its way into Judaism by way of the Aleinu prayer that
is specific to Rosh Hashanah. ‘Tikkun
Olam’ is not from the Torah (md’oraita ) in origin at all – and therefore
not one of the 613 obligatory commandments (mitzvot )
nor anywhere to be found in the normative rabbinical literature concerning the
praxises of Jewish Law (Halacha ).
Rather, as a kind of companion bit of moral guidance, ‘Tikkun Olam ’ urges
Jews to repair one’s individual relationship to the Almighty by way of
observance of the actual ‘mitzvot ’,
or obligatory commandments that lead to perfecting personal behavior.
Now,
just as ‘perfecting of one’s personal behavior before the Almighty’ has nothing
to do with the social justice narrative per se, neither does it have anything
to do with supporting a communist/Marxist, pro-Maoist organization, one of
whose BLM co-founders’ declaration of the group’s Marxist ideology
was featured on Twitter just days ago. Yes, the BLM movement was founded by
three African-American women with longtime Marxist backgrounds: Alicia Garza,
Opal I. Tometi, and Patrisse M. Cullors. Its original Platform (issued in August 2016, but
scrubbed up a bit in its more
recent iteration ) called for collective ownership of all
resources, the breaking up of banks, redistribution of wealth by way of
confiscatory taxes on ‘high earners,’ free health care, and free education.
Truly, Karl Marx would have blushed.
But
back to the question of how BLM rioters came to be rampaging through Jewish
neighborhoods of Los Angeles, CA, reportedly shouting “F___Jews ”, and spray painting “F___Israel ” and “ Free Palestine ” on the walls of the Congregation
Beth Israel and at least four other synagogues. How did Jews come to be
collectivized into the enemy “white privilege proletariat” class by these BLM
Marxists?
That
original BLM Platform also explicitly supports the BDS (Boycott,
Divest, and Sanction) movement. Another indicator comes from Cullors (who
organized the 30 May pogrom in LA): she reportedly told a New York Times reporter,
“ Let’s go into the heart of what is symbolically white in Los
Angeles, which is Beverly Hills…These people need to hear our pain and our
grief. We wanted to bring this to communities who often aren’t dealing with
police violence .” No matter the color of their skin,
therefore, Jews are going to be labeled “white”—as a pejorative from which it
is always going to be impossible to escape. It goes back farther than that,
however. By 2015, BLM representatives traveled to the Middle East to make
common cause with Palestinians in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. Fast forward to late
May 2020, shortly after the death of George Floyd, and the Democratic
Socialists of America’s BDS national working group blatantly tried to link that
killing to Israel, by claiming that U.S. police forces learned riot control
techniques from Israeli police . Then, on June 1,
Al-Awda, the Palestinian Right of Return Coalition, published a hideous cartoon
at its website showing an Israeli soldier with
his knee on the neck of a keffiyeh’ed Palestinian, arm-in-arm with an American
police officer with his knee on the neck of a black man. The article it
accompanied was entitled “ Al-Awda PRRC statement of solidarity for Black lives and Black
struggle .”
The BLM’s Marxist agenda is on full display across America today.
Exploitation of the insurrectionist riots in which it plays a leading role to
demonize Jews and Israel is, too.
American Jews Must Stand up to
Structurally Anti-Semitic BLM
The silence is stunning.
June 30, 2020
Caroline Glick
The silence of the Jews of America in the
face of rising anti-Semitism is stunning.
Over the Shavuot festival on May 30,
members of Black Lives Matter (BLM) carried out a pogrom in Fairfax, the oldest
Jewish community in Los Angeles, largely populated today by ultra-Orthodox
Jews. They vandalized five synagogues and three Jewish schools. Most of the
Jewish businesses on Fairfax Avenue were looted.
As Daniel Greenfield reported at Frontpage,
Allyson Rowen Taylor, a co-founder of StandWithUs, shared an account of the
riots in which they chanted, “F**k the police and kill the Jews.”
Aryeh Rosenfeld, whose store was looted,
told The Jerusalem Post that when he came to defend his store
there were people driving through the streets screaming “effing Jews” at the
Jewish store owners.
