Can I Be on Abe Foxman’s Hit List?

by Myles Hoenig / October 25th, 2010

Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, and others are on the defensive now that the hate-monger Abe Foxman and his Anti-Defamation League have listed them as anti-Israel.  The groups respond with all the right comments about the plight of the Palestinians. These groups represent a wide collective of Jewish and non-Jewish pro-human rights groups. They recognize the Nakba (ethnic cleansing of Palestinians between 1947-49), the apartheid wall, and BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions). But like many on the ‘left’, they’re afraid to stand up to the more powerful (like ADL, AIPAC, Democratic Party, etc.) and say ‘Screw You’.

I would recommend a joint press release saying the following:

We of the XXX are proud to have been outed by Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League as anti-Israel. Although we support the right of all Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace in a unified nation which guarantees basic human rights for all with one person-one vote, we do so with the full belief that Israel has become a pariah nation.  Because of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians as Israel was created, the racist laws against non-Jewish citizens, and  the subjugation of the Palestinian people in open prison camps like Gaza and similar to the pogroms our ancestors experienced, we are anti-Israel.??The ADL thinks it speaks for all Jews. Israel thinks it acts on behalf of all Jews.  We Jews and non-Jews alike can only say, “Speak for yourselves.”

The ADL has been up front in its denial of the Armenian genocide by the Turks between 1915 and 1923, where 1.5 million were murdered.  Turkey was (hopefully not now) a major military ally of Israel.  Foxman has over the years created a sense of anti-Semitism worldwide simply by saying over and over again how rampant it is and equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. This is akin to the Big Lie as well as a self-fulfilling prophesy.  We see even how recently they joined the Islamophobes in opposing the Muslim center near Ground Zero.  A center for tolerance is certainly not in his or their interest. How ironic that the ADL has joined with the Wiesenthal Center to construct a Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem, atop an Islamic cemetery. Chutzpah used to be described as a young man killing his parents and asking for leniency because he’s an orphan.  Foxman has changed that example.

It is laudable for any group to speak out on behalf of oppressed minorities throughout the world, as the ADL had spoken out relentlessly against the oppression of Jews in the Soviet Union. But when such groups do so, yet support repressive regimes like in military-ruled Turkey and apartheid South Africa or openly oppose others’ oppression like the Palestinians, they completely negate their effectiveness and credibility.

I am Jewish and anti-Zionist but not head of any pro-Palestinian group.  Will you make an exception of me, Abe, and condemn my fight for human rights too? Call me a self-hating Jew while you’re at it.  It fits your profiling.

Myles Hoenig is a veteran of the Prince George's County Public School system in Maryland, USA. He's a long time activist for social justice. He lives in Baltimore. Read other articles by Myles.

This article was posted on Monday, October 25th, 2010 at 7:00am and is filed under Armenia, Human Rights, Israel, The Lobby, Zionism.

11 comments on this article so far ...

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  1. Gary S. Corseri said on October 25th, 2010 at 9:43am #

    I think Myles is taking a brave approach, given his background and circumstances. He clearly identifies himself with the resistance to oppression. He stands with those who protest the immoral imperatives of groups like Foxman’s ADL. He correctly targets the ADL’s hypocrisy in condemning the oppression of the Jews in the former Soviet Union while working hand in glove with “repressive regimes in military-ruled Turkey and apartheid South Africa.” He wants to assert his own identity as a Jew, without being enclosed or suppressed by definitions imposed by the likes of Abe Foxman… or, for that matter, the first commentator above.

    That comment is troubling because it precludes discussion and paints with a very wide and tattered brush. One finds such comments with more and more frequency on the progressive web, and they bode no good to come if we are ever to confront and set right the many entangling problems–socio-political, economic, ecological and cultural conundrums–that beset our world today.

    My mother was Jewish, but I was raised in a secular home, without formal religious training in any creed, missing out on the scarifying Jewish male baby experience (!), Hebrew school, bar mitzvahs, and all that. I’ve never considered myself a Jew (though have no problems thinking I am half-Khazarian), but in certain circles, thanks to my matrilineal heritage, I am Jewish and even have a right to “return” to Israel and live in a home formerly occupied for a few thousand years by Palestinians… and no further discussion permitted! (The problem with humans is that some of them cannot define their own identities without defining everyone else’s!)

    In my teens, I was self-motivated to begin a project that has lasted until this day: to know something about the various religions of the world, and the ways that various thought processes, histories and literatures have shaped the human dimension. To understand Judaism, I read much of the Old Testament and found much nonsense and blood-stained pages therein. Also, the beautiful poetry of the “Song of Songs,” the near-perfect drama of “The Book of Job” (except for the tacked-on ending), the wisdom of “Proverbs” and “Ecclesiastes.” One can find much beauty and wisdom, as well, in the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Te Ching, the Analects of Confucius, and in the stories and legends of “tribal” peoples everywhere.

