White House and Wall Street mobilized by Kanye-created "anti-semitism" "crisis"

[yankeedoodle]

   Amazing how this all erupted so suddenly, and how everybody immediately sprang into action, isn't it?   

Doug Emhoff to chair White House roundtable with Jewish groups on rising antisemitismhttps://www.jta.org/2022/12/05/politics/doug-emhoff-to-chair-white-house-roundtable-with-jewish-groups-on-rising-antisemitism

The White House will convene a roundtable with Jewish organizations on antisemitism, to be chaired by Douglas Emhoff, the Jewish Second Gentleman.

Also appearing at the event will be Susan Rice, President Joe Biden's top domestic policy advisor; Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department's special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism; and Keisha Lance Bottoms, Biden's senior advisor for public engagement, the White House said Monday in a statement.

Biden has made combating antisemitism and other bigotries a centerpiece of his agenda; he launched his campaign in April 2019 by saying that the deadly 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, and former President Donald Trump's failure to unequivocally condemn it, made him decide to run for president.

Antisemitic expression has spiked following Elon Musk's removal of content controls after he purchased the social media giant Twitter and unabashed antisemitism embraced by rapper and designer Kanye West. Biden convened a White House summit in September to address the threat extremism poses to various communities.

The Department of Homeland Security last week issued a terrorism advisory bulletin that the Jewish, LGBTQ and migrant communities face a "persistent and lethal threat," NBC reported last week.

The same day, Sen. Ben Cardin, a Jewish Democrat from Maryland, convened a meeting of top agency officials who handle the threat of antisemitic violence.

"We can and should be doing more," Cardin, who convened the meeting in his role as chairman of the the United States' efforts to oversee human rights abroad, said after the meeting. "A unified, national strategy on countering antisemitism is needed. While finding the proper balance between protecting free speech and protecting Americans from harm, we need to up our game, rebuild coalitions with other groups that have been the target of hate-based violence, and institutionalize coordination that counters antisemitism wherever it is found."

Emhoff, whose wife is Vice President Kamala Harris, said that his time on the job has made him more sensitive to Jewish tradition and to threats facing Jews.

"And coming in as Second Gentleman, I thought being the first man in this role would be the headline and it was," Emhoff said last week at a conference of NewDEAL, a group of young progressive elected officials. "But like the one thing was being the first Jewish person of any of the four. There's never been a Jew married to a president, or vice president, or has been president or vice president. As it turns out that has become a very big deal in the Jewish community and in other communities that aren't represented."

Emhoff warned against apathy regarding antisemitism. "So I don't want it to feel normal," he said. "I don't want people to think well it's just words, it's just Kanye, no — this matters. This is important. We have to all step up and speak out about this as leaders in your communities."




UJA Wall Street Dinner mixes personal stories with calls to fight antisemitism
To loud applause, Van Jones repeated, "Ye, nay! Ye, nay! Ye, nay! No more, no more, no more."
https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/uja-wall-street-dinner-mixes-personal-stories-with-calls-to-fight-antisemitism/

The aspect of the UJA-Federation of New York Wall Street Dinner that may have stood out the most was a number: $31 million, the amount raised that night — a haul that exceeds the annual budgets of many Jewish organizations.

But last night, the tone of the awardees' speeches belied the event's astronomical numbers, its dark designer suits and cocktail dresses, and the kosher catered food on offer. The awardees were unquestionably denizens of Manhattan's financial district, but their remarks were less about their success in business than about the personal journeys they have gone through.

"Jewish outreach really matters, and you never know when it's going to click," said one of the night's honorees, Daniel Loeb, CEO of Third Point, a hedge fund that manages an estimated $14 billion, describing his growing interest in Judaism. "The most important thing to do is to be our own emissaries."

Overall, the night brought together 1,400 people — double last year's attendance but lower than that of 2019 — to hear about UJA-Federation's themes of aiding Ukraine, addressing the legacy of COVID-19, ameliorating food insecurity and fighting antisemitism. Eric Goldstein, the group's CEO, said that in recent years, UJA's total annual grantmaking has risen from $155 million to $175 million and is likely to grow.

He discussed how the cost of food has risen 12% with inflation — 16% for kosher food — and said that demand at New York-area food pantries is nearly 70% higher than it was before the pandemic. He lamented that people are paying less attention to the war in Ukraine, even though the fighting and the corresponding humanitarian crisis are ongoing.

People "have become largely numbed to the headlines," Goldstein said in his speech regarding Ukraine. "The daily savagery has become almost normalized, and the incredible wave of philanthropic giving that we and many others saw at the beginning of the war to support Ukrainians has reduced to a trickle."

