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Jewish Journal

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February 14, 2024

Lawsuit: Jewish Student Alleges She Was Forced Out of Columbia University Program Due to Antisemitism

News, United States /

The Lawfare Project filed a lawsuit against Columbia University on behalf of an Orthodox Jewish student on Monday alleging that the university discriminated against the student by forcing her out of a program.

The lawsuit, which was obtained by the Journal, identifies the student as being Mackenzie Forrest, 23, a student in Columbia’s Dialectical Behavioral Training (DBT) Program in Spring 2023. Forrest alleges after she was accepted to the DBT Program in February 2023, she told the program’s Director Dr. André Ivanoff in February 2023, that she would be unavailable from Friday evening to Saturday evening due to observing Shabbat, and Ivanoff replied, “that is a problem.” Ivanoff then allegedly attempted to walk it back by claiming it’s “not a problem but an issue.”

The lawsuit claims Ivanoff later pressured Forrest to compromise her religious beliefs so she could fully attend the DBT program’s “Suicide Weekend” training workshop on Oct. 27-29, the lawsuit claims, citing a purported text from Ivanoff to Forrest that stated, “I am unclear what sort of accommodation you thought might be available for missing this experiential 2 ½ day workshop but I can tell you it is integral to DBT training. I think you need a weekend long dispensation from your rabbi to attend this educational work and to participate fully including using computer media etc. etc. to complete this important work.” Forrest, again, said that she couldn’t come to the Friday-Saturday portions of the training due to Shabbat but would be able to participate in Sunday’s programming.

However, Ivanoff eventually told Forrest that she would provide a different assignment for Forrest and told her not to come to Suicide Weekend.

The lawsuit also claims that, following the Oct. 7 massacre, Forrest requested that she attend her classes virtually due to safety concerns. She made the request because Jewish students had been assaulted and harassed on campus and that anti-Israel protesters had blocked “access to the Columbia campus and the CSSW [Columbia School of Social Work] building during unauthorized protests, sit-ins and teach-ins,” the lawsuit states. Additionally, Forrest pointed to remarks from Columbia Professor Shai Davidai about how he wouldn’t send his own children to Columbia because of the university leadership’s refusal to condemn the antisemitism at pro-Palestinian protests on campus. Forrest’s requests were repeatedly denied by the CSSW “even though it had previously allowed other students to attend certain classes online and even though it ultimately allowed all students to attend classes online on December 6, 2023, the day of a scheduled ‘teach-in’ in support of Hamas,” according to the lawsuit.

In fact, the lawsuit claims that Forrest’s CSSW advisor, Elizabeth Creel, told Forrest that she “is the only person feeling unsafe” on campus and that her request was “unreasonable.”

Further, the lawsuit claims that the CSSW launched a campaign to get Forrest to drop out of the program. The alleged campaign featured Ivanoff claiming in an email to Forrest that she was having performance issues during her field internship, despite Forrest regularly meeting with her supervisor and never hearing anything about performance concerns from said supervisor. The supervisor also regularly lauded Forrest’s work and professionalism, the lawsuit claims. Forrest also purportedly had “a perfect grade point average” at school, per the lawsuit.

“CSSW administrators asserted that [Forrest] was only seeing one DBT client and was declining to take on new clients,” the lawsuit alleges. “While it was true that [Forrest] had one DBT client, it had never been communicated to her that there was a minimum or maximum number of DBT clients that she was expected to see.” But more importantly, Forrest did not ever reject any requests to take on other clients, the lawsuit states.

Regardless, the CSSW allegedly threatened to give Forrest a failing grade unless she dropped out of the program, in which case such a grade would not go on her transcript. Forrest ultimately dropped out.

The lawsuit contends that the CSSW’s alleged actions constitute a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, as well as a New York State law barring discrimination. Forrest is seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief.

“Columbia University failed Mackenzie and decided to launch a retaliatory campaign instead of protecting her from Jew-hatred,” Lawfare Project Founder and Executive Director Brooke Goldstein said in a statement. “If the university had provided her with the appropriate accommodations that she is legally entitled to, we would not be in this situation. Columbia, like any other college and university, must protect the civil rights of their students and provide them with safe learning environments free of discrimination.”

The university declined to comment on the matter, telling the Journal the university is “not going to comment on pending litigation.”

Ivanoff and Creel did not immediately respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.

Lawsuit: Jewish Student Alleges She Was Forced Out of Columbia University Program Due to Antisemitism Read More »

Artists 4 Israel Sends Art Kits to Israeli Children Affected by War

Community /

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, just ten minutes from downtown Los Angeles in Commerce, a group of 20 people gathered at Shugar Soapworks. Around tables filled with vibrant toys and crayons, they diligently assembled Healing Arts Kits destined for children affected by the ongoing conflict in Israel.

“So far, more than 50,000 children have been helped by the Healing Arts Kits.” – Craig Dershowitz

“The Healing Arts Kits are an emergency, psychological first-aid kit that was designed by a consortium of psychiatrists, art therapists, first-responders, parents and teachers to slow or stop the onset of new cases of PTSD in children in crises,” explained Craig Dershowitz, CEO of Artists 4 Israel. “So far, more than 50,000 children have been helped by the Healing Arts Kits.” 

Since 2014, Dershowitz has overseen the shipment of 10,000 kits to Israel, with 3,000 dispatched since Oct. 7. Since its inception in 2009, Artists 4 Israel has been dedicated to various initiatives, including tattooing over scars of terror attack survivors, painting murals in bomb shelters, launching canvas programs and performing street theater. With a global network of volunteers, they continue to donate their time and artistic talents in support of Israel.

