Jewish Lobby
sabotages Angela Davis award, because of her support for Palestine
Newsletter published on January 11, 2019
(1) Lobby targets
Blacks who defend Palestinians; Angela Davis event cancelled
(2) Angela Davis
'stunned' after Award Revoked over her support for Justice in Palestine
(3) Mayor Woodfin
(Birmingham, Alabama) demands details of Angela Davis decision
(4) Birmingham mayor:
protests came from 'local Jewish community and some of its allies'
(5) Civil Rights
Award Rescinded From Angela Davis After Jewish Community Objections
(6) Lobby faces
Backlash over Birmingham Institute's recission of Angela Davis award
(7) Louis Farrakhan:
Jews are termites. Says he's not anti-Semite but 'anti-termite'
(8) The Art of the
Smear - The Israel Lobby Busted
(9) Dynamic Silence:
media blackout; or only negative reports
(1) Lobby targets
Blacks who defend Palestinians; Angela Davis event cancelled
From: JUDY schuchmann <judyschuchmann1@gmail.com>
Angela Davis is latest Black target of Israel lobby
Ali Abunimah Lobby Watch 7 January 2019
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute has canceled its annual
gala at which iconic Black scholar and activist Angela Davis was to receive a
prestigious human rights award.
Randall Woodfin, the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, expressed
his “dismay” at the decision, which he said came “after protests from our local
Jewish community and some of its allies.”
“The reactive decision of the BCRI did not create an
opportunity for necessary consensus dialogue,” Woodfin added.
Davis is the latest prominent Black intellectual and
outspoken supporter of Palestinian rights to be targeted by the Israel
lobby.
Roy S. Johnson, a columnist for several Alabama newspapers,
revealed Monday that those demanding the cancellation were “primarily – though
not exclusively – from the city’s Jewish leadership, according to a source
familiar with a decision that transpired quickly, and stunningly, in a span of
just a few days.”
Last month, Southern Jewish Life, a communal publication
serving southern states, ran an article criticizing the BCRI for honoring Davis,
claiming that she is “an outspoken voice in the boycott-Israel movement, and
advocates extensively on college campuses for the isolation of the Jewish state,
saying Israel engages in ethnic cleansing and is connected to police violence
against African Americans in the United States.”
While there is vocal and growing opposition to Israel’s
policies among American Jews at large, the leaders of established Jewish
communal groups, including the Birmingham Jewish Federation, tend to be strongly
pro-Israel.
The Birmingham Jewish Federation was reportedly among the
groups that pressured BCRI.
Others who pressured BCRI to ditch Davis reportedly included
General Charles Krulak, a retired Marine commander and former president of
Birmingham-Southern College.
Support for Palestinians
Angela Davis, a Birmingham native, has long been an outspoken
supporter of Palestinian rights and an advocate of the BDS – boycott, divestment
and sanctions – movement to hold Israel accountable for its violations and
crimes against Palestinians.
Davis has also stood up for Rasmea Odeh, the Palestinian
activist and torture survivor deported from the US in 2017 following a
conviction for immigration fraud.
Adam Milstein, a major financier of anti-Palestinian groups,
took note of the BCRI’s decision on Twitter:
The Birmingham
(AL) Civil Rights Institute canceled its Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award
for #AngelaDavis after protests from
local #Jewish community and concerned Americans. #BCRI concluded she
unfortunately does not meet all of the award's criteria https://t.co/09y7c4tMPd
pic.twitter.com/tAAxymyBNK
— Adam Milstein
(@AdamMilstein) January 7, 2019
Milstein was named in a censored Al Jazeera documentary about
the Israel lobby leaked by The Electronic Intifada in November, as a founder and
financier of the anti-Palestinian smear website Canary Mission.
That same film, The Lobby–USA, also identified how Israel and its agents are targeting and
attempting to co-opt Black leaders and activists in order to disrupt growing
Black identification and solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.
Affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, the Birmingham
Civil Rights Institute was founded in 1992 to commemorate the city’s role in the
struggle against institutionalized American racism.
In a statement Saturday, BCRI noted that in September its
board “selected Angela Davis to receive the prestigious Fred Shuttlesworth Human
Rights Award at its annual gala in February 2019.”
