Tag Archives: antisemitism

  After completion of the reading of each of the five books of the Torah in synagogue, the congregation calls out, “Chazak, Chazak, V’nitchazek!”  It might be translated: Be strong!  Be strong!  And let us be strengthened! I thought this a good way to begin. In my last posting I …

Antisemitism kills. We survived the Holocaust. What did we learn? During Roman times Jews made up 10% of the population of the Roman Empire.  Today, there should be 200 million Jews. Today, there are only 14 million Jews because of thousands of years of prosecutions, persecutions, pogroms, ghettos and shtetls, …

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) bills itself as the “premier U.S. non-profit organization monitoring the activities of domestic hate groups and other extremists.”  In reviewing the articles and analyses on its website, one can see a particular bias in covering hate groups and victims: aggressively monitoring alt-right white supremacist …

An estimated 25,000 people marched from Manhattan’s City Hall over the Brooklyn Bridge on January 5, 2020. The message from the group organizers – mainly Jewish alphabet groups like UJA, AJC, ADL and JCRC – was “No Hate. No Fear.”  The signs were everywhere, but few of the marchers uttered …

The time for politically correct obfuscation is past.  There is no room for pretending we don’t see: The issues are simply too important for it to be any other way. I turn back here to the attack last week at the kosher market in Jersey City, which is now being …

Today’s Good News weekend post will more or less write itself with the glorious news that Labour was thoroughly trounced by the Conservatives in the British General Election yesterday.  Boris Johnson led the Conservatives to their best result since Margaret Thatcher, while Labour under Jeremy Corbyn suffered their greatest defeat …

It did not have to be this way, but it is.  Israel is headed to the third election in less than a year. I point a finger of accusation, first, at Avigdor Lieberman, head of Yisrael Beitenu. He fomented the electoral instability and took some perverse satisfaction in refusing to …

Hamas and pro-Hamas outlets are conducting an online campaign to help Jeremy Corbyn win the election. A Hamas propaganda outfit deploys armies of trolls to attack Jewish campaigners fighting antisemitism, they support Corbyn online, help to create pro-Corbyn trends and vote for him in online polls. Take the account, KhamakarPress. …

There are many debates being waged around the world about whether anti-Zionism is antisemitism, how it is possible that some Jews may be against Israel, and why some Jews who do not believe in either God or religion are still considered Jews. This article will not tackle all of those …

After numerous anti-Israel letters to the editor were published in The Press during April/May 2019, co-director of The Israel Institute of New Zealand, Dr David Cumin, wrote in to provide balance and facts on some of the issues. Mr Minto took particular issue with the statement that the Middle East …

In a BBC interview Andrew Neil was unable to get any kind of answer on why Jeremy Corbyn was unable to tackle antisemitism. I think the point missed here is that Jeremy Corbyn is antisemitic, so why would he want to stop it? He has been seen around the Middle …

  MEDIA RELEASE ECAJ annual Report on Antisemitism in Australia 24 November 2019 There were 368 recorded antisemitic incidents in Australia during the year ending 30 September 2019, according to the annual Report on Antisemitism in Australia, published by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry(ECAJ).  The incidents were logged by …

Earlier in October, Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer announced that a Conservative government would decrease foreign aid spending by 25 percent, asserting that Canadian foreign aid should only be used to “support the Canadian values we hold dear,” rather than to support “antisemitic organizations and prop up foreign dictatorships.” Included …

A group based in New Zealand has been found to have dozens of antisemitic posts and comments on its Facebook account. The national debate in New Zealand about online hate is being had at all levels of society, with Prime Minister Ardern meeting with other world leaders to garner support …

I attended a Reform Synagogue in Maryland for Rosh Hashana. It was very important to them that we be reminded that these people are Reform Jews. Why? I don’t know.  I thought we were Jews. Period. The Rabbi led up to her sermon with the story of Choni the Circle …

Growing up in Auckland, I knew I was a bit different. Christmas wasn’t a big deal for me. My family didn’t have a Christmas tree and a wreath on our door, and 25 December was the most boring day of the year. Often, we would travel to a holiday destination …

America’s “call-out” culture has seemingly had a very easy time identifying racism, but a much more difficult time seeing antisemitism. Consider a new potential cast member for Saturday Night Light, Shane Gillis, who was found to have made off-color comments in the past. He was terminated this week before his …

It is Monday night, 23rd September. It has been a long day. Today was my second day at the 2019 Labour Party conference in Brighton. On the first day I had spent my time looking at what was taking place outside of the  secure conference area.  Today I went inside. …

Last week, Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere caused outrage when he uttered the Nazi salutation “sieg heil” in a debate with Mayor Phil Goff. Tamihere claims his point was that Goff is like Hitler because he purports to dictate what speech is acceptable for Aucklanders to hear.  And of course, the …

Maligned, misunderstood, and derided, provocative, emotive and polarizing.  Often condemned, just the mention of the word Zionism is enough to raise the blood pressure of many. This often results in both pro and anti-Israel activists engaging in a battle of words. Frighteningly, this battlefield has expanded way beyond the Social …