Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 29, 2024

Combating the anti-Semitism radiating from U.S. college campuses will require work on many fronts. Some of the drivers could take enormous effort to uprootfor example, the DEI culture that has reshaped K12 and postsecondary institutions. A less frequently discussed factor is easier to address: U.S. universities should stop letting foreign entities shape campus intellectual life.

Centers dedicated to the study of the Middle East, many receiving lavish foreign financial support, do more to promote anti-Zionist and pro-Hamas narratives than virtually any other force on campus. Even a small number of biased faculty can have an outsize influence because the dominant intersectional ideologies leave students primed to embrace anti-Semitic attitudes.

In effect, U.S. campuses have been importing anti-Semitic propaganda for almost 50 years. As the New York Times reported in 1978, Oil wealth from the Middle East is starting to flow onto college and university campuses throughout the country, bringing a bonanza of endowed chairs and new programs. That initial flood of moneyand specific concerns about gifts to Georgetown Universitys Center for Contemporary Arab Studiesled to the establishment of foreign gift-reporting requirements in 1986. To this day, Section 117 of the Higher Education Act requires universities to report foreign gifts above $250,000.

Unfortunately, weak enforcement by the Department of Education allowed many universities to ignore the requirement. That changed in 2019, when Secretary Betsy DeVos initiated noncompliance investigations at several top schools. In 2023 congressional testimony, Paul Moore, chief investigative council at the Department of Education during the Trump administration, described the sea change that followed: enhanced enforcement . . . produced dramatic results, including the disclosure of more than $6.5 billion in previously undisclosed foreign gifts and contributions. The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), which analyzed the updated disclosures for 201419, found that over $2.7 billion in gifts came from Qatari sources, $1.2 billion from Chinese entities, and over $1 billion originated in Saudi Arabia.

The Biden administration, pressured by the higher-education lobby, closed outstanding Section 117 investigations in August 2022. Later the same year, the Department of Education moved enforcement from the Office of the General Council to the Office of Federal Student Aid. Disclosures have dwindled since.

Foreign entities invest in U.S. universities for many reasons, including to gain access to sensitive technology and to exert influence over cutting-edge researchers. When it comes to shaping the campus marketplace of ideas, gifts to Middle East studies centers have paid off. A 2022 report by the National Association of Scholars, Hijacked, looked at more than 50 such centers and concluded that they produce biased material that promotes the political interests of the donors. A 2020 Education Department study noted that Saudi Arabia has advanced Islamic ideology . . . through multimillion-dollar donations to elite Western institutions since 9/11.

These centers are ground zero for Jew-hatred in the academy today. An AMCHA Initiative study of anti-Zionist and BDS-supporting faculty found that 70 percent are associated with ethnic, gender, or Middle East studies departments. (These departments sponsor almost 90 percent of events containing anti-Zionist or pro-BDS rhetoric.) Through their research, teaching, and the speakers they host, the centers demonize Israel and make anti-Semitic attitudes seem permissible, even respectable, to impressionable students.

The presence of anti-Zionist faculty, in turn, is associated with significantly higher levels of student-on-student harassment involving Jews, including incidents that target Jewish students for harm. The NCRI study reached the same conclusion, finding a correlation between the existence of undocumented funding and incidents of targeted anti-Semitism.

What can be done? The recent success in closing Confucius Institutesfunded by the Chinese government to spread propaganda on American campusesproves that public and political pressure can force colleges to reject foreign money. Universities should refuse all gifts from entities with interests antithetical to this countrys, especially gifts related to academic programs. Programs built on foreign donations should be dismantled unless they are obviously worth supporting from the general fund. State lawmakers can pass legislation to forbid, or at least carefully scrutinize, partnerships and contracts at public institutions with countries of concern.

Federal policymakers can also act. The next administration should aggressively enforce foreign gift-reporting requirements. And Congress should consider new legislation that would lower the reporting threshold for foreign gifts and prohibit certain partnerships with entities of concern.

Jonathan Pidluzny directs the Higher Education Reform Initiative at the America First Policy Institute.

Photo: Jason Alden/Bloomberg Creative Photos via Getty Images

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Stop the Mideast Money Fueling Campus Anti-Semitism - City Journal

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2024

When I came to meet Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, Joe Bidens special envoy for combating global antisemitism, in her office at the State Department late last week, she had something she wanted to show me. It was the cover of New York magazine from January 1996. BEING JEWISH, it said over a giant American flag that had some Jewish stars mixed in with the five-pointed variety. As anti-Semitism fades and Jews assume ever-greater prominence throughout the Establishment, the subhed said, its time for Jewish Americans to let go of the idea that they are outsiders.

Amazing, right? Lipstadt chuckled when I looked up at her.