The Healing Arts Kits look similar to the first-aid kits that hold emergency medical supplies, but hold instead a host of art supplies and toys. Each kit includes four finger puppets, four egg shaped rattlers, four bottles of bubbles, four pieces of coloring books, four crayons, two bottles of lavender scented body spray and a personalized card.

These items were selected to guide children through activities that offer therapeutic benefits. For instance, blowing bubbles necessitates deep breathing, which in turn regulates the entire nervous system. Engaging with finger puppets depicting powerful animals aids in restoring a child’s sense of personal empowerment. Additionally, there are over a dozen other activities included in the kit, all offering similar mental health benefits.

The demand for the healing kits has steadily increased. Israel’s Health Minister, Uriel Bosso, has described the situation as “an unprecedented mass casualty mental health event.”

Assembling art kits at a packing eventin Commerce

In addition to the trauma stemming from the Oct. 7 terror attacks, nearly 200,000 Israelis have been displaced by the ongoing Gaza War. Many have been forced to evacuate from areas near the western border with Gaza, or from the northern border with Lebanon due to Hezbollah activities.

For children, this upheaval translates to the loss of friends, disruption of schooling and constant resettlement, compounded by the sirens warning of rocket attacks. These daily traumas severely undermine a child’s sense of security and increase the risk of developing PTSD without timely intervention. But Israel doesn’t have enough therapists to meet the needs of so many affected by the war. This scarcity underscores the urgent need for Healing Arts Kits, which can be distributed to every family and utilized whenever a child encounters a traumatic event.

Dan Shugar, the owner of Shugar Soapworks, who along with his brother Ronnie donated 100 kits, said: “My mother was from Jerusalem. After Oct. 7, I wanted to do everything I could to support any kind of healing. Before becoming involved, I didn’t realize just how people were affected. It is important to give people who want to help an outlet. The Jewish community has had many ways to help. But it’s important that our Christian friends have this opportunity because they care about Israeli people, too.”

Indeed, Dershowitz said that they have held packing events at churches, synagogues and day schools and many of the volunteers who are coming in to help aren’t necessarily Jewish.

“We are honored to partner with Shugar Soapworks, a company not afraid to put themselves and their factory to use to help children even in the face of potential anti-Israel backlash. Artists 4 Israel hopes that we can produce enough Healing Arts Kits to meet the overpowering demand generated by the Oct. 7 massacre and the continued effects of war.”

To learn more about Artists 4 Israel, visit: artists4israel.org

Artists 4 Israel Sends Art Kits to Israeli Children Affected by War Read More »

My New Synagogue in Israel: Sephardi & Ashkenazi

Sephardic Torah /

From the earliest days of this long war, the unifying slogan here in Israel has been Yachad Nenatze’ach – Together we win. We see this on billboards, the Tel Aviv skyline is illuminated with these words at night, and one of the top songs on Spotify’s “Gaza War Playlist” is Sarit Hadad’s Yachad Nenatze’ach (see image above).

But do we actually mean it? Is “Jewish Unity” really possible?

For hundreds of years in the diaspora, our synagogues have been divided along ethnic lines, reflecting different geographical locales, customs, tunes and communities. We call these “Sephardi and Ashkenazi” synagogues. These various genres of synagogues represent the collective experiences of the Jewish people in the diaspora.

In his inaugural address as Chief Rabbi of Jaffa-Tel Aviv in 1911, Rabbi Uziel said: “As we now return to our natural homeland, there is absolutely no reason to continue living by these communal and linguistic divisions – Sephardi and Ashkenazi – imported from the diaspora. Instead, we will be one unified community.”

The most challenging place to realize Rabbi Uziel’s dream of “one unified community” is the synagogue. Is it possible to blend both of these beautiful customs – Sephardi and Ashkenazi – into one unified prayer service? In 1911, Rabbi Uziel believed it could be done, and in 2023, I discovered the realization of his dream, just one block away from my new home in Herzliya.

My new Israeli synagogue is made up of Jews from all ethnic backgrounds. There are Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Teimanim – all praying under one roof, as Israelis, as Jews. Our prayers feature the most beautiful blend of tunes from all customs. It’s a genuine expression and celebration of Jewish unity.

In commanding us to build the first House of Worship, God says: “They shall build for me a Mishkan, so that I will dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). 

God commanded us to build the Mishkan so that God could dwell among them – among us. Who is “them”? Who is “us”? Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Teimanim – Jews, Am Yisrael – one people. For hundreds of years, geography and customs separated us. In my new synagogue, we’re back together under one roof, per Rav Uziel’s vision. We haven’t compromised, we’ve unified. That’s what we are meant to do.

Every morning, and every Shabbat, in my new synagogue in Herzliya, I feel that Rav Uziel is looking down at our beautiful minyan and smiling…and so is God.

Yachad Nitpallel, Yachad Nenatz’each – together we pray, together we win. 

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Daniel Bouskila is the international director of the Sephardic Educational Center.

My New Synagogue in Israel: Sephardi & Ashkenazi Read More »

L.A. County Supervisor Horvath Stands with Jewish Community

Community /

When the L.A. County Board of  Supervisors recently passed two motions that will enact a Jewish safety plan for Los Angeles County, it was a demonstration of the board’s ongoing support for the Jewish community. It was also the latest instance of L.A. County Board of Supervisors Chair Lindsey Horvath displaying her steadfast solidarity with Jewish Los Angeles.

“Just as we prepare for earthquakes and fires, we must also use the same diligence to plan for violent attacks and acts of hate,” Horvath, who introduced the two motions, said. “The motions are important steps in realizing a comprehensive Jewish Community Safety Plan for Los Angeles County, which helps to combat antisemitism in all communities.”