The associated
gala event, scheduled for February 16th at Haven has been cancelled. Ticket
purchasers will received a full refund. pic.twitter.com/YKrt6nfnzK
— BCRI
(@bhamcivilrights) January 5, 2019
“In late December, supporters and other concerned individuals
and organizations, both inside and outside of our local community, began to make
requests that we reconsider our decision,” BCRI added, without naming or further
characterizing the groups or their objections.
“Upon closer examination of Ms. Davis’ statements and public
record, we concluded that she unfortunately does not meet all of the criteria on
which the award is based,” BCRI stated.
“Therefore, on 4 January, BCRI’s Board voted to rescind its
invitation to Ms. Davis to honor her with the Shuttlesworth Award.”
Targeting Black voices
Davis is the second high-profile Black intellectual to be
targeted by pro-Israel lobby pressure in recent weeks.
In November, Marc
Lamont Hill was dismissed from his role as a CNN political commentator following
an Israel lobby campaign of lies and smears misrepresenting a speech he made
at the United Nations in support of Palestinian rights and BDS.
Temple University also faced pressure from the Zionist
Organization of America to dismiss Hill as a professor – a step it has not taken
amid warnings that this would violate Hill’s First Amendment rights.
Hill called BCRI’s decision to withdraw its award from Davis
“shameful.”
This is shameful.
I stand with my dear sister and friend Angela Davis. https://t.co/gj69Fpk0AQ
— Marc Lamont Hill
(@marclamonthill) January 7, 2019
Hill is one of many people expressing consternation at BCRI’s
decision to disinvite Davis who is widely recognized as a groundbreaking Black
radical theorist, prison abolitionist and anti-racism activist who throughout
her life has faced institutional pressure and persecution for her stances.
Very disappointing
that Birmingham Civil Rights Institute decided to rescind its decision to honor
Angela Davis. Calling to boycott Israel for violating int’l law and human rights
is not only a constitutionally protected right, but also the right thing to do.
#IStandWithAngela https://t.co/pUlZQ2h3HR
— Jamil Dakwar
(@jdakwar) January 6, 2019
To argue that
Angela Davis is unworthy of a civil rights award is beyond shameful. And to
dance around the fact that it’s due to her outspoken support of Palestinian
rights makes it outrageous. https://t.co/dC2yplrFYE
—
JewishVoiceForPeace (@jvplive) January 7, 2019
.@bhamcivilrights
is rescinding its decision to honor Angela Davis for calling to boycott Israel
for violating human rights while @TheKingCenter is honoring warmonger, #MLK
holiday opponent and anti-civil rights proponent @SenJohnMcCain.
This is
disgraceful.#IStandWithAngela https://t.co/DgyStZrjWU
— Bishop Talbert
Swan (@TalbertSwan) January 7, 2019
Alabama columnist Roy S. Johnson also condemned the decision
as an insult to the memory of Fred Shuttlesworth, the preacher and leader in the
struggle against segregation for whom the BCRI award is named.
Shuttlesworth, Johnson wrote, “would not have bowed to anyone
trying to dissuade him from honoring someone who fought the same fight – even if
they fought with a different fervor, even if they were decidedly more
revolutionary.”
But by disinviting Davis, Johnson added, “one of our most
venerable cultural institutions, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, did just
that – it crumbled.”
(2) Angela Davis
'stunned' after Award Revoked over her support for Justice in Palestine
Angela Davis Says She's 'Stunned' After Award Is Revoked Over
Her Views on Israel
Angela Davis, the activist and scholar, said this week that
she was 'stunned' after a civil rights group in her native Birmingham, Ala.,
reversed its decision to honor her with an award amid protests over her support
for a boycott of Israel.
Professor Davis, once a global hero of the left who has since
earned renown for her scholarship, had been selected for the human rights award
months ago by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, but the group's board
rescinded the honor on Friday.
In announcing the move, the institute did not offer an explanation,
saying only that 'she unfortunately does not meet all of the criteria on which
the award is based.' But Professor Davis said in a statement on Facebook on
Monday that she had learned it was because of her 'long-term support of justice
for Palestine.' The revocation of the award, she added, was 'not primarily an
attack against me but rather against the very spirit of the indivisibility of
justice.'
In a statement expressing dismay at the controversy, Mayor
Randall Woodfin of Birmingham said the decision had come amid 'protests from our
local Jewish community and some of its allies.'
The institute did say in its statement announcing the
revocation that it had begun hearing from 'concerned individuals and
organizations' in late December, around the time the magazine Southern Jewish
Life published a piece about the award by its editor, Larry Brook.
