Jewish Press: Obama's 'not some ogre'

There has been an obnoxious number of stories lately about Obama's Jewish problem.

I found Jodi Kantor's much-discussed NYT piece yesterday to be heavy on anecdotes and light on evidence. Last week, Jeffrey Goldberg published his interview with Obama, in which they discussed Israel, Hamas and the "kishke question," a conversation that has had more traction than any in recent memory and to which the New York Times followed with this piece on Obama's Jewish campaign.

Thomas Friedman added to the din this Sunday with "Obama and the Jews," a good column about the whisper campaign against the Illinois senator, but, frankly, I'm a bit tuckered out.

I don’t want a president who is just going to lean on Israel and not get in the Arabs’ face too, or one who, as the former Mideast negotiator Aaron D. Miller puts it, “loves Israel to death” — by not drawing red lines when Israel does reckless things that are also not in America’s interest, like building settlements all over the West Bank.

It’s a tricky business. But if Israel is your voting priority, then at least ask the right questions about Mr. Obama. Knock off the churlish whispering campaign about what’s in his heart on Israel (what was in Richard Nixon’s heart?) and focus first on what kind of America you think he’d build and second on whether you believe that as president he’d have the smarts, steel and cunning to seize a historic opportunity if it arises.

I've argued before that the claim that American Jews need to choose between Obama and Israel is false. The right-wing Jewish Press agreed, and quoting from Goldberg's interview ran this editorial:

Sen. Obama is very forthcoming about his commitment to the survival of Israel. This is not some ogre with a hidden anti-Semitic agenda. The devil, however, is in the details.

That's where, of course, they question just what his commitment would look like. And I'd say that's a fair exercise to do with any presidential candidate on any issues you as a voter care about. (Again, this is why I don't vote for politicians based on their purported religious beliefs.)

(Hat tip: Bintel Blog)

ADL adds to literature on Kevin MacDonald

That image, which appears to have been "borrowed" from The Journal, is now at the top of the Anti-Defamation League's homepage. (I wanted to put a screen grab up but, as usual, Blogger had other ideas.) Accompanying the image is a long-awaited report, published today, by the ADL that is short, uncontroversial and includes no new information that I could find.

"Kevin MacDonald is someone who is hailed among the bigots not just for his beliefs about Jews, but because of his ability to lend to his anti-Semitism a scholarly veneer," said Dr. Kevin O'Grady, ADL Orange County Regional Director. "Because he is a tenured professor who couches his views as a form of academic inquiry, he defies the mold of more traditional anti-Semites like jackbooted neo-Nazis or robe-wearing Klansmen."

MacDonald is a celebrated figure in the world of white supremacy because his views about Jews -- many of which promote classical anti-Semitic conspiracy theories -- are given added legitimacy by his ability to present them in a scholarly guise, according to ADL. The League has added MacDonald to its definitive online guide to extremist groups and individuals in the United States, Extremism in America.

ADL says that MacDonald has evolved from a writer of books to a blogger and prolific contributor to anti-Semitic publications both in print and online.

A lot more info about MacDonald, whom I profiled for The Jewish Journal two weeks ago, can be found in a much more lengthy bio page the ADL created, which includes an overview of the man, his ideology and affiliations and his own words:

“[H]atred toward all things European is normative among a great many strongly identified Jews.”

“Can the Jewish Model Help the West Survive?”

Jack London Literary Prize acceptance speech, October 31, 2004

NY Wasps candidly share anti-Semitic attitudes

It seems like shameless anti-Semitism in this article online at Vanity Fair:

“It is an act of the worst kind of buffoonery. Schwarzman is horrid.”

This statement was made to me by a member of New York’s Protestant establishment in reference to the renaming of the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue at 42nd Street after Stephen A. Schwarzman, C.E.O. of The Blackstone Group, a private equity company. In March news broke that Mr. Schwarzman had agreed to lead the library’s current fundraising campaign by pledging a $100 million gift—the largest the institution has ever received. In recognition, the library announced, his name would be would be carved onto the exterior of the lion-guarded building.

Within senior Wasp circles, Schwarzman and the distinction he has received for his gift have set off a great deal of concealed outrage. Perhaps the best way I can describe it is to say that when I sat and talked with several Wasps about the diminishing influence of their clan, they often waited until the interview was winding down and I had folded up my notebook, and then they jumped back into conversation about Schwarzman and the library.

Old-guard Wasps appear to feel threatened by the newly rich and their growing influence around the city, and dismiss new money as “tasteless and gauche.” When discussing vastly rich people who are Jewish, it is not uncommon for them to use anti-Semitic slurs.

“Come on, though, it’s not Wasps giving Jews a bad name, it’s Jews giving Jews a bad name,” one said. Another told me, “The Astors knew to put their name on the inside. It’s good taste, that’s the difference between old and new.” A third said Schwarzman, who is Jewish, “is cleaning himself up, that’s what new money does. I suppose my family had to do the same thing hundreds of years ago, but look at us now, we’re like deities.”

