July 10, 2019

OMG, Just Shut Up: An Open Letter to Linda Sarsour

Leave a Comment / Columnists / Ariel Sobel

Dear Linda Sarsour,

This is an appeal to you on behalf of the Jewish community for you to stop speaking for us, about us or to us.

I know you’ve ignored these requests before.

You laughed off more than 21,000 Jews who signed a petition for you not to speak on a panel called “Antisemitism and the Struggle for Justice” because you are neither Jewish nor a scholar on anti-Semitism. Declaring you know better about hatred of Jews than actual Jews is — you guessed it — anti-Semitic. It also is belittling and disrespectful.

But after years of you showing absolutely no sensitivity toward the Jewish community, I’m pleading with you to please shut up.

You entered the conversation around anti-Semitism when in 2017, your organization, MPower Change, along with Celebrate Mercy raised $162,000 for Golden Hill Cemetery in Colorado to repair anti-Semitic vandalism. Later, you helped raise $238,624 to provide for Tree of Life synagogue after a terrorist murdered 11 Jews inside. This has been the name you’ve dropped to get into the intra-community conversation on what is and isn’t anti-Semitism.

While we are grateful for the efforts you’ve made to help dead Jews, those efforts are hollow when you frequently spread inflammatory and painful language toward living Jews.

You cannot bribe the Jewish community. You are wrong if you think any sum of money would make us overlook your consistent minimizing of anti-Semitism.

It’s telling that you ever thought we would.

Linda, you are the Lena Dunham of anti-Semitism. The list of needlessly offensive things you’ve done to the Jewish people is longer than the Torah, Talmud and two Passover seders.

You cannot bribe the Jewish community. You are wrong if you think any sum of money would make us overlook your consistent minimizing of anti-Semitism.

Here are your greatest hits:

1. You were complicit in the face of Louis Farrakhan’s undeniable anti-Semitism, delivering a speech at a 2015 rally organized by him in his celebration.

2. You victim-blamed Jews for complaining about your organization’s relationship with Farrakhan, painting them as part of a right-wing conspiracy.

3. You asked Jews on Facebook: “What work are we willing to do and are we willing to be open to the true idea that members of the NOI [Nation of Islam] are not all anti-Semites? Are we cool with broad brushing a whole group?”

4. When Elder Kirsten John Foy told a Jewish woman, “You’ve got wicked spirit laying upon your heart. I pray them bound and cast from you by the blood of the lamb of God, Jesus Christ,” you applauded him and replied, “You are too blessed to be stressed.”

5. You proudly associate with Bishop Talbert Swan, another open anti-Semite, who has written a book advocating for conversion therapy, which directly leads to the suicides of LGBTQ youth.

6. You told Jews to boycott the Forward, a nonprofit Jewish publication that even has defended you in its pages.

7. You created lists of “good Jews” versus the “bad Jews” in your attack on the Forward.

8. You threw a temper tantrum over the announcement of a black-Jewish caucus, encouraging more division between two communities of which you are not a part.

9. You vilified the most respected organization fighting anti-Semitism, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), leading it to be expelled from diversity training at Starbucks — while you used security from the Nation of Islam.

10. Oh, yeah. Hiring security from the Nation of Islam.

11. When a Jewish grocery in Winnepeg, Canada faked anti-Semitic vandalism, you exploited that it was staged in order to attack the ADL for condemning the bigotry, before the fraud was exposed.

12. You suggested Jewish progressives harbor divided loyalties to Israel over their values.

13. You commented on an anti-Semitic tweet that told Jews their homeland is Poland and Brooklyn to “hey, hey leave Brooklyn out of this.”

14. You enthusiastically co-signed an article that accused Jews of waging “profound war on black people and people of color.”

15. You erased the Jewish heritage of Jesus on multiple occasions — which contributes to Christian anti-Semitism.

16. You claimed Jews who complained when you reframed Jesus as a Palestinian are against a black actress playing the Little Mermaid and support human rights abuses against migrants at the U.S. border.

But Linda, what makes you most worthy of this request to shut the hell up is that you’ve contributed to a culture that vilifies Jews for speaking out against anti-Semitism.

“Dont (sic) you get it: we can wake up in the morning say ‘good morning’ and be labeled antisemitic,” you tweeted this May. “It’s not about what we say, it’s who we are. It’s based on orientalist tropes that deem Muslims and Arabs inherently antisemitic. It’s racist. It’s bigoted. It’s finally being exposed.”

According to the ADL, 74% of people in the Middle East and North Africa harbor anti-Semitic attitudes, and not because they said good morning.

You aren’t just hurting Jews; you’re hurting Muslims. You have encouraged divisiveness when our communities need unity the most.

Just because someone is a member of another marginalized group doesn’t mean they are incapable of hating Jews. Just like I — as a Jew — am capable of being racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamaphobic and just plain mean, you, as a Muslim or Arab, can be anti-Semitic. Claiming Jews who call out anti-Semitism are “the real bigots” is victim-blaming, unhelpful and cruel. It makes it impossible for us to come forward without real fear for our safety.

