editorials
The Squad Unveiled
I t is not unusual for bystanders to
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to
make pronouncements that are more
focused on “scoring points” than on
bringing Israelis and Palestinians
together. A recent example of such agen-
da-driven sophistry occurred last
week, on the 74th anniversary of
what Palestinians call the “Nakba” —
their very real losses during Israel’s
War of Independence — when Rep.

Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) introduced
what is believed to be the first con-
gressional resolution seeking to
advance “the Palestinian narrative.”
The resolution — in which Tlaib
was joined by fellow congressional
Squad members Reps. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Jamaal
Bowman, Cori Bush, Betty McCollum
and Marie Newman — recognizes
the Palestinians as Israel’s indige-
nous people and, among other
things, calls for the right of 7 million
“refugees” to return to that land, in
contrast to the 750,000 refugees
who left in 1949.

The resolution has absolutely no
chance of success. But that wasn’t
the point. Instead, proponents are
seeking to advance the Palestinian
narrative that portrays Israel as the
aggressor, the Palestinians as pas-
sive victims and the United States
as a silent partner to Israel’s eth-
nic cleansing and, in later decades,
apartheid. it points to Palestinian opposition to
the 1947 Partition plan but ignores
the U.N.’s recognition of the new
state of Israel.

And there is much more. But facts
and actual history are not allowed to
interfere with the Squad’s preferred
narrative to delegitimize the Jewish
state. No longer do Squad members seek to
hide behind the veneer of reform or
reasoned debate.

What’s missing, of course, is any
recognition of the legitimacy of the
Zionist objective of returning Jews
to Eretz Yisrael based on Jewish
descent from the ancient Israelites.

Rather, the resolution presents Jews
as U.S.-backed aggressors and does
not recognize the Jewish presence
in the land before the Zionist set-
tlement. Similarly, when the resolu-
tion speaks of the United Nations,
The resolution signals a turning
point. Until now, the Squad has been
tinkering around the edges: support-
ing BDS, questioning military aid to
Israel, criticizing Israel’s settlement
regime and otherwise searching for
ways to challenge the rock-solid
U.S.-Israel relationship. Even as we
disagreed with the Squad’s anti-Is-
rael rants, we understood that rea-
sonable minds could disagree on
some of the issues they raised.

But the new resolution changes
everything. No longer do Squad
members seek to hide behind
the veneer of reform or reasoned
debate. Now, they have made clear
their intent to reject Israel and its
right to exist, and to erase Jews from
their connection to the land and
history. We reject the lie. And we invite
others to do so. But we urge caution
in the framing of that opposition.

The Tlaib resolution is dishonest,
biased and offensive. Its failure to
recognize the state of Israel even
as it argues for a more sympathetic
approach toward the Palestinian
population exposes its fundamental
flaw. And while there may be ele-
ments of antisemitism baked into the
anti-Israel narrative, there is more to
it than that.

As such, there is little to gain by
attacking the resolution as antise-
mitic. Instead, focus on the facts, on
verifiable history and on the legiti-
macy of the Zionist enterprise. The
Squad can’t deal with that. JE
New Partners in NATO
F or decades, the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization seemed like
a relic of the Cold War era. Created
in 1949 by the United States, Canada
and several Western European
nations, NATO was designed to
provide collective security to member
countries against the perceived threat
of the Soviet Union.

Over the years, NATO member-
ship has grown from an initial 12
countries to a current list of 30.

Until a couple of weeks ago, many
assumed that Finland and Sweden
were part of NATO. But they aren’t.

At least not yet.

Historically, Finland and Sweden
have pursued neutral policies
toward the West and Russia. Finland
shares a long border with Russia,
and the two countries have a his-
tory of conflict. Russia conquered
Finland in a war against Sweden
12 MAY 26, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
in 1808, and it wasn’t until 1917
that Finland won its independence.

Most Finns did not want to join
NATO for fear it would provoke
Russia. Meanwhile, Sweden has a
long history of not joining any mil-
itary alliance, and hasn’t fought a
war since 1814 – even managing
to remain neutral in World Wars I
and II.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
changed all that. As a result of
the insecurity and instability cre-
ated by Russia’s unprovoked attack
on Ukraine, and the frightening
unpredictability of the Putin regime,
a majority in both Finland and
Sweden now want to join NATO.

Both countries have applied to join
the alliance, and both appear to
be a good fit for NATO. They each
have strong, modern militaries, and
Finland already meets NATO’s 2%
military spending target.

But there is a problem. Turkey —
which became a member of NATO
three years after it was founded
— has expressed opposition to the
two countries joining. And since
NATO members must unanimously
agree on new members, Turkey’s
opposition is a concern. According
to reports, Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan opposes the new
members because he says they are
harboring members of the Kurdistan
Worker’s Party, a militant Kurdish
group recognized by the State
Department as a terrorist organiza-
tion. PKK has been involved in an
armed struggle against Turkey.

Sweden has a large Kurdish
minority, and Turkey believes
Sweden doesn’t do enough about
PKK and other Kurdish groups
with ties to PKK. Turkey has also
demanded that Sweden and Finland
lift arms embargoes they placed on
Turkey in 2019, following Turkey’s
military actions in Syria.

Most observers agree that Turkey’s
opposition to Finland and Sweden is
largely political, and that the concerns
can be worked out. That is good
news, since the expansion of NATO
will be good for the alliance and each
of its members, including Turkey.