I imagine this is what it sounded like in Hancock Park years ago as the tony L.A. neighborhood transitioned from the Waspyist address in town to the center of many a fights over Orthodox Jewish practices in residential neighborhood.

But today we are enlightened and Jews in America probably enjoy the most privileged diaspora lives since at least Islamic Spain if not Joseph's years as viceroy of Egypt. (Anyone want to make a case for pre-Nazi Germany?) Which is why it's surprising to see anti-Jewish sentiments so openly aired by somebody not named Kevin MacDonald or his anti-Semitic admirers. Even if they are being expressed anonymously.

The mere mention last summer by Tom Wolfe that many of the new hedge fund managers, like Schwartzman, were Jewish led Moneybox's Daniel Gross to say, "When you finish reading the piece, the faintest whiff of anti-Semitism lingers."

I read the article, and while I agree its quality did not meet Wolfe standards, likely because of the unavoidable comparisons to "The Bonfire of the Vanities," I didn't close Portfolio thinking Jews were money grubbers scouring American society.

Then the housing market tanked ...

There is no question Schwartzman is a jerk. Anybody who throws himself a $3 million birthday party has to be. But this should have nothing to do with Schwartzman being Jewish. In fact, it's worth arguing that if he were a better Jew, he'd be a little less selfish (regardless of how much money he's worth, or was worth).

Maybe Mondoweiss is right. Maybe something historic is happening.

Monday morning editor

In a letter to the editor this week, Paula Van Gelder, like Shoded Yam, argued that The Jewish Journal was the wrong place to report on the "ridiculous ramblings" of Kevin MacDonald. She went on to make a strange comparison that, if it were appreciated, would mean few articles about the environment should ever be written again.

This editorial decision makes about as much sense as The Journal's recent publication of a thick "green" issue, thereby destroying even more trees than usual in order to decry the destruction of our environment.

NY Jews protest attack on teen

New York Chasids responded with a lot more anger and outrage to the assault and robbery of a Jewish teen early Friday morning than Jews in Pico-Roberston did this time last year, when a spate of Shabbat muggings had the community on edge, or the attack last fall on the prominent rabbi of Young Israel of Century City. The difference seems to be that the L.A. attacks were crimes of opportunities while NY authorities are looking into Friday's incident as a possible hate crime.

More Ruth Wisse, Jews and Power

Nextbook's second annual "festival of ideas" will be held Sunday in New York. This year's theme is "Jews and Power" and it will feature thinkers like J.J. Goldberg and Ruth Wisse. In preparation, Wisse, who recently wrote a book bearing the same name as the conference, penned a piece for The Forward that argues how the world would have changed if the Jews had remained the masters of their own universe.

Had Jews always remained a self-governing people in their land, there would have been no Crusader wars over Jerusalem, no Spanish Inquisition and no Holocaust. Karl Marx would not have concluded that “the bill of exchange is the Jew’s actual god” and Stalin would not have mounted a lethal campaign against Jewish “rootless cosmopolitans.” Host nations would not have wreaked upon Jews some of the most terrible evils in the history of humankind. The Jewish contribution to the welfare of the world would have been all the greater had the Jews managed to secure for themselves their aboriginal land.

She talks about how Jews saw their exile as punishment for poor Torah observance and the challenges of Jewish self-governance in Europe, which usually ended in expulsion, and then concludes:

Today’s Jews rightfully resent the assaults against them, wishing that they could be allowed to live in peace. New generations of Israelis dislike having to soldier; American Jewish students dislike having to defend Israel on campus. But paradoxically, Jews cannot achieve peace for themselves, never mind for the rest of the world, unless they convince their enemies they are unbeatable and home for good. Jews can only help to “repair the world” by insisting that their assailants begin to repair themselves.

'Zionist bigots like you, Mr. Greenberg'

Most of the e-mail I have received about my profile of Kevin MacDonald, the Cal State Long Beach professor whose books on Jews have been compared to 'Mein Kampf," has been tame and complimentary, most of all from MacDonald, who wrote me Thursday night:

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. I was really worried about a hatchet job and this definitely was not that. There were a few things that I would rephrase or provide a somewhat different context, but I suppose that's what all interviewees say.

His chief adversary, Jeff Blutinger, told me the response has been "overwhelmingly positive."

Thanks for making his gobbledy gook intelligible through your use of clear language.

But Anti-Zionist Wayne, similar to this "analysis" by John de Nugent, shared a different perspective in an e-mail I just received. He begins by thanking me for notifying him about MacDonald, whose books he now intends to buy. Wayne then lambastes me for my alleged desire to curb freedom of speech (nowhere in the article did I suggest this) and informs me that "this IS AMERICA . . . IT'S NOT FACIST ISRAEL (a nation OF Jews, BY Jews, FOR Jews) !"

He concludes with this thoughtful observation:

The truth is that the greatest danger that rascist Jews (i.e, Zionists) fear is NOT the anti-semitic terrorism from non-Jews, but the assimilation ("self-destruction") of the Diaspora Jews into "other" (impure) multi-ethnic cultures, LIKE IN MELTING POT AMERICA!!!!