But the focus of the event was clear. Last year's dinner, held like this one at the Marriott Marquis near Times Square, highlighted antisemitism but focused on the ongoing pandemic and the world's tenuous emergence from COVID restrictions. Last night, nearly all the speakers talked about antisemitism.

CNN host Van Jones, the keynote speaker, opened his speech with "an apology for the silence of my community" regarding discrimination against Jews. Jones, who is Black, invoked his Jewish godmother in calling for a renewal of the Black-Jewish civil rights alliance, and condemned Kanye West, now known as Ye, for his stream of antisemitic remarks. To loud applause, he repeated, "Ye, nay! Ye, nay! Ye, nay! No more, no more, no more."

"The reason this country is a democracy at all is because Black and Jewish people have loved each other and helped each other and supported each other," he said. "The best in your community and the best of our community stood together."

Solita Marcelli, the chief investment officer for the Americas at UBS, won the Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award and spoke about her experience as a Turkish Jewish immigrant to the U.S. When she attended her first UJA Wall Street Dinner two decades ago, she said, "That evening seemed a little different than it does tonight. I don't remember anyone who looked or sounded like me — a woman, an immigrant, with an accent."

She also recounted how her childhood synagogue in Istanbul was repeatedly attacked, prompting the community to put heavy security measures in place. "I never expected to see this in America, but now not a week seems to go by without a threat to a synagogue or some celebrity or politician spreading baseless antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories," she said.

Loeb won the Gustave L. Levy Award. Last night, he pledged $3 million over two years to UJA. He has a net worth of approximately $3.5 billion, and has donated to organizations ranging from Success Academy, a network of charter schools, to the Aleph Institute, which works on criminal justice reform. In his speech, he said, "Jewishly speaking, I was raised by wolves," and narrated his experience of becoming more involved with the Jewish community.

When the pandemic began, he said, a rabbi who was an early COVID patient asked Loeb to recite the Shema on his behalf — but Loeb didn't know how to say it. That request led Loeb to begin praying regularly and putting on tefillin — something he credited for a turnaround at his fund. Now, he said, he sends siddurim to his friends. Near the end of his speech, he quoted a line about committing to love one's neighbor as oneself.

"Say this every day," he said. "Be kind to each other. Don't forget to be kind to yourself. And be kind to the UJA."

[yankeedoodle]

Bipartisan slate of 125 lawmakers call for 'whole of government' approach to combating antisemitism
https://www.jta.org/2022/12/06/politics/bipartisan-slate-of-125-lawmakers-call-for-whole-of-government-approach-to-combating-antisemitism

A bipartisan slate of 125 lawmakers from both chambers are calling on the Biden administration to adopt a "whole of government" policy to combating antisemitism.

A letter sent Tuesday to President Joe Biden, spearheaded by the chairmen of congressional task forces for combating antisemitism, called for action from officials from an array of agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the FBI, the State Department, the White House, the Department of Education and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The letter pushes for the creation of "an interagency task force led by an official at the Assistant Secretary rank or higher," and it cites an FBI report saying there was a 6% rise in antisemitic hate crimes in 2020.

"Because many individual agencies play a critical role in combating antisemitism, closer coordination is needed to share best practices, data, and intelligence; identify gaps in efforts; streamline overlapping activities and roles; and execute a unified national strategy," the letter said.

The letter comes a day ahead of a roundtable on antisemitism to be convened at the White House bringing together top administration officials with Jewish organizational leaders, and a week after the Department of Homeland Security issued a terrorism advisory bulletin saying that the Jewish, LGBTQ and migrant communities face a "persistent and lethal threat."

The chairs of the task force in the U.S. House of Representatives are Kathy Manning, a Jewish Democrat from North Carolina, and Chris Smith, a New Jersey Democrat. The chairs in the Senate are Jacky Rosen, a Jewish Democrat from Nevada, and James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican.

[yankeedoodle]

There he/it is - the khazarian second "gentleman" - flanked by two black women, and neither one is his wife!   


'An epidemic of hate': Biden administration officials meet with Jewish leaders to tackle rising antisemitism

Article is here, if you want to punish yourself by reading it; 
https://www.jta.org/2022/12/07/politics/an-epidemic-of-hate-biden-administration-officials-meet-with-jewish-leaders-to-tackle-rising-antisemitism

[yankeedoodle]

Days after Emhoff-led summit, Biden sets up task force to fight antisemitism and Islamophobia
https://www.jta.org/2022/12/12/politics/biden-task-force-to-draft-strategy-for-fighting-antisemitism

Less than a week after Doug Emhoff, the Jewish second gentleman, chaired a roundtable with Jewish organizational leaders, President Joe Biden has set up an interagency task force to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia.

