"Cohenopolis"

Jesse Jackson notoriously dubbed it "Hymie Town", and of late antisemitic incidents there have disgustingly been on the rise.

As in certain other American cities (check out this video, and not least some of the comments below it.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlOJeT1WG6M

But to a humorous writer in the Chicago Tribune just over 100 years ago New York City had become so synonymous with Jews and they so comfortable in it that "Cohenopolis" seemed an apt name.

Here's the article, as reprinted in the Melbourne-based Jewish Herald (5 October 1917): 

Among the Antisemitic Outrages, An Alleged Jew-Baiter Sends Jews Sends His Love

When Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson made this very telling video for Chanukah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYG_DnYhKYc

he obviously cannot have known of the very latest of the recent antisemitic outrages in the United States:

Meanwhile, across the Herring Pond in two adjoining leafy suburbs of London, including on a synagogue (see report and further photos here):

Above: How the BBC described the daubing; Sizer please note

I wonder what the Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer (the now ex-vicar of leafy Virginia Water in Surrey) who tweeted this

makes of the fact that the calumny represented (which seems to have begun with the American Far Right but which, sadly, also featured in a book of his, published in 2004 by the Inter Varsity Press) thinks of those developments in London this Chanukah.

As CEO of the so-called Peacemakers Trust, Sizer's still blazing away with his Israel-hatred

(Don't blame Israel for the plight of Gaza's Christians, vicar. Blame Hamas. For starters, see here)

Warning: sick bucket alert.

In the meantime, this old political rogue has the gall to send Jews his love!

The Surging Antisemitism on the American Left

 To my Jewish readers:

A very important and informative long video here, but it need not be watched, just heard.  And heeded.

Chaired by Fred Fleitz, a panel consisting of the following discusses the surging antisemitism on the Left in cahoots with Islam:

Morton Klein - National President of the Zionist Organization of America;
Rabbi Yechezkel Moskowitz - Founder and CEO of MBLA International;James Carafano - Vice President of Heritage’s Kathryn and Shelby Cullo Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy and the E.W. Richardson Fellow;Matthew Brodsky - Middle East expert, geopolitical analyst and Senior Fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jYFnZnd5og

David Singer: Democrats Backing Jew-Haters Over Israel Play into Trump’s Hands

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

The Democratic Party House majority is now in freefall backing two of its openly-avowed Jew-hating members – Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib – against decisions made by Israel banning them from unconditional entry into the Jewish State.

The Democrats leadership in the House issued the following statement on 11th February 2019 rebuking Omar for her antisemitic comments:

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján, Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries and Caucus Vice Chair Katherine Clark issued this joint statement condemning anti-Semitic comments made over Twitter by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar:

“Anti-Semitism must be called out, confronted and condemned whenever it is encountered, without exception.

“We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests.  Legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share.  But Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive.  We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.

“As Democrats and as Americans, the entire Congress must be fully engaged in denouncing and rejecting all forms of hatred, racism, prejudice and discrimination wherever they are encountered.”

Omar has never recanted or apologized.

The House condemned the Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) on 23^rdJuly as one that:

• “does not recognize, and many of its supporters explicitly deny, the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination”;

• “promotes principles of collective guilt, mass punishment and group isolation, which are destructive of prospects for progress towards peace.”

Tlaib and Omar voted against this resolution which was overwhelmingly adopted by 398 votes to 17.

President Trump had no compunction in calling on Israel to ban them in this succinct tweet:

It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or doe to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2019

A specific Israeli law entitles Israel to ban Tlaib and Omar for supporting BDS – a Movement condemned by both Democrats and the House as abhorrent. No one – not even two US Congress members – should be above the law.

The Democrats and the House had – in taking their principled actions – provided sufficient justification for Israel to deny these two virulent Jew-haters entry into Israel. The Democrats should have been standing four-square behind Israel’s decision to exclude them.

The Democrats’ response to Israel’s decision – however – has been appalling.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called Israel’s decision:

“a sign of weakness, and beneath the dignity of the great State of Israel.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has joined the firing squad saying Israel’s decision:

“will only hurt the U.S.-Israeli relationship and support for Israel in America.”

Democratic Party leaders’ criticism of Israel’s decision could see large numbers of the 71 per cent of Jews who vote Democrat simply not turning up to vote at the 2020 elections.