Of course, that message has always seemed completely alien to me, a Jewish refugee from the Soviet Union, where our second-class status was legally codified and omnipresent to the point where it was obvious even to me, a child. But it felt even more ridiculous given what has taken place in America in the six months since October 7, when Hamass attack and Israels reprisal have unleashed a debate so emotional and so often shot through with antisemitism that it has made many American Jews question and reevaluate their placeand their safetyin American institutions. This comes just after the Trump years, with the attendant synagogue shootings and chants of Jews will not replace us having barely faded into memory.

The New York mag take had aged poorly, it was fair to say. And that was why Lipstadt, a respected academic who famously specializes in Holocaust denial, wanted to show me that cover. So on this, the first day of Passover, I bring you my conversation with Lipstadt. We spoke about not just the clashes on campus and the remarkable staying power of antisemitism, but also of the differences between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, and between right- and left-wing antisemitism. But even more importantly, she reminded me that this holiday encapsulates both the tragedy of the Jewish experience and its triumph, its richness. In the seder it says, In every generation, they rise up and try to destroy us, she said, quoting from the Haggadah. But theres a second sentence there: God saves us. You dont believe in God? [Believe in] our culture, our tradition. Its a positive thing.

I hope you find our conversation, which has been edited for clarity and length, as fascinating and inspiring as I did.

Julia Ioffe: My partner, who is not Jewish, was horrified to realize just how ubiquitous antisemitism is. One day he told me, I dont get it. Why do people hate Jews so much? Do you have a good answer?

Deborah Lipstadt: First of all, its like asking, Why do men hate women? Theres no logical reason. Not to be too simplistic, but think about the etymology of the word prejudice: pre-judge. Antisemitism is the oldest hatred and its worked into the DNA, the soil of Western culture. You need someone to blame things on. Covid? Jews! Look at Pfizer! Whos the head of Pfizer? A Greek Jew. Look how much money they make!

Its a virus. Its a virus because it never goes away. More importantly, it mutates. How could you have a hatred that works in Nazi Germany and works in Communist Russia? That works on the left and works on the right? Claims that Jews are capitalist and that Jews are communists? Jews are pushy and want to be in places where theyre not wanted [and that] Jews are clannish and only want to stick together. On one hand, these contradictions reveal antisemitism is ridiculous, but also how it mutates to fit the situation. And it all starts from the same source.

The template is the same: something to do with money; something to do with smarts, but malevolent smarts; something to do with punching above your weight; secretly maneuvering. And the other element isand this, by the way, comes straight out of the deicide story, the death of Jesushe wanted to chase the money changers out of the temple. Jews were small in number. Rome was the real power, Rome didnt want to kill him. But the Jews said, Crucify him, crucify him! Jews! Those little Jews in Judea, a little tiny state, got Rome, the greatest power in the world, to do its bidding. Doesnt make sense, but thats all part of it.

And then the other element is the Jew as the devil. Because in Christian theology, what are the two characteristics of the devil? The devil is the only entity that can harm God, and the devil does his handiwork and disappears before you know youve encountered the devil. George Soros? The Rothschilds? The hidden hand.

You were watching Columbia University president Nemat Shafiks testimony before Congress just now. What do you make of all these hearings?

Let me say this about the hearings of the previous three [university] presidents: [I dont know] whether they were lawyered up, or whether they were so entrapped that they couldnt explicitly say, Genocide is wrong. Calls for genocide are wrong. Columbia said that today. I think theres a relativism [in how institutions define discrimination], especially when it comes to antisemitism.

Why?

Because the Jew doesnt present as a victim of discrimination.

Now? In America?

Now. You and I are sitting here. What discrimination? You know, you have a good life. You walk down the street, nobody bothers you. You get stopped by the police in a traffic stop, youre not worried youre going to be shot. Youre well-heeled. The perception is that you cant be a victim. And not only cant you be a victim, but youre an oppressor. In a lot of the rather simplified, if not simplistic ways, the world is divided into oppressors and oppressed. If youre not oppressed, then youre an oppressor. And how can the Jew be oppressed? Youve got an ambassador sitting here to deal with antisemitism!

But now, of course, my argument is that antisemitism is, first and foremost, a threat to Jewsand often a lethal threat to Jews. But its also a threat to democracy. You have Jewish families in France, many of whose children attend Jewish schools, keeping their kids home last October after Hamas declared a day of rage after October 7. That showed that the families felt the authorities either wouldnt, or couldnt, protect them. And thats a loss of faith in democracy, because democracy is built on trust.

Youve described antisemitism as a threat to national security, and to national stability.

Theres an anecdote from Thomas Rids book Active Measures about an outbreak of antisemitism in West Germany in 1959. Tombstones were knocked over, swastikas were painted outside of synagogues. It was 14 years after the end of the war, so people began to think, Oh my God, the Nazis are back. This was exactly the time when West Germany was trying to enter multilateral organizations and becoming a manufacturer of arms. And people were saying, Wait a minute, should we do this? The Nazis are back. Fast-forward, 20, 25 years and a defector from the K.G.B. says, Oh, that was a KGB operation. What were [the Soviets] doing? They were using antisemitism as a destabilizer.

The Russians did the same thing after October 7th in France.

