When anti-Israel activists decided to protest an Israeli real estate expo outside a synagogue in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood, Ben Auerbach (grandson of the late Ralph and Carolyn) had a great response — energetically singing, dancing and proclaiming his faith in G-d and the Jewish people.
It’s ironic that the progressives who claim to be anti-fascist are using fascist tactics in their anti-Israel protestors. From Melbourne, Australia across the globe to New York City, anti-Israel activists are choosing to protest in Jewish areas. It’s what Sir Oswald Mosely, leader of the British blackshirts, did in 1936. He gathered his thugs and marched on Cable Street in London’s East End, home to Jewish workers. The aim was intimidation and telling a group of people that it wasn’t wanted on British soil.
How is today different?
Marching in a Jewish neighborhood in Melbourne on Shabbat, yelling anti-Israel hate . . . Or in New York, waving Hezbollah flags outside a synagogue, chanting “Brick by brick, wall by wall, Zionism will fall.”
Calling for the end of even the concept of Jewish self-determination is anti-Semitism, plain and simple. It is racial hatred. That demonstration in Melbourne? It happened a year-and-a-half before the Bondi massacre. First Australian Jews were made to feel they had no legitimacy as Australian Jews. When that continued unchecked, it led, as it almost always does, to the murder of people with the “unwelcome” identity.
More irony: the same progressives who protest racial profiling and intimidation by ICE agents have no issues doing the same to Jews or Israel supporters. The same progressives who oppose masked ICE agents (for the record, so do I) are silent on masked anti-Israel protestors.
When faced with this kind of hatred, it can be difficult to choose the response Auerbach did. But I’d argue it’s one of the best. Stand proud of your identity — don’t allow the haters to define you.
Kol Hakavod, Ben!
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The Brothers Buium . . . and Hughes
Brett Kane of Altitude Sports Radio can be forgiven for confusing the NHL’s Buiums and Hugheses. Quinn Hughes was traded to Minnesota for Zeev Buium, who reported to Vancouver. What Kane didn’t realize, however, is that these two are eminently confusable because they are both rising superstar Jewish hockey players.
More than that, their families both emanate from decidedly non-hockey areas (southern California and Florida) and they both have brothers who excel on the ice (Shai Buium and Jack and Luke Hughes). How incredible — and unlikely — that these two Jewish brother groups are essential parts of the current young generation of NHL players! In the face of the Avalanche’s historic collapse, the Brothers Buium and Hughes are a silver lining looking ahead to next season.
Shana Goldberg may be reached shana@ijn.com.
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