The group's first task is coming up with a strategy to tackle the rise in antisemitism.

"This strategy will raise understanding about antisemitism and the threat it poses to the Jewish community and all Americans, address antisemitic harassment and abuse both online and offline, seek to prevent antisemitic attacks and incidents, and encourage whole-of-society efforts to counter antisemitism and build a more inclusive nation," Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden's spokeswoman, said in a statement.

Emhoff's 90-minute meeting last week came on the heels of weeks of antisemitic invective spewed by rapper Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, and the dinner attended last month by West, Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and former President Donald Trump at Trump's Florida residence. The discussion also followed alarming spikes in antisemitic invective on Twitter and other platforms.

A bipartisan slate of lawmakers last week urged Biden to establish a task force on antisemitism.

According to Jean-Pierre's release, the task force will be led by Domestic Policy Council staff and National Security Council staff. She did not say which other government agencies will be involved.

[yankeedoodle]

Lawmakers push Biden to embrace IHRA definition, will it be part of new task force?
https://mondoweiss.net/2022/12/the-shift-lawmakers-push-biden-to-embrace-ihra-definition-will-it-be-part-of-new-task-force/

This week the White House announced that it was establishing a new group tasked with developing a national strategy to combat antisemitism.

The move comes after weeks of antisemitic incidents involving well-known figures, such as former president Donald Trump's recent meeting with Kanye West and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. It's too soon to know what this new effort will look like or how it will operate. Obviously, tackling antisemitism is important, but we often see such efforts hijacked by groups and individuals looking to target critics of Israel.

For example, days before the Biden announcement, a number of lawmakers sent him a letter calling for a unified strategy on the subject. It was led by the co-chairs of the Senate and House Bipartisan Task Forces for Combating Antisemitism. That's Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK) and Representatives Kathy Manning (D-NC) and Chris Smith (R-NJ). The letter was signed by 122 of their colleagues from both sides of the aisle. There are a number of big progressive names here: Raphael Warnock, Katie Porter, Ed Markey, and Barbara Lee.

"We welcome the measures the Administration has taken thus far to address antisemitism," reads the letter. "However, combating a growing threat of this magnitude, particularly here at home, requires a strategic, whole-of-government approach."

The text never actually mentions the IHRA's working definition of antisemitism directly, but it contains a clear reference to the controversial measure: "Interagency coordination also could benefit from considering a broadly understood definition of antisemitism, as several agencies have adopted or recognized individually."

Many have been sounding the alarm about the IHRA definition since it was first developed in 2016. "Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews," it reads. "Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities."

This is obviously vague enough to be weaponized against defenders of Palestine, but even more disturbing is the eleven contemporary examples of antisemitism that are attached to the definition. They include "Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor" is one, "Applying double standards" to Israel that are not "expected or demanded of any other democratic nation."

In 2020 more than 120 Palestinian and Arab academics and journalists put out a statement warning about the implications of such a definition, "Through 'examples' that it provides, the IHRA definition conflates Judaism with Zionism in assuming that all Jews are Zionists, and that the state of Israel in its current reality embodies the self-determination of all Jews," it read. "We profoundly disagree with this. The fight against antisemitism should not be turned into a stratagem to delegitimize the fight against the oppression of the Palestinians, the denial of their rights and the continued occupation of their land."

Many supporters of the definition insist that it does not include all criticisms of Israel and that people are still free to critique the country's policies. This is only technically true, as the line between valid criticism and antisemitism is left intentionally murky. Other supporters of the definition openly admit that it can be used to crack down on any Israel critic. Some even blatantly acknowledge that that's the entire point. Here's Israeli antisemitism envoy Noa Tishby making remarks to a congressional task force on antisemitism earlier this year: "The reason that IHRA unfortunately gets a pushback is..exactly because of Israel..it's very convenient to condemn Nazis, nobody likes to walk around and call themself an antisemite, but you kind of go 'I'm not an antisemite, I'm just an anti-Zionist.' That is considered okay and that is one of those things that we have to make clear: anti-Zionism is antisemitism. Period. End of story. There's no question about that."

It's not like the Biden administration needs pressuring on this issue. They've repeatedly made it clear that they endorse the definition. Last year Secretary of State Blinken sent a letter to American Zionist Movement President Richard Heideman declaring that he "enthusiastically embraces" and its full list of examples. A number of high-profile liberals signing the Rosen letter indicate there will be little resistance in Washington if that's the route they choose.