Greenfield revealed that the Jews were not
incidental victims in a larger night of “anti-racist” rioting by BLM. BLM in
Los Angeles is led by outspoken anti-Semites with intimate ties to the
virulently anti-Semitic Nation of Islam.
Over the past several years both the
BLM-L.A. head Melina Abdullah and her daughter Thandiwe Abdullah, who is the
co-founder of the BLM Youth Vanguard, have racked up long records of
anti-Semitic rants and fawning praise for Nation of Islam leader Farrakhan.
Farrakhan, who has praised Hitler, recently called Jews “termites” and
obsessively rails against Judaism and Jews.
As its charter makes clear, BLM itself is
structurally anti-Semitic.
BLM’s Charter
While accusing Israel of committing
“genocide,” BLM blames Israel for the U.S. war against militant Islam. Its
charter states, “The U.S. justifies and advances the global war on terror via
its alliance with Israel and is complicit in the genocide taking place against
the Palestinian people.”
According to the BLM charter, U.S. military
aid to Israel is the foundation of America’s problems. Because of U.S. military
aid to Israel, BLM alleges, “Every year billions of dollars are funneled from
U.S. taxpayers to hundreds of arms corporations, who then wage lobbying
campaigns pushing for even more foreign military aid. The results of this
policy are twofold: it not only diverts much needed funding from domestic education
and social programs, but it makes U.S. citizens complicit in the abuses
committed by the Israeli government.”
In other words, Israel is the root of
America’s troubles at home and abroad.
The charter accuses Israel of being an
“apartheid state,” and supports the anti-Semitic boycott, sanctions and
divestment campaign against Israel. It calls for local, state and federal
action against Israel.
Among other things, BLM demands that the
U.S. military budget be cut by 50 percent, “which will lead to the closure of
over 800 U.S. military bases in the U.S. and around the world, and the
elimination of the sale of weaponry to violators of human rights, reduces the
use and stockpiling of nuclear weapons and return all troops back from the
current theaters of war.”
So for BLM, anti-Semitism isn’t a bug. It
is a feature. Hatred of Israel and the Jews is part of its DNA.
This brings us back to the pogrom over
Shavuot in Los Angeles.
Two aspects of the Shavuot pogrom expose
the increasingly problematic nature of the relationship between the American
Jewish community and the American left.
The first is the media’s indifference to
anti-Jewish violence. Aside from a few Jewish reporters and Orthodox websites,
the Shavuot pogrom was largely ignored. And when it was reported, the
deliberately anti-Semitic character of the attacks was either downplayed or
ignored altogether.
The media’s refusal to cover the pogrom
makes clear that most U.S. media outlets have accepted the limits on freedom of
speech dictated by the left. Identity politics now dominate the left in
America. BLM controls identity politics.
BLM considers Jews oppressors, not victims.
So attacking them is not an act of bigotry. Jews — particularly Israeli Jews,
Zionist Jews and Jews who dress in ways that identify them as Jews — are fair
game. After all, if Zionism is Nazism and apartheid, then Israelis, Zionist
Jews and “Jewy” Jews are racists. The graffiti on Beth El synagogue in Fairfax
told the tale: “F**k Israel, Free Palestine.”
Media Complicity
The media’s subservience to the identity
politics mob was exposed earlier this month by the forced resignation of The
New York Times ’ op-ed editor James Bennet and his deputy for the thought
crime of publishing an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton calling for the riots to be
quelled — by military force if necessary.
This week, NYT announced their
replacements. Charlotte Greensit from the Intercept will be
associate op-ed editor and managing editor of the Times.
Greensit is a member of the mob. As such,
last month she participated in the left’s newest blood libel that Israel is
responsible for the alleged systemic racism of American law enforcement
agencies when she tweeted, “Israeli security forces are training American cops
despite history of rights abuses.”
The Times , which has long
peppered its news stories with anti-Semitic undertones, can be expected to
double down on its anti-Jewish slant with Greensit in place.
The second aspect of the Shavuot pogrom that bears consideration
is the low-key responses it generated from the Jewish community. Aside from a
pro-forma statement by the Anti-Defamation League’s Los Angeles office, the
Jewish organization that proclaims itself the go-to place for calling out and
fighting anti-Semitism has been mum. Even the modern Orthodox communities in
Los Angeles failed to condemn the attack on their ultra-Orthodox neighbors.
