There are so many things that need changing. As a Jewish activist I read about all the injustices happening to us right now on a daily basis. When I attend events concerning antisemitism or attacks on Israel, the most common question asked by the audience is 'What can we do about it?
There are many things that in fact we can do. Some are difficult, some are easy. From enlisting in the IDF, attending rallies and events, making donations to like minded organizations, contacting our elected government officials, reading books and articles, learning about Judaism & Jewish history, studying Torah, sending emails to those that need to receive them. And more...
I can tell you (you probably are already aware) that thanks to the internet, sending an email is by far the easiest thing to do. And if many of us send emails it can affect change. I've seen it work. It's usually a matter of volume. Depending on the issue, it may not take too many emails before a company or organization or person can change their actions. For some issues it may take less and for others it may take far more emails to even get a response. But it's relatively easy to do and more or less cost free (other than your time).I try to make it a point to send an email approximately 5 times a week. When possible I try to include my contacts in the BCC (blind carbon copy) address part of the email in order that they can read exactly what I had to say to our adversaries or friends. Often I will be nicely surprised by some of these contacts also writing an email to the same person I did about the same issue. We inadvertently compete with each other as to who wrote the better letter. It's inspirational.
All forms of social media are great for getting out your message. Short tweets or longer blogs like this can prove effective. I even learned how to make videos, hopefully effective ones. I made a satirical video years ago called 'Change the World' which contains subtle support for Israel. You can watch it on Youtube here. Obviously videos take a lot more effort to make than to compose a short email. I often read about an issue that will push me to send an email (either positive or negative). The positive emails are just as important as they help to encourage good behaviour. Sadly I find myself writing mostly negative ones lately.
For example, I recently read about Harvard University's intention to offer a course comparing the notorious 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion' to the scholarly work Eurabia. You can read about it here. So I sent the following email to the president of Harvard U:
Dear President Drew Gilpin Faust:
I just learned that Harvard is now offering a course ‘When the Elders of Zion Relocated to Eurabia: Conspiratorial Racialisation in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, 11/30/17, the Common Room) that equates the immense scholarship of Bat Ye’or with the notorious Russian forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Are you in any way, shape or form trying to compare the two?
Bat Ye’or spent years writing several scholarly works that should certainly be studied at school in order to understand how Islam from its beginning was a treacherous, murderous, nonsensical but dangerous ideology and how it has so far successfully undermined democratic states. Look at Europe for one tiny example. Islamophobia is a made up word. There is nothing irrational about fearing Islam. With billions of Muslims in the world today the world has become a dangerous place.
Antisemitism on the other hand is real. I’m sure even you can recall the recent Holocaust where over six million Jews were murdered in history’s most terrible way. No one needs to worry about twelve or so million peaceful and hard working Jews. Between the far right neo-Nazis, the far left violent antifa movement and of course the many antisemitic Muslims taking over the world, it is us, Jews who need to watch our back. Both from people who want to harm us and from institutions like yours who want to whitewash the truth right down to offering courses like yours.
Some sites that promote letter writing, often contain contact email addresses and even offer sample letters that are meant as a guide for you to put into your own words before sending. One can develop search skills to find the email of the person they wish to send an email to. It's often simple enough. If you want to send an email to the President of the United States, search 'contact president of the United States'. You might have to type your letter in a form presented by the organization's website rather than a free format email.
Some might say that they can't write for beans. Spell and grammar checkers have come a long way and are often automatically at play. Besides it's the content that is far more important than the grammar and spelling. I'd rather have 100 letters with poor spelling and grammar than 1 perfect letter. It's usually about volume. In any case, the more you write, the easier it becomes. I myself am no writer but I manage to crank some out here and there. Writing sharpens the mind and your writing skills will improve over time. It's never been easier to take up the cause.
If computers are not for you, pick up a phone. No phone? Write a letter and stick a stamp on it. In some cases letters in the mail are taken more seriously than emails.
Write from the heart and write often!
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Anti-Semitism is Alive and Well in 2017
I'm boiling over with disgust. Here we are in 2017. One would think that in our modern world, society has advanced so far that maybe racism is mostly a thing of the past. In some cases it is. But when it comes to hating Jews, it absolutely is not.