In it, he wrote that 'for some in the community, there might
be some indigestion' at the now-canceled February gala where Professor Davis,
who retired from t
Mr. Brook noted that Professor Davis has supported the
boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, known as B.D.S., which seeks to
apply economic pressure to Israel until it ends the occupation of the West Bank,
treats Palestinians equally under the law and allows the return of Palestinian
refugees.
Many Israelis and their allies oppose the movement, viewing
it as anti-Semitic and an existential threat to the country. Supporters,
including Professor Davis, describe it as a necessary response to what amounts
to modern-day apartheid.
[A boycott drive put Israel on a blacklist. Now Israel has
one of its own.]
Professor Davis, who has delivered that message on college
campuses and elsewhere, has also joined prominent black celebrities and thinkers
in comparing the struggles of
Palestinians to those of African-Americans. Among those celebrities is the
actor Danny Glover, who received the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute's human
rights award in 2003.
Israel and its allies have defended against the boycott
movement around the world, including in the United States, where polls of young
people show support growing for the Palestinian cause.
In recent years, more than a dozen states have passed laws to
restrict contractors from boycotting Israel. Some of the laws are being
challenged as violations of First Amendment rights.
[She wouldn't promise not to boycott Israel, so a Texas
school district stopped paying her.]
In his statement, Mayor Woodfin called on the institute and
those who opposed its decision to engage in dialogue.
The institute's reversal provided 'an opportunity to engage
in conversation about how we work together to resolve our differences
constructively and continue to move our community forward,' he said. 'I would be
pleased to facilitate and participate in any such conversation, now and in the
future.'
In her statement, Professor Davis said her activism often
involved the linking of movements around the world to those within the United
States.
'I support Palestinian political prisoners just as I support
current political prisoners in the Basque Country, in Catalunya, in India, and
in other parts of the world,' she said. 'I have indeed expressed opposition to
policies and practices of the state of Israel, as I express similar opposition
to U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine and to other
discriminatory U.S. policies.' ...
(3) Mayor Woodfin
(Birmingham, Alabama) demands details of Angela Davis decision
Mayor Woodfin demands details of Angela Davis decision from
BCRI
Updated 7:22 AM; Posted 3:25 AM
By Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has accused leaders of the
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute of 'poor stewardship' and demanded details of
the decision to announce an award and then withdraw it from controversial
activist Angela Davis.
The board voted on Jan. 4 to rescind the Fred Shuttlesworth
Human Rights Award that had been previously announced was going to Davis. It
canceled the Feb. 16 gala where she would have received the award.
'The crisis of leadership at the Birmingham Civil Rights
Institute represents a clash of values, wherein the institution responsible for
stewarding powerful, poignant and respectful dialogue, has demonstrated that
they do not value dialogue with residents of Birmingham and the public at
large,' Woodfin wrote in a statement released on the city web site on Jan. 11.
Woodfin serves as an ex-officio member of the board.
'Because of their poor stewardship, some in the local and
national media are misconstruing the crisis of leadership at the Birmingham
Civil Rights Institute as a clash of cultures, ethnic groups, or races. Let me
be clear - it is not.'
Woodfin also clarified his previous remarks on the issue to
note he was not criticizing the Jewish community, despite letters sent by Jewish organizations in
the city opposing the award for Davis.
'It was not my intent to suggest that the entire Jewish
community was opposed to Dr. Angela Davis receiving the Fred L. Shuttlesworth
Human Rights Award,' Woodfin said.
'Birmingham's Jewish community is not monolithic in thought,'
Woodfin said. 'I consider myself an ally of Birmingham's Jewish community. In
fact, African American and Jewish leaders in Birmingham have worked together to
build bridges during some of Birmingham's darkest times. I expect us to continue
to do so. With that said, members of the community, Jewish and otherwise, were
indeed vocal in their opposition of Dr. Davis receiving the Shuttlesworth
Award.'
More discussion and public dialogue should have taken place,
Woodfin suggested.
'Dialogue should have allowed for the full measure of
discussion about the merits of the recognition by the Birmingham Civil Rights
Institute, including supporters and dissenters of some of Dr. Davis' positions,'
he wrote. 'In fact, the community has heard little from the BCRI. This is
unacceptable.'
Woodfin mentioned the resignation of three BCRI board members
this week.
