Alan Dershowitz, a life-long Democrat and supporter of Hillary Clinton, has had a constant theme about anti-Semitism. He has stated that his concern for anti-Semitism from the Left far exceeds his concern for the amount radiating from the Right. The Bari Weiss incident validates that, but makes clear it is even more dangerous than we have thought.
Bari Weiss, an op-ed and political writer, started her career at two major Jewish publications then moved on to The Wall Street Journal. She most recently moved to the New York Times where she continued to build a name for herself as a credible writer even if she was someone I did not agree with most of the time. At 36-years-old she is still building a career that could last four more decades. She had become a major voice in the Jewish Community. Then she resigned from the Times with a scathing commentary that flashed across the news world.
The resignation letter which you can read here is multi-faceted. Her comment “Instead, a new consensus has emerged in the press, but perhaps especially at this paper: that truth isn’t a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else.” It is always someone who has seen from within that can best describe the malfunction of form and thought in an organization.
Weiss describes herself as a centrist, but is she really? Possibly, in comparison to her fellow staffers at the NYT. She admittedly sat at her desk and cried the night Hillary lost the presidency. She has probably never written a positive word about our current president. That exhibits how doctrinarian the Left has become. This is a woman. This was a Columbia graduate. Yet they turned on her because she is a Jew.
She was a victim of “constant bullying.” Remember a few years back when bullying was the premier topic of the Left? Apparently, they wanted to reserve the act for themselves. What were they bullying her over – Jews. They called this Jewess a Nazi. Other than the complete absurdity of Bari Weiss being a Nazi do these people understand how offensive that is? These are the same people who would commit hari-kari if the N-word ever emitted from their mouth or computer, but have no problem using this N-word directed at a Jew.
That was just part of it. The enlightened college-educated members of her newsroom made multiple comments about her ‘writing about the Jews again.” Other than the overt anti-Semitism, it is a grossly ignorant comment. We all know that these journalism majors don’t really have a lick of comprehension on economics. Gosh knows anytime they write on the subject they generate insipid drivel. The fact is they should know which cultural sub-group is the single biggest subscription group to the NYT. Jews. Why would you insult a Jew and then criticize her for writing something that appeals to their largest subscriber base? You have to have raging hate that blinds everything else or a confidence that you and your ilk are really in charge and you are unthreatened by any interceding force. In this case, it is both.
These are the same people who demanded and received the head on a pike of the editorial page editor, James Bennet. He was guilty of printing a column by a sitting U.S. senator because they did not like the subject matter. In the old maxim, the inmates are running the asylum. In this case, this used to be the most prestigious newspaper in America. When someone does something they don’t like, you get the heave-ho or are forced to leave. When they do something wrong, even despicably low, it is excused.
The acting editorial page editor, Kathleen Kingsbury, made no comment about the rampant anti-Semitism in her newsroom in departing comments about Weiss. Her comments de facto endorsed the anti-Semitism by ignoring it.
The danger comes from this. Where is the mass termination of subscriptions by the Jewish readers? Knowing one of your own was treated as an outcast simply for being a Jew and having a concern about Jewish issues should make the subscribers think what does the paper think of me? Since we haven’t read of that unless it comes in the next few days, we can see that many just don’t care. And what about the other subscribers who used to care about anti-Semitism, why have they not quit?
More importantly where is the organized Jewish Community. The ADL has been silent. Simon Wiesenthal made a worthy comment, but they seem to be the exception. The Union of Reform Judaism which was so ready to jump on the BLM bandwagon cannot produce a peep about the rampant Jew hatred at the “paper of record.” The only really decent thing was ZOA set up a hotline for Jews who worked at the Times to place calls and get help for the abuse they are receiving.
The NYT and the rest of Left live in denial of the anti-Semitism coming from their fellow sojourners. In fact, two days ago I received an email from NYT entitled Why we publish the story of a white supremacist. They would rather write about the lunatic fringe on the Right acting as if that is significant while they ignore the anti-Semitism that is mainstreamed on the Left and in their own house.
At the end of last week’s column, I wrote It is time for the leaders of the Reform movement of Judaism and the URJ to decide whether they are Left-wing political activists first or Jews first. Right now it appears they are the former. It is time for all Jews to stand up and fight the growing overt anti-Semitism emanating from the Left. If the NYT harbors Jew hatred, who will be next?
Bruce L. Bialosky, is a former member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council and 34-year member of Stephen Wise Temple in Los Angeles