O pinion
Temple Must Rescind Appointment of Jason Wingard as
University President
BY MORTON KLEIN
AS A TWO-DEGREE alumnus
of Temple University in
Philadelphia, and as president
of the Zionist Organization of
America, I cannot remain silent
regarding the recent appoint-
ment of Jason Wingard — the
chair of the anti-Israel, antise-
mitic Tides Foundation — to
be Temple University’s next
president. The Tides Foundation has
been funding and elevating
organizations and individ-
uals who demonize Israel,
support terrorists, lead anti-Is-
rael boycott campaigns, lead
lawfare attacks on Israel and
Jews and oppose the Jewish
state’s very existence. Temple
must rescind this appoint-
ment so that Wingard can’t
bring Tides’ hateful ideology
to Temple’s 37,000 students,
potentially via appointing
anti-Israel, Jew-hating deans
and faculty and programming.

Wingard is still listed as a Tides
Center board member.

Under Wingard’s chairman-
ship, Tides has been funding
the following hateful groups:
The Arab Resource &
Organizing Center: AROC is
a vicious anti-Israel boycott,
divestment and sanctions
organization. AROC’s ongoing
BDS campaigns include
violently and unlawfully
blocking numerous U.S. ports,
and harassing and attacking
American dockworkers to
prevent cargo ships operated
by an Israel-based company
(ZIM) from unloading medical
supplies and other items.

Adalah Justice Project
USA: AJP is another leading
anti-Israel demonization and
BDS organization that defends
terrorists. Adalah USA also
lobbies for sanctions against
Israel; falsely claims that Israel
is mistreating Palestinian
“children” when Israel arrests
17-year-old Arabs who murder
innocent Israelis; falsely likens
Israelis to police who murder
Black Americans; and falsely
accuses Israel of “indiscrimi-
nate war crimes” and similar
demonization. Adalah and
Tides collaborator, Dream
Defenders, co-authored the
Movement for Black Lives
(M4BL, the parent of Black
Lives Matter BLM) platform,
which falsely states Israel is a
genocidal, apartheid state and
promotes anti-Israel BDS. BLM
leaders publicly state that their
goal is Israel’s destruction.

Palestine Legal: Palestine
Legal promotes “mock eviction”
campaigns to terrorize Jewish
students on college campuses;
mounts numerous anti-Israel
“lawfare” campaigns; defends
hate groups such as Students for
Justice in Palestine; advocates
against anti-BDS laws; and
participates in anti-Israel “days
of rage” in U.S. cities.

Dream Defenders: Tides
also boasts that it has a “radical
collaboration” with and works
closely with DD, which is
intertwined with the Popular
Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, a U.S.-designated
foreign terrorist organiza-
tion. DD promotes the PFLP
in educational materials, and
sponsors anti-Israel trips to
“Palestine” to demonstrate and
work with PFLP operatives.

Tides’ website moreover
prominently features articles
entitled, “Meet
These Extraordinary
Palestinian Leaders.” Here, Tides promotes
anti-Israel leaders such as AROC
Executive Director Lisa Kiswani
and AJP Executive Director
Sandra Tamari.

Kiswani’s documented
long list of ugly activities
include demonizing Israel and
America; promoting BDS;
co-founding hate group SJP,
and stating at a BDS confer-
ence, displayed on YouTube,
that “bringing down Israel
really will benefit everyone in
the world, everyone in society.”
Tamari likewise has a
long, documented record of
antisemitic activity, including
glorifying PFLP terrorist Rasmea
Odeh (convicted for murdering
two Jewish students); agitating
against Israel; leading BDS activ-
ities, including co-chairing the
steering committee of the leading
U.S. BDS group, and more.

It is virtually impossible
that Wingard was unaware of,
and did not approve of Tides’
support for these antisemitic,
anti-Israel hate groups and
leaders. I understand that the
Temple board never questioned
Wingard about his leader-
ship of Tides before offering
him Temple’s presidency — a
shocking lack of due diligence
for a major university. The
ongoing controversy over
Temple’s continuing refusal
to fire Professor Marc Lamont
Hill — who calls for ending
Israel’s existence and has
attempted to justify murdering
Jews — should have made the
university especially sensitive
and careful to avoid giving
Temple’s presidency to someone
likely to magnify the harm Hill
has done to the university’s
students and reputation.

