Various Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Midwest chapter and the Jewish Community Relations Council, issued a joint statement condemning the photo as reflective of “a rising swell of anti-Semitism.”
In the wake of the disturbing images out of Baraboo High School, ADL Midwest is proud to stand alongside over two dozen leaders and organizations committed to fighting hate in our communities. Our joint statement is below. pic.twitter.com/oG6midYW3f
"We must all teach our children #tolerance and #understanding, both – at home and in school. For tolerance cannot be assumed… it must be taught. We all must make it clear that hate is never right and love is never wrong!" (Roman Kent, #Auschwitz survivor) https://t.co/jxdv5LHS5G
A petition calling for the students in the photo to be suspended has already garnered more than 5,000 signatures.
There are differing accounts as to what exactly happened when the photo was taken. Pete Gust, the photographer who took the photo and whose son is in the picture, told the Associated Press that the photo was taken before the boys’ arms were fully extended.
“There was nothing intended in any way shape or form to simulate anything that was offensive to anyone,” Gust said.
Morgan Springer, a recent graduate of the school told Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) that the photographer told the students to make a “Yeah! symbol” and most of their arms shot up into a Nazi salute.
“Parents and even the professional photographer just kept taking the picture and were even laughing because they were looking at it as a joke and even saying, ‘Oh, those silly kids,’” Springer said.
However, a mother of one of a student at the school told WPR other parents have told her that the students were claiming that the salute wasn’t actually a Nazi salute.
“If you go to football games on Friday nights, you’ll see all the parents, all the adults, all the cheerleaders doing the Blue-Gold, they put their hands like that,” the mother said. “Other kids were like ‘Yeah, it was kind of confusing.’ Some people said it was one thing, some people said it was another.”
The Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Los Angeles office released a statement on Monday saying they are “deeply concerned” about the upcoming National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) conference at UCLA.
The statement says, “ADL is deeply concerned about the potential impact the SJP conference might have on the campus climate at UCLA, and most particularly, on the safety and security of all students on campus.”
“We are also concerned that this event, like those held at other universities in the US, will lead to a hostile environment for Jewish and pro-Israel students, leading them to feel isolated and under attack,” the statement reads.
However, the ADL acknowledged that the challenges that universities face in respecting freedom of speech and events that create “alienation and hostility” like the NSJP; they also praised UCLA Chancellor Gene Block for condemning anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism in his Los Angeles Time op-ed stating that the NSJP conference would not be canceled.
“We continue to call upon the UCLA administration to strongly condemn the divisive and hateful rhetoric and the aggressive tactics attributed to SJP and ensure that UCLA is a safe and inclusive space for those who are Jewish and/or pro-Israel,” the statement reads.
The ADL Los Angeles office added, “The UCLA administration needs to take whatever steps necessary to ensure that all UCLA communities are treated with respect, free from vilification and harassment, and to continue to denounce messages coming from SJP that are to the contrary.”
Block wrote in his op-ed that UCLA can’t cancel the NSJP because they have to abide by the First Amendment, even if SJP’s rhetoric is “personally hurtful.”
Shmuel Rosner and Nir Hasson discuss the present struggles of Jerusalem from the diverse needs of its citizens to the constant political power struggle of its factions.
Nir Hasson covers the city of Jerusalem and archaeology for Haaratz newspaper.
Residents of southern Israel protest against their government’s decision to hold fire in Gaza in response to a similar decision by Palestinian militants, in Sderot, Israel November 13, 2018, REUTERS/ Amir Cohen
Israel and Hamas have reportedly agreed to an Egyptian-mediated truce after Hamas launched hundreds of rockets toward southern Israel on Nov. 12.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched more than 460 rockets into southern Israel, resulting in at least 108 Israelis wounded. Israel with 160 airstrikes against Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The Times of Israel (TOI) reports that Egypt led the ceasefire talks; Qatar, Norway and the United Nations also contributed.
“Israel maintains its right to act,” a senior Israeli official told TOI. “Requests from Hamas for a ceasefire came through four different mediators. Israel responded that the events on the ground will decide [if a ceasefire will go into effect].”
Hamas hailed the ceasefire as a bulwark against “Zionist aggression.”
“Our rockets have pounded Israel and sent a clear message: Bomb for bomb, blood for blood,” Hamas official Ismail declared. “If you attack Gaza and our people, Hamas rockets will find you everywhere, in Haifa, Jaffa, Ashkelon and Ashdod.”
The ceasefire has been roundly criticized by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, as well as the Zionist Union and Yesh Atid parties.
Residents of southern Israel communities are protesting the ceasefire, arguing that the repeated use of ceasefire agreements enable Hamas to continue to launch rockets into their communities.