No ally to our community actively seeks to paint us as liars. No friend to Jews would claim all anti-Semitism allegations as frauds. You are partaking and furthering the trope that the Jewish people are in a conspiracy to keep down the rest of society.

I frequently interact with white supremacists on social media. A favorite phrase of theirs is “the Jew cries out in pain as he strikes you.” You paraphrased their hateful slogan and perpetuated it to a new crowd.

You wouldn’t know this, because white supremacists — although they might target you — don’t shout these anti-Semitic tropes at you.

That’s not to say hateful intimidation hasn’t been thrown your way. I recognize that many members of my community have participated in that. I’m revolted by anyone who calls you a cockroach, terrorist, Sharia law proselytizer or un-American. They also disgust the many people in my life who are Muslim — but so do you. Your anti-Semitic rhetoric has become a source of shame for many Muslims, Palestinians included. By consistently refusing to respect Jews, you, yourself, are the one promoting the stereotype that our communities are adversaries.

I’m asking you to talk less and listen more about Jewish issues — not any of your other experiences — because you are a necessary voice on other issues. I make this request because you aren’t just hurting Jews; you’re hurting Muslims. You have encouraged divisiveness when our communities need unity the most.

Linda, it’s not the Jews’ fault that Tamika Mallory sat onstage with Louis Farrakhan as he declared, “The powerful Jews are my enemy” and “the Jews were responsible for all of this filth and degenerate behavior that Hollywood is putting out, turning men into women and women into men.” It’s not our fault you were complacent.

We didn’t make you repeatedly intrude on conversations about anti-Semitism or try to define our oppression for us. We can’t make you shut up, either. But it never hurts to ask.

Signed,

Ariel Sobel, an anti-Semite’s worst nightmare.

Ariel Sobel is a screenwriter, filmmaker and activist, and won the 2019 Bluecat Screenplay Competition.

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Los Angeles Should Lead on Paid Family Leave

Leave a Comment / Columnists / Eli Lipmen

One day, my then-4-year-old daughter asked me, “Daddy, why are you always at home with us?”

For 2 1/2 years, I had the most amazing job in the world: raising my kids as a stay-at-home dad. It was an unexpected job but one that I loved and taught me so much about who I am as a person.

As a stay-at-home dad, I helped to build the Los Angeles Dads Group, part of a national organization dedicated to helping fathers socialize and support one another.

Our most valuable asset is that Los Angeles is one of the best places in the United States, if not the world, to raise kids. Incredible weather, great outdoor opportunities from surfing on the beach to hiking in the mountains, cultural events and venues that are unrivaled, an incredibly diverse Jewish community and an ethos focused on family and enjoyment of life rather than work.

There is, however, one thing that makes L.A. a very difficult place to raise a family: the cost of living. L.A. consistently ranks as one of the most expensive places to live, and the cost of raising children only adds to it.

The United States is among a handful of countries in the world that doesn’t guarantee paid parental leave. California has, so far, been a leader in this effort, creating the first paid family leave program in the United States, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing to expand it. Since 2002, Paid Family Leave has been a lifeline for working families, enabling a mother or father, grandparent or guardian to take time off to bond with a new child or for family caregiving.

“L.A. consistently ranks as one of the most expensive places to live, and the cost of raising children only adds to it.”

The problem is that the structure of the program, which covers 60% to 70% of a worker’s take-home salary for up to six weeks, is fundamentally inequitable. Many families are already living paycheck to paycheck, and simply can’t afford to take a 30% to 40% cut in their salary to utilize the program. And for those like me who work in the nonprofit sector, that additional salary helps put food on the table.

We know that nearly 40% of all Angelenos are liquid asset poor, meaning they’re three paychecks away from losing the roof over their heads. We know L.A. has one of the highest costs of living in the country, and the cost of childcare now outpaces the cost of in-state college tuition. We know that paid parental leave policies work to decrease unemployment, increase participation among women in the workforce and reduce the pay gap between men and women. And we know that more bonding time improves the health and development of young children, reduces infant mortality rates by as much as 10% and results in higher rates of well-baby care, improved mental health, and increased long-term achievement for children.

Developed and underdeveloped countries around the world have read the writing on the wall and implemented robust paid parental leave programs. In Israel, for instance, a worker is entitled to 14 weeks of parental leave after working for their respective place of work for at least 12 months. In L.A., we have a unique opportunity to address this persistent inequity and investing in the next generation of Angelenos by covering that wage gap with a citywide, fully paid leave program for new and expecting parents for up to 18 weeks.

I was lucky to have the love and support of my wife and family and the financial stability to spend the time at home raising my young kids. I wouldn’t give back that time for any amount of money. But I was fortunate. For many families, spending time with a new child remains a financial obstacle. But as a city, this is within our reach — and something we can ensure for all L.A. families. Together, we can make paid family leave whole — and we must if we want L.A. to continue to be one of the best places in the world to raise a child.

Eli Lipmen is a nonprofit consultant, commissioner for the city of Los Angeles’s Neighborhood Council System, co-organizer of the L.A. Dads Group, and father of three.