The Aryan Neo-Nazis fear and hate MELTING POT America!
The WASPs (David Dukes) fear and hate MELTING POT America!
The Louis Farahkan Blacks fear and hate MELTING POT America!
The Zionist Jews fear and hate MELTING POT America!

I believe that ALL ethnic groups are possessed with RACIST factions that want to preserve their pedigree clan! If we must NEVER FORGET the evils and horrors of bigotry and racism, then we have to learn the attributes (psychological markers) of these bigoted factions, no matter what ethnic group they belong to!!

Louis Farrakhan can NOT use the horrors of the history of SLAVERY as an excuse, or justification, for tolerating Black bigotry! Neither can Zionist Jews be permitted to use the HOLOCAUST as an excuse or justification for tolerating Zionist (Israeli) bigotry!!

I suspect that that's the message Professor Kevin MacDonald wants to teach his students!

But I'm quite sure that he'll learn that you CAN NOT criticize the Jewish Community, by documenting its flaws, without facing professional assassination by Zionist bigots . . .umm, like you Mr Greenberg!!!

Coincidentally, this rant was sent to thecreator@thegodblog.org, the account I use for this blog, on which it is very apparent that I'm a practicing Christian who believes in Zionism, though not without criticism, and has a Jewish last name.

An old colleague of mine had a hilarious template letter for replying to such e-mails. It began "Dear Sir and/or Madam," thanked the author for "using fairly grammatically correct language and removing most of the typos" and offered to do better in the future "so you'll be able to spend your days contributing productively to society, rather than devoting time and effort to reminding me of what a miserable excuse for a person I am." Other parts of the letter, which was never sent out but was always good for a laugh, are not repeatable here.

But back to Wayne's e-mail: Notice the difference his insights into my flaws and those shared with me after I wrote an article about Islamopobia for the LA Daily News last year. (Hint: that guy told me I was a sucker for Islamofascists and said, "While you're waiting in line with your prayer rug on the way to the ovens, I'll continue to shine a light on the hate speech that Imams are spewing in Mosque's.")

Long Beach professor justifies anti-Semitism

I do not think Jews are living in 1938 Germany. But it really has seemed lately liked I've transitioned to the anti-Semitism beat. Besides posting several items on the topic during the past few days, I spent last night at UC Irvine, listening to a speech from Norman Finkelstein, who has certainly been called an anti-Semite, and that followed two weeks of researching and writing a profile of Kevin MacDonald, a psychology professor at Cal State Long Beach whose books have been compared to "Mein Kampf."

In the above video, which is 41 minutes long, MacDonald appears on the TV program "Current Issues," hosted by Palestinian American Hesham Tillawi. The focus of their conversation is the negative influence and clannish behavior of Jews. At the 17-minute mark, MacDonald describes his opinions, detailed in a three-volume series and subsequent essays that can be found at kevinmacdonald.net, as "rational" anti-Semitism.

MacDonald once served as an expert witness for Holocaust-denier David Irving, and many of his theories of Judaism as a "group evolutionary strategy" are controversial. The least palatable are that Judaism has a built in eugenics program -- the study of Talmud, which, he claims, stemmed the reproduction of dumber members of the Tribe -- and that anti-Semitism, even Nazism, were gentile responses to Jewish success.

He's been on the faculty of Cal State Long Beach 23 years now, having achieved full tenure in 1994. But the university is under increasing pressure from some of MacDonald's colleagues and outside organizations to denounce his writings, which, obviously, have very little to do with child psychology and, to his credit, have been kept out of the classroom.

Under the headline, "The Professor Anti-Semites Love," MacDonald carries this week's cover for The Jewish Journal. It's a long profile -- from his childhood in Oshkosh to the origins of his research to the contents of his books and the battle against him -- so I'll just mention now the biggest problem MacDonald has had: his anti-Semitic admirers.

As a warning, there will be some very vulgar language from someone who would like to see the fulfillment of the Final Solution:

In the second of two recent interviews, MacDonald said he is not a fan of anti-Semitism. But he also described his opinions on a Palestinian American TV news program in 2005 as "rational anti-Semitism" and has joked that being branded a Jew hater was a "badge of honor," the knee-jerk reaction of a scared Jewish establishment.

The chief concern over MacDonald's writings about Jews is directed at his fan base: white supremacists like Stormfront.org and Vanguard News Network -- whose motto is "No Jews. Just Right." The members of these online communities have become his loudest defenders, often in language that is as offensive as possible.

"So the goddam Kikes are getting their way yet again, putting the thumbscrews to a White scholar whose ass they are not worthy to lick.... At least this oppression proves that Prof. MacDonald's great work is hitting the scum hard," a Vanguard commenter wrote in February below a republished story about MacDonald from CSULB's student paper.

