With the rise of intersectionality – defined as “the interconnected nature of social categorisations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage” – one might have thought that more people would take antisemitism aka Jew hatred seriously.
You’d have thought wrong.
The exact opposite has occurred as Jews have been painted as “White” in the sense of perceived societal power structures and the recipients of “White privilege,” while anti-Zionists (who are mostly actual Jew-haters) have hijacked the movement by drawing parallels between palestinian Arabs and discriminated minorities in the US (mostly African Americans and Native Americans).
At the same time, organizations like the ADL have been rather ineffective at combatting the rise in Jew hatred, given their seeming reluctance to tackle the antisemitism of the Left like that on the far Right, nor much of the antisemitism from within the Black and Muslim communities in particular (although there have been some recent more positive signs from them).
Enter the End Jew Hatred Movement, which has attempted to tackle Jew-hatred of all stripes and elevate Jew hatred in the consciousness of everyday people, much like other types of racism. It defines itself as a “grassroots movement centering on Jewish liberation from all forms of oppression and discrimination….working to eliminate Jew hatred from Western culture through peaceful direct action and education” while rejecting “all partisan political affiliations” and taking “no positions on issues unrelated to Jew hatred and its eradication.”
The End Jew Hatred Movement is the brainchild of Brooke Goldstein, who has a history in finding innovative ways to tackle Jew hatred. She previously attempted to tackle head on the antisemitism from within the so-called liberal progressive movement by founding the Zioness Movement, but as I documented on here over three and half years ago, the Zioness Movement was itself hijacked to basically parrot the radical progressive Left minus their antisemitism, and Brooke was pushed out of her own creation.
The experience did, however, teach Brooke many things, including a better approach to tackle Jew hatred effectively. And thus the End Jew Hatred movement was born.
You’d think the Jewish media would get behind such a non-partisan initiative that seeks to tackle Jew hatred through peaceful direct action and education. But what I am seeing is the opposite.
For instance, the Jerusalem Post published a JTA hit piece titled The End Jew Hatred Movement is spreading across the country — and sparking controversy:
The movement also provided the spark for the unexpected opposition in the New York City Council. Lawmakers who did not support the proclamation said they demurred because the End Jew Hatred Movement, while run by people who say they “set aside politics and ideology,” has been associated with right-wing Jewish activists.
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Its backers call it an unapologetic voice that’s fighting a growing problem, antisemitism, while its critics say it is an attempt to inject hawkish rhetoric into a national effort to combat anti-Jewish persecution.
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Nearly three years after its launch, the movement remains opaque about its structure, declining to share any financial information or elaborate on its relationship to the Lawfare Project, which bills itself as an “international pro-Israel litigation fund.”
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Goldstein also has a history of right-wing activism and controversial statements. She has made appearances on conservative news networks such as Fox News, One America News and Newsmax. She once said that “there’s no such thing as a Palestinian person,” and on Election Day in 2016, tweeted, “Can I run the anti-anti-islamophobia department in the Trump administration?”
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End Jew Hatred has also worked with Dov Hikind, a former Brooklyn Democratic state assemblyman who now runs a group called Americans Against Antisemitism. Hikind’s group has partnered with End Jew Hatred, and he has appeared at its events. Hikind told the New York Jewish Week that his group and End Jew Hatred are “involved in terms of pushing the same agenda.”
Hikind has stirred controversy as well: In 2013, he wore blackface as part of a Purim costume, and in 2005, sponsored a bill that would have allowed police to profile Middle Eastern men on the subway. He was a follower of the late right-wing extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane.
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Those right-wing connections were part of what led six progressive council members to either abstain from or vote against the resolution. One of the council members who voted no, Brooklyn’s Shahana Hanif, told the New York Jewish Week that she has participated in multiple actions against antisemitism but opposed the resolution because she didn’t want to endorse End Jew Hatred as a movement.
“Antisemitism is real,” Hanif said. “I understand the urgency. I understand the opportunity when there is a resolution or any kind of symbolic gesture that comes along, that every legislator wants to be united in supporting our Jewish colleagues. But in the same breath, it is our responsibility to know who is leading on these efforts.”
City Comptroller Brad Lander, a prominent Jewish progressive politician, vouched for Hanif’s record of standing up to antisemitism and echoed her concerns. He told the New York Jewish Week that End Jew Hatred’s activists are “right-wingers who have a track record of working very closely with people who foment hatred.”
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a progressive group, also opposed the resolution. Rafael Shimunov, a member of the group, said the resolution was “clearly associated with the right,” and noted that at a hearing ahead of the vote, an activist decried bail reform, something right-wing advocates have pushed for years to repeal.
The Times of Israel published the same piece, but with the title Growing ‘End Jew Hatred’ movement sparks controversy amid right-wing links
I get why some progressive outlets would attack the End Jew Hatred movement but why are JTA, Times of Israel and JPost doing so, while giving validity to the views of those who voted against the resolution to proclaim an “End Jew Hatred Day, as well as the likes of Rafael Shimunov, who empowers antisemites like Linda Sarsour?
We should all be getting behind the End Jew Hatred movement, not undermining it like these media outlets seem to be doing.
Alas, it seems to me that many within the Jewish media are themselves infected by the same Woke ideology that spawned the need for the End Jew Hatred movement to begin with.