Greenfield reported that while the modern
Orthodox synagogues quickly removed their Torah scrolls from their prayer halls
to protect them from possible looters, the modern Orthodox communities refused
to condemn the rioters even as they quickly removed their Torah scrolls from
their synagogues to protect them.
Rather than condemn the BLM rioters
targeting their community and expressing solidarity with the victims and the
police who stopped the riots from spreading, local modern Orthodox leaders told
their communities to support BLM bigots and atone for their own imagined racist
crimes. Only the ultra-Orthodox cheered the police and thanked them.
Jewish Silence
The silence of the Los Angeles Jewish
community and the national Jewish organizations in the face of the assault
against it isn’t unique. In New York, Jews have marched against anti-black
racism while their community is subjected to repeated anti-Semitic assaults by
their black neighbors. Few and far between have been the condemnations of Mayor
Bill de Blasio despite his repeated acts of anti-Semitic targeting and
discrimination.
Last week de Blasio sent police to padlock
a playground in the ultra-Orthodox Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn for
coronavirus distancing violations. As the police physically blocked
ultra-Orthodox Jewish children from entering the park, non-Jewish children
played happily in neighborhood parks throughout Brooklyn and the rest of the city.
De Blasio wasn’t available to padlock the
playground himself because he was busy participating in a mass protest with BLM
in another section of Brooklyn.
Needless to say, New York Jews not only
didn’t riot in response to the city’s bigotry against Jewish children in
Williamsburg. When local Jewish leaders broke the locks on the playground in
Williamsburg to let the children play, Jews from Park Slope and Manhattan
didn’t join them. They were alone.
This is the context in which Rep. Elliot
Engel, a 16-term incumbent and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, was defeated in his primary race for reelection. Engel was long one
of the staunchest supporters of U.S.-Israel ties in the Democratic Party and a
very liberal Democrat.
Jamaal Bowman, Engel’s victorious primary
opponent, supports the BLM charter’s call not to legislate curbs on BDS
operations. He supports conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel on Israeli
concessions to the Palestinians. Bowman ascribes to BLM’s racist view of
Israel, saying that as a (racially oppressed) African American, he identifies
with the Palestinians.
Both Bowman and the media that supported
his campaign, (particularly Greensit’s colleagues at the Intercept )
focused on Engel’s support for Israel. The undertone of their focus was clear —
and anti-Semitic. They communicated the message that Engel the Jew is more
loyal to Israel than to the voters of his district.
Instead of decrying Bowman and his
supporters for their bigotry, many progressive Jews supported Bowman. As Peter
Joseph argued in the progressive Jewish newspaper Forward , “Jamaal
Bowman’s candidacy asks our community to return to its formerly broad-based
concerns and demands that we recognize how urgent it is to address and repair
the social, economic, and racial suffering in our nation.
“As this election pits a sixteen-term white
Jewish incumbent offering more of the same against a younger Black voice
offering a response to this moment in America, Jewish voters should express
their aspirations for a better future.”
In other words, Engel was too tribal and of
course, too pro-Israel.
Why are American Jews refusing to stand up
for themselves? Three explanations present themselves. Either they are afraid
to speak up, or they are unaware of the danger, or they are part of the
problem.
Like their non-Jewish counterparts, many
Jews whose businesses were looted by BLM expressed the support and concern for
their attackers. While some of them may actually sympathize with the people who
destroyed their income source, no doubt many are too terrified to criticize
them. They don’t need any more trouble. And in the current atmosphere of mob
rule, where the police charged with defending them are themselves under attack,
caution may be the better part of valor.
The ignorant are a product of their
environment. Most American Jews are Democrats and most Democrats get their news
from the very news organizations that, as members of the
identity-politics-dominated left, are not reporting what is happening. Large
organizations and liberal synagogues are openly supporting BLM. How are average
Jewish Democrats supposed to know what is happening?
This brings us to the Jews that are part of
the problem.