Thats right. Its the same thing: This is a tool we can use because its familiar. My job here, when I first came into office, was really two things: protect Jewish communities abroad and get different governments to take this seriously, and work on the Abraham Accords. Now, its really to transmit the message that antisemitism is not just the threat to Jews, its also about democracy, national security, and stability. This is something really serious, something that bad actorsor as they call them in the I.C. community, malign influencerscan use to make you feel like maybe democracy isnt the best system.

After 2016, many people on the left tried to paint antisemitism as a right-wing phenomenon. Now were dealing with left-wing antisemitism. How are they different? How are they similar?

I used to talk about a spectrum. Now I talk about a horseshoe and I talk about extremism. Its true that most of the lethal actions, certainly in the United States, have come from the right. Pittsburgh, Poway, etcetera. But those on the left, the extreme left, have shown themselves to be horrendously willing to absorb and promulgate antisemitism in a way that, if it werent so dangerous, would be laughable. The Democratic Socialists of America chanting Hands off Iran! Hands off Iran! Do they know what the women there are dealing with?! Or, Houthis, Houthis, make us proud! They have slaves!

Sure, but what are the similarities and differences between left- and right-wing antisemitism?

One is talking about a white, Christian, homogenous societyso the Jew as interloperwhereas the other is talking about the Jew as oppressor. Compare the former, for example, to right-wing racism. The racist on the right is generally punching down: Blacks are okay as long as they know their place. And their place is not in the White House and their place is not at my kids school or as my boss. Their place is still somewhat under me. And thats true of how the right wing sees Jews, too. Whats different with antisemitism on the left is that it sees itself as punching up. Its going back to the template: Jews are more powerful. Jews are richer. Jews want to control me. I have to protect myself by any means necessary.

Are you worried about the election season heating up and antisemitism getting worse if Donald Trump wins?

I cant talk about that. Hatch Act and all that. I cant talk about politics and get involved in that. But let me say, I have been concerned for a long time about how antisemitism is used as a political tool. Right, left, center, Christian, Muslims, Jews, atheistsit doesnt matter. Its become a useful political tool. And thats really scary to me.

Last question. We often see, especially after October 7th, a grouping together of antisemitism and Islamophobia. What do you think about that?

Look, when George Floyd was murdered, many people condemned the racism which was behind the murder and how he was treated. And no one said to them, Okay, if youre going to say racism, you have to also say, and Islamophobia and misogyny and antisemitism. When you see an action, youve got to call it out. Then you step back and put it in the broader perspective. You say, This was racist. And how is racism like antisemitism? And how is it like misogyny? How is it operating as a prejudice?

After 9/11, when there was a surge of not Islamophobia, but hatred of Muslims in this country, crazy Islamophobia, crazy hatred of Muslims, you shouldnt have issued statements that said, We are against Islamophobiaand antisemitism. Because it wasnt about antisemitism. You call it out for what it is. Otherwise, you end up with this undifferentiated mishmash in which neither can be really fought.

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2024

By Tommy Acosta

Sedona, AZ While all the pundits are scratching their heads, wondering why students across the country are holding anti-Jewish rallies, the answer is obvious.

Simply put, the students are demonstrating against the war in Gaza and want peace. Period. Just like they demonstrated against the war in Viet Nam back then.

But there is a caveat.

The anti-Semites, the Jew haters, the Hamas supporters are embedded and organized in the midst of the demonstrators, fomenting hate and waving flags, even though most of the demonstrators are there because they are outraged by the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza.

None of the pundits are pressing this point and would rather use the terms anti-Israel, pro-Hamas, anti-Jewish, pro-Palestine and anti-Semites in labeling the demonstrators.

These young people, those honestly appalled by the war, believe the killings and starving of the population are genocidal in nature.

The outside provocateurs participating in the demonstrations are taking the demonstrators down a radical path, leading chants calling for the death of Jews and America, burning flags, and intimidating Jewish students.

But the heart of the demonstrations is the protest against the obliteration of an entire civilian population by the relentless military onslaught in Gaza.

The students see it as inhumane, and therefore they are out there protesting.

Images such as the one below, are easily found on the Internet, and compassionate students are horrified that this destruction is going on with our support.

They are becoming aware of the true purpose of war, and of the military industrial complex behind it all. Thus, the calls for divestment.

The U.S. government and the international community have urged Israel to ease up and allow more humanitarian aid, even threatening them legally.

Israel is stuck between a rock and a hard place because if it wants to avenge the massacre of Oct. 7 and achieve its stated goal of wiping out Hamas, it might have to destroy all of Palestine to do it. It appears this is the only way Israel can ensure its security in the future

Meanwhile, the hostages remain in limbo with no deals yet in sight.

Hamas is not just a terrorist group, as labeled; its an idea, and ideas are extremely difficult to crush. Ideas live in the heart and soul of those who believe in them and are willing to kill or die for what they stand for.

