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Anti Zionism Antisemitism New York November 28 2017 Seven defining thought pieces on anti Zionism and Antisemitism

Introduction Rebranding Zionism Israel and Judaism are inseparable Unfortunately at a time when support for Israel the nation state of the Jewish people is under attack from many quarters some in the Jewish organizational world are telling us that we should disavow the term Zionism because it is in disrepute Although Zionism is the proud and entirely legitimate national movement returning an oppressed and dispersed people to their ancestral and indigenous land somewhere along the way the term Zionism was turned into something else something that has been tarred and ill branded If any other people returned to their ancient lands after thousands of years the world would applaud encourage praise and support her As it is Israel and the Jewish people returning to their ancestral homeland the defamation and maligning is thunderous accusing Israel of being the problem This continued beating upon Israel Zionists and the Jewish people is a classic example of anti Zionism in the form of antisemitism Zionism and Judaism are inseparable and we need to ensure that all Jews who are celebrating Shabbat around the world incorporate our love for Israel during our days of rest Zionism has become an unwelcome word for some but if Zionism is out of favor then it unfortunately follows that Judaism itself is under similar stress because all of our Jewish sources tradition and culture revolve around Israel so it is impossible to separate one from the other We must strive to accomplish that the essence of the reestablishment of Jewish sovereignty in our national and indigenous homeland becomes a central part of the lives of all Jews Richard D Heideman President American Zionist Movement http richardheideman com rebranding zionism israel and judaism are inseparable

Contents The Marketing Strategy of Modern Antisemitism Page 4 Antisemitism v Anti Semitism Page 6 Forest Rain Marcia Shirlee Finn Anti Zionism is the Face of Contemporary Anti Semitism Page 8 Rabbi Evan Goodman Casting Zionism as White Nationalism is Anti Semitism Page 10 Noah Baron A New Tolerance for Anti Semitism Page 13 Anti Semitism is the New Social Justice Page 16 Countering the Ripple Effect of Hate Page 18 Alan M Dershowitz Nadiya Al Noor Dr Elana Yael Heideman Written and Compiled by Dr Elana Yael Heideman and Forest Rain Marcia Graphic Design by Chana Schiffmiller www israelforever org Please note materials have been presented to AZM by our member organizations and others as resources and food for thought on Zionism Inclusion of these resources here does not imply any official or full endorsement by AZM of all of the content

Discussion Point Is antisemitism becoming socially acceptable What methods are being used to make this possible Anti Zionism is the New Antisemitism by Forest Rain Marcia http israelforever org interact blog anti_zionism_is_the_new_antisemitism This is what branding looks like You have a product to sell You must convince the market to buy The problem is that the product is old It s been seen before and has been rejected by many as faulty The average person will not buy the product as is What do you do Rebrand Package the product with new language a new backstory a new look and feel and many probably enough customers will be convinced they are seeing a new product and buy This is how antisemitism became anti Zionism The product is Jew hate The customers are anyone anywhere and many are eager to buy Some are less enthusiastic but with successful marketing campaigns can over time be convinced as well Before the re establishment of the Jewish state when Zion was still a dream it would not have made much sense to declare oneself an anti Zionist In today s political climate it is socially unacceptable to discriminate against any minority much less declare outright hatred or revulsion of a certain social group This however does not mean that there is no hatred it only means that those who hate must find a form of expression that is considered socially acceptable Israel hate is nothing more than Jew hate rebranded The language has changed Jew is replaced with the term Zionist or colonialist The backstory has changed now it is Israel the aggressor Israel who does to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to the Jews which suddenly makes it possible and even acceptable to compare Jews to Nazis The imagery has changed from that of the Shylock type Jew to the cruel IDF soldier who abuses Palestinian children Looking beyond the pyrotechnics of marketing it is easy to recognize that the content has remained the same the only difference is the packaging Most of all the goal is the same Antisemitism demonizes Jews for the ills of the world to the point of denying Jews the right to life pogroms Holocaust Anti Zionism denies Jews the right to self determination in their ancestral homeland Zion It is a denial of the right to have a home and to self defense in that home This is a denial of the right to life To clarify criticism of one or even many of Israel s policies is not illegitimate That cannot be considered anti Zionism whereas blanket criticism of Israel s existence or the insistence on 4

