Luke Ford

Here’s a classic smear you’ll often hear around your Shabbos table — guilt by non-association.

Making logical sense is not the point. Getting angry and outraged and intimidating your critics is the point.

Forward.com: In a reference to the Republican Party debate, Iran’s Supreme Leader’s decried on Twitter that “presidential candidates try to satisfy Zionists.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei referred to Wednesday night’s CNN-sponsored debate in a tweet on Thursday, part of a series of anti-Israel tweets.

In a follow-up tweet, Khamenei reiterated a claim he made earlier this month that Israel will not last:

US govs put their people under Zionists custody.Isn’t it a shame that presidential candidates try to satisfy Zionists&prove their servitude?— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 17, 2015

Zionist regime is an imposed regime, made through coercion; no entity made by coercion would last. This regime will not survive either.11/13— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 17, 2015

On Wednesday night, conservative political pundit Ann Coulter similarly slammed the Republican candidates for pandering to “f—ing Jews.”

Khamenei also called for the West Bank to be “armed to be ready for defense.”

The Washington Jewish Week does not bother to form an argument, it just hurls insults at her.

Link: Conservative commentator Ann Coulter has a reputation for sharp words and jarring rhetoric. But she went way too far in a Twitter post during the final minutes of last Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate. Following a number of references to Israel by debate participants, Coulter Tweeted: “How many f—ing Jews do these people think there are in the United States?” In doing so, not only did she join two words that should never go together, she went way over the line of what constitutes appropriate speech and into the territory of offensive, hateful drivel. Coulter should be ashamed of herself — but she appears to have no shame.

The ADL called Coulter’s remark “ugly, spiteful and borderline anti-Semitic.” We will go farther: Coulter’s remark was anti-Semitic, plain and simple. Although Coulter markets herself as someone “who stirs the pot,” her outrageous, very public utterance crossed the line of decency, and reflects a level of disrespect and hatred that cannot be tolerated.

For some, Coulter’s foul mouthed anti-Semitism comes as no surprise. They point to the fact that after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Coulter proposed: “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.” And in 2007, she told an interviewer that she wants her dream America to be completely Christian, with “Jews to be perfected, as they say,” meaning that Jews should be converted to Christianity. And there is more — but none of it worth repeating.

Unfortunately, Coulter’s most recent ugly rhetoric obscures the fact that that a lot of substantive policy discussions actually took place among the presidential contenders at the second debate. But that didn’t seem to be of much interest to Coulter. She was much more focused on the “f—ing Jews.”

We condemn Coulter’s remark, and condemn her bigotry. Ann Coulter is a hateful noisemaker, who should be ignored.

Ann Coulter and Iran’s Supreme Leader have so much in common.

Arutz Sheva:

Right-wing commentator Ann Coulter’s rant about “f—king Jews” was “misunderstood,” she claimed in a Daily Beast interview late Thursday, as she denied that the remarks reinforce anti-Semitic stereotypes.

“I think it was ripped out of context and lied about,” Coulter stated. “Anyone following any of the debate in America knew exactly what I was talking about… My tweet was about Republicans and the pandering. It wasn’t about Israel, it wasn’t about Jews. It’s what Republicans are thinking in their little pea brains.”

Coulter then dug herself deeper, taking a shot at Evangelical Christians.

“I could say the same thing about Evangelicals,” she said. “Who are you pandering to? A lot of it is to Sheldon Adelson and the Evangelicals…this kind of suck-uppery is humiliating.”

“There is no doubt that the Republican Party is the party of Israel and of Life,” she added. “So why keep sucking up on Israel?”

When asked whether her remarks could perpetuate the idea that Jews “run Hollywood” or the media, Coulter admitted: “Well, this episode is not going a long way to disprove that.”

Coulter then took cheap shots at Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, oddly choosing to link his policies with the US’s illegal immigration issues.

“I’d like to move Israel to the northern border of Mexico, and see what happens then,” she said. “These Republicans say fences don’t work – I’d like to see some of them explain Netanyahu’s policy on the fence.”

Even before her attempted explanations, Coulter’s remarks sparked a stream of support from anti-Semites, including Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

From the Jerusalem Post:

The backlash was instantaneous. Followers accused Coulter of being “anti-Semitic,” and “desperate for attention,” calling her statement “f—ing offensive.” Several followers mentioned they believed her account had been hacked while others suggested she was drunk after playing a drinking game while viewing the debate.