Hamas hides behind civilians and institutions giving Israel little choice on how to eliminate them without killing the innocent.

Its a Catch 22 that puts Israel in a dark position, because to wipe out Hamas requires ruthless military action, and perhaps the demolition of most every city in Palestine.

Only an uprising against Hamas by the people of Gaza can end it. And thats not about to happen.

The demonstrations in the U.S. by students and those posing as students will continue as long as the press gives them prime time coverage and images of Palestines ongoing annihilation remain available on social media.

Major media will play over and over again the flag burnings and violent attacks against the police, ad nauseam, further frightening the public and fomenting fear and hate.

Meanwhile, defense contractors like Lockheed Martin Corp., Raytheon Technologies Corp. and General Dynamics Corp., to name a few, will continue to rake in the blood money hand-over-foot, as America is further divided and anti-Semitism spreads.

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The Anti-Jewish Protests and Gaza's Plight - Sedona.biz

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2024

WASHINGTON Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) joined her colleagues in demanding Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona restore order to campuses that have been effectively shut down by anti-Semitic mobs targeting Jewish students. The senators requested an immediate update on efforts to protect Jewish students.

You need to take action to restore order and protect Jewish students on our college campuses. President Biden issued a statement on Sunday, purporting to condemn the outbreak of anti-Semitism. If that statement was serious, it must be accompanied by immediate action from your departments, the senators wrote.

Read the full letter here.

Background:

As left-wing activists on college campuses continue to erode American students First Amendment rights and attack Jewish students following Hamass brutal assault on Israel, Ernst introduced theStudents Bill of Rights Act. This bill creates a universal speech and association protection standard at all public institutions receiving Title IV funding so students can fully participate in their academic community.

Ernst recentlyledher colleagues in demanding the Department of Education uphold its legal obligations to ensure Jewish and Israeli students are not subjected to discrimination. She alsosponsoredtheStop Antisemitism on College Campuses Actto cut federal funding for any college or university that excuses or encourages antisemitism.

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Ernst Calls on Biden Admin to Protect Jewish Students from Pro-Hamas, Anti-Semitic Mobs | U.S. Senator Joni Ernst of ... - Senator Joni Ernst

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2024

Every time I see the words British Jews trending on social media, I know expressions of flagrant anti-Semitism will follow. And so they were once more, in response to allegations splashed across newspapers and filling the airwaves that the Metropolitan Police had suggested the mere presence of an openly Jewish man at a London pro-Palestinian march was antagonising the crowds.

Details surfaced that the head of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), Gideon Falter, had been spoken to by the police while wearing a kippa the skullcap observant Jewish men wear and carrying a prayer shawl in a case. It was claimed the Met officer involved had singled out Falter for being Jewish, refused to allow him to cross the road and even threatened to arrest him for breach of the peace.

Cue indignation from politicians on the right. Former home secretary Suella Braverman called for the Met Police commissioner, Mark Rowley, to resign or be sacked if he refused to do so; the Prime Minister said he was appalled at Falters treatment and the Met offered various forms of apology.

It soon became clear that this wasnt the full story. Extended footage of Falters encounter with the Met surfaced on the morning of 22 April on Sky News, which provided far greater context. The story was more complicated, more nuanced. Yes, the officer had referred to Falter as openly Jewish, a phrase for which he has apologised, but this was part of a 13-minute exchange where the polices underlying aim appears to be to help Falter on his way, peacefully. Contrary to the claim that Falter was simply trying to cross the road, the officer is heard questioning this: Unfortunately, sir, you took it upon yourself to go from the pavement right into the middle of a pro-Palestinian march, which is why I asked you to go away You are looking to try and antagonise this.

The exchange continues, with the officer repeatedly offering to help Falter reach where he wants to go safely just not directly through the middle of a demonstration. As the video comes to an end, chants of baby killer, scum and shame on you can be heard. Its unpleasant. Clearly, some demonstrators do indeed hold Jews en masse not Israels government or military responsible for actions in Gaza. The police do not act; they dont search the crowd for those who shouted the abuse. But it seems to me this is not because they condoned the behaviour but are rather trying to keep Falter safe, as at this point he is standing right up against hundreds of noisy protesters.

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There may well be further footage that sheds more light on the encounter, but what happened is not as black and white as originally reported. Yet, those who voiced the strongest condemnation have refused to budge. Worse, they have refused even to watch the longer video that is now widely available. When questioned by Radio 4s Mishal Husain, Braverman implied that the full context was not relevant; she had been making a broader point all along. This was about a wholesale failure to combat anti-Semitism and keep the peace in London, she said. Theyve chosen to say to the innocent Jewish person that that person must give up their rights and theyll be arrested if they dont. That simply does not appear to be the case here, and it is dangerous to suggest otherwise. Its worth reminding ourselves, too, that Braverman was sacked after accusing the Met of displaying bias over its policing of pro-Palestinian marches.

