Occupy Judaism

Putting the “OWS is anti-Semitic” meme to rest

“We’re not calling all the Occupy Wall Street protesters anti-Semitic, and we’re not calling the movement, as a whole, anti-Semitic.” —Noah Pollak, Executive Director of the Emergency Committee for Israel, which started all this with its advertisement calling on Democrats to condemn anti-Semitism at OWS [Source]

“There is no evidence that these anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are representative of the larger movement or that they are gaining traction with other participants.” —The Anti-Defamation League [Source]

“I really don’t see any endemic anti-Semitism at these rallies at all.” —Oren Segal, The Anti-Defamation League [Source]

“Recent complaints from partisan quarters and in the media alleging widespread anti-Semitism are unfair. They attempt to paint the episodic incident as routine and ignore both the repudiation in instances of anti-Semitism, as well as the hospitable environment for Jews.” —The American Jewish Committee [Source]

“In every instance, the evidence of antisemitism used to malign the OWS protesters is shoddy at best.” —Daniel Sieradski, co-organizer, Occupy Judaism [Source]

“What Kristol and ECI are doing is the oldest and cheapest game played by those who have nothing to say that actually responds to the real issues. Why are they using such tactics? Because they really can’t confront head-on the concerns articulated by OWS and shared by a significant percentage of the population.” —Former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer, Slate [Source]

“The extreme right wing has launched an outrageous attack to distract us from their reckless economic policies: They are questioning my commitment to my own religion. They’re attacking me to try to silence you — because they think it’s wrong that you’re frustrated and even angry about what Republicans are trying to do to this country.” —Congressman Steve Israel [Source]

“I’d been down to Zuccotti Park three times before and hadn’t seen any of this. So I went again Monday. What I saw again was an overnight Athens…but nothing against my clan.” —Former NYC Public Advocate Mark Green, Huffington Post [Source]

“Confused by the two apparently conflicting views of Occupy Wall Street’s relations with the Jews — The Emergency Committee for Israel portrays the occupiers as a bunch of anti-Semites, while the Forward described Kol Nidre services being held at Occupy Wall Street on Yom Kippur — I went down there myself Thursday night for ‘Occupy Simchat Torah.’ Sure enough, a couple of hundred mostly young Jews participated in joyous dancing and singing with two torah scrolls…I walked through the Occupy Wall Street encampment wearing a yarmulke and was met with no open hostility.” —Ira Stoll, The Future of Capitalism [Source]

“Reckless Jew that I am, I muscled my way into the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Lower Manhattan despite multiple reports of virulent and conceivably lethal anti-Semitism. Projecting an unvarnished Semitism, I circled the place, encountering nothing and no one to suggest bigotry — not a sign, not a book and not even the guy who some weeks ago held up a placard with the instruction to Google the phrase ‘Zionists control Wall St.’” —Richard Cohen, The Washington Post [Source]

“Occupy Wall Street’s most visible anti-Semite was picketing the Financial District long before Zuccotti Park was occupied.” —Josh Nathan Kazis, The Forward [Source]

“To their credit, others walked alongside him with their own signs urging people to ignore the plainly anti-Semitic placard as unrepresentative of the group.” —Clyde Haberman, The New York Times [Source]

“The ratio of outraged published reports or commentaries about anti-Semites at OWS to actual anti-Semites at OWS is probably about ten to one.” —Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine [Source]

“Sure, there is going to be hostile anti-Jewish feeling expressed at the margins of any populist movement, but a) it appears as if the people expressing these thoughts in the video are real outliers; b) it’s obvious to me that most people who attend these rallies are angry about corporate greed and excessive CEO compensation (among other financial concerns) and not about Israel or perfidious Jews; and c) this movement has (like most political movements, actually) disproportionate Jewish representation.” —Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic [Source]

“The Occupy Wall Street protests…have increasingly been criticized by a variety of groups, most of them politically conservative, for flashes of anti-Semitism. But the protests have also, on occasion, had a distinctly Jewish flavor: The encampment has coincided with the busy Jewish holiday season and has witnessed, in its midst or on its edges, a crowded Kol Nidre service on Yom Kippur, festive dancing with a scroll on Simhat Torah…and a sukkah.” —Joseph Berger, The New York Times [Source]

“The reality is that the Occupy Wall Street movement is filled with Jews.” —Justin Elliot, Salon [Source]

“An ugly old tradition is back: exploiting anti-Semitism to break the backs of popular movements that threaten the power of the wealthiest 1 percent of our population. It is being used to undermine the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has conservatives in a state of near panic.” —M.J. Rosenberg, the Los Angeles Jewish Journal [Source]

“Right-wing figures like Bill Kristol are pushing the idea that Occupy Wall Street is anti-Semitic to scare Jews and embarrass politicians like Obama, but the tactic is not gaining traction.” —Michelle Goldberg, the Daily Beast [Source]

“The charge that Occupy Wall Street is shot through with anti-Semitism is dishonest and deceptive.” —Michelle Goldberg, Tablet Magazine [Source]

“The anti-Semitic sentiments being expressed by a few should not be allowed to overshadow the legitimate concerns of the overwhelming majority of those protesting.” —NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn [Source]

“To tug at the kishke-strings of American Jews in the way that ECI has is not only to demean and dehumanize us, but also to do violence to the memory of victims of actual antisemitism.” —Jay Michaelson, Religion Dispatches [Source]