"How much more of this humiliation is our race going to take? How long before this motherf---ing plague of repulsive, hook-snouted ticks is given a real Zyklon fumigation, as opposed to the fairy tale one?"

MacDonald repudiated such rhetoric as "crazy stuff" but said he supports the ideology behind it.

"White people have legitimate ethnic interests. To the extent that that is all they believe, then we are on the same page," he said. "I don't like to use words like white supremacists. You could say that Koreans in Korea are Korean supremacists if they want to maintain their culture. It is kind of a loaded word; it is a politically charged word of the left, basically, to pathologize any sense of having an ethnicity and culture by people like me. I reject that."

"I certainly reject the tactics and the rhetoric of these people. It's very crude," MacDonald added. "But to the extent that David Duke is trying to advance a white ethnic interest and so on, I don't have any problem with that."

I'll post later about the basis for MacDonald's research, which rests on an assumption of "Jewish Genius."

Jew hatred grows as Jewish life does, too

More from the anti-Semitism beat, the NYT has this interesting article about the rise of Jew hatred alongside burgeoning Jewish life in Hungary:

BUDAPEST — Ostensibly, a rock concert sparked it, reminding us that culture is not the exclusive province of liberals, certainly not here in Europe. A young woman (who knows whether she was just intending to make trouble) walked into a ticket office in the traditionally Jewish 13th District in this Hungarian capital several weeks ago and asked about Hungarica, an obscure extremist far-right band.

The woman said the ticket agents called her a fascist and threw her out. The agents said that she spouted anti-Semitic abuse when told the office didn’t handle that event. A little later somebody tossed a Molotov cocktail outside the office. Then a blogger, Tamas Polgar, with the screen name Tomcat urged neo-Nazis to rally at the ticket office, and about 30 turned up on April 7 along with 300 counterdemonstrators. Tomcat called for a second rally, four days later, and about 1,000 more extremists were met that time, across police barricades, by 3,000 antifascists, including the beleaguered Hungarian prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, and the former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

It’s hard to know whether to feel disheartened by the large showing of neo-Nazis or encouraged by the larger opposition to it. It turns out that aside from the well-documented rise of the far right, Jewish culture has also been conspicuously on the rise here.

That said, anti-Semitism can thrive even in the absence of a single Jew. History has proved that repeatedly. Hungarica served its purpose without having to play a single note.

(skip)

Peter Gyorgy ... like everyone ... acknowledged that anti-Semitism is more out in the open today.

“Hungary is a deeply traumatized society since the First World War, and the Holocaust, of course,” Mr. Gyorgy said. “After the early years of Hungarian Communism, to be Jewish was one’s private affair. Then after Communism, in the early ’90s, when the multiparty system started, we missed our chance for a public discourse about this situation. Now there’s a confluence: the instability of the government, the hatred for the prime minister and the fact that Jewish culture has become more conspicuous. A new generation of Jews has emerged, which behaves like Jews.”

It's 'alleged' anti-Semitism: a-l-l-e-g-e-d

Like the Wall Street Journal last week, the liberal Israeli daily, Ha'aretz, carried a story this week that convicted the Rev. Eric Lee of saying, "The Jews have made money on us in the music business and we are the entertainers, and they are economically enslaving us."

Prominent California reverend and black activist Eric Lee has apologized for anti-Semitic comments he said last month at a Los Angeles event commemorating the assassination of Martin Luther King.

The Los Angeles Times on Friday reported a "reconciliation" meeting between the Pastor and Daphna Ziman - an Israeli-American philanthropist and the recipient of this year's Tom Bradley Award for community service, for whose honor Lee made the keynote speech at an award ceremony in Los Angeles.

During his speech, Lee, the local president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights group, is reported to have suddenly launched an anti-Semitic rant, stating that Jews have made money on blacks in the music business.

In fact, there has been much dispute, which I reported several times over, about exactly what Lee said. And the word missing from the above story is "alleged." It is what Lee is "alleged" to have said. But Ha'aretz' Shlomo Shamir, like so many people who read Lee's apology, assumed, apparently without talking with Lee or Daphna Ziman, the Jewish philanthropist whose emailed account of Lee's speech went viral.

The difference between Shamir's news article and the Wall Street Journal op-ed by MLK's former lawyer is just that: One was news and the other opinion. Both, though, need to be accurate.

We likely will never know what exactly Lee said during his April 4 keynote before members of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. Ziman and Lee, however, appear to have moved on with the ceremonial breaking of bread. My colleague, Tom Tugend, has a report from the publicized meeting.

Judging by the determinedly upbeat comments of the participants, their private deliberations had touches of a peace summit, a revival meeting and an exploration of past, present and future relations between the African American and Jewish communities.

Ziman and Lee, sitting side by side and occasionally linking hands, were a picture of amity and good will, with both crediting their reconciliation to "divine intervention."

Ziman noted that in the past three weeks she had moved "from shedding tears to a sense of hope" and stressed that those present had a responsibility not to damage future generations through prejudice.

"I request the pledge of every religious leader in the United States that no racism be spouted in public places and places of worship," she said.