Before the full video emerged, I mentioned the coverage of Falter and his alleged treatment by the police at a New Statesman event at the Cambridge Literary Festival on Sunday 21 April. I suggested the openly Jewish comment had been clumsy, but didnt warrant the resignation of Britains most senior police officer. And I pointed out that, whatever happened at that particular demo, there was a wider issue of British Jews feeling increasingly unsafe, especially when wearing visible signs of their faith in public. I dont disagree with you, Hannah, but what do you think those of us who are black and Asian did during the race riots of the Eighties? someone said to me afterwards. We stayed inside.

Ive been reflecting on this comment. What did this person mean? It was wrong then that people were frightened to leave their homes because of racism. It is equally wrong now that some Jews do not feel safe in London, a city that so many of us were born in and love. The answer to any kind of racism in society cannot be to stay inside.

There have undoubtedly been instances during pro-Palestinian marches over recent months when the police can and should be criticised for not cracking down on indisputable anti-Semitism. And it is undoubtedly the case that many Jews have been targeted verbally and physically for simply being Jewish. But the events in London on Saturday 13 April do not appear to be a clear-cut instance of either. There will be Jews and non-Jews alike who disagree with me. I dont claim to speak for anyone else. But I cant help thinking it doesnt do British Jews, religious or not, any favours to provoke confrontation and then be less than open about the truth. Nor is it any good for their treatment to be turned into yet another part of a growing culture war, used for cheap political point scoring and the furtherance of personal vendettas.

[See also: The Cass review into childrens gender care should shame us all]

This article appears in the 24 Apr 2024 issue of the New Statesman, The Age of Danger

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Anti-Semitism is rife in Britain but be wary of simple media narratives - The New Statesman

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2024

Last month the Calvert County, Md., state's attorney's office filed misdemeanor hate crimes charges against three 13-year-olds, alleging they targeted a fellow Plum Point Middle School (shown here) classmate, who is Jewish. Google Maps/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

Last month the Calvert County, Md., state's attorney's office filed misdemeanor hate crimes charges against three 13-year-olds, alleging they targeted a fellow Plum Point Middle School (shown here) classmate, who is Jewish.

When Robert Harvey read the report from Maryland State Police last month alleging that a middle school student had been repeatedly targeted with anti-Semitic harassment by her classmates, the Calvert County, Md., state's attorney was deeply disturbed.

"I saw this report of this incident and immediately asked that there be further investigation and ultimately determined, after looking at the law, that we believe that charges for hate crimes were appropriate," Harvey told NPR.

Because the case involves minors, the charges are sealed and NPR was unable to reach the defendants. Reached through Harvey, the complainant and her family declined to speak with a reporter. But Harvey has shared some of the allegations publicly. After his office filed charges, it put out a press release.

"They were harassing [the victim] over several months, drawing swastikas on notepaper and showing them to her," he said. "They were holding their finger under their nose like a Hitler mustache and making derogatory comments about her physical appearance."

Harvey said that his office found no indication that allegations of what occurred at Plum Point Middle School included acts or threats of violence. Still, it filed misdemeanor hate crimes charges against three 13-year-olds and petitioned the state's Department of Juvenile Justice for supervision of three 12-year-olds. The cases of those facing criminal charges will also go to that department, where an intake officer may opt to drop the charges if the youths fulfill an alternative course of remedy, such as community service, apologies or remedial instruction.

"I wanted to be sure that whatever happens, I'm aware of it," Harvey said. "And I want to be sure that whatever happens to these young men, it meets my criteria that they be held to some degree accountable for what they did."

The use of criminal hate crime charges against children has surprised some, especially those who track how common it has become for kids to be exposed to extremist ideologies.

"A youth of 12 or 13 should not be facing hate crimes charges," said Brian Hughes, who's with American University and is co-founder and executive director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL).

It is key, he said, for Calvert County leaders, both inside the school system and outside of it, to ensure that the student who was targeted by the harassment is receiving the support she needs.

But it is also a moment for them to refocus on what's needed to create a healthier, more resilient learning environment where students do not feel emboldened to openly express hateful ideologies. Because, Hughes noted, children even younger than 12 years old are almost inevitably going to encounter those ideologies.

"Any child who has access to the Internet, especially unsupervised access to the Internet, is going to encounter neo-Nazi propaganda very quickly," Hughes said. "There are [hate] groups that specifically hang out in Roblox, which is a very popular game with pre-teens."

As national attention has recently focused on the question of anti-Semitism on college campuses, FBI statistics show that, historically, reported hate crime offenses have occurred more often at elementary and secondary schools. The agency's latest breakdown shows that in 2022, there were roughly 900 reported offenses at K-12 schools. Most have targeted Black people, with anti-Jewish offenses coming in next.

Calvert County school officials did not respond to questions from NPR about how much teachers or staff knew of the alleged harassment, and what, if anything, they had been doing about it. A statement said "Upon completion of an investigation, students and school personnel may be subject to disciplinary action or consequences for discriminatory behaviors."