In a phone interview, Horvath spoke of her ongoing work with the Jewish community. 

Regarding the Jewish safety plan, which was passed unanimously on Jan. 23, she acknowledged that in the event of an emergency, members of the observant community may feel more comfortable contacting neighborhood-based, private security groups, such as Magen Am. Still, if law enforcement is going to better protect the Jewish community, there’s the need for improving “cultural competency,” she said. 

The plan, modeled after the White House’s U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, aims to address the rise in countywide anti-Jewish hate. 

The first motion instructs emergency responders, including the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Sheriff’s Department and Office of Emergency Management to develop an antisemitism and mass violence attack preparedness strategy. It also creates trainings for local law enforcement agencies regarding antisemitism prevention.

The second motion creates emergency response notifications for sensitive sites, including synagogues, JCCs and other faith-based locations. Specifically, the motion requests that the Sheriff’s Department and the Office of Emergency Management conduct assessments of existing alert systems and emergency response notification protocols at such sites.

According to Horvath, the passage of the two motions marked the culmination of “more than a year of work” with organizations including Jewish Federation Los Angeles, the Israeli-American Civic Action Network, Anti-Defamation League, the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, American Jewish Committee and Holocaust Museum LA. 

This was not the first time Horvath, who is Catholic, has shown solidarity with the Jewish community. In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, she introduced a motion in the Board of Supervisors declaring support for the State of Israel while unequivocally condemning Hamas. 

“We know the war that is going on right now is painful for so many people and the loss of life is tragic beyond words, so we have to make sure here in L.A., whatever ripple effects are felt, that the Jewish community is safe,” Horvath told the Journal.

Horvath speaks at a groundbreaking ceremony marking the expansion of Holocaust Museum Los Angeles. Courtesy of the Office of Lindsey Horvath

Horvath frequently appears at community events. In November 2023, she spoke at a groundbreaking ceremony marking the expansion of Holocaust Museum L.A.’s Pan Pacific Park campus. Most recently, she appeared at a gala celebrating Beit T’Shuvah, a rehabilitation and synagogue community.

“She really is an incredible ally,” Joanna Mendelson, senior vice president of community engagement at the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, said in a phone interview. “Her very first motion when she came to the Supervisors’ office was to address antisemitism and the massive underreporting in the county … This moment, now more than ever, needs dialogue, needs people engaging and tackling very serious, heavy issues together, and she was one of our partners when we brought our elected leaders together.”

Likewise, Horvath said relationships with Jewish leaders is invaluable to her work in government, saying, “We appreciate the partnership of Jewish community organizations who want to work with us.”

In her role on the Board of Supervisors, Horvath — who previously served as mayor of the City of West Hollywood — represents the county’s Third District, which includes enclaves such as Bel Air, Malibu, parts of Hancock Park and the San Fernando Valley. 

The Third District seat was previously held by Sheila Kuehl and Zev Yaroslavsky. Home to more than two million people, the area contains a large Jewish population. 

Horvath said she doesn’t take for granted what it means to represent the historically Jewish district.

As a Catholic person who practices my faith, it’s important to me that community members are able to safely access places of worship and … do so with pride, not fear.

“I’m mindful that the people of this district, which has the largest population of Jews in L.A. County, want to be heard,” Horvath said. “I want to ensure people understand I’m aware of that. And as a Catholic person who practices my faith, it’s important to me that community members are able to safely access places of worship and go to community centers where they can celebrate their Judaism and are able to do so with pride, not fear. This is a community that needs to be celebrated and embraced. And that’s my intention.”

L.A. County Supervisor Horvath Stands with Jewish Community Read More »

American Jews Must Mobilize America’s Silenced Pro-Israel Majority

Commentary, Opinion /

Four months after October 7, American Jews are still reeling.  Polls find American Jews feeling threatened by antisemitism – validating the need for Robert Kraft’s Super Bowl commercial denouncing Jew-hatred, and all bigotry. The Jewish People Policy Institute’s Voice of the People Index keeps finding that most American Jews support Israel’s war against Hamas – even if some Palestinians are harmed unintentionally in the crossfire. And most American Jews agree with the record 24 percent of Americans who recently told Gallup pollsters that America is not supporting Israel enough. My first post-October 7th speaking tour to the US confirmed those results: most American Jews are Awakened Israel Warriors feeling deeply connected to Israel –and totally committed to its survival.

These American Jews are donating generously, doom-scrolling constantly, still crying periodically, and hugging their Israeli friends with a newfound intensity. Most are fed up with Benjamin Netanyahu – proving that you can love a country and hate its prime minister, while disproving the big Bibi lie, long passed its expiration date, that he has magical abilities with Americans. His refusal to retire annoys most American Jews and most American politicians, especially in the Biden Administration. 

Most of these American Jews have always passionately supported Israel and the Jewish people. Others are newly-awakened to Zionism’s relevance in their own lives. They keenly feel the anti-Semitic venom of the ongoing Hamas and Palestinian attack, the Jew-hating delight of the anti-Zionists, and a profound love for the plucky, embattled Jewish State.

As a result, for the first time in their lives, these Awakened Israel Warriors feel out-of-synch with America. Even in Florida, where law-and-order holds and the Jew-hating threat feels diminished because the authorities have zero-tolerance for hooliganism, many of these Jews feel a gap. They still feel unsettled since October 7, as everyone around them goes about their daily lives.