Lee described Ziman and himself as "two passionate and well-intentioned people who both love God."

(Thanks to Richard Silverstein for emailing me Shamir's dispatch)

Rev. Lee blasted in Wall St. Journal

L'affaire Ziman-Lee made its way today onto the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal. Seriously. The focus of the piece was on the historic friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Jews, and the author, who was King's attorney, says the great civil rights leader would have been sickened by what the Rev. Eric Lee supposedly said.

(In case you need a reminder, Jewish philanthropist Daphna Ziman, who was being honored by a historically black fraternity for her work with foster kids, claims Lee said, "The Jews have made money on us in the music business and we are the entertainers, and they are economically enslaving us." Lee denied using those words, "unequivocally" denounced anti-Semitism and apologized for any "misunderstandings.")

It was bad enough that the event took place on April 4, the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. Even more galling, Mr. Lee is the president-CEO of the L.A. branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Foundation – the very civil-rights organization co-founded by the slain civil-rights leader.

Martin would have been repelled by Mr. Lee's remarks. I was his lawyer and one of his closest advisers, and I can say with absolute certainty that Martin abhorred anti-Semitism in all its forms, including anti-Zionism. "There isn't anyone in this country more likely to understand our struggle than Jews," Martin told me. "Whatever progress we've made so far as a people, their support has been essential."

Martin was disheartened that so many blacks could be swayed by Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam and other black separatists, rejecting his message of nonviolence, and grumbling about "Jew landlords" and "Jew interlopers" – even "Jew slave traders." The resentment and anger displayed toward people who offered so much support for civil rights was then nascent. But it has only festered and grown over four decades. Today, black-Jewish relations have arguably grown worse, not better.

For that, Martin would place fault principally on the shoulders of black leaders such as Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson – either for making anti-Semitic statements, inciting anti-Semitism (including violence), or failing to condemn overt anti-Semitism within the black community.

The strangest thing to me about this op-ed is that the author, Clarence B. Jones, assumes that because Lee apologized he must have said what Ziman claims he said. (A confusing line of thought, I know.)

Lee told me that he had spoken of Jewish influence in the entertainment industry but that he laid off such incendiary language as "economically enslaving us." I've been careful to not taint my reporting on this topic with conjectures about was and wasn't said. But it seems clear that, at the least, Lee was unaware of how sensitive some members of the Jewish community are to suggestions they control the media. As Richard Silverstein said in a blog post critical of Ziman's effort to attract attention to what she heard:

It appears to me that Lee is a tone-deaf African-American minister who hasn’t yet learned how to speak in a nuanced fashion about the issues he wants to address. He verges on anti-Semitism without quite coming right out and saying anything that is explicitly so. Slightly troubling? Maybe. ...

The fact is that Lee did in fact get very close to saying what he claims he doesn’t believe.

Whatever was said, Lee and Ziman plan to reconcile tomorrow at her Beverly Hills home. PR flaks have been retained and plane tickets booked for Charles Steele, head of the SCLC, and Rabbi Marc Schneier of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding.

Bad news for Jews: American accused of spying for Israel in '80s

The United States arrested an 84-year-old American on Tuesday suspected of giving Israel secrets on nuclear weapons, fighter jets and missiles in the 1980s, in a case linked to the Jonathan Pollard spy scandal that rocked U.S.-Israeli relations.

The arrest of Ben-Ami Kadish indicates that Israeli spying revealed by the Pollard case, still an irritant to the U.S. alliance with Israel, may have spread wider than previously acknowledged.

"It was bigger than we thought, and they hid it well," said former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova, who prosecuted Pollard.

Kadish acknowledged his spying in FBI interviews and said he acted to help Israel, according to court documents.

This is, of course, bad news from Reuters. The reason being that for the past 60 years diaspora Jews have been looked at suspiciously by some neighbors who worry about their dual loyalty. Are they American Jews or Jewish Americans? (Google jewish dual loyalty and the top hits are for the Web site of David Duke.)

Obviously, they are both: patriotic Americans, or Frenchmen or South Africans, largely dedicated to Israel as their eternal home. This typically does not pose a problem. But, then again, people typically don't get involved in international spy rings.

Rosner's Blog for Ha'aretz has a link to the court docs. And Mondoweiss, a liberal Jewish blog, notes a decade-old GAO report that claimed Israel "conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any U.S. ally."

Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst who copped to spying for Israel, though what he gave up has yet to be revealed, remains in prison.

A Passover celebration with Jews and Rev. Lee

Last month, at the invitation of the American Jewish Committee and the request of my editors, I agreed to attend a seder tonight that I would have a difficult time writing about. It was an interesting enough event -- black Christians and Jews sitting together to remember our delivery from slavery -- but it was one of innumerable seders happening all over town for 10 days.

The whole context of the Passover meal changed, of course, when an email from Jewish philanthropist Daphna Ziman began circulating a little less than two weeks ago.