policies that would cause Israel to cease to exist is both anti Zionist and anti Semitic The most common stance of the modern anti Semite is I don t have anything against Jews I just hate Israel It is interesting to note that this paradigm is not accepted in regard to any other nation I don t hate Americans I just hate America I don t hate the French I just think France shouldn t exist are statements that would not even be considered by the average person Why is the same sentiment acceptable when the focus is on Israel The hot topics of today are social justice women s rights minority rights It has become cool to be a social justice warrior At the same time Jew hatred in the form of anti Zionism is becoming normalized The Women s March Movement for example was supposed to be about feminism about women s rights It was Linda Sarsour who took away the rights of Jewish women when she declared that it is impossible to be both a Zionist and a feminist She created a new paradigm that her followers had to either accept or be rejected by their peers She further normalized Jew hatred with additional declarations comparing Zionists to white supremacists and racists If Zionists belong in the same group as white supremacists and racists the Zionist no longer belongs to a protected minority group and instead belongs to a group that must be rejected and ejected from society To further exacerbate the problem socially influential institutions are lauding Sarsour making her anti Zionist read anti Semitic statements even more acceptable Glamour Magazine chose Sarsour as one of their 2017 women of the year New York s famous New School chose Sarsour to chair a panel on antisemitism scheduled for November 28th But the problem is not Linda Sarsour or her ilk Freedom includes the freedom to hate The problem is everyone who does not recognize antisemitism when they see anti Zionism The problem is everyone who has swallowed the marketing campaign and forgotten what Zionism means History has taught us that the dehumanization of Jews is not done in one day It is a slow process of delegitimization We ve seen this show before The costumes and the scenery are different but the content is exactly the same the old horror rebranded Forest Rain Marcia Forest is a marketing and branding expert the voice of Inspiration from Zion contributor to the Elder of Ziyon website The Counter Terrorist Magazine The Jewish Press Jews Down Under and The Valley Patriot Forest Rain recently joined the Israel Forever Foundation team as Content and Marketing Specialist Challenge Name 3 distinguishing characteristics that you want others to be able to identify in anti Israel anti Zionism Antisemitic rhetoric List 4 common values shared by Judaism and Zionism What imagery would you use to counter the effective branding of those who demonize Jews 5

Discussion Point One of today s common antisemitic arguments is that antisemitism is not about Jews because Arabs are also Semites Does the way we write out the word antisemitism support or negate this argument Antisemitism v anti Semitism By Shirlee Finn https jewsdownunder com 2016 03 02 antisemitism v anti semitism The incorrect spelling of antisemitism is getting to me more and more of late I feel the need to write about it in order to get people to spell it correctly by learning the meaning of the words and where they originated Somewhere somehow in recent years the spelling has changed from antisemitism to antiSemitism though lately it appears to be returning to the original In 1879 German anti Jewish journalist and political agitator Friedrich Wilhelm Adolph Marr known as Wilhem Marr published a pamphlet Der Sieg des Judenthums ber das Germanenthum Vom nicht confessionellen Standpunkt aus betrachtet The Victory of the Jewish Spirit over the Germanic Spirit Observed from a non religious perspective in which the word Semitismus was used interchangeably with the word Judentum to denote both Jewry and Jewishness credit Wikipedia This use of Semitismus was followed by a coining of antisemitismus which was used to indicate opposition to the Jews as a people and opposition to the Jewish spirit which Marr interpreted as infiltrating German culture His intention was to replace the German word Judenhass Jew hatred with a term that would make Jew haters sound less vulgar Marr thought that by replacing Judenhass it would make hatred of the Jews seem rational and sanctioned by scientific knowledge Wilhelm Marr hated Jews with all his heart and apparently also did not think that the German word Judenhass was strong enough In his next pamphlet Der Weg zum Siege des Germanenthums ber das Judenthum The Way to Victory of the Germanic Spirit over the Jewish Spirit 1880 he presented a development of his ideas further and likely was the first published use of the German word antisemitismus antisemitism The pamphlet became very popular and in the same year he founded the Antisemiten Liga League of Antisemites which was the first German organisation committed specifically to combating the alleged threat to Germany and German culture posed by the Jews and their influence and advocating their forced removal from the country The similar term antisemitisch was first used in 1860 by Jewish scholar Moritz Steinschneider 6