This situation can only be
rectified by the leadership of
Temple University immedi-
ately rescinding the offer to
Jason Wingard. l
streamed out over Zoom
reunions, virtual fundraisers,
Instagram stories and news
feeds for 22 months. Now
here we are, T-shirts printed,
clothing labeled, staff trained
and the sounds of summer
surround us. While there may
be masks, hand sanitizer and
rapid tests, once again our
community is fostering friend-
ships, inspiring creativity,
pushing boundaries and
cultivating kindness. Though
adjustments have been made,
and safety scenarios planned
out, the core of camp remains.

Our chanachim (campers) are
bringing in Shabbat, singing
zmirot (Jewish songs), dancing
to Israeli music and cultivating
a sukkat shalom, a Jewish
sheltering presence.

Last year,
the FJC
Cornerstone song, written by
Rabbi Noam Katz was called
“Belong.” The first chorus
states, “You are here, you are
whole, you belong.” This has
always been our mantra — at
camp we want to embrace your
whole self. Since that song was
written, we have learned that
we can all do more to foster a
culture of belonging. We know
the campers who walk through
our gates aren’t the same as
when they leave us. We know
we, as camp professionals, can
do more to help our camp staff
see beyond the masks they are
wearing to nurture their souls.

In the past 18 months, our
camp community has doubled
down on prioritizing the work
of learning more about our
individual campers in order to
serve them better.

FJC ha s seen i ncrea sed
Morton Klein is president of the
Zionist Organization of America, the
oldest pro-Israel group in the U.S.

Klein, a resident in the Philadelphia
area. Opening Our Gates
we know this place is holy, and
now we see that we are holy ...

Mah Norah Hamakom Hazeh.

How Awesome is this Place.”
With these
words, Foundation for Jewish Camp’s
Cornerstone Fellowship 2021
theme song kicked off the
summer season, reminding us
of what the past 22 months
have proven. As Philadelphia
songwriter and cornerstone
BY RABBI STACY RIGLER
educator Chana Rothman
described, there is a profound
“HERE WE ARE, we’ve come holiness found within the
so far. Look up and down, Jewish summer camp commu-
breathe in, breathe out. Now nity. This kedusha (holiness)
12 JULY 1, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
See Rigler, Page 22
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



O pinion
For Democrats, it’s OK to Agree to
Disagree on Israel
BY KAREN ADLER AND ADA HORWICH
THE TWO OF US have spent
most of our lives working
for two causes: Israel and the
Democratic Party. For a long
time we experienced very little
dissonance or disagreement. If
you were pro-Israel, you were
most likely a Democrat. If you
were a Democrat, you were
most likely pro-Israel.

While the Democratic Party’s
2020 platform is unambiguously
pro-Israel, as it has been in years
past, there are Democrats who
are critical of Israel and want
the U.S. government to influ-
ence Israel to change its policies.

Some of that criticism, such as
recent comments by U.S. Rep.

Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and
other members of “the Squad,”
has created challenges for the
Democratic leadership, who are
tasked with keeping the party
unified. There are plenty of reasons
for these changing attitudes
among Democrats, but there is
no doubt about the Democrats’
fundamental position on Israel.

As U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler of
New York, the dean of Jewish
congressional Democrats,
wrote recently, “On Israel, there
exists a broad, mainstream
consensus around a number of
core principles.”
Republicans see an oppor-
tunity to capitalize on
controversies about Israel
among Democrats. If they can
delegitimize criticism of Israel,
their thinking goes, they can
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM skew political giving their way,
damage intraparty relation-
ships among Democrats and
undermine the broad-based
multiracial coalition needed
to achieve Democrats’ goals —
like fighting climate change,
addressing income inequality,
healing social and racial divides,
and restoring America’s integ-
rity internationally.

In pursuit of their objec-
tives, some Republicans employ
accusations of antisemitism as a
political weapon. They paint all
Democrats with the same broad
brush — from progressives like
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to
moderates like Elaine Luria.

All the while, they continue
to enable true antisemites like
those who assaulted Congress
waving QAnon flags and
wearing sweatshirts glorifying
the Holocaust.

The favorite tactic of these
Republicans is to manipu-
late anti-Israel sentiment and
conflate criticism of Israeli
policies with antisemitism. The
challenge for Democrats is to
deconflate them and disentangle
issues related to Israel from
issues related to antisemitism.

To meet this challenge,
we must learn to avoid labels.

The “pro-Israel” community
extends from the left to the
right. Harsh criticism of Israel
may be difficult to hear; we may
not like some of the language
used to describe Israeli policies.