'While the resignation of some members from the Board of
Directors from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute signals a first step, there
are still unanswered questions surrounding their situation,' he wrote. 'We know
very little about what transpired on that board that has brought us to this
point.'
Woodfin said that on Monday, Jan. 7, he submitted a list of
items and actions from the board and staff at BCRI, including:
Minutes: A release to the public of all minutes of the BCRI board of directors from September
2018 - Saturday, January 5. Honoree: A release, to my office, of the
official, written communication shared,
or yet to be shared, with Dr. Davis
regarding the initial invitation to Birmingham as well as
communications rescinding the
invitation. Apology: Issue an apology statement to the community-at-large for the poor handling of
the process. Criteria: A release of the award selection criteria to help the community understand the full
range of your selection rationale.
Facilitation: Invite representatives from stakeholder organizations to meet directly with the board
of directors this week. Woodfin said he had received copies of BCRI board
minutes from September-December 2018 BCRI Governance 2018).
Woodfin noted that the City of Birmingham provides the primary
funding for the institute.
'The City of Birmingham is the largest donor to the BCRI, and
as such we have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that the use of public
resources reflect the values of the City of Birmingham,' he wrote. ...
(4) Birmingham mayor:
protests came from 'local Jewish community and some of its allies'
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute under fire for rescinding
Angela Davis honor
Institute says activist and professor 'does not meet all
criteria' and that 'concerned individuals' asked it to reconsider
Jamiles Lartey and agencies
Tue 8 Jan 2019 06.32 AEDT First published on Tue 8 Jan 2019
06.21 AEDT
Davis, a Birmingham native, has spent decades fighting for
civil rights. She was an active member of the Black Panther party, the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the US communist party. She is now an
outspoken supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that
protests Israel's treatment of Palestinians. It is this ideological affinity
that appears to have inspired the revocation of the BCRI honor.
BCRI president and chief executive Andrea Taylor said in
October the institute would be 'thrilled to bestow this honor' on Davis, who she
said was 'one of the most globally recognized champions of human rights, giving
voice to those who are powerless to speak'.
But on Saturday the BCRI announced that in late December,
'supporters and other concerned individuals and organizations, both inside and
outside of our local community, began to make requests that we reconsider our
decision'.
Its statement added that 'upon closer examination of Davis' statements and
public record, we concluded that she unfortunately does not meet all of the
criteria' for the Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights award.
The statement did not indicate what criteria it found Davis
did not meet, or identify the origin of the requests to reconsider.
In a statement expressing 'dismay', Birmingham mayor Randall
Woodfin said the protests came from the 'local Jewish community and some of its
allies'. He called it a reactive and divisive decision and offered to facilitate
dialogue in response. ...
(5) Civil Rights
Award Rescinded From Angela Davis After Jewish Community Objections
January 8, 20192:16 PM ET
SHERREL WHEELER STEWART
FROM WBHM 90.3 FM
Updated 4:54pm E.T.
The Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award is supposed to
honor the civil rights leader's legacy and raise funds for the Birmingham Civil
Rights Institute. But after some members
in the city's Jewish community objected to giving the award to human rights
activist Angela Davis, this year's award presentation is derailed and the
community is divided.
In October, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute's board
announced it would honor Davis at a February event. Now, it says, the award
presentation is canceled because Davis' statements and public record do not
"meet all of the criteria on which the award is based." Attempts to get more
details from the board regarding its decision have been unsuccessful.
The controversy set off social media responses around the
country and a protest outside the Civil Rights Institute, where local activists
called for leaders of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to resign after the
organization canceled plans to honor Davis. The Birmingham mayor said he's
dismayed by the decision.
Temple University professor and commentator Marc Lamont Hill,
who has faced criticism himself over his past comments supporting Palestinians,
tweeted in support of Davis.
"This is shameful," he wrote.
(6) Lobby faces
Backlash over Birmingham Institute's recission of Angela Davis award
Birmingham Institute's recission of Angela Davis award over
BDS becomes an embarrassment to pro-Israel groups that applied pressure
Philip Weiss on January 10, 2019
There are two big stories involving Israel and BDS in the
American news this week. One is the Senate Republicans pushing a bill to punish
supporters of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions and thereby divide the
Democratic Party.