Andrew Rossow sits and chats with ABC News out of Dallas, Texas. Only 28 years old and three years into practicing law, he doesn’t seem overwhelmed by his flooded inbox. But, while practicing criminal defense and fighting against the opioid capital of the world from Montgomery County, Ohio, Rossow still finds time to teach a law school class, run and co-manage a PR/entertainment agency, write, and advocate against cyberbullying across the world. Through his private practice, Rossow Law, he has started one of the first social media online movements to bring Hollywood and Silicon Valley together, in efforts to combat and minimize cyberbullying.
Rossow has done something that many said he wouldn’t be able to survive on. Yes, he’s a full-time practicing attorney, but he is also an author, journalist, and entrepreneur. After graduating from The University of Dayton School of Law and passing the Ohio Bar Exam, Rossow created #CYBERBYTE, one of the world’s first social media movements, and went on to break down the barrier between Hollywood/Silicon Valley and the general public.
“Growing up in a time where social media was first hatching and cell phone were first becoming ‘smart’, I recognized the importance of understanding the consequences of when technology is pushed beyond its intended bounds. Unfortunately, I never had the computer science degree to really go beneath its surface. That’s when I decided to write.”
“I remember shortly after passing the bar exam, having this nostalgia when the smartphone game, Pokémon Go, came out. As a millennial, I grew up with Pokémon, so it was awesome to see it return. But it came in a different form—digitally and within our control. While this was a huge marketing success, it was troubling, because users would almost certainly find themselves in potentially harmful situations, whether from a privacy standpoint, or even a criminal standpoint. So, that’s why I submitted my thesis to the Dayton Bar Association.”
“That piece went viral, and before I knew it, I was being interviewed by Fox and ABC News. It was the first time I realized that this type of writing, could truly make a difference. By writing on highly-trending security / legal topics, I could really speak to people, but as a millennial.” Rossow has since gone on to write for publications like Forbes, HuffPost, Thrive Global, and GritDaily.
From the Court Room to the Keyboard
But, what’s most interesting about his story is that while practicing law full-time, he also helps run and operate a full-time PR marketing & social media agency with his business partner, while advocating against cyberbullying with his online campaign, #CYBERBYTE.
“As a millennial, I’m in this fight to combat cyberbullying. I grew up being smaller than the rest of my classmates and friends. I had a great personality but didn’t understand how to joke around or stand up for myself. I took things too personally, and it caused a great strain on my relationships, particularly my family and friends. During college, I recognized that I needed to discipline myself, which took me on a pathway to the University of Dayton School of Law in Ohio. My generation has become so accustomed to living through their social media pages and their devices while forgetting how to interact with one another, face-to-face. I believed that with #CYBERBYTE, I could help change this.”
Through CYBERBYTE, Rossow created the #CYBERBYTE Challenge, a growing social media initiative where both Silicon Valley and Hollywood actors, actresses, and musicians come together, record a video of themselves expressing personal stories involving bullying and their tips for standing up against it today.
“As a millennial, I’m in this fight to combat cyberbullying. I grew up being smaller than the rest of my classmates and friends. I had a great personality but didn’t understand how to joke around or stand up for myself. I took things too personally,” – Andrew Rossow
“Ghandi once said, ‘be the change you wish to see in the world,’ but, the problem is nobody really acts on that. Through #CYBERBYTE, I am providing a mechanism for the community, particularly, millennials, whom are able to connect with their favorite artists, musicians, and/or role-models on a more intimate level.
Andrew Rossow on ABC news Dayton talking about CYBERBYTE.
But, Rossow said this wasn’t an easy thing to implement. “It’s definitely been a long road for me,” he pointed out. “It took almost 26 years to figure out who I was and where I wanted to be. After experiencing a childhood trauma at a summer camp, I vowed I would never let anyone put me into a position of feeling helpless and powerless.”
“With the strong and loving support from my family, particularly, mom, dad, sister, and grandma, I was able to attend law school and spend three tough years figuring out how to be the best version of myself,” said Rossow. “However, I think my biggest challenge has always been my inability to control emotions. Life tests you in many ways, whether it’s your family, personal relationships, or your career. But, understanding how to react to high-stress situations in each of these areas, is the difference between an emotionally intelligent being and an immature, reactive individual.”
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally
Rossow said what helped him grow the most was his exposure to the world during his junior year of college. “During my junior year at Hofstra University, my parents sent me on a study abroad program, called Semester at Sea. I sailed around the world on a ship for three months, traveling to over 12 different countries.”
To most, it was a dream come true, but he had a different feeling. “The idea of leaving my college friends, fraternity, and at-the-time girlfriend behind, wasn’t okay. I thought I had it all and I didn’t need to travel. Obviously, that dogmatic thinking was holding me back. Having traveled to places like Africa, India, Vietnam, and China, I came back an entirely different person, with an entirely new perspective on how I wanted to live my life.”
But, he emphasized having the strong support of his family throughout this entire process.
