I appreciate calling out the political agenda of organizations. What's missing is the lived experience of people, including Jews, the stated intentions of Iran and Islamic Terrorists, like Hamas: when they say FTRTTS, the people in power mean the extermination of Israel and Jews. Iran (as proxy for Hamas) wants to attack WESTERN DEMOCRACY (that means Israel AND the US) in tandem with Russia and other authoritarian regimes. It's important to recognize that Jew-Hate and misinformation is embedded in social media about Palestine. There is terrible suffering and criminal activity in this war. No doubt and I don't diminish it for the raped and murdered Israelis or the killed Palestinians. But anyone who cares about ALL peoples' civil and human rights must acknowledge not only the heinous far-right government of Israel, but the antisemitism and hatred in play, the tropes that Jews have faced and continue to face, ramped up by those non-Democratic countries who want to clean the Middle East of Democracy. We need dialogue and understanding--not side-taking--in the fight for rights and human dignity of all people.
Thanks for this article and for your research. It is indeed sad that the ADL cannot be trusted to report real antisemitism. It seems that they have a new purpose: make any and all criticism of Israel and its government antisemitism. We cannot give anyone a license to do anything and commit crimes against humanity because the criticism of such things will be considered antisemitism. No common sense whatsoever. Let’s hope they get back to doing things the right way.
You write so clearly, succinctly and cogently. You make complex issues easy to understand. You’d be a good teacher. That is the highest compliment I could give anyone (teacher of 20 years, here).
Interestingly the slogans like "From the river to the sea" are not listed at all. Goes to show the extreme level of propaganda and hysteria in the West about a working definition of antisemitism.
Thanks for sharing. Also, funny how no one claiming "from the river to the sea" is antisemitic has any objection to it appearing in the Likud charter and being repeatedly stated by netanyahu in media interviews about Israel's intentions.
Thank you for providing an update on the situation and clarifying the change ADL made to their website! Sorry for jumping into the comments in your recent post saying you had it wrong. Despite making the point that the ADL was not credible, I still somehow gave them too much credit in assuming the website hadn’t been altered. There really is no depth to which zionists won’t go in service of spreading hasbara.
It’s satisfying to see wikipedia decision bring attention to the ADL’s failure as a legitimate defender against antisemitism. Hate has no place in our society and we should expect more of those who claim to be combating it. It’s sad that they are willing to sacrifice their credibility and effectiveness in order to pursue political aims.
Graem - Thank you for the comment in the previous post! It was deeply appreciated and brought my attention to something I missed, and thus was part of the reason I felt compelled to write this update. I'm grateful to you for that. My commitment is justice above all else, and that's especially important when I don't get something right the first time. I appreciate you keeping me accountable.
ADL are probably not doing serious data collection for a long time, and their reputation has taken such a hit, I doubt many victims bother directly reporting anything to them. I am pretty confident, though, just from anecdotal reports I have read, that at least SOME antisemitic incidents have occurred at the hands of Arab Americans harboring grievances over Israel. Indeed, it would be truly amazing if that number were exactly zero, under the circumstances!
Thank you for this information, Qasim. Thank you, too, for your efforts to make, as clearly as possible, your articles sources of factual and unbiased observation, as you say consciously and deliberately rooted in commitment, "commitment is firm to continue fighting for human rights and demanding media accountability—while being unassailable with my facts and research...."
Thank you for reading, Bob. And yes, absolutely. It is critical my readers know they can count on me for accurate information, and corrections when necessary as I'm certainly not infallible.
It is commitment that each of us can choose to make. If each of us was candid about making it, then it would make much more doable being self-critical and welcoming others' criticisms or questions in order to have many people contributing, in concert, toward stumbling on an expanding and, at least factually, improved shared understanding of circumstances and views on them.
Curious is how often individuals and groups of like-minded individuals appear to need to want everyone to conform to a static world view and view of self in world, apparently in order to experience a sense of personal agency and security.
The commitment we are describing seems to me to be very different in outcomes and more plain-spokenly representative of commitment to a living world view that most constitute and that provides a reasoned if limited shared view, providing novel areas or forms of cooperation by all involved.
