Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Old Pogroms and New

This piece, by the way, was rejected by the Algemeiner.

I am, I believe, persona non grata among many of their editors, including Dovid Efune, editor-in-chief.

Michael Lumish

(Also published at Jews Down Under.)

For those of us who care about the well-being of the Jewish people, there is currently much discussion around the current Black-on-Jewish pogroms throughout places like Crown Heights and Jersey City and, even, Rockland County, New York.

I was actually born in Rockland County. That is where I am from. My mom, Rita, was from the Bronx and my father, Harry, who fought in the Central Pacific during World War II, grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

My grandfather, Beryl, on my father's side, lived in the Ukranian town of Medzhybizh in the early part of the twentieth-century where, as it happens, the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic community, taught and died in the eighteenth-century. The town was a small part of the Pale of Settlement that alternated between Poland and the Ukraine. Thus it is highly likely that our friends among the Orthodox community are among relatives to me... but I do not know, for sure.

The Jews of Medzhybizh were wiped out by the National Socialists during Operation Barbarossa by the Einsatzgruppen as they drove into the Soviet Union during World War II. When they came upon the shtetl in 1942 they put the Jews to road building in order to advance East. When the road building was completed the Jews dug ditches at rifle point. They were then lined up in those ditches and then shot dead.

That was my family.

My grandfather left Medzhybizh in the 1920s and, thus, my father was spared and therefore I was born. The same cannot be said for those among my grandparents' family who remained.

And this returns us to Monsey, Rockland County and Brooklyn and Jersey City.

There are a lot of people wondering just why this American pogrom is happening now. Most Jews have no clue as to why young Black men are attacking Chassidim and the openly Orthodox in the areas around New York. But behind the Black pogrom against the Jews in and around New York is the politics of hatred toward Israel from the academe and from the activists. There is the yawning silence of our alleged friends among Congressional Democrats. And then there is "the squad." Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

Pressley is probably the best of the four and I am not even certain that she should be lumped in with them. She at least had the decency to send out the following tweet:


As of this morning, I cannot find a whisper by AOC, Omar, or Tlaib in opposition to Black-on-Jewish racist violence. Ilhan Omar did take the opportunity to politicize the pogrom to retweet a note by Rep. Eric Swalwell blaming the current left-wing pogrom against the Jews on Donald Trump. Rashida Tlaib who, along with AOC and Omar, favors the movement to eliminate Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people via BDS, joined Omar in blaming Trump for Black-on-Jewish violence.
"He fuels people's anger & misguided hate. Instead of leading with compassion, he simply gaslights and laughs about it," Tlaib said.
The truth is that this new breed of progressive-left "intersectionalist" Democrats do not care about the well-being of Israel or the Jewish people. If they did they would speak up. More importantly, however, remains the fact that the established Democratic leadership, including the Jewish Democratic leadership, stands behind these people. They also support funding the Palestinian Authority which means funding the murder of Jewish Israelis under "pay-to-slay."

And they honestly believe that they deserve Jewish support even as they remain silent among the ongoing attacks.

10 comments:

  1. "He fuels people's anger & misguided hate. Instead of leading with compassion, he simply gaslights and laughs about it," Tlaib said.

    One might ask the former screeching radical activist, Tlaib, a few questions.

    1. How would this make Trump different from the PLO and the Palestine National Covenant? The Hamas Charter?
    2. How would this make Trump different from you?
    3. How would this make Trump different than the "progressive"/regressive/socialist/left with which you are entwined?
    4. You spoke of people's "misguided" hate. Do you believe in a form of "guided" hate, i.e., the hate that is perhaps guided by some of the organizations with which you and your fellow travelers are affiliated?



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jeff, one thing that pisses me off -- as you know -- is that so much of the western-left and Democratic Party finance and support this material that results in violence toward us.

      The blatant hypocrisy drives me batty.

      They claim to stand for "social justice" even as they support financing the Palestinian Authority's "pay-to-slay" program.

      The very people who love to lecture the West and Jewish people on ethics are more than happy to pay Arabs to kill Jews.

      Delete
    2. Well, you know, if their program doesn't fit with the stated policy, they simply change the narrative.
      Remember, Israel's rebirth was sanctioned by the world community. The Arabs rejected it outright and unconditionally. Where are we now, in the midst of fake propaganda over the 'palestinian peoples'' struggle (read "Kampf") for "human rights. " "Palestine" is the #1 human rights issue on the Left's agenda.
      That's pretty sick, and since it's based for the most part on fabrication is an indicator of how unhealthy our civilization is right now.

      In the meantime, Louis Farrakhan most likely has far more sway in black America than a bunch of self-styled progressive Jews are ever going to. And if you listen to him and his wannabe Hitler spokespeople you have to notice the connection between their rhetoric and many of the assaults in Brooklyn, Jersey City, and Monsey (MUN-C). And the absolute hatred. Some of these people really believe they are attacking the bogey man, they have been fed so much hatred. And we saw much of this coming, and no one did a damned thing. Don't we know by now that great minds of the past have tried to deal with and stave off Jew hatred and many times failed?
      The difference is that now Jews have a state, a refuge. It is exceedingly small and difficult to defend. Many are committed to destroying it, and they will even say it's not antisemitic! Can you imagine what life would be like for Jews without Israel? And there are always those Jews who will be the good friend of the antisemites, those who will try to convince us that things were O.K. in Egypt and we should go back and bow to Pharaoh. Phuck them!

      Delete
  2. I have articles rejected by Algemeiner, and have had articles accepted, too. I believe you could say the same, since you note on the side that you have been published there. I doubt you are persona non grata. I think they are just very picky. But if you demonize them in your blog, you may become persona non grata, so you might want to be careful about that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you have an idea of just what they are picky about? Is it more opinion or more writing style, for example?

      Delete
    2. At this point I hardly care if they make me persona non grata or not.

      The truth is that after fourteen pieces in that publication most of the editorial staff remains rude.

      I do not necessarily mind getting a piece rejected.

      What I do mind is the high-handedness.

      And I also understand that because I left the Middle East Forum, under the editorship of Cinnamon Stillwell, that they are reluctant to publish me.

      But this is inside baseball.

      Delete
  3. Michael, the reason you could have been 'knocked back' by the Algemeiner is because they are left vwing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shirlee, you see those guys as left-wing? I have always considered them moderate and pro-Israel, but a bit snooty in personal communications.

      I can go into this with you in further detail, but I feel reasonably certain that they consider me a bit of a loose cannon who crossed one of their partnerships.

      They do not trust me, nor should they.

      What I want to hold them accountable for is their usage of "West Bank" to refer to Yehuda and Shomron (or Judaea and Samaria).

      Delete
  4. The ironic thing is that by calling out Dovid Efune for his essential betrayal of the Jewish people, I am in a minor way contributing eyeballs to his publication.

    Nonetheless, language is key.

    When Jewish editors refer to "West Bank" they suggest that Judea is not necessarily Jewish.

    ReplyDelete
  5. OT
    The subtlety of antisemitism's deep roots can be found in the shallowest of mass media forums:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vAyrPTeG5c

    Watch the report and read the BTL comments, and tell me I am wrong. This is no right or left wing forum.

    ReplyDelete