“Last night, Ann Coulter made appalling, anti-Jewish remarks which evoked the classic, anti-Semitic trope about Jewish manipulation of America for the purposes of supporting Israel at America’s expense,” Zionist Organization of America head Morton Klein said.

“When GOP candidates speak of strengthening the US-Israel relationship which has been harmed by President [Barack] Obama within the context of the need to ensure that Iran doesn’t go nuclear; to strengthen America’s hand in the world when dealing with vicious totalitarian enemies who seek the demise of the US, they are defending America’s interests,” Klein said.

“Instead, and for reasons best known to her, she chose to misrepresent their entirely legitimate statements as pandering to Jews.”

“Ann Coulter was gratuitously offensive and anti-Jewish in her remarks on twitter yesterday,” Klein said. “If such was not her intention, there is a simple remedy: she should immediately retract and make a heartfelt apology for her words.”

“Failing this, Fox News should dismiss her immediately.”

While Coulter does appear regularly on the Fox News Channel to offer her views, she is not a paid employee of the network.

They just call her names.

Welcome to the Ashkenazi debating style. Attack the person, hurl insults, and don’t bother with coherence.

There are only two honorable debating techniques — to challenge facts and logic. Ann Coulter’s critics don’t bother to do either.

Jews and non-Jews I encounter often talk about groups with the prefix of “fuc****.” I hear people all the time complain about bleeping blacks, latinos, goyim, Jews, Muslims, etc.

It must suck to be such an oversensitive pussy to get all hot and bothered by such elementary remarks.

Of course Jewish activists are over-reacting to Ann Coulter’s tweets. Does this routine over-the-top hyperventilating serve Jews by intimidating the goyim or is it just preparing a massive death pit for Jews or is it just another tempest in a tea pot massively incentivized by our current moment and has nothing, in the final analysis, to do with Jews?

From the JewishJournal.com and JTA:

Christians United for Israel excoriated Coulter in a news release.
“Ann Coulter’s tweets this evening concerning Israel were completely inappropriate,” spokesman Ari Morgenstern said in the statement. “The U.S.-Israel relationship is both a moral and strategic imperative. There are tens of millions of Christians in this country who stand with the Jewish state.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, described Coulter’s remarks as “hyperbolic and hateful.”
“Ms. Coulter is pandering to the basest of her base. Her messages challenging the candidates’ support for Israel were offensive, ugly, spiteful and borderline anti-Semitic,” Greenblatt wrote in a statement. “Her tweets give fodder to those who buy into the anti-Semitic notions that Jews ‘control’ the U.S. government, wield disproportionate power in politics, and are more loyal to Israel than to their own country.”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said, “Ann Coulter asks ‘how many f—ing Jews’ are there in America and then blithely dodges Fox News’ direct challenge of her gratuitous anti-Semitic slur. Disgusting. And if a simple ‘I am sorry’ is beyond the reach of the vocabulary of this noted wordsmith, then perhaps she has unearned her spot among top tier political pundits.”

Notice how the rabbis don’t bother making an argument. They just call her names.

Ann Coulter is a Palm Beach resident, having bought a home in the community in 2005.

From the Sun Sentinel Jewish Journal:

The next day (Thursday, Sept. 17), Coulter defended her comments to Jay Michaelson of The Daily Beast — an American news reporting and opinion website focusing on politics and pop culture.

Coulter told Michaelson that she doesn’t hate Jews — just the Republican Party candidates sucking up to them — and that the whole controversy was all based on a misunderstanding.

Coulter said she didn’t mean to say that Jews were hoarding influence in this country, telling Michaelson: “I’m accusing Republicans of thinking the Jews have so much power. They’re the ones comedically acting out this play where Jews control everything.”

In response, Michaelson asked Coulter whether she could understand how many Jews might be offended by her language, reminiscent as it is of the centuries-old claims that Jews have disproportionate power and influence in world affairs.

Coulter replied: “No. I don’t think it was my language. I think it was ripped out of context and lied about … Anyone following any of the debate in America knew exactly what I was talking about … My tweet was about Republicans and the pandering. It wasn’t about Israel, it wasn’t about Jews. … There is no doubt that the Republican Party is the party of Israel. … So why keep sucking up on Israel?”

The majority of South Florida rabbis the Jewish Journal spoke to weren’t buying Coulter’s explanations, however, and felt her tweets were anti-Semitic.