Let's take a few recent cases: Has anyone heard of the country IJF? That's because it doesn't exist. It stands for the International Judo Federation. If you haven't heard, Israel came in 6th place overall with Tal Flicker winning a gold medal. Aside from Israel having to beg various countries to permit their team to fly into Abu Dhabi, where the competition was held, Israel was not allowed to show their banner flag like every other team did. Nor was the Israeli national anthem played when Israelis won medals. Look at their website: IJF
Scroll down a bit and you will see a list of winners by country. However instead of Israel they display IJF. Even the televised play by play announcers never mention the country Israel. Instead, they gab about all that money that Tal won. No mention of where he got his training in Israel. You know, the stuff that most sportscasters talk about. It really is hard to believe. Most of the Muslim competitors in the past have refused to shake hands with their Israeli counterparts. It's a shameful display of blatant antisemitism and so demeaning to the Jewish people. The IJF should be held to account for allowing countries like the UAE to host such events and the world's mainstream media should be reprimanded for giving such behaviour a pass. Instead of the big cheeses at the IJF getting nice presents to look the other way, they need to be kicked out on to the street.
A photo of Tal singing Hatikva while they were playing the IJF song.
Moving to Canada, a student union at a prominent university in Montreal (McGill), was so upset that their anti-Israel, BDS motion was not passed, that they voted to throw out 3 directors of the board because they were Jewish and threatened them to boot. This action is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 30's. Many of us have contacted the university and it finally hit a little bit of the mainstream media. I await the appropriate action of charging those guilty students of hate crimes and expelling them from the school. Something tells me that I might be waiting for a very long time.
A common trick by many Islamic nations is to sponsor students to attend universities in the West to attack Jews under the guise of anti-Zionism. These fake students register for 1 or 2 courses and as a result have plenty of time to attack Jews on campus and sponsor anti-Israel events like the annual hatefest called Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) which has spread from the University of Toronto to most universities throughout the western world. Whereas most students, Jewish ones included, are busy focussing on their studies, these antisemitic political activists have all the time and money in the world to publish sophisticated promotional media and bring in some of the vilest speakers on the planet. For the most part, the university administrations let them. Their defence usually falls under 'free speech'. Sure they alway add 'The university does not necessarily agree with the messages of the speaker'. Sadly, as a result many once neutral students who are often ignorant about the real situation in the Middle East, fall for the slanderous BS that they are forced to face on campus on a daily basis. This is the real tragedy.
I recently attended a wonderful speaker, Dr. Lawrence Hart, who teaches medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. He might be the only professor who started a Jewish organization for the faculty at a university. There are often Jewish organizations for students such as Hillel but rarely if ever did one exist for the professors. He made an excellent point. Although we should never ignore our Jewish students, they do come and go but the professor are usually stuck on campus for years. He showed us slides of at least dozens of some of the worst antisemites who spoke at the school over a 15 year period including people like Norman Finkelstein who claims that the Jews made money on the Holocaust, to Hamas supporter George Galloway. His honest admission was that after 15 years his organization did little to fight antisemitism on campus. With no support from the administration (actually quite the opposite) it proved futile and nerve wracking to fight antisemitism when in fact he had to fight his administration instead. The event was sponsored by a fantastic organization called the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research (CIJR).
Lastly there is the case of an imam in Toronto (Elkasrawy) who preached at a downtown mosque that Jews are filthy pigs who need to die. The Toronto Star (our largest print paper) promptly tried to whitewash his words and in his defence said that when arabs say Jews they really mean Zionists. Well in that case, that's not really hate speech, is it?
Israelis outside of Israel are often faced with blatant antisemitism, as tourists, students, employees and in business. Jews like myself living in the diaspora have faced it as well. Ever go for a job interview and not get the job and wonder if your religion had anything to do with it?