Out of this came antisemitism and antisemite By hyphenating it to anti Semites gives it a whole other meaning to be against Semites French is antis mitisme German is antisemitismus Spanish is antisemitismo Danish is antisemitisme The two words make a very good advocacy discussion point Shirlee Finn Shirlee Finn is an English born Australian Jew and a long time advocate for Israel who holds an elected position in the Australian Jewish community She grew up in a progressive political home Her father was an elected member of government and was raised to speak her mind and grew up on a diet of speeches elections and marches She was sick of being silenced by leadership for being outspoken decided she d had enough and started her website www jewsdownunder com The site has raised a number of contentious issues which caused somewhat of a stir and continues to provide a voice for Jews in Australia and abroad Challenge Make a 2 line response to the claim that Antisemitism is not uniquely hatred against Jews Complete this sentence Jews are are not paranoid about being hated because What is your one line definition of Antisemitism What are the most important words that need to be included What is debateable Knowing the history behind the term antisemitism do you think it is appropriate to continue using it Or would it be more effective to revert to the original Jew hatred 7

Discussion Point Has it become socially acceptable to treat Jews differently than other minority groups especially when targeted by hate campaigns What arguments are being used to justify this Anti Zionism is the Face of Contemporary Anti Semitism By Rabbi Evan Goodman http www dailynews com 2016 03 17 anti zionism is the face of contemporary anti semitism guestcommentary To solve a problem you must be able to name it We have a problem on our campuses That problem is anti Semitism Many of us believed that anti Semitism was a thing of the past Jews being turned down for positions Jews being spat upon when they wear a Jewish symbol Jewish institutions defaced with swastikas We believed anti Semitism was behind us We were wrong Anti Semitism has roared back most notably on university campuses and particularly at the University of California It adversely affects the education and lives of our students Some prospective students think twice about enrolling at UC The resurgence of anti Semitism is directly paralleled with the increase in virulent anti Israel activity much of it involving calls for Israel s complete destruction i e anti Zionism Many are in denial about this UCLA Students Against Anti Semitism cheer following a University of California s Board of Regents meeting at the Student Center to discuss a controversial policy statement on intolerance in Irvine in this Sept 17 2015 file photo credit AP Photo Damian Dovarganes Jewish students recognize that Israel is not perfect No country is At a university of all places there must be space for political discourse and analysis This includes legitimate critiques of Israeli policy I personally teach classes at UC Santa Barbara that foster critical thought on the Israeli and Palestinian situation My organization Santa Barbara Hillel regularly hosts speakers who probe all aspects of the situation in Israel However when the one Jewish state in the world is obsessively singled out for condemnation demonization and delegitimization followed by calls for its destruction Jewish students recognize that their personal identity is being called into question No minority should be treated the way Jews are being treated on our campuses Jewish students are being told explicitly and implicitly that they are not a minority That they do not deserve the same protections afforded to others That they do not have the right to say I am Jewish and when you do this I feel attacked 8

I recently counseled a student who found a swastika on a car window The law enforcement officer sent to help minimized it This was not her first experience with anti Semitism Last spring she attended a student senate debate on divestment where she was told that Jews have all the money Jews have all the power and Jews are colonialist oppressors She was so frightened she called for a campus security officer to walk her home On the walk she was told by the officer that what was said to her was not anti Semitism Just as black students shouldn t be told what is and isn t racism LGBTQ students shouldn t be told how to feel about homophobia Jewish students shouldn t be told this isn t antiSemitism We know our own identity When someone calls us a Zionist Nazi they are attacking our religious personal and communal identity at its very core Santa Barbara Hillel isn t sitting idly by We cultivate connections with university and student leaders to foster a positive campus climate We bring together diverse groups and individuals to talk listen and improve relations We host Jewish Muslim student lunch dialogues with leading figures such as Dennis Ross Ari Shavit David Makovsky and Ghaith al Omari We build trust so students can tackle tough issues with dignity and safety to ensure campuses remain positive environments for all students The UC regents should be commended for recognizing that anti Zionism is the face of contemporary anti Semitism and condemning both anti Semitism and anti Zionism in its proposed Principles Against Intolerance That statement and policy should be adopted in its entirety with broad support since anything that doesn t include anti Zionism ignores the elephant in the room Students need to hear that anti Semitism in all its forms including anti Zionism will not be tolerated Many political leaders around the world have recognized that anti Zionism goes beyond acceptable political criticism UC should do the same Jewish students are facing the tragic reality of anti Semitism on college campuses It s about time we spoke up and did something Rabbi Evan Goodman Rabbi Goodman is executive director of UC Santa Barbara Hillel the Jewish student life organization at UCSB He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and the parent of a current UC student Challenge What would you change in how is antisemitism is being handled on college campuses Were there other times in Jewish history when Jews were singled out from society and treated as acceptable targets Did the people who were alive then believe this was a societal ill or simply individual cases of unfairness As a parent what do you think about sending your son or daughter to this environment particularly when considering the high tuition costs What would your advice be to a college student today facing this reality OR As a college student what would be your advice to a high schooler today 9