The optics of the Democratic Party in being seen to be supporting two Jew-haters over Israel is not pretty – and will be repeatedly and mercilessly exploited by Trump in the 2020 election campaign.
The Democrats failure to stand with President Trump in supporting Israel’s decision has indeed played right into Trump’s hands.

 Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones” — one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

Correct Answer? Israel (video)

"The sad truth is that antisemites are willfully ignorant and do not let the truth get in the way of their demonization of Jews and Israel" rightly declares American foreign policy analyst Mitchell Bard in his latest post here

Meanwhile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k1cSsT_1uM

And:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DND-WnwRZ0

A Hate Crime in Brooklyn (video)

A stroll to shul on Sunday morning took an unexpected turn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThJ-8ora6Io

See more footage here

"If Someone Says You're A Dirty Jew, Can You Show Them You're Clean?": The New Antisemitism (video)

"It comes from the Right, it comes from the Left," observes this hard-hitting, must-watch Israeli-made video (with English subtitles, and featuring interviews with, among others, the intrepid pro-Israel British blogger Richard Millett, and the notorious Lauren Booth) exposing the nature and extent of "The New Antisemitism" in the West, with the focus on the United States and Britain.

"Money and media, both in the hands of Jewry, decides who will live and who will die," is a quite representative  example of the mindset of many of these "new" (in reality not-so-new) antisemites.

There are also the usual canards accusing Israel of apartheid and genocide.

"Anti-Zionism is a very strong cover for antisemitism," remarks Millett, the veteran of numerous encounters with anti-Israel demonisers at their various functions.

"If you say it about Jews, and especially if you use the word Zionist, you're immune, you're exempt [from condemnation as a racist]" observes one exasperated commentator correctly ...

It's nearly three-quarters of an hour long, but is worth the time taken to view it.

(Hat tip: reader Shirlee)

The Gore About Vidal

The death of leftist American writer Gore Vidal, being a man after the BBC's own heart, was marked by the deplorable British "national broadcaster" yesterday with adulatory remembrances in its bulletins, and on its website the BBC sycophantically provides an anthology of quotations evidently designed to showcase his wit and (supposed) wisdom.

It is inconceivable that had the old bigot been an "Islamophobe" rather than an antisemite and enemy of Israel he would have been so honoured by Al Beeb.  But big-noting antisemites and those who wish ill will to the world's only Jewish state is par for the course in "champagne socialist" circles these days.

"The Hate That Dare Not Speak Its Name," a famous essay that Norman Podhoretz wrote in 1986 regarding Vidal's  ferocious, racist antipathy to Jews, has been reissued by Commentary magazine.

Regarding an appalling article that Vidal wrote that March, in the Nation, Podhoretz observed:

 'As befits this resurrection of the two classic themes of anti-Semitic literature—the Jew as alien and the Jew as the conspiratorial manipulator of malign power dangerous to everyone else—Vidal’s tone is poisonous. His every word drips with contempt and hatred, and underlying it all is a strong note of menace. The Jews had better watch out if they wish "to stay on among us" —not that “we” will necessarily permit them to stay even if they do begin minding their manners. Their only purpose, after all, is "to make propaganda and raise money for Israel," thereby impoverishing the rest of us and bringing the world closer and closer to a nuclear war.'

Read all of Podhoretz's essay here

The Blonde Leading The Blind (video)

Someone has just uploaded this video of Australian Lady (Michèle) Renouf, talking last year on a kooky American TV show about the War on Iraq, undertaken "for pillage and plunder as a proxy war for Israel's interests," David Irving, "Swindlespeak"... "Judaism and Jewish conduct" ... "The greed is good Judaic ethos" (to be told by the interjecting host, Carolyn Yeager, at that stage that she is not only physically beautiful but "a beautiful mind" and "a beautiful soul"), 9/11, Gilad Atzmon ("The kind of Jew I like because he calls himself an ex-Jew ... I am highly critical of Judaism, not just Zionism"), and (get this!!!), the BNP's pro-Israel leader Griffin, Aussie Holocaust denier Fredrick Toben, Bishop Richard Williamson, and the New World Order ("International Zionism") ... 

It's over one and a half hours long, so not to be embarked on lightly, but for real hardcore judeophobic stuff with an unwitting comedy basis is hard to beat!  It's sound only, so you can play it as background while doing the chores. The contrasting of (bad) Judaism ("predatory ... shark") with (good) Christianity and Islam ("dolphins") is just one of the pieces that is breathtakingly farcical.  Be warned: once you embark on this video, you'll probably be so amazed that such views can be spewed out in the 21st century by someone brought up in laid-back, enlightened Australia as opposed to some benighted corner of Eastern Europe that you won't be able to switch it off.

