War. Women. Jews. Palestinians. Culture. Humor. And dogs.

Newsletter #149

IRAEL/PALESTINE

*The Israel-Hamas war has hit home for me and many other American Jews in ways previous conflicts haven’t. My column, “Right Now, The Political is Personal,” considers how the ongoing tragedy has permeated the fabric of our lives.

*Never Again means Never Forget. 106 days have passed since Hamas committed the atrocities of October 7th and Israel launched its bombardment of Gaza. Like millions of Jews around the world, I’ve grieved with families of victims of the wilding rampage whose objective was not “just” to murder but to maim, rape, torture, and terrify. (Click on that link; don’t look away.) I’ve spent sleepless nights weeping for the women dead and desecrated, babies bullet-riddled and burned, children “butchered” in their beds, concert-goers slaughtered, raped, and traumatized. I’ve tried to imagine my children or grandchildren among the hostages. I’ve empathized with parents who face each new day unsure if their beloveds are alive or dead.

*At the same time, like anyone with a functioning conscience and a beating heart, I’ve also lamented the war’s catastrophic toll on innocent Palestinians. One in every 100 Gazans has been killed, 70% of them women and children. A video or a photo of their children’s anguish is enough to propel me into a vortex of shame and despair. Had my family been confined to Gaza, essentially a vast open-air prison, without access to food, water, electricity, or medicine, I can’t imagine us surviving Israel’s military onslaught, Hamas’ self-aggrandizing use of civilians as human shields, the destruction and displacement, the chaos.

* Hamas leaders say they went on the attack because they believed the Palestinian cause was slipping away and only violence could revive it. Tragically, events bear them out. Oct 7 catapulted “the Palestinian problem” front and center whereas the world stood by for nearly two decades while moderate, well-behaved Palestinians demonstrated, wrote opeds, gave speeches, and otherwise attempted to draw attention to the calamity of the Israeli Occupation. The moderates most notable effort was advancing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), a nonviolent international campaign of economic resistance, which, as we know, was fiercely opposed and systematically squelched by a cadre of “proIsrael” NGOs, and political forces in Israel, the UK, and the U.S. Naomi Klein asks, “What if we had listened?” And what if BDS offers a hopeful path to the future? For now, Israel’s bomb-’em-break-’em strategy is exacting a steep price in blood and treasure while graphic images of Palestinian misery have moved many Americans to demand a recalibration of the U.S./Israel relationship that could dramatically alter the political landscape in the Middle East.

YOU’VE GOT TO BE TAUGHT TO HATE & FEAR

* Most people are unaware that both Hamas and Israel are indoctrinating children to despise and dehumanize The Other. Exhibit A in the hate-mongering department is this video of a jihad training session in a Gaza kindergarten. According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, Hamas actively indoctrinates the tiniest Palestinians to kill and die for the cause, teaching them that “waging jihad is a religious duty and that martyrdom earns the believer a greater reward in heaven than any other action or virtue.“ I shuddered when, at the end of the video, a pint-sized Palestinian kisses the martyred little “corpse” as if she’s in training to be a widow.

*Exhibit B establishes that Jews also indoctrinate their children to hate The Other. In this video, which played on Israel’s public TV station in November, Jewish girls sing about “eliminating all of them” within a year —”them” being the Palestinians in Gaza. Bu the way, that was the same message Israelis heard from MKs Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, Netanyahu’s proudly racist cabinet members, who flagrantly called for ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.

*For more proof texts of antiArab brainwashing in Israeli textbooks, see the study conducted by Hebrew University professor, Nurit Peled-Elhanan. Or the work of Adir Cohen, professor at Israel’s Academic College of Emek Yezreel and author of “An Ugly Face in the Mirror,” who found that children’s literature that promulgates negative stereotypes of Arabs can “give birth to lifelong hatreds among Israelis and Palestinians.”

*For what it’s worth: Hamas’ emblem features crossed swords superimposed on the Dome of the Rock with a thin green map at its apex effectively erasing the existence of the Jewish State by representing Palestine as the entire territory “from the river to the sea.” In contrast, Israel’s emblem, contradicting its incessant onslaught in Gaza, brackets the menorah with two olive branches, the universal symbol of peace.