Discussion Points Do these problems exist only on one side of the social political spectrum What is the connection between anti Zionists and the idea that Zionism is a form of White Nationalism How could the equation of Zionism and white nationalism potentially result in more meaningful productive discussion between Jews of differing political opinions Casting Zionism As White Nationalism Is Anti Semitism By Noah Baron https www huffingtonpost com entry casting zionism as white nationalism is anti semitism_ us_599683b7e4b033e0fbdec2e2 When neo Nazis and white nationalists marched through Charlottesville Virginia last week they chanted anti Semitic slogans like Jews will not replace us Even before the march Nazi websites had posted calls to marchers to burn down a synagogue there As The Atlantic observed they are obsessed with Jews This comes as no surprise to Jews and should not be a surprise to anyone with even a passing familiarity with the history of anti Semitism white nationalism or Nazism credit CNN When the Ku Klux Klan was re founded in 1915 for example one of its key precepts was antiSemitism alongside anti Black racism and xenophobia That is why when last week white nationalists marched it was an attack on Jews and Jewish institutions as well as on people of color when white nationalists gain power and influence they use it to terrorize us It has therefore come as a shock to me to discover the growing popularity among some on the left of the notion that Zionism actually is white nationalism a position as anti Semitic as it is intellectually disingenuous The most offensive aspect of this idea s growing popularity is that it has come primarily since the march in Charlottesville but the significance of the timing goes beyond mere insensitivity In the aftermath of the march many Jews on the left insisted 10

upon at long last recognition by our allies on the left that white nationalism is a threat to Jews The growing power of white nationalists represents as it always has a direct challenge to the ability of Jews to feel at home or safe Yair Rosenberg for example suggested that the left set aside the longstanding debate over whether Jews are white or not an important debate because he explained implicitly at stake is whether efforts to combat racism should prioritize prejudice against Jews or whether other groups should take precedence In practice however the question has been settled by the growing power of white nationalists who uniformly contend that Jews are not white and have no place in their vision for America Though with some notable exceptions the general response to this call was deafening silence Soon after and ostensibly out of nowhere some anti Zionists began to suggest that Zionism is a form of white nationalism This represents a direct rebuke of Rosenberg s and others pleas In fact the exclusive effect of this line of argument there are innumerable other ways to criticize Israel was and is to distract from and undermine the insistence of Jewish leftists that the threats to us and our communities be taken seriously If Zionism is simply one form of white nationalism and Jews are not threatened by Zionism then how much could Jews really be threatened by white nationalism Even without the dangerous underlying logic the effect would be the same to reorient the conversation about white nationalism to be about Zionism instead of anti Semitism And as with so many discussions pertaining to Israel on the left leftist Jews again find ourselves having to first disclaim any support for Israel before our concerns about anti Semitism will be heard let alone taken seriously Unspoken in the position is the erasure of any difference between Jews and non Jewish whites for the sake of simplicity let s ignore the fact that the vast majority of Israeli Jews would not be seen as white in nearly any part of the world After all for Zionism to be considered white nationalism it must involve support for a white nation This distinction between whites and Jews is of importance not because of any inherent difference between us but rather because centuries of oppression have created that difference Regardless of whether Jews are counted as white we remain a small minority frequently discriminated against on the basis of being Jews When the left Twitterati pretends this not to be the case it tacitly suggests that there is no history of Jewish oppression or at least that such history is irrelevant Obscuring the history of and invidiousness of Jewish persecution is both vital to and inherent in this theory At its core white nationalism is ideological dishonesty in pursuit of greater power for the already powerful White nationalists claim they seek the creation of a nation exclusively for them on the basis that white people are an oppressed minority whose coherent culture requires protection This obviously has no basis in reality white nationalism is not aimed at the vindication of any oppressed group but rather the further empowerment of those who have occupied positions of privilege for most of the world s history and continue to do so now Also the notion that there is a single white culture is laughable By contrast Jews clearly are a coherent cultural group we actually have been oppressed in fact by the majority in every nation we have inhabited our shared culture and even our people has often teetered on the brink of extinction 11