“No doubt about it, my family has been the reason I am where I am today. I grew up with two extremely loving parents, Mark and Lynne, and a wonderfully talented younger sister, Alexa. I have seen those closest to me experience what it’s like to watch their family tear apart in divorces and separations,” he said. “I am extremely fortunate and lucky to say that my parents are still very much in love today. What my mother and father, in addition to my grandma, have done for my sister and I, can never be repaid back. All I can do is be the best version of myself and give back to the world as much as my parents gave to me, utilizing all the life-skills they have taught me over the years (and still do this day, ha).”
Passing Along What You’ve Learned
In our digital age, technology has made life significantly more convenient, but all the while complicated.
“Understanding that there are ways to combat online bullying, without resorting to violence and hatred, is extremely important in our society and country today. We need to bring our divided country, closer together, and that all starts with respecting one another.”
Rossow recently spoke with Michael Reagan, the son to former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. “What he told me, really hit me, and I’m not sure why, because it’s such a simple concept, yet people have a difficult time implementing it. He told me that the biggest piece of advice his father told him was to ‘look for the good in a person.’”
Rossow told us his biggest piece advice to those entrepreneurs looking to make a difference:
“Find what your passionate about, especially, if it involves technology and the cybersecurity space. Identify a problem that has yet to be solved, and find a way to solve it in your own way, but that gives back to the community. There is always a niche or opening, looking to be explored. You just have to find it.”
Two Nice Jewish Boys discuss the aftermath of the Pittsburgh attack, Israeli and Diaspora Jewish relations, and much more in this cross over episode with Shmuel Rosner of Rosner’s Domain.
Pro-Israel students have filed a complaint to the Department of Education (DOE) regarding UC Berkeley’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter’s upcoming vigil equating the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh to the situation in the Gaza Strip.
As the Journal has previously reported, Berkeley’s SJP and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) are hosting a vigil on Nov. 22 that commemorates the 11 dead at the Pittsburgh shooting and three Gaza children who died in an Israeli strike. Attorney Joel Siegal, who is representing the pro-Israel students, wrote in a letter to the DOE’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) that the vigil creates “a false moral equivalency.”
“The death of civilians in Gaza, an area in the world where there is military conflict and where civilian death is unfortunate but at times collateral to military operations, is a false equivalency,” Siegal wrote to OCR Civil Rights Attorney Alexis Turzan. “It is anti-Semitic.”
Siegal added that the vigil portrays “Israel as a barbarian and racist nation,” which falls under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism that was recently adopted by the DOE.
“This is clearly the purpose of the false moral equivalence created here on the UC Berkeley campus,” Siegal wrote. “It is anti-Semitic and creates a pervasive hostile environment for Jewish students on Campus.”
Siegal noted at the end of the letter that he will be meeting with Turzan on Nov. 16.
UC Berkeley Assistant Vice Chancellor Dan Mogulof told the Journal that the vigil currently doesn’t have a set location, meaning that if it takes place off campus, then the university is not responsible for it.
Siegal, however, told the Journal in a phone interview that it is irrelevant whether the vigil takes place on or off campus, citing the “Compton Cookout” incident in 2010 involving members of a UC San Diego fraternity off-campus that resulted in a 2012 settlement between the university and the Departments of Justice and Education as precedent.
The SJP vigil complaint is an amendment to an Oct. 22 complaint from students from the pro-Israel UC Berkeley group Tikvah, represented by Siegal and Neal Sher, calling on the DOE to investigate flyers that permeated campus blaming Jews for the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The complaint called for the DOE to determine if students were involved in the distribution of those flyers and to see how thoroughly the university investigated the manner.
Sher, the former head of the Office of Special Investigations in the Department of Justice, told the Journal in a phone interview that by equating the Pittsburgh shooting to Gaza, SJP is calling Israelis “mass murderers.”
“I think it requires a very strong response from the administration, and by that I mean they should be expelled,” Sher said. “It’s very simple: they expel fraternities in universities all over the country for hazing, for different violations of student codes, and inciting blatant anti-Semitism cannot be condoned.”
Sher added, “If there was a group on campus that was perpetuating all the disgusting tropes about the African-Americans or the homosexuals, how long do you think they would last on campus?”
Rabbi David Lazar has been a spiritual leader and activist in Israel Sweden and the United States for 30 years. He has led the way as an active rabbinic supporter of LGBTQ causes as well as interfaith study and prayer. In Israel, he founded and directed RIKMA, and organization devoted to Spiritual Community Leadership Training, served congregations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and was rabbinic chaplain for the Israel AIDS Task Force. His interest in Jewish Folk Art is documented on-line at www.rabbidavidlazar.com. He currently serves as rabbi of Temple Isaiah in Palm Springs.
This week’s Torah portion- Parashat Vayeitze (Genesis 28:10-32:2)- features the story of Jacob’s dream and Jacob’s ladder, Jacob’s first encounter with Rachel at the well, and his marriage with her and with her sister Leah after being cheated by their father Laban. Our discussion focuses, among other things, on the objectification of women – and men – in this parsha.