    In a world that is being shrink-wrapped as rapidly as ours in this century, we face historic, probably cataclysmic, challenges. And equally profound opportunities to reach beyond borders, to transcend borders and define ourselves anew as the people who were of all the people, making a greater music, saving ourselves and others.

  2. robertsgt40 said on October 25th, 2010 at 9:51am #

    Thanx Myles-It takes a lot of courage to speak truth to power. We’re all in the same boat. I’m a Christian and live in the city where Hagee “preaches” his death to Islam. We are rapidly reaching a “LINE IN THE SAND MOMENT” that will define us all. I appreciate you.

  3. bozh said on October 25th, 2010 at 11:47am #

    gary,
    Wld u enlighten us as to what the label or symbol— if u prefer– jew, jewishness, ur mother being jewish, represents?
    does it mean that claiming to be ‘jew’ with all its avowed special and unique qualities, smhow makes u right and me, a nonjew, wrong.

    How wld it look if, instead of mass of ‘jews’ writing on the two evil sisters [one of them lesser evil] of dissemination, catholics dominated and in proportion to their numbers these media

    and such wld be the case, one wld read thousand of pieces and posts by catholics and considering selves catholics first of all or even only, and only one post by a ‘jew’ and on occasion even her/his comment erased!
    Wld that be fair to u as a ‘jew’ or whatever?
    And to be more injurious still, 30,40,60% of catholics as lawyers, psychiatrists, advisers, teachers, politicos, banksters, etcetc.
    But no end in sight to injury. These catholics actually support a catholic state [much criminal in nature] in heart of america and after expelling its inhabitants.
    No my friend, no ‘jew is going to fool me.
    I use full proof method.
    And still more injuries; ‘jews’ obeying hebrews not to work for anyone, but have people work for[serve] them and not be borrowers, but only lenders and then lending one another money at lesser rate than for goyim.
    But, of course, no ‘jew’ is gonna agree with my comment? Thanks for ur ‘jewish’ ear!
    is that also a specialty?

  4. Gary S. Corseri said on October 25th, 2010 at 12:23pm #

    bozh,

    I try to avoid these comments on comments on comments, as I think they add little to the original article, which should be the focus of all comments. I did read your first paragraph (and only your first paragraph) in your second comment above, and I’ll respond to that, but to nothing beyond that, and to no future comments of yours on this piece.

    If you had read my comment carefully, you would see that I never made any claim to being Jewish, nor of any rights, “qualities,” or privileges that such a claim might imply. Just the opposite, in fact.

    What I abhored about your first comment was its broad-brush, indiscriminate painting of individuals like Chomsky and Atzmon–quite unique people with very distinct, and often antithetical, points of view–, your broad-brush painting of them as “dishonest,” or “anti-Palestinian,” or “anti-Socialist” based upon your “labeling” them “Jewish,” or whatever. That is as absurd as labeling all Muslims as “terrorists,” all Christians as Bible-thumping fundamentalists, all blacks as lazy, all Irish as drunks, all Germans as Nazis… well, hopefully, you get the picture.

  5. MylesH said on October 25th, 2010 at 4:16pm #

    Gary,
    Well said; especially the part about how it diverts from the original article. Too often people with nothing better to do in life but live on cyberspace rant and rave about everything that’s important to them, but not truly addressing the issue at hand.
    I received a supportive, direct email from a reader and he turned me onto a site worth looking at:
    http://www.NoPlaceForDenial.com

  6. bozh said on October 25th, 2010 at 5:37pm #

    it is of utmost import to note that all ‘jews’ set the arbitrary– and exactly what media does–parameters of allowable discourse.
    One then is attacked for breaching these borders and what a ‘jewish laws’ breaker had said is not discussed at at all.
    Neat an artifice but it never fools some of us! And they think that name calling explains anything.

    Namecalling has only one purpose: to scare people away. According to gary and myles dayan, sharon, gurion, yabotinski, barak, rabin have no connection whatever with what went on and and what is going on now; thus, don’t unearth crimes of these people let alone demand they be hauled before courts.

    Some ‘jews’ come on as fierce defenders of basic human rights , but in fact are ‘zionists’ and cultists. I flush them out. Their only defense is name calling and lying.
    U guyz cannot fool me. There is no ruse, trick, lie i cannot spot either right away or sometime later. I am very proud that no ‘jew’ ever agreed with me.
    Oh my devil! A ‘jew’ agreeing with me and not calling me names!!
    I don’t know how i’d live with that and be condemned by every decent person in the world! thanks to all people with Left Ear.
    I get lotsof support from u!

