Pirate's Cove

It only took them publishing multiple anti-Semitic cartoons and getting slammed

A Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism

The Times published an appalling political cartoon in the opinion pages of its international print edition late last week. It portrayed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel as a dog wearing a Star of David on a collar. He was leading President Trump, drawn as a blind man wearing a skullcap.

The cartoon was chosen from a syndication service by a production editor who did not recognize its anti-Semitism. Yet however it came to be published, the appearance of such an obviously bigoted cartoon in a mainstream publication is evidence of a profound danger — not only of anti-Semitism but of numbness to its creep, to the insidious way this ancient, enduring prejudice is once again working itself into public view and common conversation.

Anti-Semitic imagery is particularly dangerous now. The number of assaults against American Jews more than doubled from 2017 to 2018, rising to 39, according to a report released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League. On Saturday, a gunman opened fire during Passover services at a synagogue in San Diego County, killing one person and injuring three, allegedly after he posted in an online manifesto that he wanted to murder Jews. For decades, most American Jews felt safe to practice their religion, but now they pass through metal detectors to enter synagogues and schools.

Interesting. There’s no mention of the 7,000 anti-Jew incidents while Obama was president (Vox of course tries to defend Obama and hurt Trump). This is not to blame them on Obama, just to show the incidents, which mainly occur from Obama’s unhinged base, especially on college campuses, in Dem run cities, and, yes, people who would be considered very far right and whom are unwanted by the Republican party and Conservatives in general.

Nor is there a mention of all the pieces, both in the “news” section and the opinion section, that protected Jew hater and sitting U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar. Nor that many Democrats were very upset that the Trump admin has been working hard to investigate incidences of anti-Semitism on the Democrat run college campuses. Also, the Times forgot to mention other big attacks that didn’t occur under Trump, such as the Holocaust Museum attack.

Jews face even greater hostility and danger in Europe, where the cartoonwas created. In Britain, one of several members of Parliament who resigned from the Labour Party in February said that the party had become “institutionally anti-Semitic.” In France and Belgium, Jews have been the targets of terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists. Across Europe, right-wing parties with long histories of anti-Semitic rhetoric are gaining political strength.

You can’t blame it all on “right wing parties”, unless you want to note that they have the same beliefs that Progressives, Socialists, and Marxists hold.

This is also a period of rising criticism of Israel, much of it directed at the rightward drift of its own government and some of it even questioning Israel’s very foundation as a Jewish state. We have been and remain stalwart supporters of Israel, and believe that good-faith criticism should work to strengthen it over the long term by helping it stay true to its democratic values. But anti-Zionism can clearly serve as a cover for anti-Semitism — and some criticism of Israel, as the cartoon demonstrated, is couched openly in anti-Semitic terms.

Criticism of Israel is not rising: it’s been high among the same groups for a long time, including many in the Democratic party, and in the opinion pages of liberal run newspapers. But, it is good to see the Times’ Editorial Board not that anti-Israel sentiment serves as cover for Jew hatred.

As anti-Semitism has surged from the internet into the streets, President Trump has done too little to rouse the national conscience against it. Though he condemned the cartoon in The Times, he has failed to speak out against anti-Semitic groups like the white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 chanting, “Jews will not replace us.” He has practiced a politics of intolerance for diversity, and attacks on some minority groups threaten the safety of every minority group. The gunman who attacked the synagogue in San Diego claimed responsibility for setting a fire at a nearby mosque, and wrote that he was inspired by the deadly attack on mosques in New Zealand last month.

And now they attempt to shift the blame from themselves. Surprise? Funny how the NYT forgets that before Ilhan, whom they protected, Obama mainstreamed anti-Israel and anti-Jew sentiment. The same paper also backed Iran while Obama was making his deal, a nation that has a stated goal of wiping Israel off the map.

In the 1930s and the 1940s, The Times was largely silent as anti-Semitism rose up and bathed the world in blood. That failure still haunts this newspaper. Now, rightly, The Times has declared itself “deeply sorry” for the cartoon and called it “unacceptable.” Apologies are important, but the deeper obligation of The Times is to focus on leading through unblinking journalism and the clear editorial expression of its values. Society in recent years has shown healthy signs of increased sensitivity to other forms of bigotry, yet somehow anti-Semitism can often still be dismissed as a disease gnawing only at the fringes of society. That is a dangerous mistake. As recent events have shown, it is a very mainstream problem.

Yet, the Times will still look to protect those who are anti-Semites on their side. Where’s the condemnation of Omar? How about all the Democrats hobb-knobbing with Keith Ellison and Louis Farrakhan? Taking meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood linked CAIR, and taking their donations? Will they highlight the pro-Palestinian anti-Semitic college kids all over campuses run by Democrats?

It is interesting that only now does the NY Times take a stance, after a cartoonist felt perfectly fine in submitting an anti-Jew cartoon, thinking there would be no issues with this. And, as far as we know, the cartoonist has not had their contract terminated, nor has anyone else been terminated.