Since I’d expected the audience to be a liberal one (Temple Judea is a Reform synagogue), I had decided to reveal my own past political pedigree. I told them that I first became a Zionist in 1948, when I joined a left-Zionist youth group. For sixty years, this vision of liberation guided and inspired me as I joined and ultimately led other national and international movements for civil, human, and womens’ liberation. I worked in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements and became a leader in the feminist movement.
I excelled in criticizing Israel long before it was fashionable to do so, for both Jewish-ethical and secular political reasons. My credentials were impeccable because, in the early 1960s, I had married a Muslim and had lived in Afghanistan. Yes, ’tis true. That’s where I learned very valuable lessons both about America and about Islamic gender and religious apartheid.
So, I was once a very cool and worldly kind of Jew, one more attuned to the “stranger in our gates,” less so to our people within.
Something changed as I began to encounter anti-Semitism among my left and feminist political allies in the late 1960s. I responded by visiting Israel for the first time. I married an Israeli, worked against the “Zionism=Racism” propaganda at the UN, (if you think about it, anti-Zionism=Racism), began organizing Jewish feminist political conferences and Jewish feminist rituals, including Passover Sedarim and lifecycle rituals.
I did not break with the progressive left or with feminists. But my eyes were further opened when I worked for the United Nations and traveled to Oslo and to Copenhagen in 1980 for two UN world conferences. I was an eyewitness to what amounted to a psychological pogrom against the Jewish state, organized by Soviet Russia, the Arab League, the Iranians, and the Palestinians. It was a genuine hate-fest precursor to Durban One and to the upcoming Durban Two.
When the Intifada of 2000 broke over Israel’s head–I could no longer keep silent. After 2001, I knew that now, we are “all Israelis”– yes all of us, every civilian in the Americas, in Europe, India, Africa, Asia, and in every Muslim country, each vulnerable to the Islamic fundamentalist war against civilians and against the West. By 2002, I was fully embarked upon a book about the new anti-Semitism.
The most interesting part of any lecture is what the people say afterwards.
One man said: “I am a survivor. In 1933, I saw how criminals got their hands on the levers of state power and used it. I am afraid we are seeing this happen again. I fear that the liberties we have will be taken away. We must be ready to do all that we can do to stop this. We had better be very vigilant about who we vote for.”
A second man said: “I am a Christian and I am so glad you’ve praised and do not fear the Christian support for Jews and for Israel. I have lived in Israel and studied there. If America does not stand by Israel, I am ready to move to Israel and become an Israeli citizen. I am here to stand with God’s people, the Jews.”
A third woman said: “We have to do something. But how do you get people to understand what the true facts are if all they ever get to see and hear are lies? Doctored footage? I just saw a film about ‘The Occupation’ and every single fact was a lie. Do I analyze the film? Do I make my own film?”
A fourth man said that “The Jews gave the world lawfulness and the knowledge that there is only one God. In turn, the world gave us Tsuris (troubles).”
I could not resist commenting thusly. “The Ten Commandments and all the laws derived from it will not please those people who want to commit adultery, steal, get high, worship idols of all kinds. They are not pleased with the Jewish messenger from God and tend to kill the messenger.”
A fifth speaker, a woman, identified herself as a Christian who is here to “stand with the Jews” and to inform her own church of what is happening to the Jews. She has shown the film Obsession.
To her I said: “Right now, Jews who fear for Israel’s future, may have more in common with Christians such as yourself than we do with so many other Jews who do not feel that close to Israel, who may not see Israel as the symbol of the West that it truly is. Indeed, such Jews often specialize in blaming Israel first no matter what the situation may be. I am proud to stand with you, as a righteous Christian.”
A sixth speaker, another woman, asked whether I was “encouraged” with what President Obama was doing vis a vis Israel and the Middle East. I took a chance and answered her honestly. Trust me: I said that I was nervous, unnerved, always ready for yet another shoe to drop.”
She said: “Oh, I am so relieved. I was afraid that you’d answer in the opposite way.”
I concluded: “Israel may have to go it alone against Iran. I will stand with anyone who is standing with me for Israel against radical totalitarian evil.”
Not a single person challenged me about Israel’s purity, hectored me about the “humiliation at the checkpoints,” or walked out in a huff after delivering a hateful harangue. I did not require any security. No one rushed the platform. The police did not have to be called. I was not hustled out for my safety.
