Looks like I’ve waited long enough to amass another of my occasional updates on antisemites we should all be on the lookout for. Please take these latest “bewares” seriously…
1) Anuradha Mittal — the one driving Ben & Jerry’s recent decision to boycott the more than 800,000 Jews living in 140 different communities throughout Israel. She’s the head of Ben & Jerry’s board of directors and vice president of its Foundation, and she accuses Israel of apartheid, colonialism and land-grabbing.
2) Rafael (“Raf”) Shimunov of Queens, New York, is a board member of “Jews for Racial and Economic Justice,” an antisemitic organization endorsing like-minded candidates in all elections. Of the IDF’s help recently rendered in Miami, he said, “Their expertise is crushing buildings with people in them, not rescuing them.”
3) Former Georgia Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has accused Jews of being behind the terrorist attack of 9/11: “Zionists did it,” she said on Twitter. She appealed its removal, calling her remark “strong political commentary,” not antisemitism.
4) British pop-star Dua Lipa is currently dating Anwar Hadid, one of a family posting antisemitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric on American social media. She is a Muslim who calls herself a “pro-Palestinian activist,” but has been publicly shamed for accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing and vilifying the Jewish state.
The above “call-outs” are the latest from StopAntisemitism.org, with offices at 1146 19th St. NW, Fifth Floor, Washington, D.C. 20036. This is the organization dedicated to “Holding antisemites accountable, and creating consequences for their actions.” Of Dua Lipa, it has said that “Unlike Hollywood Marvel comic star Mark Ruffalo, who educated himself on the facts and immediately apologized for his previous attacks on Israel and the Jewish people, Lipa doubled down on her lies. Talking to Twitter, she claimed she stood ‘in solidarity with all oppressed people,’ and rejects all forms of racism.”
Questions, comments and requests for verifications of the above should be directed to liora@stopantisemitism.org. The organization has issued the following statement:
“We must continue working together to call out and hold accountable Jew haters like those above and their circle of antisemitic friends who wish to harm the Jews. It’s about time they are publicly shamed for their constant and obsessive vilification of the Jewish people and nation!”
Have any of you had any personal antisemitic experiences of your own? My vivid memory goes back to my teenage years, when I was shoe-shopping with a couple of girlfriends. I was tall for my age then, and my feet were long, so I always needed help when I tried to buy new shoes that were more feminine than old-faithful lace-up oxfords. That time, after I’d tried on several pairs that were not at all what I’d requested to see, the salesman — instead of telling me he had nothing else to show — casually said this: “You Star of David girls are never satisfied with anything!”
I hadn’t even thought about my necklace — a gift from my Boubby the Philosopher, which at that stage of my young life I never took off at all, but had definitely caught his eye, and evoked that show of blatant antisemitism. You may or may not resonate with this, but his crude, cutting and unnecessary religious put-down has remained with me all my long life. It never lost its sting — even when I reached college age and was able to buy big-looking white bucks without feeling embarrassed, because everyone else was also wearing them.
My Boubby’s Magen David died in a fire, many years later. But anyone interested can now identify my Jewishness by another ever-present revelatory necklace. I’m never without one…
Harriet P. Gross can be reached at
harrietgross1@gmail.com.