NEW YORK (JTA)-At the end of March, the National Council of Young Israel, an Orthodox synagogue association, will hold a gala dinner hosted by Pete Hegseth, the co-host of "Fox & Friends."
The invitation advertises that Rep. Kevin McCarthy and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, both Republicans, will speak. Tommy Hicks, the co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, will receive the Guardian of Israel award. The chairman of the dinner, Rabbi Yechezkel Moskowitz, has tweeted that
"#DemocratsAreDestroyingAmerica."
Moskowitz has also trained his Twitter fire on Young Israel rabbis who object to their group's rightward tilt.
"Everyone of the Rabbis on this list from reconstructionist lover @RabbiStarrYITH to tree hugger Barry Kornblau should be ashamed of themselves joining with liberal progressive groups like @IfNotNowOrg in attacking @NCYIYoungIsrael for defending Israels democracy," he tweeted Monday.
Moskowitz told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he speaks only for himself, not Young Israel.
[...] For years, the National Council of Young Israel has issued public statements largely supporting right-wing policies and politicians, including President Donald Trump. But now a group of Young Israel rabbis and leaders are protesting the group's political positions. They say the statements do not necessarily represent their views and are made without consulting member synagogues. Some synagogues have floated leaving Young Israel, in part over this issue.
"I would have liked an apology for speaking on our behalf, with divisive issues that are not representative," said Rabbi Adam Starr, who leads Young Israel of Toco Hills in Atlanta. Starr was one of the rabbis Moskowitz called out in his tweet.
The report goes well beyond that, so readers are urged to follow the link. Of note, a forum bias, surely Republican, but omitting mention of Florida's own Senator Rubio as a participant, (Trump's "Little Marco"), is strange when Rubio is the key bill sponsor this session of the anti-BSD part of the opening Republicans' Senate S.1 omnibus bill. Opposing BDS either is a point of conscience to Senator Rubio, or he feels it is service for his constituency, or an influential part of it.
It is his party in the spotlight, but Senator Rubio declines a touting and taking a bow? This is an interesting posture of events; a politician declining taking a bow toward a likely friendly audience. Add to it that from the report it appears this event will be contemporaneous with, or shortly after the March AIPAC confab in DC.
LAST: With a media hack of Hegseth's dimension hosting the thing, it will be less than it might be; that being a certainty.
With Hegseth a known commodity, that opinion needs little fleshing out beyond noting clarity being always better than smoke, mirrors and heated shallow bloviation.
Perhaps Sen. Rubio is familiar with Hegseth, while having other demands then on his time.
____________UPDATE______________
As to foreign state apparatus/operatives monkeying around with U.S. Presidential elections; oh, my, those Russians, Mondoweiss, N.Y.Times. Readers can read, so no quote.
As to Islamophobia blame casting, apart from antisemitism quick on the trigger blame casting; RT reporting on "Blame Trump."
As to antisemitism as real vs as politically ginned up to quell, castigate or intimidate, Holocaust Remembrance boxes a tidy operative definition, "Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” In explanatory notes, this is the top posted explanatory item:
To guide IHRA in its work, the following examples may serve as illustrations:
Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic. Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.
The gist there seems that pointing out how BDS fixed mistreatment of a major part of people on controlled enclaves within controlled borders in South Africa, should be a fair usage in discussion of BDS as a potential incentivisation toward Isreal to not forget decades ago Oslo Accord two state promises in favor of some ocean to Jordan greater Isreal thinking some have displayed, outwardly or implicitly by tedious incessant incremental settlement expansion without what some would call reasonable due restraint. On the other side, it would be questionable, a look yourself in the mirror thing, to question Palestinian mistreatment in Israel while saying Chinese putting millions of Muslim Xinjiang Uighur minority people into reeducation concentration camps is not a problem, ditto for any blind eye toward Saudi Sunni treatment if its Shia minority, which concentrates in the eastern oil rich parts of that nation. IN SHORT: There has to be a perspective.
A second example, the cited text notes later stating antisemitism would entail:
Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
There the example coming to mind would be with regard to the opiate abuse crisis; with Sackler family greed on the causation side, (Oxycontin falsely promoted as time release and hence non-adictive, in order to pump the bottom line of Purdue Pharma), while on the other side Dr. Adelson runs a well regarded Vegas treatment clinic after having graduated from Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. She bears no Sackler stigma in that she had no say in picking the the Jewish donor-benefactorss for the med school at which she studied and excelled, while now being a forefront person on the remediation end of that addiction spiral. Neither Dr. Adelson nor any others of the Jewish faith are conjoined in fault with the family which happened to be Jewish and which played a feature role in profiting immensely because medical practice stood blind to clear things that were overlooked because the pharma salespeople told them false information. The Sacklers are the Sacklers and will deal with litigation and accusation, apart from their faith, which is not relevant to their pharma circumstances.
A third item in the cited notes:
Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
That is the one that got Rep. Omar a load of disproportionate scorn, in that her remark seemed intent on stating she had felt pressured to go along with policy of not in our halls of Congress questioning greatly Israeli settlement policy and disproportionate military responsiveness, when the fact is the entire voting U.N. Security Council found the settlement practices of that state unacceptable, which happened because the U.S. ambassador to the UN abstained instead of following a past practice of using veto power to shield Israel from official condemnation for its actions.
Some may say the entire voting 14 states in that anti-settlement vote were being antisemetic, but the credibilty of any such contention is a separate thing.
LAST: Had Rep. Omar from my home state of Minnesota not been made a lightning rod for disproportionate scorn and accusation for speaking out as she did, BDS and such might have not been brought to a helpful personal focus; but now that it has the sentiment here is that while much of Intel low-power microprocessor design arose from Israeli work for the firm, I am not personally about to boycott Intel in the next computer I may buy in favor of AMD processors; nor do I think such a step would Make America Great Again.
However, BDS as a right and as a principle and collectively pursued incentivizing force is separate from what actions I as a consumer might or might not take regarding consumer products.
Not being a manufacturer or services vendor the part of BDS at issue in that sphere does not touch me personally although my belief is that freedoms of ones so placed in commerce are wrongly under attack, unconstitutionally so, by anti-BSD promoters, bill sponsors, and activism; wherever it originates or arises, coordinated and lobbied for or independently conceived. Lawyers will prosper via the spinout from that question, bless them and their briefs and billing records.
BOTTOM LINE: The Claiborne Hardware case got the First Amendment reach stated correctly on the right to boycott as a matter of conscience, so that obstructionists may deny that repeatedly, but not credibly, in my view.