The very friendly rabbi, Gary Pokras, warmly thanked me for coming.
I dare not generalize from one evening in Doylestown but perhaps–just perhaps–the tide might be turning on the matters of Israel and America; perhaps, just perhaps, more people are beginning to “get it.”
“The Ten Commandments and all the laws derived from it will not please those people who want to commit adultery, steal, get high, worship idols of all kinds. They are not pleased with the Jewish messanger from God and tend to kill the messenger.”
You forgot to add abortion to the list. This is perhaps the number one reason why numerous people have lost their way. They have corrupted their intellects to rationalize away their misbehavior. America’s secular Jews have got to stop lying themselves. They often attack the cultural values of “radical right Christian conservatives.” Huh? What are they talking about? These values also represent those embraced by more conservative Jews! As matter of fact, traditional Jewish moral values are quite similar to those of the much-derided Jerry Fallwell.
Thanks, this cheers me.
We have just had the opposite experience–a rabbi gave a series of three 90 minute talks about Islam and the Jews. He does not know a thing about Islam. He has never read the Koran, the Sira or the Hadith. Mohammed was a wonderful family man. Knows nothing about Jews being dhimmis. He brought a Muslim from the Wahabbi mosque and gave him full time (the Muslim took most of the allotted time) to explain that Muslims were the friends of Islam. In his summary at the end, the rabbi condemned Christians as the oppressors and Muslims as the victims. He feels that Jews and Muslims are the best of friends and the sooner that Islam rises to power in the US, the better off Jews will be. And this was in a synagogue. And the rabbis of this synagogue (the other rabbi was a visitor) thought he gave a wonderful series of talks that gave everyone hope.
Phyllis, why is knowledge condemned as bigotry and ignorance is viewed as the moral high ground?
keep at it Ms Chesler. And I keep sending on your remarks to my own little mailing list.
It is a frightening world, is it not?
I would not agree that easily obtained abortions are the center of our problems, though. We have had half a century of every increasing wealth and health. We think we are gods.
Anyway, Israel has spend the same period of time wanting and hoping for some support from the rest of the 3rd world. It is, I fear, part of the old ‘ghetto’ mentality. Yet, Israel is a very powerful force in the middle east. It is not treated as such because it has not actually used its nuclear arsenal. So, the surrounding bullies feel quite safe in poking the lion in its self-made cage. There may very well come a time when living in that cage is not feasible. When that happens, I for one will be on Israel’s side.
Thank you and congratulations, Phyllis.
You are say what has to be said when so many are afraid or don’t or can’t understand.
Norman
This article REALLY warms my heart and makes me feel somewhat encouraged. I would have loved to be in the audience and hear it all. Thanks for everything you do & G-d bless you!
Rachel Lipsky
Phyllis, A few months ago you were kind enough to allow me to comment on your site, stating that I support Israel in its position at the vanguard of the fight for the survival of Western civilization. I seriously consider that a main reason for western “intellectuals” (?!!?) demonising Israel is that they are terrified of upsetting the “Islamist mobs”. Those same mobs will show no mercy to any infidels who side with them: they will despise them even more. The United States, Britain and Isreal can stand proud as the defenders of the West against tyranny. Shame on those who insult the Israelis for defending their existence. As an Irish Catholic, I am proud to say loudly and clearly: I support Israel; I support Western civilization; I resent the repeated threat of Islamism that it will demolish the West. When the West awakens to the threat, and stops listening to the mentally deficient self-hate rantings of Western “intellectuals”, then the terrorists and their supporters will discover that we – Jews, Christians, and all “infidels”, will stand together and defeat them, no matter what it takes. Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.
Good for you Phyllis Chesler! Now complete the picture and withdraw your ignorant and malign rantings about Serbs, Karadzic etc. They are straight out of Islamist hate propaganda, the same stuff as anti-semitism, as vicious and false as the Blood Libel against Jews.
Todah! I wish that you could deliver that speech here in Richmond, VA. I am an African–American Jewish lady and President Obama’s actions on Israel is leaving a bad feeling in my heart. I voted for him against my better thoughts and I regret it. I am not only a Black American but I am a Jewish Black American. Sheds a whole new light on my way of life and thinking.
Well, that is America for you. Manages to get pointed in the right direction after all.