Rabbi Eliot Pearlson of Temple Menorah, a Conservative synagogue in Miami Beach, said: “Unfortunately this merely confirms my belief that Ms. Coulter is a negative, mean-spirited hateful person. Her defense that this wasn’t an attack on Jews is not substantiated by her past comments nor her failure to apologize.

“The subject of the comment is ‘The Jews.’ She could not have been making a reference to the candidates. She’s a professional writer — I think she knows the difference between subject and predicate. I wonder if there would have been more outrage expressed by the press and her supporters if she had said ‘F***king Blacks’ or ‘F***king Latinos.'”

Added Rabbi Barry Silver of Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor, a Reform synagogue in Boynton Beach: “Ann Coulter made her views about Jews known in an interview with Donny Deutsch on Oct. 11, 2007 when she said that Jews need to be ‘perfected’ by becoming Christian. Most Christians gave up this notion centuries ago, but Ann Coulter still lives in the past. She shares the sentiments of Muslim extremists who also believe that there is no place for Jews in their world order.

“It is therefore not surprising that she would use expletives as an adjective for the Jewish people and repeat old classic canards (unfounded rumors) about the inordinate power of the Jews. Her comments say nothing about Jews, but speak volumes about the intolerance of Ann Coulter.”

Rabbi Andrew Rosenkranz of Temple Beth Torah, a Reform synagogue in Wellington, commented: “Are Ann Coulter’s words anti-Semitic? Absolutely! They are hurtful and divisive. There’s no place in America for this kind of anger. What we need to be practicing is respect and civility in our public discourses. Frankly, Ms. Coulter owes the Jewish community a big and sincere apology.”

Said Rabbi Bradd Boxman of Congregation Kol Tikvah, a Reform synagogue in Parkland: “We worry so much about anti-Semitic remarks from groups outside our country like Iran and ISIS, but here we have someone inside our country saying something so blatantly anti-Semitic. For her to tweet these things to hundreds of thousands of people using that kind of anti-Semitic language is very offensive and calls to mind the names of other infamous anti-Semites who had no problem openly voicing their hatred of Jews.

“These kind of remarks also point to the general decline in public civility. With the popularity of Donald Trump, it is said that people don’t have to be ‘PC’ (politically correct) any more. Well, PC is just another word for respecting the dignity of the opinions of other people. We are seeing the loss in our society of people knowing how to communicate with each other in a civil manner.”

Rabbi Tom Heyn of Temple Israel of Greater Miami, a Reform synagogue, said: “I frequently point out to my congregants that we all possess multiple intelligences. Ms. Coulter is a perfect example of how someone can have a very high IQ but is less-developed when it comes to EQ (Emotional Intelligence) and SQ (Spiritual Intelligence). She’s probably enjoying all the attention she’s getting from this media circus, but her thinking is full of contradictions and is not constructive. It reveals a deeply-engrained racist attitude evident in her other comments.”

Added Rabbi Alon Levkovitz of Temple Beth Am, a Reform synagogue in Jupiter: “Ann Coulter was able to come up with a Twitter version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion” — referring to the anti-Semitic 1903 Russian book claiming Jewish world domination.

Rabbi Dan Levin of Temple Beth El of Boca Raton, a Reform synagogue, simply said: “We have no comment on someone as disgraceful as Ann Coulter.”

However, Rabbi Efrem Goldberg of Boca Raton Synagogue, a Modern Orthodox synagogue, acknowledged what he believes is Coulter’s past support of Israel.

Goldberg said: “Ann Coulter’s tweets were offensive and deeply concerning as they contribute to the classic Anti-Semitic rhetoric that Jews disproportionally ‘control’ politicians and are pandered to by them. I sincerely hope she apologizes and returns to being an outspoken supporter of Israel and the Jewish people.”

In an interesting twist, Rabbi David Baum of Congregation Shaarei Kodesh, a Conservative synagogue in Boca Raton, suggested that Coulter’s comments could provide a teachable moment for everyone during the High Holidays — which requires Jews to look at all of our actions, whether intentional or accidental, to repent, and to atone.

Baum said: “I was deeply disappointed with Coulter’s comments. Social media is a great medium to be heard by millions in an instant, but sometimes we may not think through all the ramifications of our words.

“Besides, I think the candidates spoke about Israel not because they were pandering to anyone, but because they believe Israel is an important strategic partner for the U.S. Furthermore, I think support for Israel must be a bipartisan issue in the future as it has been for years.”