But, back to ''my static world view or the highway'' view. The reality is, that when I finally pass from the face of our planet, so pass my cherished and firmly held views. Poof, gone, forgotten for the most part, all that was there, whether shared, unshare-able and incoherent, pointless, absurd, ... however regarded by others, can be removed from future consideration. Does this represent a cleaner slate is possible? Does a cleaner slate help anyone if there is not a conscious effort and respect for conscious effort to constantly approach an almost-consensus shared understanding, by which we can always move forward together, even if only slightly?
When I was in my earliest twenties, I was very fortunate to be part of candid discussions that were intended to lead to improve shared commitments, agreements for cooperative action, and commitment to keep these discussions active, living, and open to more participation by more people. It was a rare moment of surprise when, seeming to have arrived at an impasse, areas of fundamental disagreement that blocked continued effort, I likened the moment to one that included the world view and view of self in the world to a (any) Babylonian.
Why?
Well, no doubt there were firm and difficult disagreements among Babylonians. Did we, I ask, need to include all of those in our discussions, or could we regard our own seemingly irreconcilable views and interests in a similar context that future generations might simply not know and therefore do nicely without.
My point, what do each of us really, really need to think and to acknowledge in order to sense, in ordinary social relationship, that there is mutual respect and mutual security for each of us, and this mutuality enables us collectively to seek cooperation, avoid conflict by reasoned management of conflicts, and experience continued and improvable collective decision-making together?
In my country we have police killing black men for jaywalking and charges of racism against the prosecutor for black and Latino youth arrests too poor to challenge the charges, but the response is antisemitism, a cover for racism.
Thanks for the update. I was aware of some things but not other things. The lattter being that ADL has removed some data that have used, that ADL and DOj use different definitions o antisemitic hate crime definitions. It would be interesting to compare the Southern Poverty Law Center’s and ACLU’s definitions.
Lastly, I heard Grenblatt’s response to Wikipedia on MSNBC today without knowing of the internal strive at the ADL.
What antisemitism? I can write a bad novel out of whole cloth and put it in the nonfiction section of any bookstore if I paid the owner to market it that way.
Not only great information, but also good to know. Thanks for doing all the “leg work” that’s required to keep me/your readers informed.
I appreciate calling out the political agenda of organizations. What's missing is the lived experience of people, including Jews, the stated intentions of Iran and Islamic Terrorists, like Hamas: when they say FTRTTS, the people in power mean the extermination of Israel and Jews. Iran (as proxy for Hamas) wants to attack WESTERN DEMOCRACY (that means Israel AND the US) in tandem with Russia and other authoritarian regimes. It's important to recognize that Jew-Hate and misinformation is embedded in social media about Palestine. There is terrible suffering and criminal activity in this war. No doubt and I don't diminish it for the raped and murdered Israelis or the killed Palestinians. But anyone who cares about ALL peoples' civil and human rights must acknowledge not only the heinous far-right government of Israel, but the antisemitism and hatred in play, the tropes that Jews have faced and continue to face, ramped up by those non-Democratic countries who want to clean the Middle East of Democracy. We need dialogue and understanding--not side-taking--in the fight for rights and human dignity of all people.
Thanks for this article and for your research. It is indeed sad that the ADL cannot be trusted to report real antisemitism. It seems that they have a new purpose: make any and all criticism of Israel and its government antisemitism. We cannot give anyone a license to do anything and commit crimes against humanity because the criticism of such things will be considered antisemitism. No common sense whatsoever. Let’s hope they get back to doing things the right way.
You write so clearly, succinctly and cogently. You make complex issues easy to understand. You’d be a good teacher. That is the highest compliment I could give anyone (teacher of 20 years, here).
Laura I'm honored and yes I do take this as the highest of compliments. Thank you.
Have you read the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism? Here it is: https://jerusalemdeclaration.org/
Interestingly the slogans like "From the river to the sea" are not listed at all. Goes to show the extreme level of propaganda and hysteria in the West about a working definition of antisemitism.
Thanks for sharing. Also, funny how no one claiming "from the river to the sea" is antisemitic has any objection to it appearing in the Likud charter and being repeatedly stated by netanyahu in media interviews about Israel's intentions.
Thank you for providing an update on the situation and clarifying the change ADL made to their website! Sorry for jumping into the comments in your recent post saying you had it wrong. Despite making the point that the ADL was not credible, I still somehow gave them too much credit in assuming the website hadn’t been altered. There really is no depth to which zionists won’t go in service of spreading hasbara.