"Some Troubling Questions About The Far Left Agenda": The Helen Thomas Affair (video)

Here's an interview between Marc Golub and Rabbi David Nesenoff, regarding Helen Thomas's vilification of Israel.  Rabbi Nesenoff took the footage that led to Ms Thomas's removal from the White House press corps. He talks here of his shock at her words, at her denial of Jews' connection with Israel, and at the "sub-media" of bloggers and others who feel that her freedom of speech was removed and that the fuss her opinion unleashed was much ado about nothing (Newsday didn't cover the incident at all, he notes). The words I quote in the header are Golub's, in his introduction regarding current manifestations of antisemitism in the United States.

Rabbi Neseneoff notes that many of the 25,000 items of hate mail he has received since he made Helen Thomas's words known contain explicit obscene stuff, by no means always anonymous, the senders having no shame.

Observing that he reports those messages that contain death threats against him to the police, he asks rhetorically: "Who do I call about the death threat against the Jewish People?"

The video's almost 50 minutes in length - but it can be regarded as something to listen to rather than to watch.

"Destroy Israel": Wickedness In The Windy City (video)

What a repulsive anti-Israel anti-Western mob we have here (Occupy Chicago rabble).  Hat tip: [the Sherlockian] Shirl in Oz.

"Hate Is Not An American Value" (video)

"Rich-man antisemitism," it has been termed by one historian.  You know, the perception that Jews are plutocrats and consequently wield a disproportionate amount of power in the world.

A code-word for Jews in antisemitic circles that perhaps don't want to be seen to wear their judeophobia on their sleeve is of course "international financier".  It very often goes hand in hand with nutjob conspiracy theories, of course.

And this sort of antisemitism - viewing a shadowy cabal of mega-rich Jews as exerting undue influence over the fates of nations - has reared its extremely ugly head at the "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrations in the United States, along with a disturbing amount of anti-Israel rhetoric.

Not everyone, however, be they ever so liberal, seems to want to admit that this is so - thus leading Democrats have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the deplorable Jew-hatred.

That's why the following video has been made by the Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI).  Says  ECI's chairman, William Kristol:

"It’s not surprising that elements of the modern left are antisemitic.  It is surprising that respectable liberals have praised the protesters while ignoring the antisemitism. Liberals have pretended to see nothing hateful and hear nothing hateful, and therefore have said nothing to rebuke their allies. Will they now speak up?”

"Go Back To Israel!" Says The Anti-Capitalist With The Bling (video)

Anti-Israel Fanatics in San Francisco (video)

Here they are, a typical mix of usual suspects, carrying placards and flags and chanting hate-filled slogans ... But they don't have it all their own way ...
The subtitles, by supporters of Israel, are a welcome antidote to the spleen.

In California, The Assault On Brit Milah Calls In a Blond Action Hero

In San Francisco, spearheaded by the Male Genital Mutilation Bill group, a proposed city-wide ban on circumcision of males below the age of eighteen gained a sufficient number of votes some weeks ago petitioning the issue to be decided in November.

Neither the Jewish nor the Muslim communities would be exempt from the ban, and anyone continuing the practice would face up to a year's imprisonmentl or a hefty fine.

Said one local mohel, Rabbi G. Y. Leeds, in a representative view:

"For a city that's renowned for being progressive and open-minded, to even have to consider such an intolerant proposition, it sets a dangerous precedent for all cities and states."

Santa Monica and San Diego are set to follow suit.

However, the ban. if enacted, will almost certainly experience legal challenges from persons and organisations arguing that the ban is unconstitutional, breaching right to religious freedom as laid down by the First Amendment.

Bizarrely, a comic book has been introduced as a propaganda tool by the pro-ban camp.

Although it has characters like these (one in a tallit) - who rejoice in the names Monster Mohel and Dr Mutilator  and are pursued by a clean-cut blond Superman-type hero called Foreskin Man (see top picture) intent on thwarting their evil deeds - the comic's originator denies that it's antisemitic.

