24% of Americans reportedly hold antisemitic beliefs
Jewish Media Review – March 2024
It was very hard this month to decide which stories to share with you. When I sat down to edit this review, I started with an eight-page Word document. As I read articles throughout the month, I save the headline and link of stories that have value to Christians trying to love their Jewish neighbors well. All the articles feel important when I save them. Some lose their urgency or are eclipsed by something more striking after a week or two.
I do not purport to be a gatekeeper as in the pre-Internet days when only the local newspaper or TV station had access to the ever-ticking news wire. All the news sources referenced here are available on your phone or computer. I do hope that I can stir in you a desire to understand how our Jewish neighbors live the American experience and that this I turn stokes compassion for the Sons of Jacob.
📈 Poll finds nearly 1 in 4 Americans hold antisemitic views, highest in 60 years (Times of Israel)
ADL chief decries ‘shocking’ results of survey, which shows younger respondents most likely to agree with anti-Jewish tropes, have little problem with backing for Hamas.
Does this percentage hold up in our churches? Let us not fall for the fallacy that having compassion on the Palestinian civilians caught in the war means we must demonize Jews whether they are in Israel or the United States. Nor should our validating Israel's right to defend itself from murderous Hamas mean we cannot weep for Gazans suffering.
✡️ Hide No More (Jewish Journal)
“’But you don’t look Jewish.’ Growing up in Orange County, with blonde hair and blue eyes, this was a common refrain. You don’t look Jewish. And as an 11- or 12-year-old, I didn’t know how to respond to my non-Jewish peers. Thirty years later, I realize — when someone said to me, “You don’t look Jewish,” they thought they were offering me a compliment.”
😶🌫️ The Myth of the Homeless, Cultureless, Ahistorical Jew (Jewish Journal)
At a protest in London, a masterpiece of antisemitism was lifted on high: “The only place you’re indigenous to is Jahannam!” The idea that Jews belong in “Jahannam,” or “hell” in Arabic, is part of the venerable tradition of religious antisemitism, whether Christian or Islamist, while the reference to indigeneity is a nod to left-wing university-style antisemitism. At its core is a simple message: Jews don’t belong anywhere. At least not on earth.
Recent questions about a bombshell New York Times investigation are being used to cast doubt on the veracity of rape allegations
😓We’re living in the most worrying period for Jews since World War II (Times of Israel)
And there’s rarely been a time when Israel’s existence, imperiled from without, and hobbled from within, has been so manifestly necessary
✊🏻White supremacists, seizing on Israel-Hamas war, have accelerated their antisemitism since Oct. 7 (JTA)
🫱🏽🫲🏽 A plea from the daughters of Abraham (Times of Israel)
We both have deep ties to this tragic land, and we have discovered that the way to reclaim our lost humanity is to listen
🎞️Documentary on October 7 Supernova festival massacre makes US debut (Times of Israel)
Days after the Hamas onslaught, filmmaker Duki Dror headed to the devastated rave site near Re’im. It is now his mission to show the world ‘Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre’
🤔 Opinion: Why is the world not helping Gazans flee a war zone? (Forward)
In most contemporary conflicts, global efforts are made to facilitate the evacuation of refugees. Gaza is proving to be the exception
📖 Redeeming hostages: What does Judaism really say? (Times of Israel)
There is a striking difference between Talmudic and Biblical responses to the painful dilemma of freeing captives
😔Antisemitic cartoons make a comeback (All Israel)
📉 New survey of Orthodox Jews shows vast differences in attitudes toward Zionism (Forward)
“Orthodox Jews in the U.S. have embraced Zionism more strongly since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, but groups within Orthodoxy hold widely divergent views on the subject, a recent survey shows.”
🕵🏻♀️ My Mother’s Secret (Tablet)
My mother was a top Middle East analyst for the CIA. On her deathbed, she begged me not to raise my children Jewish. To find out why, I asked her former colleagues. I’m still reeling from their answers.
😨
‘I do not feel safe on campus,’ says UC Santa Barbara student body president Tessa Veksler, daughter of Soviet refugees (Forward)
📺 Would the Jon Stewart Peace Plan Work? (Jewish Journal)
On the Daily Show, Stewart summarized the Israel-Palestine conflict decently (in a satirical context). He also took a swipe at a certain Christian eschatological view. Jewish media has been commenting on whether Stewart’s proposed ‘Middle East NATO’ would work. The Jewish Journal gathered these three sample responses. Jon Stewart is Jewish.
- A Delusional Idea, Natan Kohn-Magnus, Times of Israel
“To claim that actors which hate each other — as Qatar and the UAE do — would get together and form an Article 5-like security commitment is delusional. To fail to mention Iran even once in his segment, with its support for Hamas and other terror proxies throughout the Middle East, is a fatal omission.” - A Worthy Idea, Matthew Loh, Business Insider
“While tongue-in-cheek, Stewart’s solution isn’t a new concept, experts on the Middle East told Business Insider. Most said an “Arab NATO” is unlikely to take root — even if it might do wonders for the region.” - An Unlikely Idea, PJ Grisar, Forward
“[Yair] Rosenberg mentioned how Arab countries may pay lip service to Palestinian freedom, but would likely be unwilling to protect it with boots on the ground.”
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