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Cartoonist Disinvited from White House Defends Image Widely Labeled as Anti-Semitic

Leave a Comment / Online, United States / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — The artist behind a political cartoon that showed U.S. government officials as puppets of George Soros and the Rothschilds has defended his work and accused the Anti-Defamation League of libeling him.

On Wednesday, Politico reported that Ben Garrison would no longer be attending a White House social media summit following complaints by the ADL and others that his Rothschilds cartoon from 2017 was anti-Semitic.

In emails to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency late Tuesday and early Wednesday, Garrison said he “got kicked out” of the summit.

Garrison also defended the cartoon in question, which shows Soros, a liberal Jewish philanthropist, pulling the strings of then-National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and former CIA director Gen. David Petraeus. Above Soros, a green hand labeled “Rothschilds,” a well-known Jewish banking family, manipulates him.

At the time, various members of the “alt-right” — including Mike Cernovich, a radio host who commissioned the Garrison cartoon — were charging that McMaster and other Trump aides were sabotaging the president’s agenda on behalf of “globalists” and “Islamists.”

The Anti-Defamation League called the cartoon “blatantly anti-Semitic” and said “the thrust of the cartoon is clear: McMaster is merely a puppet of a Jewish conspiracy.” Soros is a frequent target of the right for his liberal and pro-democracy efforts in the United States and Europe, and some of that criticism has taken the form of historic anti-Semitic tropes, including notorious “puppet master” and “octopus” themes.

While the Rothschilds often appear in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about global control going back to the 19th century, none of the current family members are particularly well-known for their politics or social activism.

Nevertheless, Garrison defended his work by saying that the Rothschild family played a large role in the evolution of centralized banking, including by being “instrumental in the behind-the-scenes creation of the Federal Reserve.”

“All of this is not conspiracy theory, it is historical fact,” he wrote. “Yet nowadays anyone who even mentions the ‘R’ word is smeared as anti-Semitic. Now they want any criticism of George Soros to be silenced by the same means. They use the anti-Semitism insult as a tactic to silence critics.”

The Federal Reserve, the central banking system of the United States, was created by an act of Congress in 1913. The only claims that Rothschilds had a hand in its creation are found on various conspiracy sites. The ADL calls the claim that the Federal Reserve is controlled by Jews “a classic example of the hatemonger’s paranoid-style exploitation of legitimate concerns — in this case, the nation’s economy.”

Garrison told JTA that he had libertarian Jewish friends who will vouch that he is not anti-Semitic. He also sent along an email defending him that was signed by someone identifying himself as Rabbi Joseph Kolakowski and calling himself the “Grand Rabbi of Koblentz.”

JTA reached out to Kolakowski, who said he directs a chaplaincy program at a prison in Pennsylvania and took the title to honor his ancestor from the city in Germany.

Kolakowski also said that while he does not know Garrison personally, he “reject[s] the entire ideology of ‘Semitism’ and ‘anti-Semitism.’”

“There was no reference to the Torah faith or religion in Mr. Garrison’s cartoon,” Kolakowski wrote. “I believe that George Soros is an enemy to the basic fundamental ideas of America and he is a very dangerous individual.”

On his website, Garrison describes himself as “an independent political cartoonist based in Northwest Montana.” His cartoons have been posted on right-wing sites like Breitbart and InfoWars.

“I’m a conservative libertarian cartoonist,” he told JTA. “I’m pro-constitution and pro-liberty. I’m anti-war, anti-big government, and especially anti-socialism, which I consider to be evil.”

According to his site, Garrison began drawing cartoons in 2009 “to protest the central banker bailout, bloated government and the slide toward tyranny.” The site also notes, as did a recent article in Wired, that his work has often been defaced by far-right internet trolls who add racist and anti-Semitic images and messages that he rejects.

Indeed, he accused the ADL of libel because the organization used one of those defaced cartoons as part of a guide on anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews and money. The ADL posted a version of a cartoon on which others had juxtaposed stereotypical images of Jews. It doesn’t call out Garrison by name, although his signature is on the doctored cartoon.

“We’re thinking about suing them,” Garrison wrote. “One more thing — who are they to set themselves up as arbiters of free speech? They enjoy vilifying people and getting people fired for using free speech. The ADL is the one engaging in hate speech, not me.”

Critics of the White House decision to invite Garrison to Thursday’s social media summit — which is expected to focus on alleged anti-conservative bias among tech companies — noted that President Trump had been highly critical of a cartoon in The New York Times that Trump and many others called anti-Semitic. The Times later apologized for that April cartoon, which depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a dog wearing a Star of David collar and leading a blind, yarmulke-clad Trump. Asked about that cartoon, Garrison replied, “The newspaper should not have apologized.”

“The time for editors to be judicious is BEFORE such a thing gets printed,” Garrison told JTA. “If they want editorial cartoons to be inoffensive, then they will also become ineffectual. Cartoons are supposed to either make someone happy or angry. All else is political correctness.”

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