The other is the uproar over the decision by the Birmingham
Civil Rights Institute to rescind an award to Angela Davis because of the
activist/scholar's support for BDS, which one Birmingham Jewish group claimed
'targets the Jewish people excessively.'
Davis was to receive the Fred Shuttlesworth prize on February
16. The BCRI changed its mind about the award, and canceled the gala, because of
what is being reported as pressure from the Jewish community.
The story is proving to be a giant embarrassment to both the
Civil Rights Institute and those Jewish organizations, showing the overreach of
the Israel lobby. Angela Davis is now being showered with praise and the
Institute is being condemned internationally; so much so that the top three
officers of the organization resigned within days of rescinding the award (the
chairman is a former Honda executive). And one Jewish organization that applied
pressure on the BCRI has tried to back away from its own letter to the
Institute!
Roy Johnson, a reporter for AL.com, summarized the scandal on
Roland Martin's show.
This has been a big blow to the institute, it's been a black
eye that certainly extends around the world, the coverage has been global. You
had to see some heads roll ... The board is in the crosshairs of a lot of people
in this city.
Both the Birmingham City Council and the Birmingham School
Board made statements in support of Angela Davis, a native daughter of the city.
Davis will be honored at a 'grassroots' event on February 16, Johnson said; and
it sounds like that event will be a gala of its own. 'Organizations around the
city are coming out in favor of honoring Angela Davis.'
Johnson stated bluntly that the decision was a mistake. He is
still trying to determine 'how they came to this extremely bad decision, and
what were the factors, what were the pressures ... and how they could not see
this fallout coming.'
As for those pressures: 'It came ... due to pressure from Jewish organizations,
from many Jewish organizations in the city.'
Two of those organizations are the Birmingham Holocaust
Education Center and the Birmingham Jewish Federations. The executive director
of the Federations publicly condemned the award on the organization's Facebook
page (a post later removed, according to NPR). The Birmingham Civil Rights
Institute is surely sensitive to the Federations because, according to federal
nonprofit filings, the Institute has received many gifts over the years from
people who also give money to the Federations.
As for the Holocaust Education Center (BHEC), Roy Johnson
reported at AL.Com that on January 2, its board sent a letter to the Institute,
in which it 'expressed concern and disappointment' over the award and urged the
Institute to 'reconsider your decision.'
In the letter, obtained by AL.com, the organization cited
'recent outspoken support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
campaign against Israel, [which] is very troubling as it targets the Jewish
people excessively.
'We do not suggest that Israel should be immune from
criticism,' it continued, 'but BDS ignores gross human rights transgressions by
other countries around the world and focuses solely on Israel, the world's only
Jewish state.'
Johnson reported that the BHEC's entire executive committee
and its director signed the letter but they are now trying to walk it back.
'Our intention was to go on record about our concerns in a
private letter sent to BCRI leadership,' [Board President Deborah Layman] said
in an email to AL.com, responding to query about the BHEC's letter. 'We had no
further part in the decision made by BCRI to cancel the event, and we were
surprised at their decision.'
Regrets they've had a few: 'I haven't run across anyone in
the Jewish community that expected that BCRI would comply with their request and
then cancel their event,' Johnson said on Roland Martin's show.
The award had also been slammed in Southern Jewish Life
magazine, which headlined its story: 'Prominent BDS activist Davis to receive
Civil Rights Institute's Shuttlesworth Award,' and referred to Shuttlesworth as
a 'towering' figure in the civil rights movement.
The embarrassment is
resonating in terms of black-Jewish relations, of course. The two groups
were allies during the civil rights struggle, but BDS is evidently pushing the
mainstream Jewish organizations apart from black institutions. And people are
making the connection between Davis's rebuke and CNN's firing of Marc Lamont
Hill because he had said at the U.N. that Palestine should be free 'from the
river to the sea.'
The list of
casualties is a long one. I'd add history teacher Joel Doerfler's
resignation from the Riverdale Country School last spring after he came under an
onslaught of pressure for his pro-Palestinian views, mounted by donors to the
school who met privately with the American Jewish Committee to coordinate their
campaign. And of course the firing of Steven Salaita at the University of
Illinois-Urbana Champaign after he had tweeted his outrage over the Gaza
massacre of 2014 and the school's chancellor sought to 'appease among others,
pro-Israel donors.' The chancellor later resigned from UIUC largely because of
the embarrassment that case caused. But Salaita's career was in the process
derailed.