Elsewhere? Not so hot. The “Spectator” of London has a frightening article by Melanie Phillips on the unholy alliance between
(alleged) Christian evangelicals and Islamicists.
In addition to the usual calls for the destruction of Israel, they demand prosecution of Christian Zionists and hint at the “liquidation” of all Jews.
AND THEY DO SO WITH THE BLESSINGS OF BOTH THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND THE UK GOVERNMENT!
England has effectively outlawed self-defense against even common criminals. As the inevitable result, terrorists get privileged sanctuary.
AS a class, Jews in America are not noted for being great supporters of the Second Amendment. Perhaps they should rethink their position.
And what England apparently needs is a good stiff dose of vigilante justice. Lynch Law has its drawbacks but it is infinitely preferable to no law at all.
Thank you, Phyllis. I don’t feel too encouraged that people are beginning to “get it,” but God knows it is not for your lack of stamina and courage. Let’s pray that the tide may be turning and that it does so before it’s too late. You know, last week’s rainfalls soaked Israel and saved us at the last minute from what looked like a catastrophic drought year. In the same way, perhaps your work can help drench the world into sanity — and safety.
Any Christian who is an anti-Semite, can’t really be a Christian. Mary , Joseph, Jesus himself were Jewish, so whoever is an anti-Semite despises the family of Jesus. [a.k.a. Yeshua Ha'Messiah, Jesu Christos]
I had the privilege of introducing Phyllis Chesler at the March 5th lecture at Temple Judea of Bucks County. It was a great human event. Once Phyllis began to speak, you could have heard a feather drop. She was so utterly candid — the way people talk when they think only their inner circle is listening — that her candor was contagious. Her style with questioners was very skillful. She was warm, yet sharp, direct and straight-talking.
Several people stood up and identified themselves as Christians. They were received appreciatively. What I would hope is that the larger community here will experience a check on its tilt toward fashionable “Anti-Zionism,” and that those who are prepared to resist this degeneracy will begin to learn how to stand together.
Dear Ms. Chesler,
I enjoyed this article, well, all your articles. – I think you are very informed, experienced, thoughtful, and very very wise woman. What a life!!!
I am in an age bracket similar to yours. Irish Catholic background from the Midwest, worked my way through college or would not have gone. Honor degree in Mathematics, later an MBA. Retired banker. Began life as a good Catholic liberal, now am a realist. Call me a libertarian, call m a conservative, but really I am a liberal who wants everyone to have the chances I have had to reach for the stars. Unfortunately my views are sneered at by the current liberal establishment, who have sliced and diced the country & the world into victim groups – very dangerous – I thought we were all fellow humans in the world – and Americans at home, didn’t you?
Have lived in the southern US for 30 years, where my husband and I raised two children, unfortunately allowing them to attend deteriorating city public schools. Mistake I regret deeply – but that’s another tale.
Here in southern Virginia nearly all my friends are protestant Christians and, like me, are supporters of Israel. The people I know are fair-minded. For many I was the first Catholic they had ever met. Besides a little curiosity, I was accepted on my character and that was that. Patriotism and love of country, while sneered at by some “big city” types, are respected here. I think I am speaking truth when I tell you that U.S. southerners, who lived in desperate poverty for 100 years after the Civil War, pulled themselves up by their bootstraps in every way – have great admiration for what the entrepreneurial & enterprising Israelis have done. In fact, Israeli attitudes would fit right in this hard working self-sufficient place of the U.S. Here people say get out of my way and I will get things done.
I am going to present you with a philosophical point of view which you probably won’t agree with – but I think it is a little tragic. In my understanding (and reading) of the history of the 20th century, American Jews helped the entire country take a different look at minority status. Certainly Martin Luther King’s movement benefited from the help of American Jews and other white Christians. But did the Jewish point of view – emphasizing ill will of the majority, the weakness of any minority, and successfully getting federal law to interfere – merely set the stage for the Islamists and other groups to come in and claim “minority rights of the aggrieved”. I have wondered this for many years.
I actually lived in Brooklyn from 2006 to 2008 (my adult son needed medical care in NY), and the neighborhood was Arab, mostly Muslim. Believe me, they hate the Jews. Unfortunately, they are following in the tracks of Jewish pioneers to declare themselves minorities & using the special status of minorities to protect them while they launch their hatred. Ironic, isn’t it?