MUSIC

*Last month, 1000 Israeli musicians and singers, along with the families of the remaining 132 hostages, gathered at the ancient Caesarea Amphitheater to perform this rousing rendition of “Bring Them Home,” a soulful demand for the release of the captives in Gaza. English translation here.

*Not sure why I teared up at the first line of “Rainbow Connection” and the sight of the Lincoln Center audience singing and swaying along with a little green puppet. Maybe because Kermit the Frog evokes my children’s childhoods and the boundless pleasure of watching them watch Sesame Street decades ago. (This message is brought to you by the letter “G;” for gratitude.)

* Can’t believe a 5-year-old can belt out“Fly Me To The Moon” with such powerful pipes and uncanny mimicry of Sinatra’s rhythm. Brava Sophie Fatu!

WOMEN

*My impassioned tribute to the most famous Israeli you’ve probably never heard of, will introduce you to Alice Shalvi, scholar, educator, innovator, orator, organizer, legendary pioneer of Israeli feminism, and close friend to me and many other American feminists. Thankfully, Alice died at 96 on Oct. 2, five days before the massacre.

* Despite gruesome footage from the terrorists’ own body cameras, some Canadian apologists signed an open letter denying that Hamas committed any gender-based atrocities. Some U.S. professors hailed the rapists and murderers as “liberators.” And some college-age demonstrators endorsed Palestinian resistance “by any means necessary.” turning a blind eye to the rape and torture of Israeli women. .

*Perhaps most shocking to me was the time it took for feminist leaders and groups to speak out against Hamas’ well-documented misogynistic barbarism. (I noted their protracted silence in my last Newsletter, which The Forward was kind enough to reprint.) It took until Dec. 1st for UN Women to release its statement “unequivocally” condemning those terrorist acts. Until Dec 4th for Sheryl Sandberg to convene the Summit on Gender-Based Violence, that led to the production of this incredibly forceful and explicit video which challenges the world to be #UnitedAgainstRape. Until Dec. 14 for Veteran Feminists of America —“the foremost national source of information about the modern women’s movement” —to post its statement: “We decry rape at all times, and especially as an instrument of war as it was practiced by the terrorist organization, Hamas, on October 7.” (That wasn’t so hard, was it?) Until Dec. 21 for Ms. magazine to acknowledge the atrocities by posting Jill Filipovic’s powerful Substack essay

* At this writing, the websites of America’s largest women’s groups — National Organization for Women, National Women’s Political Caucus, and American Association of University Women -- have yet to mention Hamas’ grotesque crimes against women and girls. As the meme above put it, Jewish victims don’t count.

U.S. POLITICS

*The Orange Menace routinely poisons civic and political discourse, invents facts, and fans the flames of prejudice. Last month, echoing Nazi ideology, he accused immigrants of “poisoning the blood of this country.” Worse yet, 82% of Republicans agreed with him despite plentiful proof that America has been made greater by contributions of the immigants shown above and named on this, this, and this list.

* What really makes America great are men like Cody Conner, father of three, who had the courage to speak out at a Virginia Beach School Board meeting in support of LGBTQ kids and against fascist book-banners like “Moms for Liberty.” Best quote: “You’re never going to find the right way to do the wrong thing.”

*Katha Pollit predicts what’s in store for us if House Speaker Mike Johnson gets to actualize his “18th century values.”

BOOKS

Radical Play: Revolutionizing Children’s Toys in 1960s and 1970s America, by Rob Goldberg. The title sounds arcane but the book, a richly illuminating examination of the impact of of toys on culture and vice versa, is eminently readable.

So Many Things Are Yours, the new collection of Admiel Kosman’s Hebrew poems, beautifully translated by Lisa Katz, dazzled me the way the work of Israel’s preeminent 20th Century poet, Yehuda Amichai, did when I first encountered it decades ago. For me to counting any writer in Amichai’s company is high praise.

Secrets of Successful Women Inventors: How They Swam with the “Sharks” and Hundreds of Other Ways to Commercialize Your Own Inventions by Edith G. Tolchin, a chatty, practical, user-friendly guidebook, amply delivers on the promise of its title.