The last time Israel suffered so much— when Palestinians unleashed a wave of anti-Oslo terrorism in the early 2000s — American Jews were in concert with Americans’ post-9/11 anti-terrorist agenda. This time, it’s different. Even though Iran proxies have launched over 180 attacks against America, even though most Americans are pro-Israel, American society is not sufficiently enraged by the Iranian threat. The denial is dangerous and exasperating.

That difference, and the media’s hyper-criticism of Israel’s justified, remarkably restrained military tactics, is leading American Jews to miscalculate politically. The conversation, pushed by the mainstream media, the Ivy Leagues, social media, and, increasingly, the Biden administration, emphasizes Israel’s supposedly disproportionate response, the poor “innocent” Gazans, and the delusion that a two-state solution will work – even though 89 percent of the Arab world, not just the Palestinian people, resist normalizing relations with Israel.

A second, smaller group of American Jews – call them the Liberal Worriers – echo those concerns. These Israel-faultfinders are psyching out mainstream American Jewry – and the American Jewish leadership organizations.

Watch the polls. Don’t focus on the young people who in the future might be anti-Israel (or might change). Focus on the overwhelming majority of the American people still appalled by October 7, who understand that the only way to prevent another calamity is by crushing Hamas militarily. These are the Silenced Majority, who feel pro-Israel but don’t quite know how to show their support. Call them the Fetterpeople – people like Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senator, John Fetterman, who refuse to let illiberal liberals ruin genuine liberalism with their anti-Zionist agenda. And these are the patriots who notice that the pro-Palestinians merge their anti-Americanism with their Anti-Zionism. These anti-Israel, unpatriotic goons vandalize iconic American institutions, violate core American ideals, and, believe it or not, cheer America’s enemies like the Houthis – chanting “Yemen, Yemen make us proud, turn another ship around.”

The Biden Administration needs to hear more from these mainstream pro-Israel Americans, who must demand more loudly that America support friends like Israel and target deadly foes like Iran’s mullahs. 

The Biden Administration needs to hear more from these mainstream pro-Israel Americans, who must demand more loudly that America support friends like Israel and target deadly foes like Iran’s mullahs. That’s why the next pro-Israel rally should fill the Washington mall with non-Jews as well as Jews. That’s why pollsters, columnists and activists should emphasize that supporting Israel is the right as well as popular thing to do too. And that’s why ever more Americans must be mobilized to support Israel’s right to defend itself – asking, What would you do against such a threat? 

Those who don’t offer alternatives beyond “not targeting civilians” fail to acknowledge the depth of Hamas’s military build-up in Gaza and its evil cowering behind civilians and civil niceties. They must be educated to understand why calling right now for a two-state solution sounds to Israelis – and Hamas –like demanding a blanket pardon for Osama Bin Laden four months after 9/11.

I keep asking my Liberal Worrier friends – “Mah Nishtana?” Why is this two-state call different from the other two that triggered Jewish bloodbaths? In the 1990s, the push for a Palestinian state armed Palestinian militias, reduced Israel’s security presence in most Palestinian cities, and empowered terrorists who murdered over 1,000 Israelis when Yasir Arafat stopped negotiating in September 2000, and returned to violence in earnest.  Despite that bloody lesson, in 2005 Israel withdrew from every inch of Gaza – only to see the Hamas coup, the rise of Hamasistan, waves of rocket fire, and, ultimately, the massacre of October 7.  No two-state champion bothers to explain why it will work this time.  Just as Israelis who believe that Bibi still has some special touch sound so 1980s, these two-staters sound so 1990s. Shouldn’t we learn from history?

Beyond the Awakened Warriors and the Liberal Worriers are two other groups. There are the Israel-Weary Ones. They don’t want to be  singled out as Jews, forced to defend Israel, or targeted. They just want to go back to normal. Unfortunately for them, life doesn’t always cooperate. 

And there are the marginal, rabid, anti-Zionist Woke Warriors.  American Jews spend far too much time worrying about them, arguing with them, giving them attention. We should concentrate on reaching out to the non-Jewish pro-Israel majority, rather than bashing our heads trying to convince this spoiled, disloyal, totalitarian minority. They feed off the negative attention, just as the mainstream needs more positive attention, more cultivation. 

Watch the tear-jerking #StandUpToJewishHate commercial, “Tony,” showing a kind non-Jew silently painting over anti-Semitic graffiti marring his Jewish neighbor’s garage.  That’s the America I know.  Over the years, whenever I have reached out to non-Jewish friends to support Israel, denounce anti-Americanism, and fight bigotry, they usually responded positively, thanking me for showing them how to act on their feelings and values. And if they say “no” to such basic requests – at least you know who your friends are – and aren’t.

Traumatic moments like Oct. 7 are powerful reset moments. 

Traumatic moments like October 7 are powerful reset moments. The American Jewish community has a remarkable opportunity to revitalize a constructive Zionist debate about what Israel means individually and communally, in Israel and abroad. More broadly, with a rare moment of bipartisan support for Israel in Congress, this is a moment to re-energize the broader pro-Israel agenda, as more Americans see how anti-American anti-Zionists are, and how America’s values, interests and challenges resonate with Israel’s.

Professor Gil Troy, a Senior Fellow in Zionist Thought at the JPPI, the Jewish People Policy Institute, is an American presidential historian and the editor of the new three-volume set, “Theodor Herzl: Zionist Writings,” the inaugural publication of The Library of the Jewish People (www.theljp.org).