But that doesn’t automatically
make it antisemitic. Yitzhak
Rabin once said: “I don’t think
it’s possible to contain over the
long term — if we don’t want
to get to apartheid — a million
and a half [more] Arabs inside
a Jewish state.” Would we have
called him an antisemite?
We must also learn
not to automatically label
anti-Zionists as antisemites.

Anti-Zionism is not necessarily
antisemitic, any more than
opposition to a Palestinian state
necessarily derives from hatred
of Palestinians. We are Zionists,
and we believe in the Jewish
people’s right to a homeland. At
the same time, there are those
who oppose Zionism because
they hold it writ large respon-
sible for the occupation of and
systemic discrimination against
Palestinians. While anti-Zionist views
are not prima facie antisemitic,
they do cross the line if they rely
on antisemitic tropes or deny
the right to self-determination
for Jews alone. And when they
cross the line, we must call
them out.

We have no patience with
antisemitism on the left any
more than we do with antisem-
itism on the right.

We also insist on consis-
tency from both the left and
the right. In progressive policy
circles, there is a growing focus
on equality and human rights
in the Israeli-Palestinian arena.

This is a good thing, so long
as the principle of equality is
applied on all levels — from
personal rights to national
rights. Just as Israelis and
Palestinians must have equal
human rights, civil rights and
civil liberties, so, too, must both
Israelis and Palestinians have
the right to self-determination.

The two of us continue to
devote ourselves to Israel and
to the Democratic Party. We do
not see the differing and even
conflicting views on Israel as
liabilities. Indeed, we see them
as assets. They afford us oppor-
tunities to build relationships
across the Democratic political
spectrum. And this enhances
our ability to help Israel and
combat antisemitism. l
Karen Adler is a philanthropist and
Democratic activist in New York.

Ada Horwich lives in Los Angeles
and is on the executive committee
of the Jewish Democratic Council
of America.

JEWISH EXPONENT
KVETCH ’N’ KVELL
Book Review Perpetuates Left-Wing Smears
BOTH THE NOVEL and its reviewer (“Bibi Netanyahu as
Fiction,” June 17) perpetuate the leftist smears that former Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is two-faced when addressing
domestic/foreign audiences, that he is Manichean and that he
disdains the galut.

It was former Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman
Yasser Arafat whose modus operandi was to lie in English as he
fomented an intifada in Arabic; it was Netanyahu who forged a
productive relationship with Putin despite his alignment with
the Ayatollah, and it was Netanyahu who burnished ties with
American Jewry despite persistent sabotage from groups such
as the ADL.

As a fellow graduate of Cheltenham High School, I find it
reprehensible that omitted from both the book of fiction and
its fictionalized review, was any citation of how his political/
moral character was impacted both by his father’s scholarship at
Dropsie College and his brother’s death at Entebbe.

Robert B. Sklaroff | Rydal
Criticism of Israeli Government Not Anti-Israel
Greater Philadelphia ZOA Executive Director Steve Feldman’s
op-ed (“Don’t Wait for War to Defend Israel,” June 17) asking
us to defend Israel is a perfect example of what Jews and Israel
do not need. It is full of innuendo, accusations, generalizations
and false statements, while at the same time professing to tell the
“abundantly clear” truth and decrying the spread of much disin-
formation. So, let us not spread more disinformation.

We certainly need to be vigilant and active. Balanced educa-
tion initiatives concerning Middle East history are needed across
the country. This is a long-term process. But, know this: The
folks I know can find Israel on the map and fully support its
right to exit in peace. Yet they disapprove of what the Israeli and
U.S. governments have been doing. Being critical of the actions
of your own or other governments does not a priori make one
anti-anything other than these governments.

As we have learned in the U.S., people are easily driven
to hate, mistrust and a belief in falsehoods, to say nothing of
violence and brazen damage of person and property. To advocate
for Jews to “press” leaders at all government levels for resolutions
that blindly support Israel without acknowledging both sides of
the historical equation does everyone a disservice. We do not
need more of this rhetoric.

But, we do need to acknowledge the need for peace in the
Middle East, and the role of Middle East leaders on both sides in
making the peace possible. For many decades, now, neither side
has been helpful in this mission. l
Frank L. Friedman | Philadelphia
STATEMENT FROM THE PUBLISHER
We are a diverse community. The views expressed in the signed opinion columns and let-
ters to the editor published in the Jewish Exponent are those of the authors. They do
not necessarily reflect the views of the officers and boards of the Jewish Publishing
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letters to letters@jewishexponent.com or fax to 215-569-3389. Letters should be a
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published. JULY 1, 2021
13