Choices: A Post-Roe Abortion Rights Manifesto by Merle Hoffman, an early activist for reproductive rights, is part memoir, part herstory, part activist agenda for the future. Merle will speak at Housing Works Bookstore, 126 Crosby Street, NYC from 6 to 7:30 PM tomorrow Mon, Jan 22, the would-be 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

FILM

* ‘The Last Repair Shop"is a captivating short documentary about four unforgettable craftspeople who’ve dedicated their “broken-and-repaired lives” to fixing and maintaining the more than 80,000 musical instruments used by students in the LA school system, most of whom can’t afford their own instrument. Touching and real.

*”Deciding Vote: A Courageous Assemblyman’s Stand for Reproductive Rights” pays overdue honor to George Michaels, the reluctant hero who, in 1970, sacrificed his political career to make abortion legal in New York.

“Remembering Gene Wilder,” a Valentine to the much loved curley-haired, blue eyed, supremely talented actor (above, with Richard Pryor), is due in theaters in March. But you can catch screenings this month and next at the JCCs in Memphis, Naples, Charlotte., San Diego, and Atlanta.. Endearing and entertaining, the Ron Frank film, which covers Wilder’s Jewish upbringing, his marriage to Gilda Radner, movie career, and life post-Alzheimer’s, features never-before-seen-home movies, and delightful reminiscences by Mel Brooks, Alan Alda, Carol Kane, and Gene’s widow, Karen Boyer Wilder. (below).

ABORTION

* Though federal law requires doctors and hospitals to treat anyone experiencing a medical emergency, the 5th circuit court ruled that the Act does not apply to emergencies in Texas involving an abortion. .

ANTISEMITISM

*Antisemitic acts in the U.S are up 337% since Oct. 7. Hundreds of synagogues and other Jewish institutions have received bomb threats. The FBI and local police are on the case. Some campuses have become distinctly hostile environments. Yet many Jews are still battling over exactly how to define antisemitism. I resend the idea that we need someone else to tell us whether a nudnik who calls for the genocide of Jews is an antisemite. In 1964, when Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart was asked to describe his test for obscenity, he didn’t cite a formal definition, he simply said, “I know it when I see it.” Same here. Whether “it” happens to be a swastika at a left wing demonstration or a dog whistle from a radical right wing nut, most os us recognize Jew-hating when we see it. It registers in our blood and bones.

* Click arrow to hear an MIT student describe the toxic atmosphere on her campus

A History of Feminist Antisemitism by Kara Jesella decontructs “how activists and academics exchanged the struggle for universal female improvement for a politics of division and hatred.” Though I admire its clarity, I remain puzzled by its omission of my 8-page piece on the subject which ran in the June, 1982 issue of Ms. and which, at the time, inspired push-back similar to what Jewish feminists are experiencing today.

HUMOR HODGE PODGE

*Here’s how I felt about Dec. 31st.

*Best advice for 2024

* Ben Stiller tells Mayim Bialik his favorite Yiddish words.

*Speaking of Mammaloshen [the mother tongue], so far, I have spatula, Kindle, concoction. farfetched, lentil, heckle, and freckle on my list of English words that sound Yiddish. What am I missing?

DOG-GED DEVOTION

*Georgie has two mommies and a grandma.

* A couple of years ago, my daughter Robin (with me, top) and granddaughter, Maya (above), acquired this adorable dog. Not only did I become Georgie’s smitten acolyte, I became a fan of dog videos, a habit-forming genre about which I’d been oblivious until this astonishing creature entered our lives. Below are four of my favorite memes. Unless you’re similarly enamored, feel free to bale out now.

* Buddy, a rescue pup with a crooner’s intensity and a great back story, “is not a a regular dog,” says his owner. No kidding.

* Comedian Amir K imagines what his pooch would say if it had a cell phone.

*This shot captures therapy dogs at a children’s hospital awaitng the start their shifts outside the rooms of their young patients.

I’ve never met a bunch of kids as orderly and obedient as these pups on a bus.

Had enough? OK, thanks for indulging my new obsession. Your canine correspondent signing off. Stay well, humans.