  7. shabnam said on October 25th, 2010 at 6:35pm #

    More ‘documents’ leaked by Julian Assange, we were told, to keep American preoccupied with the war. A retired CIA officer turned political activist praised Assange for the release of documents and wrote:

    {You are not likely to learn this from the “mainstream media,” but WikiLeaks and its leader Julian Assange have received the 2010 Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII) award for their resourcefulness in making available secret U.S. military documents on the Iraq and Afghan wars.}

    We as Iranian people fully understand reasons behind these AWARDS including Noble Peace Prize, to manufacture ‘credibility’ for the agents. He continues:
    {This year’s award was presented Saturday, with the customary “corner-brightener candlestick,” by SAAII awardee and former UK ambassador Craig Murray, after Julian Assange and Daniel Ellsberg discussed WikiLeaks’ release of almost 400,000 classified battlefield reports from Iraq.}

    On the other hand, Juan Cole, in an article “Could Wikileaks Leave Iraq without a Government? Writes:

    {The wikileaks document dump from the Iraq War may well derail the formation of a government by implicating caretaker prime minister Nuri al-Maliki in running death squads. ….[B]ut the Wikileak allegations about the government running Shiite death squads during al-Maliki’s term as prime minister may have derailed that process. Al-Maliki’s rival, the largely secular Iraqiya List of Iyad Allawi, has slammed him in the aftermath of the leaks and has demanded an investigation of him.}

    The he continues:
    {He says he is suspicious of the timing of the leaks. (Likely he means that it is odd that this information surfaced just as he closed in on nailing down a second term as prime minister, a development not welcome to Washington because it was fostered by Iran.) But it is silly to allege that Julian Assange is secretly working for the US government.}

    Why no document related to Iyad Allawi a CIA agent, Known as the Butcher of Baghdad, does not leak out for public to know?

    Justin Raimondo has described Allawi as follows:
    “Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the killings”.
    http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/03/28/who-is-iyad-allawi/

    Munir Chalabi in “US Plans and the political outcome of the 2010 Iraqi election” writes:
    {The background of Iyad Allawi as a vicious Shiite Ba’athist has been well documented. He very actively participated in torturing and killing a large number of Iraqi Shiite, Kurd and Sunni progressive people during and prior to the 1963 Ba’ath party seizure of power in Iraq. Between 1968 and 1978 he was also an active member of the Baath party’s main security organisation, Hanen, responsible for the torturing and killing of thousands of members of democratic and anti-Ba’athist Iraqi organisations and parties, together with his direct participation in the machinations of British MI6 and the CIA since 1978.}
    www dot zcommunications.org/us-plans-and-the-political-outcome-of-the-2010-iraqi-election-by-munir-chalabi

    The crime of Allawi, does not leak out, but only the following ‘documents’ to frame the victims get out? This kind of propaganda is necessary to divert attentions from the war criminals onto VICTIMS to continue the occuptation and killings.

    {The documents revealed that the US soldiers blew up complete civilian buildings because of the presence of only one insurgent on the roof. The documents disclosed in detail the killing of more than 66,000 civilians in the Iraqi war.}
    Please notice the line “only one insurgent on the roof” to dilute US savagery in Iraq.
    Who is going to trust the propaganda tool?

  8. Jonas Rand said on October 25th, 2010 at 7:24pm #

    Shabnam, do you live in Iran? Do you work for their government or something?

    Why are you defending its government, and nothing else? When someone defends a single government so frequently and attacks any attempt to change or criticize it, I can only think they are brainwashed like the American or Israeli jingoists who rant about how their country, flag, and military are the best in the world. Defending any government to the point of jingoistic sycophantry, is the epitome of irrationality,possibly worse than religion.

  9. 3bancan said on October 25th, 2010 at 8:28pm #

    Jonas Rand said on October 25th, 2010 at 7:24pm #

    “Defending any government to the point of jingoistic sycophantry, is the epitome of irrationality,possibly worse than religion”

    I see no “sycophantry” nor “jingoism” in shabnam’s comments. She’s imho one of the best writers about the Middle East situation. On the hand, I see a lot of typical zionazi demonization of “the other” – especially Iran – in the comments of Jonas Rand…

  10. jayn0t said on October 25th, 2010 at 9:04pm #

    It’s a mistake to think, just because the Anti-Defamation League attacks a group as ‘anti-Israel’, that group is actually a serious critic of Zionism. For example, ‘Jewish Voice for Peace’ is typical of the “aren’t we great? – we’re Jews but we don’t support every murder carried out by the IDF” crowd. Vicious attacks by right-wing Zionists only reinforces their smug self-image. When Noam Chomsky was barred from Israel, did that show what a great anti-Zionist he is? No. Did white European opponents of South African apartheid call themselves ‘Whites Against Apartheid – Look At How We Have Given Up Our Privileges’?

  11. Mulga Mumblebrain said on October 27th, 2010 at 6:03am #

    I wonder if anyone can help me. I recall seeing a piece where the repellent Foxman, who I regard as the epitome of the Judaic Nazi, claimed that the German Nazi Judeocide was actually an attempt at deicide, because the Jews are God. I cannot find it anywhere on Google, and wonder if it was a concoction. Of course, if true, and I am inclined to believe it, as it is consistent with what I know that the most deranged Jews actually believe, then it puts Mr Foxman’s entire, in my opinion, utterly malevolent, career, in an interesting light. It must be a real burden to be divine, don’t you think?