In Should we mourn the death of an antisemitic journalist?, Moshe Phillips discussed the reactions after Shireen Abu Akleh was shot to death in Jenin--a Palestinian Authority-controlled city--while Israeli security forces conducted an operation to capture Arab terrorists. He wrote, "It appears that Akleh was killed, accidentally, by the Palestinians. I say 'accidentally' because Akleh was a reporter for the antisemitic Al Jazeera network, a media agency that Palestinian terrorists obviously love. In the video footage of the incident, you can hear one of the terrorists yell after the shooting, 'Injured! Oh man, Shireen! Shireen! Ambulance! Ambulance!' The terrorist obviously recognized her, and even was on a first-name basis with her."
After noting that the Israeli Prime Minister and several other Israel leaders expressed condolences, Phillips asked a question that many people might be afraid to ask: "Is sadness really the appropriate Jewish response in this instance? Is Akleh’s demise truly 'tragic'? Put another way, if a reporter for the Nazi newspaper Der Sturmer was killed in 1942, should Jews have mourned? Obviously, we are not amid a Holocaust today. But the principle is the same. If someone spreads hatred against the Jewish people, potentially inciting her readers to murder Jews, should we weep over her death?"
Phillips' answer is that her death is not tragic and should not be mourned by the very Jews who she wanted to see killed. She worked for Al Jazeera, which actively promotes antisemitism. Jonathan Greenblatt, leader of the Anti-Defamation League, called Al Jazeera "downright hateful to the Jewish people" and "a major exporter of hateful content against the Jewish people, Israel, and the United States."
It should surprise no one that the pallbearers at her funeral were terrorists. She advocated for the terrorists during her life, so they honored her after her death.
After listing Al Jazeera's numerous crimes against journalistic integrity via antisemitic incitement, Phillips concluded, "So while I'm not organizing any parties to celebrate Akleh's death, please excuse me if I don't sit shiva for her. I’m not going to pretend that she was a normal, responsible journalist whose death we should mourn. She chose to be part of what is probably the world’s largest antisemitic media network. We don't have to honor her, or her choices."
It has been widely reported that antisemitic hate crimes are at an all-time high in the United States, and there has been a wave of Arab terror against Israeli Jews. Where are the self-proclaimed "progressives"? They are working hard to pass a Congressional resolution decrying the creation of Israel to be a "catastrophe." Rashida Tlaib sponsored the resolution, joined by her "Squad" colleagues Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, plus Betty McCollum and Marie Newman.
Imagine the justifiable outcry that would arise if Republican leaders called the founding of a predominantly Black nation a "catastrophe."
Let's be honest and direct: if you condemn hateful rhetoric from one side of the political spectrum but ignore hateful rhetoric from the other side of the political spectrum then you are a hypocrite who is not concerned about fighting hatred, but rather just focused on scoring political points. Bigotry must never be a partisan issue; I have no problem condemning David Duke, Patrick Buchanan, Joseph Sobran, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and every other right-wing antisemitic, hateful commentator and/or politician who has been a public figure during my lifetime, but I also have no problem condemning Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Betty McCollum, Marie Newman, Louis Farrakhan, and every other left-wing antisemitic, hateful commentator and/or politiican who has been a public figure during my lifetime.
I have no respect for anyone on either side of the political aisle who espouses lofty ideals but only criticizes hate that emanates from the opposition.
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