Mary Bonney, herself a graduate of the Calvert County schools, said she regularly sees students grappling with ideologies that they encounter, which conflict with the values they're taught at school. Bonney runs the Calvert Peace Project, which helps to foster community collaboration and understanding. The program has worked with youth in some of the schools. She said there's been the added challenge, in recent years, of re-socializing children after the COVID period, during which they attended schools remotely.

"Students aren't sure how to interact and aren't sure how to resolve their conflicts," said Bonney. "We've seen that complaint over and over with the administration, with the teachers and with the students, that it's really difficult."

A member of the Church of Latter-day Saints, Bonney said that she, too, experienced harassment in middle school because of her religion. But after reporting it to a teacher, it stopped. Bonney said it's notable that in the current instance, the student and her parents felt it had reached a point where they had to go to the Maryland State Police.

"If it's escalated to that point, then it's beyond just the school," she said. "It requires parents and religious and civic organizations and schools and other public institutions and the community members themselves to say this is not acceptable behavior. We don't treat one another this way."

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3 Maryland juveniles are charged with hate crimes. How did it get to that point? - NPR

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2024

Celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month this May on WTTW with a wide array of programming that explores stories of friendship, survival, and even tales from the Wild West. New programs premiere this month, including a portrait of a fascinating Canadian Supreme Court Justice, as well as a documentary that explores the resilience of a Pittsburgh community after the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting.

Be sure tocheck the schedule for additional air times. Many shows are also available to stream via the PBS app or at wttw.com/watch any time.

Sunday, April 28 at 3:00 pm on WTTW Code Name: Ayalon tells the harrowing story of how a secret bullet factory was built, concealed, and operated under a kibbutz near Tel Aviv to defend the fledgling nation of Israel in a pivotal effort in the battle for statehood. Surviving members of the group of 45 teenagers who risked their lives for the mission share their stories along with re-enactments and historical commentary.

Sunday, April 28 at 4:00 pm on WTTW The child of Holocaust survivors, Justice Abella was born in 1946 in Stuttgart, Germany, in a displaced persons camp. Her family came to Canada in 1950 as refugees. The perspective gained from her personal history shaped her legal career and in public speeches, she often intertwines her personal story with a discussion of human rights, morality, and constitutional law.

Sunday, May 5 starting at 9:30 am on WTTW The U.S. and the Holocaust is a three-part, six hour series that examines Americas response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twentieth century. Americans consider themselves a nation of immigrants, but as the catastrophe of the Holocaust unfolded in Europe, the United States proved unwilling to open its doors to more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of desperate people seeking refuge.

Sunday, May 5 at 4:30 pm on WTTW Prisoner of Her Pasttells the story of a secret childhood trauma resurfacing, 60 years later, to unravel the life of Holocaust survivor Sonia Reich. The film follows her son,Chicago Tribunejazz critic Howard Reich, as he journeys across the United States and Eastern Europe to uncover why his mother believes the world is conspiring to kill her. Along the way, he finds a family he never knew he had.

Monday, May 6 at 9:00 pm on WTTW He never considered himself a hero, yet on the eve of World War II Nicholas Winton became the man who saved 669 children. Winton, a young London banker, was on the verge of departing for a skiing vacation on Christmas, 1938 when a friend called him from Prague asking for help. In the Czechoslovakian capital, Winton sets up an extraordinary rescue operation for Jewish children threatened by the Nazis. From his hotel room, he organizes the departure of trains to England and becomes a forger when he lacks authorizations and visas. His efforts allowed 669 children to board eight trains and make their way to London to find host families, new lives, and hope.

Sunday, May 12 at 6:00 pm on WTTW Filmmaker Day Lee recalls her memories of her family's restaurant Lee's Garden, one of the first Chinese restaurants to open outside of Montreals Chinatown in the 1950s. As Chinese restaurants and the food they serve continue to evolve, it is these early restaurants and their cuisine that has captured the hearts and memories of people everywhere. Through interviews with former customers and families who owned other restaurants, Meet & Eat at Lees Gardenexplores how these early restaurants played an important role in the social history of Chinese and Jewish communities.

Sunday, May 19 at 3:00 pm on WTTW Will It Live On is a story of uncertainty and hope. Shot in Michigan and Haifa, its told from the perspective of Jonathan Levin, who grew up in Benton Harbor, Michigan and relocated to Israel. The documentary looks at lifelong friendship between two families as a window into a Jewish community that once boasted three synagogues and now faces a questionable future.

Sunday, May 19 at 4:00 pm and4:30 pm on WTTW In the summer of 1944, at the height of the deportation of Hungarian Jewry, Magda Brown and George Brent arrived as teenagers to the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center. Through their eyes, the episode Final Transports brings viewers on a compelling journey across multiple countries and camps, revealing the intensely human aspects of survival, resistance, chance, and luck in the face of Nazi tyranny. In the episode,Childhood Lost, within hours of the Nazi invasion and occupation of Western Europe, George Mueller and Steen Metz had to fight for survival within the Nazi camp system.