We look forward to welcoming
Finland and Sweden to NATO, even
as we wonder what took them so
long to recognize the threat of Putin’s
Russia. And, in that regard, since
member countries can resign from
NATO at any time, we can’t help but
wonder whether whatever it is that
kept Finland and Sweden from join-
ing NATO until now will cause them
to resign once the current Russian
threat subsides. JE



opinion
We Must Speak Out to Overcome
the Antisemitism in Our Backyard
BY RABBI DR. SHMULY YANKLOWITZ
W e all know that antisemitism is on the rise in
this country, and the politicians in Arizona
are among the worst offenders and instigators.

Last month, Arizona U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar
tweeted a “Dark Maga” meme commonly associ-
ated with neo-Nazi online culture. Attached to the
picture were the following terrifying words:
“Remember when our government sent planes
to Afghanistan and brought more than 100,000
Afghans in less than a week? We have in the
range of up to 40 million illegal aliens in our
country. They can be deported by planes, trains
and buses. We could easily deport 6 million each
year.” Six million, of course, is the number of Jews who
were killed in the Holocaust.

This is, sadly, nothing new in this state, where
Arizona Sen. Wendy Rogers routinely spreads
antisemitic statements, and she posted a pho-
toshopped image of herself on her Gab and
Telegram accounts with a dead rhino branded
with the letters CPAC, where the letter “a” con-
tained a Star of David. Tammy Gillies, Anti-
Defamation League regional director, told NBC
affiliate 12 News, “We’ve just released an analysis
of extremist rhetoric in the elections this year, and
Wendy Rogers is at the top of that list.” Of course,
online hate is something we must take extremely
seriously. As a community, though, our response
cannot be one of fear.

Such offenses in Arizona and across the U.S.

are too numerous to list in full and are on the
rise. And dangerous conspiracy theories have
real effects in the real world. The ADL found that,
in 2020, there were 327 antisemitic incidents at
Jewish institutions. In 2021, that number went up
to 525, a 61% increase.

But my point is not the antisemitic messages
but the response it should bring forth from us.

As Jews, we should be alarmed by the rhetoric.

Whatever Jewish denomination we are, whatever
political party we are, we should condemn hate
wherever we see it and never tolerate antisemi-
tism. Many Jews live in fear of being targeted by
the far right and the far left and make this out to
be a source of Jewish unity, not of blindly only
pointing in one direction.

Keeping people educated about Jewish issues
is not an easy task. We make up only about
2% of the American population and just 1.5% of
Arizonans. Compare that with the number of con-
spiracy theorists out there — and those willing to
use anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to score polit-
ical points — and it is easy to see why dangerous
information about Jews gets spread faster than
we can correct it.

The shooter who killed 10 in Buffalo, New
York, on May 14, was motivated by antisemitic
conspiracy theories. Antisemitism is a danger
both to ourselves and to our neighbors. For white
supremacists, as we saw here and in many other
cases, hatred of people of color is deeply con-
nected with hatred of Jews. The Jews are viewed
by such antisemites as the worst of all. To them,
we deceptively often hide in white skin and white
social circles while we are actually more aligned
with minority groups and not with the white
supremacists. Despite this, we cannot be placed in paralyzing
fear. We must call out this hateful rhetoric loudly.

However, that is not enough. Identifying the prob-
lem won’t eliminate it. We need to drown it out
by educating the public on who Jews are. We do
this by deepening allyship and bridge-building
that promote mutual understanding. We also do
this by living our lives and living out our cherished
Jewish values open and proudly.

When the public comes across hateful speech
about Jews, saying Jews are making the country
and the world worse, everyone should know,
despite our small numbers that we are a com-
passionate people. They should see this by the
example we set in the moral clarity we have and
the good we do in the community. That way, when
someone comes across a crazy conspiracy theory
about Jews, they’ll know from experience who we
really are. JE
Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the president and
dean of Valley Beit Midrash in Scottsdale, Arizona.

letters Tobin Overlooked the Real Enemy
The opinion piece by Jonathan Tobin (“Should Everyone Be Afraid of Elon
Musk Buying Twitter?”, May 4) is a remarkable piece of sophistry.

He eludes to the notion of online hate speech being of concern, but that’s
not what troubles him the most. He describes the censoring of Nazis (which
is not the decision to refuse to publish their poison) as a slippery slope to
something worse. That is, the censoring of speech of anyone we disagree
with. He accuses the Anti-Defamation League and others with threatening
democracy. And yes, for sure, there are real, serious, concerns about “cancel
culture” as practiced by the far left. I will acknowledge that antisemitic
attacks, particularly it seems in New York City, do not appear to be coming
from the right. The liberal left needs to address it.

However, anyone with their eyes open, anyone who is honest, knows
that the main political threat to our democracy and peace is emanating
from another source.

Online purveyors of racist, antisemitic hate speech consisting of the
ideology of “replacement ideology” and other choice philosophies, fellow
travelers in the Republican Party, et cetera, are the threat in our faces
right now. There have been, in recent years, examples of the violent con-
sequences of this online poison, most recently, the massacre in Buffalo.

Edward Moses, Philadelphia
BDS a Definite Campus Threat
Thank you for publishing Richard L. Cravatts’ opinion piece (“An Open Letter
to the Editorial Board of The Harvard Crimson,” May 5). Finally, a journalist
willing to confront and combat the lies spread on our college campuses.

I’d love a list of those schools, colleges and corporations that have caved
in to supporting BDS. We need to rethink where our financial contributions
are going and eliminate our support from those that further these lies. JE
Ronna Newman Rutstein, Delray Beach, Florida
Letters should be related to articles that have run in the print or online editions of the JE, and
may be edited for space and clarity prior to publication. Please include your first and last name,
as well your town/neighborhood of residence. Send letters to letters@jewishexponent.com.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 13