You're probably familiar with the story now: Ziman, who had been attending the annual banquet for a historically black fraternity, where she was honored for her charitableness toward foster kids, wrote that the keynote speaker delivered an anti-Semitic diatribe worthy of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." That speaker, the Rev. Eric P. Lee, local head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, vehemently denied Ziman's account of his speech and "unequivocally" denounced anti-Semitism.

"My entire reputation has been damaged," the Rev. Eric P. Lee told me Monday. "This has really taken its toll on me. I've taken the brunt, and it seems there is no question about whether Ms. Ziman inaccurately heard, and I was misinterpreted. It has just been really rough to me and my family."

In today's paper I have a 2,000-word follow up that doesn't answer the question of what Lee did or didn't say -- organizers say no recording was made and few people claim to have been paying attention -- but explains the email's seismic shocks and the cautious nature of community-leaders' reactions.

Ziman's e-mail soon moved across the globe, aided by dissemination on April 9 on StandWithUs' 50,000-member listserv. Jewish organizations in Los Angeles heard from folks in Chicago and New York and the South, from Israelis and Europeans. It got additional attention when the Los Angeles Times reported the "rift" a week after it began. Many who shared the e-mail added their own commentary.

"It's no secret: the black community is riddled with Jew-hatred," Robert J. Avrech, a screenwriter who is Orthodox, wrote when posting the e-mail to his well-trafficked blog, Seraphic Secret. "And with so many apologists for Jeremiah Wright on the left and in the Jewish community, well, Jew-hatred has found a comfortable home not just in the black community but in the Democratic party."

Larry Greenfield, California director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, added a similar sentiment in bolded letters when he forwarded Ziman's missive: "Anti Americanism, Anti Zionism, Anti Semitism mark today's left."

In responding to the incident, many community leaders have had to traverse a minefield.

The mayor, Councilman Bernard Parks and state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas had been present at the gala, but all left before Lee's address. In response to the controversy, Villaraigosa broadly condemned racism in any form and at any time. The AJCommittee and the ADL looked for a way to move forward regardless of what Lee had said.

"Unapologetic anti-Semitism has a much different feeling than this thing," said Amanda Susskind, the ADL's regional director, who has acted as a liaison between Ziman and Lee. "It doesn't mean that either side is right or wrong, or what he said or she said -- I wasn't there.... But I would say there is always room for more discussion, dialogue and sensitivity."

Also this week, Rob Eshman's column focuses on Four Questions raised by Lee's speech and its aftermath.

Americans think highest of Methodists and Jews

I know it's not all roses for Jews around the world right now. But in the United States, well, Jews are thought of more highly than any other religious group, save for Methodists.

And according to a new Gallup poll, only 4 percent of Americans have a "total negative" view of Jews, compared with 25 percent for fundamentalist Christians, 26 percent for Mormons, 34 percent for Muslims and 45 percent for atheists.

(Hat tip: Bible Belt Blog)

Ed Koch's war against anti-Semitism

The Forward Q&A returned this Tax Day, adding more good company to the interview they did with me last summer, the headline for which -- "Funny, Brad Greenberg Doesn't Look Christian" -- still makes me chuckle. The latest subject is Ed Koch, the former New York mayor and anti-Semite skullcracker. He's got a new book out, which sits on my desk, called "The Koch Papers: My Fight Against Anti-Semitism."

How did you come to be so committed to this issue — to fighting antisemitism?

Well, I’ve only been subjected to one antisemitic situation in my whole life, and that was when I was in basic training in World War II. I was 19 years of age, and about 25% of the young men in the platoon were Jewish from New York City, and many of them were refugees from Germany, and the rest of the platoon was from all over the country. There was one guy who was antisemitic, and he would make fun of the Jewish young men who couldn’t get over the obstacle course. I could get over it; I’m not even that great an athlete, but I practiced so I could get over the course.

But the Jews excelled in the afternoon, when they had some learning in map-reading and other things of that kind, lectures. They’d get up and ask questions, and nobody else got up. I could hear this guy say loudly, “Who will be the next yid, the next kike, to get up?” And I said to myself, “I can’t take this.” And I knew that if I went over, he’d beat the hell out of me. I was not in great shape; he was in great shape. So I decided to practice and exercise and build myself up.

Basic training was 17 weeks; in the 15th week, he was doing this, and I went over to him and I grabbed him by the collar, and I said, “When we get back to the battalion, we’re going to have this out.” And he said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why are you doing this?” He didn’t put me in the same category as these other kids. And I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. So all I could say was, “You know, you know!” And then he realized what it was, and so did everybody else. And when we got back to the battalion, they gave us leather gloves to fight, and we fought three rounds, and he beat the hell out of me. But I got up whenever I was knocked down, and I fought as well as I could, which wasn’t so terrific. And from that point on — just two weeks left — there was not one antisemitic remark. And it taught me the lesson that you must stand up, you must stand up no matter what, no matter whether you will be beaten or not, you’ve gotta stand up. And I would say that’s basically the beginning.