Today, perhaps because of overzealous “civil rights” attorneys & activists, there is often very little common sense. It seems that hate speech is protected as long as the speaker is non-white or non-native. It is so sad. I think we should all have civility towards one another, respect. Here in the south, there is some resentment at the finger-wagging of “Yankees” and “guv-ment” attorneys There is not much patience with intellectuals on soapboxes. Here, show me what you do, how you raise your family, do you help your religious community, or civic community or the little league – this is what matters.
Last year I read the Amazon book reviews on one of Alan Dershowitz’s books in which he compared Evangelical Christians to Islamists & asserted they were just as dangerous. Is he serious? My experience is that Evangelical Christians are ordinary working people, often of modest educational attainments – the bulwark of yeoman/working man citizenry. Not everyone wants to be a Harvard MBA. Good people. They are conservative regarding the Ten Commandments. They realize now that it is good to tell their elected officials what they value. Why is Alan Dershowitz attacking what is basically good citizenship? There are no better friends of Israel than these people Prof. Dershowitz sarcastically derided. It is very tempting to throw Prof Dershowitz and his values under the bus – he is essentially a radical socialist in my view, but of course, he proclaims his ardent6support of Israel while lambasting Israel’s few friends in the world.
Sigh. Can you explain this to me? If Israel goes down, Prof Dershowitz and his ilk will be helping Israel’s enemies to deliver the blows.
Barbara Martinet
Roanoke, VA
I was literally moved to tears to learn of your warm reception. Here in the SF bay area you WOULD have needed all that protection… & I mean protection from “fellow” Jews!I am so sick at heart and fed up with all the self-hate being spewed by the Jewish enablers of the jihadis. They are the ones who scream the loudest & always carry signs that say “Jews Against…” which of course gives “Jewish” legitimacy to their hate.At this point I will stand with ANYONE willing to carry an Israeli or American flag to counter their hate. I do not understand the psyche of these people(that’s your domain,Phyllis).We are now preparing for another ANSWER hate/lie fest on March 21st and hope we can get a good showing to stand up to them.Everyone–see what is going on in your areas and please please DO something. Keep up the good work Phyllis, we need you now more than ever!
I wish the tide was changing, it wish it were so. Unfortunately, I think that night was a moment of calm around which a storm is spinning. This storm, this perfect, evil storm, includes Obama’s plan for the “remaking” of America and the world and is filled with envy and seething hatred. Prepare for it.
The American Christian population is, in large part, an historically unique phenomenon.
I am not a Christian myself.
However, I have long thought that there is something in American culture that seems to inspire and bring out the best in the practice of Christianity, and something in Christianity that seems to inspire and bring out the best in American culture.
So the world’s Jews are facing something new and much to be appreciated in American Christianity. And I think that this is most particularly true of the culturally conservative and evangelical churches. These people seem to genuinely care about maintaining a humane and civilized relation with Jews and with the Israeli nation.
Yes, those people who you always hear denigrated by the media corporations and the liberal left. Those people have achieved something rare, meaningful and substantial on the spiritual side of life, and are ready to make good on it in real world actions.
You will note that the people who denigrate the “Christian right”, are the same people who have nothing but rosy, friendly, sympathetic and optimistic words for Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran — not to mention Venezuela’s
Chavez, Castro and a whole lineup of assorted other Jew hating and America hating villains.
Time to put two and two together.
It is long since past time for the thinking Jew to look over the long expanse of Jewish history, and consider his present circumstances, in detail, from a broad historical perspective.
And American Christianity, most particularly American evangelical (or “born-again”) Christianity needs to be understood for the astounding and promising achievement that it is. And it’s positive potential for the quality of Jewish life, both in America and Israel must be realistically appreciated.
It is foolish, not to mention offensive, and ultimately self-destructive for any civilized person, Jewish or otherwise, to look at the modern American conservative Christian and imagine that they are seeing the backwoods primitives that conducted the pogroms of prior years and other nations.
Those yokels are still walking around today. But for the most part they are dressed in mufti. Oh, them and the grandchildren of WWII Western Europe. Plenty of them seem to be reverting to the old ways again, even the British!
But the evangelicals? These, my friends are something new.
There’s no use in inventing problems you don’t even have. And when the almighty extends a smile, the appropriate response is “Thank You”.
Why couldnt the jews have learned from the holocaust? Will it take another?