American Jews Must Mobilize America’s Silenced Pro-Israel Majority Read More »

Games Without Frontiers

Blogs /

Do you remember those games we would play when we were young, “see if you can count all the errors in this picture”? You’d circle the person with two left hands. A mistake might be that someone’s feet weren’t touching the ground. Well, it’s time to make lemonade out of lemons, and take advantage of the endless supply of errors in news articles about Israel. Here’s a short piece by ABC News recently:
https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas-war/what-we-know-about-the-conflict-104234888?id=106753225

Let’s play this game together. It’s free, and even your kids can join in, because even a child can report things with less media bias than this. For those of you who study the Torah or Talmud, I’ll break this down like Rashi:

Paragraph 1:
“The latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, has reached the four-month mark.”

-“Militant group” is a popular choice of term by news agencies. The BBC was doing so, until they came under enough fire, and changed it to “proscribed terror organization”. Apparently ABC missed the memo. Hamas is a legally designated “terrorist group”. Militancy is not only far less harsh of a term, but it implies potential legitimacy that terrorism does not.

-“Four-month mark”. Interesting. When I first read this article, it was January 29th. At that point it said “three-month mark”. They have since updated it to”four-month mark”.

Hmm, let’s analyze this. It was January 29th. The horrific declaration of war was on October 7th, when Israel had its Pearl Harbor, (if Pearl Harbor had included rapes, kidnappings and beheadings). And there wasn’t a day without Israel being mercilessly shelled with rockets ever since. So they really “reached the three-month mark” on January 7th. Must just be a typo. Oh wait, Israel finally entered Gaza to start fighting back on the evening of October 27, a long and patient 20 days into the war. So ABC News must only count the start of the war as from when Israel started fighting BACK. Got it. And changing it to “four-month mark” on February 14th is better, but they do not have a trace of a CORRECTION anywhere. Sneaky.

Paragraph 2:
“In the Gaza Strip, at least 26,637 people have been killed and more than 65,000 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.”

-“By Israeli forces” is interesting, since we already have ample proof that human shields are used constantly in Gaza. Let’s do a thought experiment. In a movie like “Saw”, if the person opens a door to their home, and by doing so the trap created by the villain kills their family, would you say that the innocent killed them, or would you still say the villain killed them? In the case of human shields, the IDF may be the gun and bullet, but Hamas is most certainly the one aiming where and whom it hits.

-“26,637 people….65,000 others” again assigns the numbers to the IDF. But we also have ample proof that at minimum 10% of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad rockets misfire and blow up their own people. With over 10,000 rockets already confirmed being fired by the end of last year, that’s at LEAST 1,000 misfires. How many of the 26,637 deaths and 65,000 injured in Gaza were from the thousand plus misfires? There’s no way to know, but we can safely reason it’s plentiful; and yet all of those numbers are automatically assigned to Israel.

-“Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.” They almost get a pass for this one, because it’s often reported far worse, without naming Hamas in that phrase. So good on ABC for acknowledging Hamas in charge of the numbers. However, the gold standard to remove media bias is when it qualifies that the Hamas Ministry of Health has been caught lying about the numbers, not differentiating between Hamas and civilians, and including their own aforementioned misfires. So their reported numbers should ALWAYS be given with the massive caveat of how unreliable those numbers truly are.

Paragraph 3 appears ok.

Paragraph 4:

“There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 297 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.”

-“Palestinian Ministry of Health” brings up an interesting point here. Not an error but a good distinction to clarify. Did you forget to include Hamas in that phrase this time? No, because the West Bank is NOT controlled by Hamas. It is under partial civil control of The Palestinian Authority (The PA), aka Fatah. Do you see how important it is to clarify information, so people don’t just assume who’s responsible or at fault?

-“Surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank”. This one admittedly will be harder for your kids to spot, but if you’ve taken any critical thinking coursework you should be able to see the subtle problems in the wording. While it’s true there has been a surge of violence, by mentioning it in the same breath as “Israeli-occupied”, they have linked Israel haters to the hot button issue of “occupation”. Suddenly this “surge of violence” seems like it was likely justified, doesn’t it? Another problem is that although there HAVE BEEN some reprehensible individuals in the Settler community who have attacked illegally and immorally, the majority of the surge of violence has been attacks on Israelis, and then fighting back.

Paragraph 5 (Last one):
“The ongoing war began after Hamas-led militants launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel from neighboring Gaza via land, sea and air. Scores of people were killed while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where more than 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007. Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.”

-“The ongoing war began after…” Fascinating that NOW they say the war began October 7, even though the story starts with it clearly referring to October 27. That’s just lazy.

-“Militants” again instead of terrorists.

-“Scores of people”. How many are in a “score”? According to literally all the sources, a score is 20. It comes from counting your herds of cattle. Scores are measured as multiples of 20, so it’s slightly higher than dozens, and far fewer than hundreds. How would you feel if the vernacular was that “dozens of people were killed”? You would know that was horribly incorrect.

A justifiable argument would be that “scores” is an accepted term referring to “many”, and that would be fair. So if Abraham Lincoln had said “scores of years ago” instead of “4 score and 7 years ago” in his Gettysburg Address, where it referred to exactly 87 years ago, that would have been fine, if less memorable. But let’s say Lincoln had been referring to a millennia prior as scores ago, who wouldn’t be confused? Hundreds would have been fine. Over a thousand would have been better.

Regarding those slaughtered on October 7th, approximately 1,200 would have been the best, because that’s what scores was supposedly describing. But make up your mind. Either tens, dozens and scores are all acceptable when describing 1,200, or none of them are. Please try to be intellectually honest with your choice. And if you say they are all acceptable descriptors, I can justify that “scores of Palestinians” have been killed so far, or heck, I’ll even give you “hundreds have been killed so far”, because apparently we can play with English now to manipulate our needs.