(skip)

With the outbreak of the intifada and 9/11, there has been a surge in antisemitism around the world. Some in the Jewish community have taken to saying that the threats now facing Jews are analogous to those we faced back in the 1930s —

They’re right. They’re absolutely right. Antisemitism is rising in Europe and has reached proportions in Great Britain where it’s not yet violence against Jews, but in the academies and the colleges, it’s terrible. And Tony Blair appointed a commission of parliamentarians — none of whom were Jews — who reported back that they saw antisemitism escalating like they had never seen before. That’s one. In France, up until Sarkozy, who is, I think, changing things, but before him, under Chirac, antisemitism was violent, the violence coming from French Muslims who assaulted — and still do — French Jewish children and adults on their way to the synagogue. And it’s true in other countries.

And in other countries, and in France and England, it takes the guise of being anti-Israel. And people say to me, “Can’t you be anti-Israel and not be antisemitic?” I say, “Sure.” I’m critical of actions and policies of the Israeli government, but the difference is this: that when you criticize the Israeli for doing things which you don’t criticize other countries for doing, that’s antisemitism. I say to people, “You criticize Israel for going into Gaza to punish them when they are lobbing artillery shells and rockets at Sderot and Ashkelon, as [Israelis] have every right to do under the rules of self-defense that apply to every other country. But nobody has criticized — nor should they — Turkey for doing the same thing, going into Iraq to kill the Turkish Kurds who are part of a terrorist organization.” And that’s the best illustration. What the Turks are doing is exactly what the Israelis are doing vis-à-vis the Palestinian terrorists.

Rev. Lee 'unequivocally' denounces anti-Semitism

The Rev. Eric Lee, the local head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, has been trying to smooth the waters since Jewish philanthropist Daphna Ziman accused him of saying blacks and Jews would never come together because "The Jews have made money on us in the music business and we are the entertainers, and they are economically enslaving us."

Yesterday Lee issued an official statement denying Ziman's account. And today he sent her an apology, which just arrived in my inbox and I have pasted below in its entirety.

It is with deep regret and my sincerest apologies that any comments I have made have caused you pain and distress. It was never my intent to insult you or the Jewish community, with whom I have a respected and long standing relationship. It is my hope that any misunderstandings may be clarified such that both our communities may move forward with mutual respect and a commitment to our shared struggles against any form of injustice.

As a Christian, and as an African American, we have long embraced the history of Israel’s plight of slavery, oppression, deliverance and freedom as symbolic of African American’s plight against slavery, oppression, deliverance and freedom. Our communities are joined together in this struggle.

I unequivocally denounce any anti-Semitic sentiments, statements and behavior and assure you that such hatred is not reflective of my character and my work. Specifically, I do not believe, and the SCLC does not subscribe to the belief, that Jews control the entertainment industries or are responsible for negative characterizations of African Americans. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” My commitment is to ensuring justice is promoted for all of G-d’s people.

I am reminded of a part of a Seder ceremony in which the children of Israel are fleeing Pharaoh’s army and celebrate the drowning of their pursuers in the Red Sea. G-d’s response was disappointment because all are His children. I wholeheartedly believe that we are all G-d’s children and in the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “we must learn to live together as brothers, or we perish together as fools”.

Anti-Semitism interrupts black frat event?

Below is the choicest nugget of an e-mail from Daphna Ziman, a respected Jewish philanthropist and political contributor in Los Angles, that has spread like a viral video during the past few days. It accuses a black leader, the Rev. Eric Lee, president and CEO of Southern Christian Leadership Conference's L.A. office, of espousing some virulent anti-Semitism at a ceremony Friday night that honored Ziman for her work with foster children.

Lee emphatically denies saying what follows, but, like those rumors about Barack Obama that spread around the Internet a few months ago, Ziman's missive has taken on a life of its own.

He began his speech by thanking Jesus for Obama, who is going to be the leader of the world. He continued by referring to other leaders Like Dr. King,being that this was the moment of celebrating Dr. King's spirit on the anniversary of his assasination, and Malcolm X.

It was right after the mention of Malcolm X that he looked right at me and started talking about the African American children who are suffering because of the JEWS that have featured them as rapists and murderers.

He spoke of a Jewish Rabbi, and then corrected himself to say "What other kind of Rabbis are there, but JEWS". He told how this Rabbi came to him to say that he would like to bring the AA community and the Jewish community together. " NO, NO, NO,!!!!" he shouted into the crowd, we are not going to come together. "The Jews have made money on us in the music business and we are the entertainers, and they are economically enslaving us"

I received this Sunday morning and spent a good part of the past four days trying to figure out heads from tails. What I ended up with was a he-said, she-said atomic bomb of accusations.

Ziman left in tears during Lee's speech. The guests who accompanied her, including two women who work for her and a friend, have corroborated her account.

"He said that the African-American community is not going to bridge any gaps because the Jewish community is responsible for the defamation of African Americans on the silver screen," said Branka Gonzales, Children Uniting's chief financial officer. "His feelings were that nothing is going to change until those things change, until the Jewish community stops its ways."