Sunday, May 19 at 5:30 pm on WTTW This program documents Pittsburghs powerful community response to hate in the aftermath of the assault on three congregations at the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, when 11 people were killed and six wounded in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.

Sunday, May 19 at 10:30 pm on WTTW Prime Jewish pioneers of the Wild West are a largely forgotten chapter in U.S. history. Yet they played a definitive role shaping the expansion of America. By 1912, it is estimated that more than 100,000 Jews had migrated to the Wild West. This documentary tells a positive immigration story and highlights the contributions Jewish Americans made to shaping the Western United States.

Thursday, May 23 at 9:00 pm on WTTW The Broken Promise draws from the forward-thinking ideas of scholars and policymakers, revealing why genocides occur and the ideas and institutions that stand against it. And, how the trauma of genocide is passed from one generation to another. The Broken Promise shines a light on the ways we can defend ourselves against genocide and finally, ensure that never again is now.

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What to Watch on WTTW for Jewish American Heritage Month - WTTW

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Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

(JTA) A Holocaust research center founded by Steven Spielberg has gotten embroiled in a drama over campus Israel speech that is dividing the University of Southern California, where it is housed.

The USC Shoah Foundation is downplaying its role in the schools academics after the universitys valedictorian, a pro-Palestinian student who earned a minor in resistance to genocide, touted her ties to the center.

After USC announced last week that Asna Tabassum would be the valedictorian, pro-Israel groups mounted a campaign against her, citing content on her Instagram page harshly criticizing Israel and Zionism. On Monday, USCs provost barred Tabassum from delivering a commencement address, a move the campus head of security said was related to specific threats that people would attempt to disrupt the event if she spoke.

In a statement decrying the decision, Tabassum, who majored in biomedical engineering, highlighted one specific aspect of her academic career.

I am a student of history who chose to minor in resistance to genocide, anchored by the Shoah Foundation, and have learned that ordinary people are capable of unspeakable acts of violence when they are taught hate fueled by fear, she wrote. And due to widespread fear, I was hoping to use my commencement speech to inspire my classmates with a message of hope. By canceling my speech, USC is only caving to fear and rewarding hatred.

The foundation says that it wasnt involved in her minor.

Despite suggestions to the contrary, our Institute is not an academic unit within the university and we do not play a formal role in the degree path of any student, a representative for the USC Shoah Foundation told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a statement Tuesday. Recent claims of association with the USC Shoah Foundation are inaccurate and have led to confusion about our role, values, and mission.

The uproar at USC is the latest in a series of lightning-rod campus controversies related to the Israel-Hamas war that broke out Oct. 7. North Americas biggest and most prominent universities have struggled to respond to inflamed tensions between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students and faculty. Critics have claimed that campus administrations have frequently buckled to pressure to silence speech on the topic. The president of Columbia University, whose responses to pro-Palestinian protests have frequently made headlines, will testify before Congress on Wednesday.

Now, with graduation season nearing and student honors events already serving as venues for disruptive pro-Palestinian protests, commencements are promising to be one final frontier for Israel debates as this contentious school year draws to a close.

USC seemingly hoped to blunt this confrontation when announcing it would not allow Tabassum to speak during the May 10 ceremony, owing to what its provost said were safety concerns. The unprecedented move came after Jewish pro-Israel groups on campus and beyond, including the campus Chabad, the USC student club Trojans for Israel and national pro-Israel activist groups, including the tens of thousands of members of the Mothers Against College Antisemitism Facebook group, put pressure on the school to disinvite Tabassum.

Some cited links to posts Tabassum shared but did not compose on her Instagram profile that called Zionism a racist settler-colonial ideology, advocated for a single, binational Israeli-Palestinian state and said that antisemitism is weaponized against Palestinians and allies by Zionists as a way to shut down criticism of Israel.

Responding to the posts, We Are Tov, an activist group that promotes Zionist social media content for college students, declared on Instagram that Tabassum promotes antisemitic views and mused, What will she say at the podium?

Some of these groups celebrated USCs decision to cancel Tabassums speech. Jew-hatred has consequences, End Jew Hatred, a pro-Israel activist group, declared. The students speech, the group claimed without evidence, was anticipated to be harmful to Jewish students and even potentially agitate anti-Jewish activists.

Trojans for Israel had petitioned for USC to reconsider their selection of valedictorian, claiming the student openly traffics in antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric that would turn commencement into an unwelcoming and intolerant environment for Jewish graduates and their families.

But there was also a fierce, growing national backlash to the decision, which according to its critics amounted to silencing of pro-Palestinian speech and Muslim voices (Tabassum is a South Asian Muslim). The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, called USCs move cowardly; Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar called it shameful; and Pulitzer Prize- and MacArthur-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen, who is on the faculty at USC, also eviscerated the decision.