The Angela Davis case
looks to be different because the pushback is so instantaneous, the
embarrassment so keen, and the damage is being experienced by the bad guys, the
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center,
and the Jewish Federations.
On that Roland Martin show, Joe Madison of Sirius XM radio
says, 'It takes you back to the 60's and even the 50's ... I'm just so glad that
Fred Shuttlesworth is not alive to see this.'
Rina Shah Bharara
says what Rashida Tlaib says (and is being unfairly maligned for saying),
this is about the American interest: 'Last I checked this is the United States
of America, it's not Israel. This whole idea of defending Israel at all costs is
so confuses me on so many levels. I see it happening most out of the right. It's
coming out of the left as well. The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians
... why we can't inject our American ideals into this ... and say this is
wrong.'
While William Spriggs, an economist at Howard University says
something we are bound to hear more and more as BDS breaks up the Democratic
Party's traditional affiliation with Israel:
'It creates division within the progressive community when we
don't need division.'
More responses. The NPR story on the case quoted Jewish Voice
for Peace:
To argue that Angela Davis is unworthy of a civil rights
award is beyond shameful. And to dance around the fact that it's due to her
outspoken support of Palestinian rights makes it outrageous.'
A JVP Academic Advisory Council letter in support of Davis-
'The decision seems to stem from a misinformed view that to advocate for
Palestinian human rights is somehow offensive to the Jewish community' — has
over 350 academic signatures. JVP is also collecting signatures from
non-academics.
And here is a National Lawyers Guild statement:emphasizing
the ways that the civil rights movement inspired BDS.
it is appalling that the award would be rescinded due to Dr.
Angela Davis's support of Palestinian political prisoners, and the nonviolent
Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The BDS movement is part of a long tradition of freedom
movements using economic pressure as a non-violent tactic. This legacy is
particularly strong in the American South. In fact, Omar Barghouti, a co-founder
of the movement, points out BDS was' inspired partly by the American civil
rights movement.' The well-documented and internationally recognized violations
of Palestinian human rights by the Israeli government and military are an
intentional consequence of ideological, political, legal, economic, and military
systems known better as Zionism. BDS is
not, and should never be confused with, anti-semitism. Rather, it is our moral
consciousness put into action. Suggesting that BDS is synonymous with
anti-semitism invisibilizes Jews, including members of the NLG Southern Region,
who oppose the state of Israel's human rights record and support BDS as a
non-violent resistance strategy.
Palestine matters because ending colonialism matters. Palestine matters
because we must stand up and say that all people have the right to dignity, and
self-determination. Palestine matters because the fight against global white
supremacy won't be over until the structural inequalities throughout
Israel/Palestine are addressed and made right.
The NLG makes the obvious connection to the Republican
Party's efforts to go after BDS, an effort many Democrats will surely join after
the shutdown ends!
This week the US
Senate attempted to bring bill S1 to the floor that would attempt to silence the
BDS movement and chill our freedom of speech. Dr. Angela Davis has always
spoken truth to power, and devoted much of her lifelong activism to
international solidarity. By connecting
U.S. grassroots campaigns against state violence and racism to movement
struggles in other parts of the world, Dr. Davis helps the world become more
intimate. She brings us closer to understanding the nature of justice, and that
the collective work needed to dismantle systemic injustice requires that we call
out all oppression.
I'd note that Alabama
Senator Doug Jones was one of four Democratic senators to side with Republicans
on that BDS measure in a vote two days ago. And Doug Jones is a former vice chair of the
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. He surely feels much of the pressure that
the BCRI did. I imagine donors are a
concern for him.
Thanks to Adam Horowitz.
(7) Louis Farrakhan:
Jews are termites. Says he's not anti-Semite but, rather, "anti-termite"
Louis Farrakhan: Jews are termites
Nation of Islam leader posts on Twitter: 'I'm not an
anti-Semite. I'm anti-termite.' Twitter says company policy not violated.
Guy Cohen, 18/10/18
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan Nation of Islam leader
Louis FarrakhanREUTERS Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan posted a video
segment to his Twitter account on Tuesday in which he tells his followers that
he is not an anti-Semite but, rather, "anti-termite."
Embedded video
MINISTER FARRAKHAN @LouisFarrakhan I'm not an anti-Semite.
I’m anti-Termite.