This week, a group of far-left Jewish
groups published an open letter to the community demanding that American Jews
pledge allegiance to a “new covenant” based on seven new principles. The first
principle: “Explicit endorsement that Black Lives Matter. Recognizing that
Black Lives Matter is a statement that is inherently true and should be accepted
without caveat or qualification.”
The other six principles are extrapolations
and expansions of the first.
So not only is the community not dealing
with BLM’s structural anti-Semitism, radical groups now demand that the rest of
the community make supporting these anti-Semites and embracing their
anti-Semitic cause the first principle of a “new covenant” for American Jewry.
So far, Hillel International, the
Reconstructionist movement and the San Francisco Jewish Federation among others
have written letters of support for the “new covenant.”
On Monday, the Wall Street Journal called
on members of the political left to wake up and oppose the thought policemen of
identity politics. Sadly, it appears that the Jewish victims of those policemen
will be the last to hear or heed the call.
///
Black Lives
Matter is accused of anti-Semitism after posting photo of mural featuring
Jewish stereotypes on Facebook advertising protest march in Oxford
·
The mural, 'Freedom of Humanity', was removed
from East London in 2012
·
It was after concerns from Jewish groups that
it contained 'anti-Semitic tropes'
·
Image was posted by BLM Oxford on Facebook as
a cover photo for an event
PUBLISHED: 12:26 EDT, 30 June 2020 | UPDATED: 14:34 EDT, 30 June 2020
·
·
·
A Black
Lives Matter group has been accused of anti-Semitism
after posting a controversial mural as a cover photo for a Facebook event.
The mural, 'Freedom of Humanity', was removed
from East London in
2012 after concerns from Jewish groups that it contained 'vile anti-Semitic
tropes' such as the idea that Jewish people controlled the world.
The
street artist, Mear One, has previously denied being anti-Semitic, and said the
mural is instead about 'class' and 'privilege.'
The image was posted online by Black Lives
Matter Oxford, who are independent of but support Black Lives Matter, as a
cover photo on Facebook for an event called 'Freedom Summer BLM', as reported
by Cherwell.
The
mural previously caused controversy for Jeremy Corbyn after he questioned why
the image was being removed from East London in a Facebook post.
The
former Labour leader had written 'Why? You are in good company' ahead of
its removal in 2012, but later admitted the image is 'deeply disturbing'.
+5
The picture was attached as a cover photo for the event and was spotted
by Liberal Democrat councillor Alexadrine Kantor who responded on Twitter
+5
The street artist, Mear One, has previously denied being anti-Semitic,
and said the mural (pictured) is instead about ''class' and 'privilege'
What is the
'Freedom of Humanity' mural?
The mural, 'Freedom of Humanity', was painted in the East
End by graffiti artist Kalen Ockerman, known as Mear One, in 2012.
It showed six businessmen and bankers sitting around a
Monopoly board counting money.
The board was placed upon crouched human figures
representing the oppressed masses.
Mr Ockerman denies being anti-Semitic, saying it is about
'class and privilege' and contains bankers 'made up of Jewish and white Anglos'.
The mural was removed by Tower Hamlets council after
residents complained about its contents.
Lutfur Rahman, who was mayor, said: 'The images of the
bankers perpetuate anti-Semitic propaganda about conspiratorial Jewish
domination of financial and political institutions.'
Jewish groups condemned the image, saying it contained
'vile anti-Semitic tropes' such as the idea that Jewish people controlled the
world.
It was even likened to the anti-Semitic propaganda seen
in Germany ahead of the Second World War.
However, it was later said that of the six people
depicted in the mural - Lord Rothschild, John D Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan,
Aleister Crowley, Andrew Carnegie and Paul Warburg - only two are Jewish.
Nick Wright wrote in Morning Star that despite this, the mural 'clearly exaggerates the
distinctive features of all six men'.
He added that 'exaggerated depictions of Jews are
created, disseminated and understood in a historically defined context that
includes a powerful, even dominant, discourse that draws upon the long
traditions of anti-semitism embedded in the dominant ideology and expressed,
over the centuries, in the dominant visual culture.'
The
post by Black Lives Matter Oxford was spotted by Liberal Democrat councillor
Alexadrine Kantor, who responded on Twitter.