The existence of Israel does not undo that history or the fact that half the world s Jews continue to live as precarious minorities To suggest otherwise is to appeal to the age old antiSemitic canard that Jews are a powerful global cabal under which the power of some of us anywhere enhances the power of all us everywhere The left has too often allowed our critique of Israel to obscure the demands of our better angels If we embrace the notion that Zionism is a form of or indistinguishable from white nationalism we will commit that error yet again endorsing by implication the idea that Jews wield as much as or more power than non Jewish whites a neo Nazi talking point Instead we must directly confront the ugly problem of anti Semitism which has again reared its head in the form of white nationalism We can and must do better Noah Baron Civil Rights Attorney Noah is a civil rights attorney and graduate of Georgetown University Law Center where he served as the editor in chief of the feminist Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law He has appeared on Huffington Post Live and Al Jazeera to discuss issues ranging from civil liberties to unpaid internships In addition Noah is a graduate of Columbia University where he studied American government and history All opinions are his own Challenge Define the source of the multicultural racial ethnic reality of Jewish history and identity in less than 5 sentences How would you respond to an innocent inquire about Zionism as white supremacy with a colleague How would you shut down an argument that someone is trying to start among your friends 12

Discussion Points Is antisemitism being normalized How What will happen to the average Jew the individual if antisemitism continues to become a social norm If Jews across the world are being targeted how or why is it still so easy to ignore or deny the growing acceptance of Jew hatred How could we channel the collective Jewish frustration resulting from the confusion over antisemitism today into something productive for the global Jewish community A New Tolerance for Anti Semitism by Alan M Dershowitz https www gatestoneinstitute org 10492 anti semitism tolerance All over the world anti Semites are becoming mainstreamed It is no longer disqualifying to be outed as a Jew hater This is especially so if the anti Semite uses the cover of rabid hatred for the nation state of the Jewish people These bigots succeed in becoming accepted even praised not because of their anti Semitism but despite it Increasingly they are given a pass on their Jew hatred because those who support them admire or share other aspects of what they represent This implicit tolerance of anti Semitism as long as it comes from someone whose other views are acceptable represents a dangerous new trend from both the right and left In the United States although there has been hard right anti Semitism for decades the bigotry of the hard left is far more prevalent and influential on many university campuses Those on the left who support left wing anti Semites try to downplay ignore or deny that those they support are really anti Semites They are anti Zionist is the excuse du jour Those on the right do essentially the same they are nationalists Neither side would accept such transparent and hollow justifications if the shoe were on the other foot I believe that when analyzing and exposing these dangerous trends a single standard of criticism must be directed at each Generally speaking extreme right wing anti Semitism continues to be a problem in many parts of Europe and among a relatively small group of alt right Americans But it also exists among those who self identify as run of the mill conservatives Consider for example former presidential candidate and Reagan staffer Pat Buchanan The list of Buchanan s anti Jewish bigotry is exhaustive Over the years he has consistently blamed Jews for wide ranging societal and political problems In his criticism of the Iraq War for example Buchanan infamously quipped There are only two groups that are beating the drums for war in the Middle East the Israeli Defense Ministry and its amen corner in the United States He then singled out for rebuke only Jewish political figures and commentators such as Henry Kissinger Charles Krauthammer and A M Rosenthal Buchanan did not mention any of the vocal non Jewish supporters of the war Furthermore Buchanan also said that the Israeli lobby would be responsible if President Obama decided to strike Iran threatening that if it were to happen Netanyahu and his amen corner in Congress would face backlash worldwide Buchanan s sordid flirtation with Nazi revisionism is also well documented 13

Meanwhile on university campuses the absurd concept of intersectionality which has become a code word for anti Semitism is dominating discussions and actions by the hard left The warm embrace of Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour who recently delivered the commencement address at a City University of New York graduation is a case in point A co organizer of the Women s March on Washington in January she has said that feminism and Zionism are incompatible stating You either stand up for the rights of all women including Palestinians or none There s just no way around it And when speaking about two leading female anti Islamists Brigitte Gabriel and Ayaan Hirsi Ali who is a victim of female genital mutilation the feminist du jour Linda Sarsour said I wish I could take away their vaginas The irony is breathtaking Under her own all or nothing criteria Sarsour who is also a staunch supporter of trying to destroy Israel economically cannot be pro Palestinian and a feminist because the Palestinian Authority and Hamas subjugate women and treat gays far worse than Israel does Sarsour supports Islamic religious law Sharia If taken literally this would presumably mean that she also supports punishing homosexuality by death amputation for theft death by stoning for adultery which can include being raped women being valued at half the worth of a man being flogged for drinking alcohol and above all slavery see here here and here Yet Sarsour has emerged as a champion of the hard left Both New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and Bernie Sanders have sought her endorsement Moreover Deputy DNC Chair Keith Ellison who himself has a sordid history with anti Semitism stemming from his association with Louis Farrakhan who publicly boasted about his own Jew hatred has come out in support of the bigoted Sarsour When it comes to Ellison an old idiom comes to mind a man is known by the company he keeps The same trend is detectable among the hard left in Europe particularly in Britain which is days away from an election The British Labour Party has now been hijacked by radical extremists on the left and is known for being soft on anti Semitism In a recent interview with a BBC reporter Emma Barnett who happens to be Jewish Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn fumbled when answering a question about how much his proposed childcare policy would cost Rather than critique Corbyn Labour supporters viciously trolled the Jewish BBC reporter Tweets such as these abounded Allegations have surfaced that Emmabarnett is a Zionist and Zionist Emma Barnett family lived off brothels attacks Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn has also been accused of anti Jewish bigotry himself He has said in the past that the genocidal Hamas terrorist group should be removed from the UK s designated terror list and has called Hezbollah and Hamas which are both vowed to the destruction of the nation state of the Jewish people my friends I recently wrote extensively on Corbyn s association with some of Britain s most notorious Holocaust deniers and antiSemites Increasingly anti Semitic discourse is also seeping into the arts and academia Consider the anti Israel and anti Jewish bigotry of former Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters A staunch supporter of the so called BDS movement Waters has said about the Palestinians that parallels with what went on in the 30 s in Germany are so crushingly obvious He also had a pig shaped balloon with a Star of David on it at one of his concerts And when asked about his aggressive effort to recruit people to join the BDS Waters blamed the Jewish lobby which he explained is extraordinary powerful here and particularly in the industry that I work in the music industry In 2013 the ADL declared that anti Semitic conspiracy theories had seeped into the totality of Waters views 14

Likewise the marketplace of ideas on university campuses and within academic institutions has seen an embrace of anti Semitism often disguised as anti Zionism Several years ago I identified the dangerous trend of academics crossing a red line between acceptable criticism of Israel and legitimizing Jew hatred This was in light of the disgraceful endorsement by a number of prominent academics of an anti Semitic book written by Gilad Atzmon a notorious Jew hater who denies the Holocaust and attributed widespread economic troubles to a Zio punch When asked recently about the hullabaloo surrounding her CUNY address Linda Sarsour disingenuously played the victim card since the Women s March on Washington once the right wing saw a very prominent Muslim American woman in a hijab who was a Palestinian who was resonating with a community in a very large way they made it their mission to do everything they can to take my platform away Members of the National Socialist Movement NSM march across the City Hall lawn in Los Angeles California on April 17 2010 credit David McNew Getty Images No Ms Sarsour You are wrong This is not a smear campaign by the right wing but rather a show that people of goodwill reject your manifestations of bigotry Those who tolerate anti Semitism from those they otherwise admire would never accept other forms of bigotry such as racism sexism or homophobia It s difficult to imagine Bernie Sanders campaigning for a socialist who didn t like black people or who was against gay marriage But he is comfortable campaigning for Jeremy Corbyn who has made a career out of condemning Zionists by which he means Jews The growing tolerance for anti Semitism by both the extreme left and right is quickly becoming mainstream That is why it is so dangerous and must be exposed for what it is complicity in and encouragement of the oldest form of bigotry Shame on those who tolerate anti Semitism when it comes from their side of the political spectrum People on both sides of the aisle must have the same zero tolerance for anti Semitism as they do for sexism racism and homophobia Decent people everywhere Jews and non Jews must condemn with equal vigor all manifestations of bigotry whether they emanate from the hard alt right or hard alt left I will continue to judge individuals on the basis of their own statements and actions regardless of which side of the aisle they come from Alan M Dershowitz Alan M Dershowitz Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School and author of Taking the Stand My Life in the Law and Electile Dysfunction A Guide for the Unaroused Voter Alan Dershowitz is the Honorary Chairman of the Virtual Citizen of Israel initiative of The Israel Forever Foundation Challenge Role play with a group of friends Come up with whopping ugly statements that you have heard or think would be said in an argument with an Israel hater and take turns trying to respond Pick one statement by Dershowitz and turn it into a conversation starter among friends colleagues 15