Twitter said in response on Wednesday that it would not be
suspending Farrakhan’s account in the meantime, noting that its policy barring
"dehumanizing" language, which was announced in late September, has not yet gone
into effect.
Therefore, the company established, "Louis Farrakhan's tweet
comparing Jews to termites is not in violation of the company's policies."
Chelsea Clinton,
the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, responded to Farrakhan’s words by
tweeting, "Comparing Jews to
termites is anti-Semitic, wrong and dangerous. The responsive laughter makes
my skin crawl."
"For everyone who rightly condemned President Trump’s
rhetoric when he spoke about immigrants ‘infesting our country,’ this rhetoric
should be equally unacceptable to you," she added.
Chelsea Clinton _ @ChelseaClinton Comparing Jews to termites
is anti-Semitic, wrong and dangerous. The responsive laughter makes my skin
crawl. For everyone who rightly condemned President Trump’s rhetoric when he
spoke about immigrants "infesting our country," this rhetoric should be equally
unacceptable to you:
MINISTER FARRAKHAN I'm not an anti-Semite. I’m
anti-Termite.
Embedded video 50.9K
(8) The Art of the
Smear - The Israel Lobby Busted
By Sheldon Richman
November 19, 2018 Information Clearing House, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50625.htm
In 2016 and 2017 Al Jazeera produced a program that
unmistakenly documents the Israel government and U.S. Israel lobby’s all-out
effort to spy on, smear, and disrupt American students and other activists who
are working to build an understanding of the Palestinians’ plight. The Lobby —
USA, however, has never been broadcast by Al Jazeera. Reporting indicates that
it was suppressed after pressure from the lobby on the government of Qatar,
which funds Al Jazeera. Nevertheless, it is now available at The Electronic
Intifada and on YouTube. What the program presents is shocking.[ see: https://electronicintifada.net/content/watch-film-israel-lobby-didnt-want-you-see/25876
and https://electronicintifada.net/content/watch-final-episodes-al-jazeera-film-us-israel-lobby/25896]
The Lobby — USA, which features an undercover journalist who
won the trust of key pro-Israel operatives and who videoed revealing meetings,
demonstrates beyond question the lengths to which the Israelis and their
supporters in the United States will go to prevent a change in American thinking
about the beleaguered Palestinians. The effort aims to smear Palestinian
students in the United States and pro-Palestinian American activists and
political candidates who criticize Israeli policy as anti-Semites and enablers
of terrorism. The paid pro-Israel operatives, guided by Israeli government
officials and embassy staff, have used social media and other channels in an
attempt to destroy the career potential of student activists who work to raise
Americans’ consciousness about the Palestinians. Establishment news operations,
such as the Washington Post, are also implicated. Major targets are activists in
the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement and Students for Justice in
Palestine.
Al Jazeera produced a similar program about Israeli
interference in British politics, which led to resignations of a key Israeli
embassy official and other reactions that confirmed Al Jazeera’s damaging
charges.
I could not do justice to the program even in a long article.
Instead, I will urge readers to watch it in its entirety — and think carefully
about what it means.
As one critic of Israel asks on the program, if Russia or
Iran or China were doing what Israel and its American friends are doing, most
people would be outraged. This is hardly the first time that Israel and friends
have been caught covertly and overtly trying to influence discourse and even
elections here through smear campaigns against activists, writers, and political
candidates, but this is certainly among the most flagrant and elaborate
examples.
Let’s step back from the poisonous trees for a moment to view
the forest. In 1948 the leaders of a European and nominally Jewish movement,
Zionism, unilaterally declared the existence of the State of Israel, which they
proclaimed the nation-state of all Jews everywhere, a status recently reaffirmed
by the Israeli Knesset. (The UN General Assembly recommendedpartitioning
Palestine into a larger Jewish state and a smaller Palestinian state, but it had
no power to actually create the state of Israel.)
It so happened this state was built on land taken by force
from the long-standing majority indigenous Palestinian population, most of which
was Muslim and Christian. Hundreds were massacred, three-quarters of a million
were driven from their homes, and the remainder were subjected to martial law
for two decades, before being given third-class citizenship with no power to
improve their legal status. (Arab nations half-heartedly tried to assist the
overwhelmed Palestinians, although the king of Jordan worked with Israel to
divide the spoils.) Almost 20 years later, the rest of Palestine was taken
through warfare, producing what are known as the occupied territories in the
West Bank, with its apartheid-like regime, and the Gaza Strip, which is nothing
more than an open-air prison under a cruel Israeli blockade.