The Elder has the measure of it (the comic book, that is):http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/06/anti-semitic-comic-book-foreskin-man.html

Read more: http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/49875/foreskin-man-takes-monster-mohel-comic-book

Here's Lloyd Schofield, one of the pro-ban activists,  in a rough interview with a frank and forthright Mark Levin, who - naturally incensed by the implications for Jews - tells the evasive Schofield that he's "a nut," and who finds him "creepy":

And here's Schofield in more forthcoming mood, telling Megyn Kelly of Fox News about his plans; watch him grin towards the end, when she reminds him that the circumcision of baby boys is an essential rite of passage in Judaism:

Louis Farrakhan's Judeophobic Rant at Howard University (video)

Here is as sickeningly poisonous an antisemitic speech as any that is likely to assail our ears.  It comes from that incorrigible American judeophobe Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam.  Note the appreciative noises from his audience.

Regarding this speech, see http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/10180

Before She Was in Playboy: The Jews Aren't Semites, says Helen Thomas (video)

Oh dear!  Here she is again, for anyone who missed Helen Thomas's recent interview with Joy Behar.  It took place before the Playboy one, from which I included excerpts a few days ago.  I have to admit that when Ms Thomas made her original remarks, which are included in this video as a flashback, I wondered whether, given her advanced age, she might be suffering somewhat from "senile dementia" and consequently confused.  I really thought that perhaps she'd forgotten that there had been a Holocaust, and was reliving a decade in her early youth.  However, it's clear from this that she's as sharp as a tack, and a genuine unrepentant antisemite.  No two ways about it. A very ugly attitude. Ugh!  She told Playboy, with tear-filled eyes, that her obituary will call her an "antisemite".  With views like these, that's a safe bet!

Helen Thomas on Israel, Holocaust Memorialisation, and Jewish "Power" ...

Unless you read Playboy only for the articles, you may miss disgraced former White House reporter Helen Thomas speaking frankly.  Here's a taste:

On the situation in "Palestine":

"Everybody knows my feelings that the Palestinians have been shortchanged in every way. Sure, the Israelis have a right to exist – but where they were born, not to come and take someone else's home. I've had it up to here with the violations against the Palestinians…[The Palestinians] are incarcerated and living in an open prison. I say to the Israelis, 'Get out of people's homes!' It's unacceptable to have soldiers knocking on a door at three in the morning and saying, 'This is my home.' And forcing people out of homes they've lived in for centuries? What is this? How can anybody accept it? I mean, Jewish-only roads? [She later corrected herself to say Israeli-only roads.] Would anyone tolerate something like that in America? White-only roads?"

On Palestinian violence against the Israelis:

"Of course I don't condone any violence against anyone. But who wouldn't fight for their country? What would any American do if their land was being taken? Remember Pearl Harbor. The Palestinian violence is to protect what little remains of Palestine. The suicide bombers act out of despair and desperation. Three generations of Palestinians have been forced out of their homes – by Israelis – and into refugee camps."

On American support of Israel:

"We keep giving Israel everything. Our government bribes the Israelis by saying, 'Please come to the [negotiating] table and we'll give you this and we'll give you that'…Why do you have to bribe people to do the right thing? I don't want my government bribing anybody. I want them demanding. Stop all this aid to Israel when they're killing people!...Why do they send my American tax dollars to perpetuate it?"

On memorializing the Holocaust:

"There's nothing wrong with remembering it, but why do we have to constantly remember? We're not at fault. I mean, if they're going to put a Holocaust museum in every city in Germany, that's fine with me. But we didn't do this to the Jews. Why do we have to keep paying the price and why do they keep oppressing the Palestinians? Do the Jews ever look at themselves? Why are they always right? Because they have been oppressed throughout history, I know. And they have this persecution. That's true, but they shouldn't use that to dominate."

On the Jews' influence and power:

 "[The Jews are] using their power, and they have power in every direction…Power over the White House, power over Congress…Everybody is in the pocket of the Israeli lobbies, which are funded by wealthy supporters, including those from Hollywood. Same thing with the financial markets. There's total control…It isn't the two percent. It's real power when you own the White House, when you own these other places in terms of your political persuasion. Of course they have power. [To the interviewer, David Hochman] You don't deny that. You're Jewish, aren't you?"

 Read more: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/helen-thomas-is-playboys-april-interview-118184139.html and see also http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2011/03/before-she-was-in-playboy-jews-arent.html

Antisemitism: What Would You Do? (video)

Sights and sounds from a bakery: