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‘Progressive Jews’ Engaging in Lies, Hypocrisy & Antisemitism: Part 2

Corey Balsam of Canada’s Independent Jewish Voices, filmmaker and Jewish Voice for Peace​ activist Rebecca Pierce, Wake (or perhaps Woke?) Forest University Prof Dr. Barry Trachtenberg, and Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) President Lara Friedman recently got together on Zoom to attack the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

I watched the entire thing so you won’t have to – but also to pick out the inevitable examples of the panelists’ lies, hypocrisy, and – wait for it – antisemitic talk.

There is actually so much to highlight, I couldn’t confine it to just the one post.

Previously: Part 1


Next we turn to self-described “Jew of color” Rebecca Pierce, who complains about being left out of the conversation on antisemitism, and specifically the IHRA definition’s insistence that denying Jews the right to self determination is antisemitic:

It very much seems she is against Israel’s very existence.

Here’s what you need to know about Pierce: it would seem she identifies as Jewish, not because she is actually Jewish, but as a way to advance her anti-Israel agenda.

Rebecca Pierce’s mother, Margalynne Armstrong, “decided to raise her [Rebecca] as an Episcopalian,” according to a 2016 interview Armstrong did for the webzine, Journey with Jesus. Pierce’s mother grew up going to Catholic Mass and “thinking I was Catholic, but wasn’t officially,” due to not performing the required rituals (more irony). According to her mother, Pierce’s father, an agnostic, grew up in Highland Park, Illinois, attended Hebrew school and had a confirmation, which means he grew up Reform, but he was never a bar mitzvah because, “his rabbi found no scriptural support for the ceremony,” which is a bizarre statement in a post-Holocaust Reform movement. However, for the sake of anyone arguing that her father is legitimately Jewish, Pierce was never raised as a Jew.  She apparently only decided to “identify as Jewish,” as her mother puts it, when she went to college and joined Students for Justice in Palestine. So even if Pierce has patrilineal Jewish bona fides, why did she specifically decide to “identify as Jewish” with the apparent purpose of demonizing the Jewish state and those Jews who support its existence?

And she regularly crosses the line into antisemitism territory, comparing us to White supremacists and defending antisemitic conspiracy theories, as well as defending terrorists.

Of course, she later on whines about having such comments featured on websites, accusing these sites of engaging in racism.

Note how she claims she received disparaging comments about her appearance. I cannot comment on the veracity of those claims but I can say this: Zionist Jews are constantly targeted by the very “anti-Zionist” folk this panel defends, with comments about our appearance, and other racist invective. As you know, I painstakingly catalogue this, and have been personally subjected to such abuse on many occasions. Yet Pierce and these other panelists seem to oppose painting this as antisemitic.

And while she accuses pro-Israel people of conflating antisemitism and anti-Zionism, she herself tries to paint all those who object to anti-Israel, pro-BDS rhetoric coming from people of color as being against movements in support of Black social struggles, as well as a cover for right-wing antisemites.

Go here for part 3.

About the author

Picture of David Lange

David Lange

A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
Picture of David Lange

David Lange

A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
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