Readers of this website especially will understand just how unhinged and pervasive hatred of Israel is, which is no surprise given it is invariably coming from a place of real Jew-hatred. And anyone paying attention to the news will have noticed not a day seems to go by without some disturbing antisemitic incident, more often than not with a “Free Palestine” component.
Yet once in a while an incident occurs that shocks even yours truly – someone who spends almost each and every day wading through antisemitic filth and garbage. Not only did such an incident just occur, but it happened to a real-life friend of mine who lives in the city in which I live.
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The following online Zoom session was planned for last night Israel time, in the wake of increased incidents of child sexual abuse:
Reports of child sexual abuse in Israel increased by 24% between 2019 to 2020.
That number must be addressed and not just by the experts, but all of us. Join Shana Aaronson, Director of Magen, Rabbi Zev Shandalov, educator and author, and Rachel Weinstein, Clinical Social Worker to learn how.
We cannot be silent. Our children need us.
This important session began but was interrupted by something incredibly shocking and disturbing: three individuals, who shared sexually explicit pictures, including one that highlighted the need for the meeting to begin with. These individuals also “told Jews to F off” and “threw in something about Palestine”, according to my friend Rachel, one of the presenters and organizers.
It gets even worse. The culprits were young children themselves.
As Rachel explained to me:
The boys were around 11-14 years of age, with unaccented, perfect English. They seemed to be from the US and, in a symbol of racial unity, comprised of two White and one Black teen.
At first I was confused because I knew, as host, that I’d muted everyone, and yet, there was still disruptive noise. When I saw what appeared to be young teens smiling in the camera, clearly not participants in the program, screaming, making sexually explicit gestures, and yelling, I knew something was, to put it mildly, amiss. When an animated video of a sex act and then a pic of a real child engaged in an act showed up on screen, we made the immediate decision to shut the program down. I was, and I think we all were – presenters and participants alike – horrified and disgusted. The fact that the hackers typed “F-U Jews” and “It’s Palestine” in the group chat added to the shock and outrage.
These teens clearly knew what kind of program they were interrupting and that Jews were running and participating in it.
What that screams to me, not merely says, is that their parents, teachers, and educators have failed them miserably. When you’re taught that child sexual abuse as well as antisemitism are bad, you do NOT engage they way they did, especially since this means they were in possession of child pornography, a federal crime no matter where you are.
And even if one argued that they just don’t get it or understand it, a strawman’s argument at best, the fact that they went out of their way to inject pornography that included a sexual act involving a child, as well as antisemitism and antizionism, proves how much the grownups in their lives have failed them and more, how much education they desperately need.
I agree with Rachel that the kids’ parents have failed them, but I think it is even more than that. These days, kids are so heavily influenced by social media, especially Instagram and Tik Tok. These places have become veritable sewers of antisemitic garbage where even celebrities and role models for teens – like the Hadids, and Dua Lipa – are posting inciting things. Kids are literally being taught that it is cool to hate on Jews.
This latest incident is a sobering reminder as to the horrifying extent young minds are being poisoned – as well as the need to act quickly and decisively to combat this disturbing trend.