Discussion Points What is the connection between anti Zionism antisemitism and social justice Can a Muslim be a Zionist Anti Semitism is the new social justice By Nadiya Al Noor http blogs timesofisrael com anti semitism is the new social justice Hating Israel is the thing to do today on university campuses It makes you seem progressive It means you re woke and socially aware It means you re fighting against a tyrannical regime It is supporting the struggle of an oppressed people at the hands of White colonialist supremacy Zionism is racism Israel is evil end of story Except that s complete nonsense Zionism is the support for and affirmation of the Jewish right to self determination in their indigenous homeland of Israel It s the Jewish Civil Rights Movement It is the struggle of a native people who have been oppressed for thousands of years expelled from their land killed and persecuted wherever in the world they went It is the celebration of victory of the return home after millennia of diaspora of surviving and flourishing against all odds That sounds like something the Left would wholeheartedly support right Not anymore The dominant narrative on campuses is that Israel is Nazi Germany 2 0 that Israelis are White Europeans who colonized the land of Palestine after WWII The screams of apartheid and genocide go unquestioned Israel is evil end of story Nobody talks about the 850 000 Jewish refugees expelled from Arab lands Nobody mentions that the majority of Israelis are these refugees or descended from these refugees not from Europe not that European Jews are White Nobody clarifies that Israeli Arabs have all the same rights as Jews in Israel or that Arabs hold seats in Israeli Parliament serve in the military and are doctors and celebrities and shopkeepers and lawyers and teachers Nobody mentions the thousands of Palestinians treated at Israeli hospitals and employed at Israeli businesses Israel is evil end of story So what should students do There are many things students can do to show their hate for Israel There s the Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement which supports labeling and boycotting Israeli products and cutting off ties with Israeli universities Just pretend that these boycotts aren t hurting Palestinian workers who make Israeli products Just forget about academic integrity There s holding an Israeli Apartheid Week which spreads vicious lies about the Jewish State to unsuspecting students There s supporting literal terrorists as Students for Justice in Palestine does so very proudly There s targeting and harassing Jewish students There s screaming and shutting down events based on a speaker s nationality and religion There s demanding an event be cancelled because it s being hosted by a Jewish organization And then there s protesting Holocaust Education Week in the name of Social Justice At Ryerson University in Toronto on November 29th 2016 students from the Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine held a walkout at a student meeting proposing Holocaust Education Week They degraded and intimidated Jewish students They said they did it because there are other genocides that need awareness That s like protesting 16

against breast cancer research because there are other cancers The real reason is simply anti Semitism Anti Semitism is the acceptable form of bigotry on the Left It s thinly veiled as anti Zionism which really is just anti Semitism with a fancy name as it opposes the Jewish Indigenous Rights movement Students are expected to hate Israel in the name of being progressive Jewish students are painted as privileged racists unless they disavow Israel and abandon their indigenous struggle in order to assimilate My people Muslims are portrayed as helpless victims of ruthless Jewish aggression Palestinians become pawns in the game of Jew hatred The world falls for it Israel is evil end of story Studies show that a campus with an active Students for Justice in Palestine SJP chapter is more likely to have anti Semitic incidents no surprise there My university Binghamton University in New York is unique in that the pro Israel voice is the most dominant narrative We used to have an SJP problem but to my knowledge they disbanded after the administration cracked down on their anti Semitic harassment Now our Muslim Student Association partners with our Hillel for mosque synagogue interfaith trips The Jewish and Muslim communities here are on good terms because we see each other as people We don t allow the Israeli Palestinian conflict to define us Universities need to address anti Semitism on campuses If there was an Islamophobic incident at a university you can bet the administration would deal with it much more swiftly Anti Semitism is tolerated because of Leftist hypocrisy Because of the rampant anti Semitism on university campuses and the racial diversity of students participating in Jew hatred antiSemitism is often excused or justified Jewish students you need to be proactive Don t wait for an anti Semitic incident to happen Don t wait for an SJP to emerge and fester Hold an Israel Peace Week or Hebrew Liberation Week Educate your fellow students If you don t speak up anti Semites will Anti Semitism is unacceptable even if it s trendy Nadiya Al Noor Nadiya Al Nooris a young Muslim interfaith activist with a focus on Jewish and Muslim communities and she actively supports peace between Israel and the Palestinians Nadiya is a graduate student at Binghamton University in New York studying Public Administration and Student Affairs Administration Challenge What would you say to someone who declares that they are not antisemitic they are only anti Zionist What would you say to someone who declares that only Jews can be Zionists 17