-“Unprecedented incursion” almost sounds like it deserves a round of applause. Our army makes incursions, and there’s no negative association with the word. It’s neutral if anything. Terrorist attack, murderous attack, horrific attack would each be more accurate, and convey what happened the same way the US government describes it. Or even just the word “attack” would be less of an understatement.

-“More than 200 others taken hostage”. The actual number was 250. Why soften the blow by making it sound 20% smaller? Time to remind you of something significant. When listing the Palestinian deaths, every number mattered. “At least 26,637” was the language. When Israel was counted it was so imprecise that it was “scores”, instead of 1,200. And apparently even with kidnap victims they can’t simply say 250, it’s “at least 200”. Are you seeing a pattern? Because even your kids can figure out the errors in this brain teaser.

-“_________” that’s not a typo. That’s where they clearly forgot to mention the mass rapes and mutilations to both women and men. Not worth a mention, hmm?

-” Have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel” might be the most nitpicky one I point out, but is this how we refer to borders now? Do Mexico and Canada live under a blockade imposed by America? It may or may not be a bad comparison, but my point is not to say Israel/Gaza are the same as every other border in the world. Rather, the fact that you can feel the menacing undertones that the description conveyed, when naming any other bordering countries, proves the bias being created by using that same choice of words. Why couldn’t it just say that the Palestinians have been living under Hamas controlled government, bordering both Israel and Egypt? And feel free to point out that in addition to over a hundred thousand Palestinians given work permits to enter from the West Bank, prior to October 7th, Israel opened its border daily to fifteen to twenty thousand Gazans, which is fifteen to twenty thousand more than Egypt allows at its border.

-“Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.” And here we finish the 5 paragraph so-called news report, with one last egregious slice of media bias, the pièce de résistance possibly. “Unlike Israel”, those rich, white colonial oppressors, who have the luxury of bomb shelters. Wait a minute, why DON’T the Palestinians in Gaza also have bomb shelters? Could it be because, gasp, Hamas literally took the cement and money given to them by most of the world including ISRAEL for the shelters, and instead built hundreds of miles of tunnels with them? Yes, this is well proven, and not speculation. So why does it finish off with making them the haves and have nots? If you want to end this “article” accurately with the same information, then how about you say, “While Israel has air raid sirens and bomb shelters and water pipes, Hamas stole the money appropriated for such crucial items, and used the money and materials to instead build tunnels, and bombs”.

Wasn’t that a fun game for the whole family? Don’t worry, the expansion pack is coming soon, at just about any news source that reports on the Middle East, so you’ll never run out of times to play!

Boaz Hepner works as a Registered Nurse in Saint John’s Health Center. He moonlights as a columnist, where his focuses are on health, and Israel, including his Chosen Links section of the Journal. He is a Pico/Robertson native, and lives here with his wife Adi, and children Natalia and Liam. He can be found with his family enjoying his passions: his multitude of friends, movies, poker and traveling.

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Michael W. Twitty: “Koshersoul” and Appreciating and Elevating Food Cultures

Food, Podcasts, Taste Buds With Deb /

Award-winning culinary historian, food writer and chef Michael W. Twitty loves exploring and sharing cultures through food.

In his latest book, “Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew,” Twitty melds the food and traditions of two of the most distinctive cultures, his culture. “Koshersoul,” which also includes recipes, received the 2023 National Jewish Book Award.

Twitty, who has been part of this community for more than 20 years, says his narrative is having a continuing relationship with Judaism, while honoring his African American roots.

“In making my own brand of kashrut by way of “Koshersoul,” etc., I enjoy the idea of having food from different backgrounds,” Twitty said. “There’s not a continent that’s inhabited where the two groups have not made an impact.” This includes China, South Asia and Japan.

“The doors [of] the entire world are open to me,” he said.

Twitty explains the three parts to every food tradition.

“What the food means to you, how the ingredient plays on other cultures or dishes, even a similar dish,” he said. “[And] also its origin story.”

While people are born with their own food traditions, they also grow up with traditions to them; from neighbors or friends.

Twitty’s first book, “The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South,” won the 2018 James Beard Award for best writing as well as book of the year, making him the first Black author to do so. The next one, “Rice,” is a Savor the South cookbook from The University of North Carolina Press.

Twitty actually grew up cooking.

“It wasn’t just cooking,” he said. “It was the history, the story about the people behind the food, their inspirations. All of that really led up to me going into writing about food.”

Twitty grew up in D.C. in a home with lots of extended family, so he had to learn how to entertain himself as the only kid around eight adults; he and his mother lived with his grandparents, uncles and other relatives; plus his father and paternal grandmother lived nearby.

“Especially back then, when we didn’t have phones and tablets, you really did have to learn your way through everything, he said. “The kitchen was a place I hung out a lot.

“The kitchen wasn’t just a kitchen; it was where my grandmother babysat me [and] my mom’s most important room in the household,” he said.

When Twitty was young, he watched a lot of food shows on PBS. This was pre Food Network. Everyone from Martin Yan to the Frugal Gourmet contributed to his education.

“My mother had me sit down and write down [maybe 150] culinary terms,” he said. “By the time I was seven, I knew what it meant to chiffonade, what gazpacho was, all these other things.”

Other early food influences, Twitty explains, were growing up in a multicultural community.

“Our neighborhoods in that part of Maryland were very Latin, very Jewish, very Black … from across the diaspora: African American,” he said. “And it was cool to grow up with Greek kids, Lebanese kids, Italian kids and Chinese American kids, and have the entire spectrum in front of you.”

Twitty would go over to his friends’ houses and learn their customs and eat their food. And then he would go look it up in the school library.

“You learned your way through the globe based on the smell of someone else’s house,” he said.