"When the reverend got up, it almost felt like he was ... promoting Barack, and he said he is the only leader for where our country stands today," said Chase Dreyfous, who is Episcopalian. "Then he went on a tangent to say the Jews are holding the African-American musicians captive, that they had portrayed their children as thieves and murderers. I don't know if it was his intention or not, but for not being a Jewish person, I was extremely offended."

Others in attendance - from a state assemblyman to a civil rights attorney to the event's organizers, who invited Ziman - said they didn't listen carefully enough to the speech to confirm or deny Ziman's accusations.

"I vaguely remember hearing something about a conversation he had with a rabbi and dealing with the media," said the evening's emcee, Damon M. Brown, head of the Los Angeles alumni of Kappa Alpha Psi. "I don't recall hearing anything that was offensive to me, and then again, I'm not Jewish so I don't know if there are some sensitivities one would have."

Curtis R. Silvers Jr., the head of the fraternity's Western Province, which held the gala as part of its annual conference, also said he heard nothing offensive. He said there was no audio or video recording of the event and that, like Brown, he was preoccupied during Lee's keynote and paid it only intermittent attention. Assemblyman Mike Davis, a Los Angeles Democrat who has been supported by Ziman and her husband, said the same.

"I speak for a living, and I learned a long time ago that when you speak about controversial issues you have to be really careful and sometimes, even the best of people, will make mistakes," Davis said. "I can't say I was tuned into what he was saying, but I do know people make errors."

People are listening now.

The full text of the e-mail, and Lee's characterization of what he said, can be found here.

State: Global anti-Semitism rising

Rising global anti-Semitism has been an ongoing issue. Seriously. I could link to much more. Yesterday the State Department gave Congress a report on the matter.

It says that although Nazism and fascism are rejected by the West "and beyond," blatant forms of anti-Semitism are "embraced and employed by the extreme fringe."

"Traditional forms of anti-Semitism persist and can be found across the globe. Classic anti-Semitic screeds, such as 'The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion' and 'Mein Kampf' remain commonplace.

"Jews continue to be accused of blood libel, dual loyalty, and undue influence on government policy and the media, and the symbols and images associated with age-old forms of anti-Semitism endure."

New forms of anti-Semitism are reflected in rhetoric that compares Israel to the Nazis and attributes "Israel's perceived faults to its Jewish character."

This kind of anti-Semitism, the report says, "is common throughout the Middle East and in Muslim communities in Europe, but it is not confined to these populations."

In fact, such vitriolic rhetoric can be found at UC Irvine, on LA college campuses and even outside the Israeli consulate.

Tommie Harris' anti-Semitic joke

Peter King is Sports Illustrated's senior NFL writer, and this week he is on a USO trip with pro football players to visit troops in Afghanistan. He's keeping a diary at his Inside the NFL blog, and I imagine this joke by Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris, one of a few ribs that King says bring "levity to serious surroundings," wouldn't go over well with the ADL.

Harris riddles us for a while, then produces a joke best saved for last.

"What did the pig say to the Muslim?"

Silence.

"Shalom."

'The Nazi in the hot tub'

Jews like to raise money. And two weeks ago, during the LimmudLA super-Jew megaconference in Costa Mesa, my editor found an unusual cause.

I headed for the hotel hot tub.

There were a few Limmudniks already there, and one man with his back to me, lounging in the bubbles. I stepped in beside him, said my requisite, "Ahhhhh," then turned to say hi.

And noticed -- I could not not notice -- that his chest was covered with a large tattoo of a swastika.

The man was big, maybe 6-feet, 250 pounds. And when I say there was a swastika on his chest, I mean it was blue black, inked in one-inch wide lines and went from nipple to nipple. My first thought, of course, was, "Maybe that's the Navajo swastika." My second was, "Please let that be the Navajo swastika." My third was, "No, that's not the Navajo swastika."

Rob Eshman got to talking to the guy -- his name was Don -- and learned that the tattoo was a membership card for the Aryan Brotherhood, which his tubmate had joined in an Arizona prison. Don said he wanted to get the tattoo removed but couldn't afford the expense. Rob offered to walk back into the hotel lobby and raise the money; he said he could get it in 45 minutes.

The man had a tense, unsettled energy. He was twice my size, and we were alone in a hot tub at night, practically naked. It didn't seem the place to explore his ill will toward the Jewish people. I just wanted to keep things practical.

We set a time to meet later and exchange numbers.

At the appointed hour, Don wasn't anywhere to be found. I didn't know his room number or last name, and I tried in vain to find him.

In the meantime, telling the story to others at Limmud, I had raised enough in pledges for Don to get his swastika removed, get lipo, a facelift, a ranch house in Encino -- whatever he wanted. But Don was gone. I laid out the whole story to Jessica at the Hilton front desk, and she passed my e-mail and phone number on to all the guests registered from Phoenix, but they claimed never to have heard of Don.