She
said: 'The Oxford #BlackLivesMatter seems to think antisemitism is a [sic]
acceptable way to fight racism. How disappointing. You don't fight racism with
racism.'
The group
has now taken down the picture from the event and tweeted an apology.
A
statement said: 'We understand that recently an antisemitic image was used on
one of our events. This is deeply concerning and the person who used the image
is deeply sorry. We absolutely do not condone the image used and have since
removed it.
'We
will use this time to learn from their mistakes and ensure every person who
attends our events feels safe. We stand resolutely against antisemitism, and
see our struggles for liberation as interconnected.'
Alexander
Kantor, who had called for the picture to be taken down said the 'apologies
appreciated and accepted.'
She
added: 'I do not think they have an issue with anti-Semitism, it was a
case of not being aware and they have learnt from it and took action on their
staff members to ensure this does not happen again.'
'Mistakes
can happen and become opportunities to learn and educate ourselves. It is quite
rare to receive an honest and meaningful apology, as well as actions to ensure
this won't happen again.
'Apologies
appreciated and accepted, but this is not about me […]. I am an ally, I am very
glad about their public statement. UK BLM should learn from them.' morning
The
mural, 'Freedom of Humanity', was painted in the East End by graffiti artist
Kalen Ockerman, known as Mear One, in 2012.
It
showed six businessmen and bankers sitting around a Monopoly board counting
money.
The
board was placed upon crouched human figures representing the oppressed
masses.
Mr
Ockerman denies being anti-Semitic, saying it is about 'class and privilege'
and contains bankers 'made up of Jewish and white Anglos'.
The
mural was removed by Tower Hamlets council after residents complained.
Lutfur
Rahman, who was mayor, said: 'The images of the bankers perpetuate anti-Semitic
propaganda about conspiratorial Jewish domination of financial and political
institutions.'
When
contacted by MailOnline the group said: 'Unfortunately yes, an event with the
antisemitic mural was posted on our official page without the correct
authorisation and was solely done by an individual.
'Once
brought to our attention, we instantly apologised and realised the gravity the
mural held and resolutely stand with our Jewish community and the fight against
racism in all its forms.
'We
have pulled together a media team that has complete control of all posts and
would like to ensure every person who attends our events and protests feels
welcome and safe.
+5
The group took the picture down and apologised for any hurt caused by
posting the mural
+5
The mural previously caused controversy for Jeremy Corbyn (pictured)
after he questioned why the image was being removed from East London in a
Facebook post
'In
light of this, we will be holding our own internal investigation to find out
how this happened in the first place.
'Once
again, our deepest of apologies, this should never have happened and we
absolutely see this as a way for us to grow as a movement and protect al those
facing oppression.'
RELATED ARTICLES
Former
Labour leader Mr Corbyn previously caused controversy after he made a Facebook
post asking why the mural was being removed from Tower Hamlets in
2012.
The
artist had announced the mural was under threat on social media, to which Mr
Corbyn had commented: 'Why? You are in good company.
'Rockerfeller
destroyed Diego Viera's mural because it includes a picture of Lenin.'
+5
The former Labour leader had written 'Why? You are in good company'
ahead of its removal in 2012, but later admitted the image is 'deeply
disturbing'
The artist had announced the mural was under threat on social media, to
which Mr Corbyn had commented: 'Why? You are in good company'
His
comment, which appeared to oppose the mural's destruction, referred to Diego
Rivera's 'Man at the Crossroads', which the Rockefeller family covered because
it featured the image of Lenin.
Former
MP Luciana Berger drew attention to the post in March 2018, writing: 'I asked
the Leader's Office for an explanation about this Facebook post first thing
this morning. I'm still waiting for a response.'
Mr Corbyn later claimed he had only intended
to make a 'general comment' about the removal of art on the grounds of freedom
of speech, the BBC reported.
He
said: 'I sincerely regret that I did not look more closely at the image I
was commenting on, the contents of which are deeply disturbing and
anti-Semitic.
'I am
opposed to the production of anti-Semitic material of any kind, and the defence
of free speech cannot be used as a justification for the promotion of
anti-Semitism in any form.'
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