While Twitty loves and appreciates food from other cultures, he says, “People need to understand there is a fine line between appropriation and amplification. [And] a distinction to be made between actual theft … and the real and authentic adaptation that’s done when we appreciate things.”

He adds, “How can I express my song, my poetry, my truth through this food or ingredient? That’s what I hope to teach people through my books and through my writings and talks.”

Follow @TheCookingGene on Instagram and MichaelWTwitty on Facebook and learn more at KoshersoulBook.com.

For the full conversation, listen to the podcast:

Debra Eckerling is a writer for the Jewish Journal and the host of “Taste Buds with Deb.” Subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. Email Debra: tastebuds@jewishjournal.com.

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When Presidents Curse (at the Jews)

Commentary, Opinion /

President Joe Biden is reported to have used profanity in two recent outbursts against Israel’s prime minister. Sadly, such eruptions are nothing new. Going all the way back to the 1940s, presidents or other senior U.S. officials occasionally have said some ugly things about Israel or Jews.

In 1943, Samuel Rosenman, the chief speechwriter for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, confided to a colleague that the president was “much displeased” to learn that four hundred rabbis were planning to march to the White House to plead for the rescue of Jewish refugees. Rosenman said FDR was so upset that he “used language that morning while breakfasting which would have pleased Hitler himself.”

Syndicated newspaper columnist Drew Pearson reported in early 1948 that President Harry Truman privately railed against American Jews who were urging him to support the creation of a Jewish state: “Pounding his desk, [Truman] used words that can’t be repeated about ‘the (blank) New York Jews.’ ‘They’re disloyal to their country. Disloyal!’ he cried.” Truman denied the story, but Pearson’s source, New York Post publisher Ted Thackery, did not back down.

The White House tapes released by the Richard Nixon Presidential Library revealed some ugly remarks in the Oval Office in the early 1970s. In one, the president could be heard becoming angry at his attorney, Leonard Garment, and shouting, “Goddamn his Jewish soul!”

In another, Nixon angrily complained to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about American Jews urging him to press the Soviet Union on Jewish emigration. Referring to the possibility of Jewish demonstrations outside a forthcoming U.S.-Soviet summit, Nixon thundered: “Let me say, Henry, it’s gonna be the worst thing that happened to Jews in American history. If they torpedo this summit–and it might go down for other reasons–I’m gonna put the blame on them, and I’m going to do it publicly at 9 o’clock at night before 80 million people. They put the Jewish interest above America’s interest, and it’s about goddamn time that the Jew in America realizes he’s an American first and a Jew second!”

Kissinger used vulgar language in describing Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his cabinet in 1975. The incident took place during a round of shuttle diplomacy that Kissinger was conducting between Israel and Egypt. According to Prof. Gil Troy’s book, Moynihan’s Moment, Kissinger at one point became frustrated that Rabin was not making enough concessions to Egypt, and complained to President Gerald Ford that Israel’s leaders were “the world’s worst s—ts.”

Not that Americans have a monopoly on such ugliness. There also have been several incidents along these lines involving European diplomats.

In 2001, the French ambassador to Great Britain, Daniel Bernard, launched into an obscenity-laced rant against Israel and its prime minister, Ariel Sharon. At a dinner party, Bernard told Conrad Black of the Daily Telegraph that “All the current troubles in the world are because of that s——y little country, Israel.” Despite an international uproar, Ambassador Bernard refused to apologize, claiming his remark had been distorted.

In 2009, a senior official in the British Foreign Office, Rowan Laxton, unleashed a profane tirade against the Israeli government headed by Ehud Olmert. During a workout in a London gym, Laxton shouted about the “f—-ing Israelis, f—-ing Jews,” and declared that the Israelis should be “wiped off the face of the earth,” according to staff members at the gym. During his trial on charges of racial harassment, Laxton’s defense was, “We are all human. I erred. I don’t normally swear.”

Perhaps the best known contemporary example of a government official cursing the Jews involved Secretary of State James A. Baker, in 1992. His cabinet colleague, House and Urban Development secretary Jack Kemp, leaked to the media that when Baker was told of Jewish concerns about U.S. policy toward Israel, he replied, “F—- the Jews, they don’t vote for us anyway.” Baker’s spokeswoman called the report “garbage,” but New York Times columnist William Safire, after investigating the episode, wrote: “I can confirm that Baker did say that, with the same vulgarism that made it so memorable, to two high officials on two different occasions.”

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, reported in October 2014 that “a senior Obama administration official” derided Israel’s prime minister as “chickens—t” for not making more concessions to the Palestinian Authority. No U.S. official publicly took responsibility for the remark; but nobody in Washington seemed to doubt the accuracy of Goldberg’s account.

In a 2021 interview, Donald Trump used profanity in denouncing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump said he was angry that Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden on winning the 2020 election.

Whether the president has been a Democrat or a Republican, and regardless of who happened to be Israel’s prime minister, the phenomenon of a rage-filled or obscenity-laced outburst against Israel or Jews is a recurring feature in the political world. So perhaps Israelis should not take the latest reported vulgarity to heart. It wasn’t the first, it probably won’t be the last, and it reflects more on the speaker than the target.

Dr. Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of more than 20 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust. His latest is Whistleblowers: Four Who Fought to Expose the Holocaust to America, a nonfiction graphic novel with artist Dean Motter, published by Dark Horse Books.)