I am disgusted and angered by this failure of courage and commitment on the part of the administration, Nguyen, whose own Israel speech-related controversy led to tumult last fall at the historically Jewish cultural center 92NY, wrote on Facebook. Citing the pro-Israel groups that had targeted Tabassum, Nguyen added, I have a hard time believing that if a Jewish student was receiving similar threats, that the university would back down.

He concluded by questioning why any USC faculty would attend the commencement.

The USC Shoah Foundation did not directly weigh in on the controversy in its statement, which also didnt name Tabassum directly. But it used the opportunity to decry any attempt to use the Holocaust to dehumanize Jews and Israelis.

Steven Spielberg speaks at a ceremony at the University of Southern California, March 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (USC/Sean Dube)

When used responsibly, survivor testimony can be a cornerstone of civil dialogue, learning, and understanding, the statement said. We have a sacred obligation to safeguard the memory and importance of the Holocaust. We must ensure this history is not distorted or used to dehumanize anyone, including the Jewish people and those living in the state of Israel. This requires we continue to foster and sustain informed discussion on this history, today and in the future.

A review of the requirements for the resistance to genocide minor on USCs website shows that it would be possible though difficult to obtain the minor without taking any courses focused at least in part on the Holocaust. The Shoah Foundation says its participation is largely limited to providing survivor testimonies, the core of its activities.

Spielberg initiated the Shoah Foundation in 1994 in connection with his Oscar-winning Schindlers List Holocaust drama, and USC absorbed it in 2006. During a speech at USC last month, Spielberg decried the machinery of extremism on college campuses.

For campus administrators, the pushback against Tabassums selection from among more than 200 students with nearly perfect GPAs represented a striking form of activism.

No one could ever remember these kinds of grievances coming to us, Errol Southers, the schools senior vice president who oversees security, told the New York Times about Tabassums critics. They had identified our valedictorian. They were significant in terms of the specificity of the person, the event, meaning our commencement, and their intent to disrupt our commencement.

In a statement to the campus community announcing the move, USC provost Andrew Guzman said that discussion about the valedictorian has taken on an alarming tenor, and that tradition must give way to safety. He added, This decision has nothing to do with freedom of speech. There is no free-speech entitlement to speak at a commencement.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Guzman also denied that the universitys decision was based on Tabassums speech or social media presence.

The comments angered Rabbi Dov Wagner, who runs USCs Chabad. He wrote on Instagram that the schools citing of unspecified security concerns, instead of explicitly denouncing Tabassums social media activity, was a problem.

This statement conveys the idea that the university supports the hate speech, and in fact creates the impression that it is our community that poses a security threat, rather than the ones being maligned, Wagner wrote.

He added, USCs Jewish students are now being portrayed as threatening the safety of the valedictorian, and as silencing Muslim voices when nothing could be farther from the truth.

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USC Shoah Foundation distances itself from pro-Palestinian valedictorian whose speech was canceled - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

The Variety Summit on Antisemitism comes at a time when the worlds oldest hatred is having a clear resurgence. Jews across the world and here in Los Angeles have been targeted by hateful words, threats and guns. Show business has long been a target of antisemitism, and once again, we find ourselves at the vanguard, looking to push back at the tropes, conspiracy theories and other hateful stories online.

As a historian, its important to look back at where these hatreds come from, what they mean, and why we must stop them.

About 100 years ago, H.G. Wells warned that humanity is in a race between education and catastrophe. He wrote these words in the shadow of World War I, a tragedy he believed was the result of our failure to respect one another and our tendency to ignore every country but our own.

A few years later, he and others watched as fascist,...

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USC Shoah Foundations Dr. Robert J. Williams Stresses Why Challenging Extremism Matters Now More Than Ever - imdb

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Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

The Shoah Memorial is taking part in the 22nd edition of Nuit Blanche this Saturday, June 1, 2024. On the program for this very special evening, free performances and discoveries...

This 22nd edition of Nuit Blanche is set to be another fantastic one... If you're not already familiar with this much-loved Parisian art event, let us introduce it to you. Nuit Blanche is a celebration of the contemporary arts: for an entire night, hundreds of artistic events are organized throughout the capital and surrounding towns. Performances, exhibitions, happenings, concerts, entertainment: these free events celebrate contemporary creation.

To mark the occasion, several Paris museums are also opening their doors to us all night long, free of charge. The Shoah Memorial, for example, will be open from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. to present its collections and cultural news.

The Memorial was inaugurated in 2005 in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The mission of this cultural institution is to raise public awareness of the Holocaust (or Shoah), the tragic period in French history during the Second World War.

Most people know this museum and place of remembrance for the"Wall of Names", where the names of all known victims of the Holocaust are listed. The institution regularly organizes exhibitions and meetings to perpetuate the duty of remembrance of this genocide, which hit the French particularly hard.

For this Nuit Blanche, the Memorial continues its mission, while introducing us to some fascinating contemporary artists. Here's the program for the evening.

A free evening in a fascinating museum: go for it!

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Nuit Blanche 2024: enjoy performances and videos at the Shoah Memorial - Sortiraparis

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