Discussion Points How does it help Jews in the modern world to identify as members of B nai Yisrael the Children of Israel What did you learn from the Holocaust about the value of Jewish pride in the face of persecution Was it unique only to that event in Jewish history or what can we learn if it is a repeated pattern Countering the ripple effect of hate By Dr Elana Yael Heideman https israelforever org interact blog countering_the_ripple_effect_of_hate The answer to the BDS bullies the antisemites jihadists and haters in general is to strengthen ourselves from within Discrimination on campus has legal recourse However the impact of the tension cancellations fear is left to fester The inevitable ripple effect of negativity continues to cascade with no logical end Having been exposed to the diatribe of lies by the Jew hating masses each Jewish student is forced to question themselves What do I stand for They are put in the position we have joked around about for generations which comes first Being a citizen of the world or being a Jew Or Where Or If Israel and America were to go to war which side would you fight on Forced to pick sides many will migrate But those who remain with Zion in their heart they are the precious souls connected and intertwined one with the other across the four corners of the universe They are Israel You are Israel We must be Israel together This cannot be achieved by any one organization or institution Not by one geographical locale or another It can only be achieved by working together Only this way can we double triple our impact and reach as many of Am Yisrael as possible The most effective way to counter the effects of the doubt the uncertainty the resentment aroused by the accusations against Israel and the Jewish nation is to solidify the sense of self of every one of Bnei Yisrael To ignite an understanding of our past our reality our destiny that sadly includes tremendous suffering infighting disintegration and destruction But we have only survived these thousands of years because we have overcome them all and outlasted every nation that has sought to destroy us This is what Israel Forever is all about 18

That Israel the people the history the land the state the nation the identity the hope is forever in the heart of every Jew That we glean from our peoplehood the encouragement to follow in the path of our ancestors while learning from their mistakes The pride we foster in Jews young and old around the world is our greatest weapon and our most important shield The awareness of our ancestral inheritance and of the challenges that lay in our path The hope we can inspire for future generations who will continue to remember those who believed we could overcome all evils from all around us and from within This is what will counter the effects of hatred spewed generation after generation against our nation for the sin of our being different So let us be different and let us unite in the face of their venom let us acquire the knowledge and possess the passion to outlast outlive outstand their hate with our honor and with our love of life Let us be Israel again and again Let us be Israel forever Dr Elana Yael Heideman Dr Elana Yael Heideman Executive Director of The Israel Forever Foundation is a dynamic and passionate educator who works creatively and collaboratively to create Israel inspired Jewish identity the connection to our people and our land and a stronger voice for future Jewish leadership Through her involvement with numerous programs projects and lectures Elana continually seeks to facilitate dialogue and build bridges between the past present and future Challenge State in 2 sentences why Israel the State is named Israel Explain the importance of Israel to Jewish identity as if to a 4 year old child Describe how you envision Jewish identity looks like in 1000 years What stories of today do you think will become a part of the long history of our people 19

About AZM The mission of the American Zionist Movement AZM is to bring the American Jewish community closer to Zionism The AZM is composed of organizations representing a broad array of Zionist perspectives and engaging in a variety of philanthropic educational and advocacy activities on behalf of Israel In this capacity the AZM carries out activities and programs on behalf of the World Zionist Organization and represents American Zionists within the National Institutions of Israel In addition the AZM strives to provide services and programming for member organizations as well as serve as a catalyst for new Zionist ideas a convener of Zionist discussions and an incubator of new initiatives www azm org About WZO The World Zionist Organization is committed to promoting Zionism the Zionist idea and the Zionist enterprise through Israel Education as vital and positive elements of contemporary Jewish life in accordance with the principles articulated in the Jerusalem Program This manifesto is dedicated to instilling the centrality of Israel and Jerusalem its capital deep within Jewish consciousness encouraging the return to Zion fashioning an exemplary society in the Jewish state expanding Zionist education including Hebrew language instruction settling the land and combating Anti Semitism www izionist org About IFF The Israel Forever Foundation develops and promotes experiential learning resources and initiatives to celebrate and strengthen the personal connection to Israel as an integral part of Jewish life and identity Our content and programming aim to engage and inspire Diaspora Jews as Virtual Citizens of Israel to foster understanding respect involvement and pride in our ancestral connection with our heritage history and homeland www israelforever org 20