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Hating Hamas Is Kosher

Commentary, Opinion /

This week my family and I hosted the parents of Shani Louk, the most famous victim of October 7. In the early hours of that horrific day, she was shot in the head, murdered by Hamas terrorists who then stripped her naked and took her in a white pickup truck, with five terrorists sprawling their legs over her mangled and bloodied corpse. Her body was desecrated by hundreds of onlookers yelling “Allahu Akbhar.” At the Torah dedication we completed last Monday night in front of 1,000 people, and on a panel discussion with Robert Kennedy, Jr., I said publicly that Shani is arguably the single most violated woman in world history. Never before have some one billion people watched a video of a murdered attractive 22-year-old paraded in her underwear, as men beat her corpse in the name of glorifying their god.

Shani’s mother Ricarda is a German convert to orthodox Judaism. I asked her in the panel discussion with Bobby Kennedy if she regretted moving to Israel and becoming Jewish. “No, never,” she responded. In echoing the most famous and eloquent speech of the Bible, delivered by King David’s Moabite great-grandmother Ruth, she said that the Israeli people are her people, she is a Jew, her remaining three children are Jewish, and that she would live nowhere else.

She also revealed that the IDF had told her and her husband that two of the five terrorists shown in the video had been already been eliminated. I expressed my satisfaction and said I hoped the other three would be killed by the IDF as well. She disagreed. “I don’t want to be angry. Whether they live or die is not my focus.”

What a great woman. Wow! Bobby Kennedy echoed that sentiment, saying  that he had worked for ten years to have Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian terrorists who murdered his father, released from life imprisonment. (Bobby believes that Sirhan was only part of a larger conspiracy to murder his father). Bobby spoke eloquently about the power of forgiveness.

But, respectfully, I would have none of it.

The Bible is clear: “When your enemy falls you should not rejoice.” I have no feelings of elation when the IDF kills Hamas terrorists. I am not happy about it and I would never gloat. Rather, with two sons fighting in the war as IDF soldiers, and with four children living in Israel, I simply am thankful that these monsters cannot murder innocents any longer.

Yet I believe strongly in the concept of Kosher Hate and devoted an entire book to that title.

Just as there is Kosher Love, there is non-Kosher Love. And just as there is non-Kosher Hate, there is also Kosher Hate.

Kosher love is the affection that a man feels toward his wife. Non-kosher love toward his mistress. Kosher love is what we humans feel toward Mother Theresa or the Dalai Lama. Non-kosher love is what the Germans felt toward Adolph Hitler or what many Palestinians feel toward the Hamas Hitler, Yahya Sinwar, whose life Israel stupidly saved when they operated on him in prison to remove a brain tumor.

Likewise, non-kosher hate is what the Klan feels toward blacks and Jews and what American abominations like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar feel toward Jews and Israel. Kosher hate is what decent Americans feel toward Osama bin Laden and Ayatollah Ali Khameini.

Bobby Kennedy, who is eloquent on the subject of grief, having been subjected to more than anyone’s fair share, disagreed.

“Shmuley, I won’t allow myself to ever hate. Once that poison gets inside you, you can’t control it and it becomes all-consuming.”

The great Elie Wiesel, my mentor, hero, and beloved friend, once told me the same thing. I asked him if he hated the Nazis and Hitler. He said no, because hatred is a cancer that spreads.

It was the only time in my life that I disagreed with the great man.

Why should we believe that hatred cannot be focused, directed, and controlled?  Why believe that hatred is only a cancer that spreads indiscriminately outside of any human control of agency? Can I not focus my hatred solely on the SS, the Gestapo, Al Qaeda, the Klan, the Iranian terrorist government?

And once we say that hatred is something we should never entertain lest it consume us and have us hate innocent people, why not say the same thing about love?

No one would tell a wife, “Look, be careful falling in love with your husband because you won’t be able to control it and soon you’ll be having an affair with a co-worker.” Don’t love your children because soon you’ll fall in love with the Hitler youth.

We humans are fully capable of controlling whom we love, whom we admire, whom we respect, whom we detest, whom we approve of, and whom we hate.

I have zero hatred in my heart whatsoever toward Arabs, Palestinians, or Muslims. To the contrary, I love them as my equal brothers and sisters under God. When I see a Muslim woman in New York wearing a head covering, I often walk over to her to salute her for the proud and public display of her faith.

What I hate is Hamas. The savages who shot Shani Louk in the head, stripped her naked, and desecrated her body, all because she was guilty of being Jewish.

Since Israel’s catastrophic withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, the Jewish state has waged five wars against these terrorist monsters. Each time Israel has stopped the war after just a few days, or weeks, in the belief that “mowing the lawn” would be enough to stop their annihilatory ambitions against Jews.

Then came October 7 and we learned that without Hamas’ total destruction, Jews will continue being murdered by these savages for the next thousand years.

This is exactly why at Casablanca, without even consulting his ally Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt declared that he would demand nothing short of “unconditional surrender” from the Nazis. Churchill was convinced FDR had made a huge mistake and begged him to recant. Unconditional surrender meant the Nazis would fight to the last man and the last bullet to defend their Fuhrer, a prediction that proved absolutely correct. Indeed, the Nazis continued to fight even after Hitler had blown his brains out in a tunnel underneath the Reichstag on 20 April, 1945. Still, the American president refused. FDR understood that without finishing off Nazism completely, the Western democracies would be fighting the German monsters for decades or perhaps centuries to come.

It was only with the complete and utter destruction of Nazis and German militarism that the German people themselves eschewed all Nazis and purged it – at least partially – from within.

Unless Hamas is destroyed to the last terrorist fighter, or with an unconditional surrender, Israel must understand that, God forbid, its future is precarious.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, whom the Washington Post calls “the most famous Rabbi in America,” is the author of “The Israel Warrior” and “Kosher Hate: Fighting Bigotry and Antisemitism.” Those who wish to help equip Israeli army soldiers please visit www.thisworld.us/donate.

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