Why? Because a "Jewish State" could not be realized if it
were populated by non-Jews. And if some non-Jews remained, the state could not
be a liberal democratic state, with equality under the law, for obvious reasons.
All this was aided from the start by European Christians who, apparently
guilt-ridden over how the Jews of Europe had been tyrannized, culminating in the
Nazi genocide, opted to assuage their guilt with the land, blood, and liberty of
the innocent people of Palestine, long the plaything of colonial powers.
Since that time, Israel has repressed the Palestinians in a
variety of ways, depending on whether they are in the state as it existed in
1949; the West Bank, which was seized during the June 1967 war; or the Gaza
Strip (also called the Gaza Ghetto), also seized in that war. Meanwhile,
millions of refugees — people (and descendants of people) driven from their
homes by Zionism’s terrorist militias, have been confined to refugee camps,
stateless, rightless, and destitute. At various time, Israel, with America’s
backing, has cut deals with Arab states and Palestinian quislings for the
purpose of keeping the Palestinians from winning their rights either in a single
secular democratic state or through a two-state plan. Western political and
media establishments have overwhelmingly sympathized with the Israelis and
demonized the Palestinians (and Arabs and Muslims generally). It didn’t take
long for the public to be propagandized, against all evidence, into believing
that the Palestinians are the aggressors and the Israelis the victims.
Apparently, a person is anti-Semitic if he objects to having his property stolen
by someone who claims that property in the name of the Jewish People.
But after so many decades of Israeli wars, massacres,
repression, and routine brutal dehumanization, the tide has started to turn.
Israel pulverized Gaza and its people one too many times; it shot and broke the
bones of too many children before too many video cameras. And so public opinion,
especially among younger Americans — and particularly among younger Jewish
Americans, has been turning against Israel. Then the BDS Movement arose to
accomplish what a similar movement help to accomplish against apartheid South
Africa: bringing world attention to an intolerable situation and take concrete
steps to change it.
All of this has been too much for Israel’s ruling elite and
its supporters in the United States, Great Britain, and elsewhere, and they are
fighting back. They know they can’t win on the merits. Well-documented
historical studies and basic morality have seen to that. So they smear their
opponents as Jew-haters and supporters of terrorism. As one Israel lobby
operator puts it in the Al Jazeera program, you discredit the message by
discrediting the messenger — which is what The Israel Project, Foundation for
Defense of Democracies, Israel on Campus Coalition, Canary Mission, Emergency
Committee on Israel, Israeli Embassy in Washington, Israeli Ministry of
Strategic Affairs, and the other co-conspirators have set out to do. Their goal,
as their leaders themselves acknowledge, is to identify criticism of Israel with
anti-Semitism.
But it goes beyond that. The Israel lobby realizes that the
anti-Semitism charge no long sticks so tenaciously to people who merely indict
Israel for its obvious mistreatment of the Palestinians. So the lobby has
resorted to a broader brush: it says that those who support BDS and the
Palestinians are anti-American, anti-democracy, and anti-all-blessed-things. BDS
and Students for Justice in Palestine, the lobby contends, are hate groups. This
of course is patently absurd, but Israel’s side observes no limits it what it is
willing to say and perhaps do to destroy the reputations anyone who realizes
that the Israeli emperor has clothes.
Al Jazeera, the Electronic Intifada, Max Blumenthal’s The
Gray Zone Project, and others have performed a much-needed service on behalf of
freedom, justice, and decency.
(9) Dynamic Silence:
media blackout; or only negative reports
Western Voices World News defines dynamic silence as:
Dynamic Silence was invented by Rabbi Feinberg of the
American Jewish Committee in 1947 as a method of closing off all access to the
public media - and thus the larger culture - for people or organizations deemed
to have an unacceptable point of view. In spite of minor changes and
adaptations, it can still be understood as being comprised of two parts. In the
first part, unfavored individuals are denied unmediated exposure to the public.
In the second part, only negative aspects of the unfavored individuals are
reported. This starts a downward spiral of de-legitimization in the public eye
in which the harder unfavored individuals try to get public exposure, the more
negative and unflattering that exposure becomes until, finally, nobody wants to
be associated with the ideas of beliefs of the unfavored individuals.
This page was last modified 11:34, 8 December 2007.
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