We need to motivate Jews and pro-Israel people of all religions to stand up to antisemitism. Think of it like crime on the streets. It will never go away and it's never easy to combat, but we don't give up. We have laws against it, and police to protect us. Sometimes a simple email (if enough are sent) can do the trick. In other cases a lot more effort is required. It would be helpful if parents and Jewish organizations educated our youth about this issue and identified specific problems and efforts to combat them rather than hide them under the table and pretend they don't exist.
Let's take a few recent cases: Has anyone heard of the country IJF? That's because it doesn't exist. It stands for the International Judo Federation. If you haven't heard, Israel came in 6th place overall with Tal Flicker winning a gold medal. Aside from Israel having to beg various countries to permit their team to fly into Abu Dhabi, where the competition was held, Israel was not allowed to show their banner flag like every other team did. Nor was the Israeli national anthem played when Israelis won medals. Look at their website: IJF
Scroll down a bit and you will see a list of winners by country. However instead of Israel they display IJF. Even the televised play by play announcers never mention the country Israel. Instead, they gab about all that money that Tal won. No mention of where he got his training in Israel. You know, the stuff that most sportscasters talk about. It really is hard to believe. Most of the Muslim competitors in the past have refused to shake hands with their Israeli counterparts. It's a shameful display of blatant antisemitism and so demeaning to the Jewish people. The IJF should be held to account for allowing countries like the UAE to host such events and the world's mainstream media should be reprimanded for giving such behaviour a pass. Instead of the big cheeses at the IJF getting nice presents to look the other way, they need to be kicked out on to the street.
A photo of Tal singing Hatikva while they were playing the IJF song.
A common trick by many Islamic nations is to sponsor students to attend universities in the West to attack Jews under the guise of anti-Zionism. These fake students register for 1 or 2 courses and as a result have plenty of time to attack Jews on campus and sponsor anti-Israel events like the annual hatefest called Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) which has spread from the University of Toronto to most universities throughout the western world. Whereas most students, Jewish ones included, are busy focussing on their studies, these antisemitic political activists have all the time and money in the world to publish sophisticated promotional media and bring in some of the vilest speakers on the planet. For the most part, the university administrations let them. Their defence usually falls under 'free speech'. Sure they alway add 'The university does not necessarily agree with the messages of the speaker'. Sadly, as a result many once neutral students who are often ignorant about the real situation in the Middle East, fall for the slanderous BS that they are forced to face on campus on a daily basis. This is the real tragedy.
I recently attended a wonderful speaker, Dr. Lawrence Hart, who teaches medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. He might be the only professor who started a Jewish organization for the faculty at a university. There are often Jewish organizations for students such as Hillel but rarely if ever did one exist for the professors. He made an excellent point. Although we should never ignore our Jewish students, they do come and go but the professor are usually stuck on campus for years. He showed us slides of at least dozens of some of the worst antisemites who spoke at the school over a 15 year period including people like Norman Finkelstein who claims that the Jews made money on the Holocaust, to Hamas supporter George Galloway. His honest admission was that after 15 years his organization did little to fight antisemitism on campus. With no support from the administration (actually quite the opposite) it proved futile and nerve wracking to fight antisemitism when in fact he had to fight his administration instead. The event was sponsored by a fantastic organization called the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research (CIJR).
Lastly there is the case of an imam in Toronto (Elkasrawy) who preached at a downtown mosque that Jews are filthy pigs who need to die. The Toronto Star (our largest print paper) promptly tried to whitewash his words and in his defence said that when arabs say Jews they really mean Zionists. Well in that case, that's not really hate speech, is it?
Israelis outside of Israel are often faced with blatant antisemitism, as tourists, students, employees and in business. Jews like myself living in the diaspora have faced it as well. Ever go for a job interview and not get the job and wonder if your religion had anything to do with it?
We need to motivate Jews and pro-Israel people of all religions to stand up to antisemitism. Think of it like crime on the streets. It will never go away and it's never easy to combat, but we don't give up. We have laws against it, and police to protect us. Sometimes a simple email (if enough are sent) can do the trick. In other cases a lot more effort is required. It would be helpful if parents and Jewish organizations educated our youth about this issue and identified specific problems and efforts to combat them rather than hide them under the table and pretend they don't exist.
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