It’s satisfying to see wikipedia decision bring attention to the ADL’s failure as a legitimate defender against antisemitism. Hate has no place in our society and we should expect more of those who claim to be combating it. It’s sad that they are willing to sacrifice their credibility and effectiveness in order to pursue political aims.
Graem - Thank you for the comment in the previous post! It was deeply appreciated and brought my attention to something I missed, and thus was part of the reason I felt compelled to write this update. I'm grateful to you for that. My commitment is justice above all else, and that's especially important when I don't get something right the first time. I appreciate you keeping me accountable.
Antisemitism definition has evolved into a national perspective. This according to Rabbi Barclay during his interview on the Wire with Candace Owens.
ADL are probably not doing serious data collection for a long time, and their reputation has taken such a hit, I doubt many victims bother directly reporting anything to them. I am pretty confident, though, just from anecdotal reports I have read, that at least SOME antisemitic incidents have occurred at the hands of Arab Americans harboring grievances over Israel. Indeed, it would be truly amazing if that number were exactly zero, under the circumstances!
Guy - I think yours is a fair assessment. I'm going to look up the SPLC data to see if there's more accurate data there, ditto the FBI data.
Thank you for this information, Qasim. Thank you, too, for your efforts to make, as clearly as possible, your articles sources of factual and unbiased observation, as you say consciously and deliberately rooted in commitment, "commitment is firm to continue fighting for human rights and demanding media accountability—while being unassailable with my facts and research...."
Thank you for reading, Bob. And yes, absolutely. It is critical my readers know they can count on me for accurate information, and corrections when necessary as I'm certainly not infallible.
Thank you for this reply.
It is commitment that each of us can choose to make. If each of us was candid about making it, then it would make much more doable being self-critical and welcoming others' criticisms or questions in order to have many people contributing, in concert, toward stumbling on an expanding and, at least factually, improved shared understanding of circumstances and views on them.
Curious is how often individuals and groups of like-minded individuals appear to need to want everyone to conform to a static world view and view of self in world, apparently in order to experience a sense of personal agency and security.
The commitment we are describing seems to me to be very different in outcomes and more plain-spokenly representative of commitment to a living world view that most constitute and that provides a reasoned if limited shared view, providing novel areas or forms of cooperation by all involved.
But, back to ''my static world view or the highway'' view. The reality is, that when I finally pass from the face of our planet, so pass my cherished and firmly held views. Poof, gone, forgotten for the most part, all that was there, whether shared, unshare-able and incoherent, pointless, absurd, ... however regarded by others, can be removed from future consideration. Does this represent a cleaner slate is possible? Does a cleaner slate help anyone if there is not a conscious effort and respect for conscious effort to constantly approach an almost-consensus shared understanding, by which we can always move forward together, even if only slightly?
When I was in my earliest twenties, I was very fortunate to be part of candid discussions that were intended to lead to improve shared commitments, agreements for cooperative action, and commitment to keep these discussions active, living, and open to more participation by more people. It was a rare moment of surprise when, seeming to have arrived at an impasse, areas of fundamental disagreement that blocked continued effort, I likened the moment to one that included the world view and view of self in the world to a (any) Babylonian.
Why?
Well, no doubt there were firm and difficult disagreements among Babylonians. Did we, I ask, need to include all of those in our discussions, or could we regard our own seemingly irreconcilable views and interests in a similar context that future generations might simply not know and therefore do nicely without.
My point, what do each of us really, really need to think and to acknowledge in order to sense, in ordinary social relationship, that there is mutual respect and mutual security for each of us, and this mutuality enables us collectively to seek cooperation, avoid conflict by reasoned management of conflicts, and experience continued and improvable collective decision-making together?
In my country we have police killing black men for jaywalking and charges of racism against the prosecutor for black and Latino youth arrests too poor to challenge the charges, but the response is antisemitism, a cover for racism.
Thanks for the update. I was aware of some things but not other things. The lattter being that ADL has removed some data that have used, that ADL and DOj use different definitions o antisemitic hate crime definitions. It would be interesting to compare the Southern Poverty Law Center’s and ACLU’s definitions.
Lastly, I heard Grenblatt’s response to Wikipedia on MSNBC today without knowing of the internal strive at the ADL.
Good idea on looking up the SPLC's data.
In last post the I was omitted from I HAVE USED
🧐
What antisemitism? I can write a bad novel out of whole cloth and put it in the nonfiction section of any bookstore if I paid the owner to market it that way.