{"id":75665,"date":"2015-09-27T05:51:55","date_gmt":"2015-09-27T13:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=75665"},"modified":"2015-09-27T05:51:55","modified_gmt":"2015-09-27T13:51:55","slug":"mondoweiss-the-simon-wiesenthal-centers-perverted-stance-on-tolerance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=75665","title":{"rendered":"Mondoweiss: The Simon Wiesenthal Center\u2019s perverted stance on \u2018tolerance\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Mondoweiss in 2010<\/a>: Why does the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) have nothing to say about the rabbinical edict<\/a> circulating in Israel\u2014currently signed by more than four dozen rabbis\u2014forbidding the sale or rental of homes to non-Jews?<\/p>\n

Or, why has the Center not applauded the dissenting view<\/a> of Israel\u2019s leading Haredi rabbi, Aaron Leib Steinman, who said, \u201cthere are things that should not be done; what if there would be a similar call in Berlin against renting properties to Jews? Where is the public conscience?\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel is lurching toward ever-more extreme expressions of religious-nationalism, electing leaders who publicly profess anti-Arab<\/a> and anti-immigrant<\/a> views\u2014and legislate accordingly. Israelis increasingly favor gagging<\/a> their own country\u2019s human rights organizations, journalists, and activists. This swelling anti-democratic impulse is directed toward non-Jews<\/a>\u2014whose status is necessarily ambiguous in the \u201cJewish state\u201d\u2014but even toward some who self-identify as Jews<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Simon Wiesenthal Center is in \u201cbusiness-as-usual\u201d mode, issuing stern rebukes to those it deems anti-Semites\u2014i.e., those who criticize Israeli policy and advocate equality for all who inhabit the borderless space of Israel\/Palestine.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, SWC Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper took the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to task in an over-the-top op-ed<\/a> in the Wall Street Journal. A sharp correction to Rabbis Hier and Cooper came in a statement<\/a> issued by the Israel\/Palestine Mission Network of the PC(USA), which noted that \u201cthis is not the first time [SWC rabbis] have wrongly accused Christian traditions that are committed to overcoming injustice in the Holy Land of demonizing the Jewish people.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, while ignoring the fact that many of Israel\u2019s religious and secular leaders are fomenting rabid, tribal attitudes, what does the Simon Wiesenthal Center deem worth of attention in its quest for \u201ctolerance\u201d? A visit to the organization\u2019s website<\/a> lists their current preoccupations:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Slamming UNESCO for its declaration<\/a> that the \u201cHaram al-Ibrahim\/the Cave of the Patriarchs and Bilal bin Rabah Mosque\/Rachel\u2019s Tomb\u201d are \u201can integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories\u201d and \u201cthat any unilateral action by the Israeli authorities is to be considered a violation of international law.\u201d Despite the location of these sites in Hebron\/Al Khalil, deep within the Palestinian occupied territories, the Simon Wiesenthal Center characterizes UNESCO\u2019s statement as a move to \u201csteal from the Jewish people one of its most sacred religious sites.\u201d [No mention on the Center\u2019s site of Israel\u2019s state-sponsored stealing from the Palestinian people in establishing settlements for half a million Israelis on occupied and expropriated Palestinian land, in Hebron and elsewhere, in violation of international law.]<\/p>\n

\u2022 Calling on the Japanese discount retail chain, Don Quixote, to remove a \u201cNazi\u201d uniform adult costume from its stores throughout Japan and Hawaii.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Slamming as \u201canti-Semitic scapegoating\u201d an event in Dublin, Ireland, featuring David Cronin, author of a new book<\/a> titled Europe\u2019s Alliance with Israel: Aiding the Occupation.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Simon Wiesenthal Center is moving ahead on the planning phase of a \u201cMuseum of Tolerance\u201d in Jerusalem, incredibly situated atop a Muslim cemetery. The project<\/a>, a \u201cpartnership with the Jerusalem municipality and the Israeli government,\u201d has been condemned by numerous entities, including an Israeli Jewish-Muslim initiative<\/a>, Americans for Peace Now<\/a>, the Center for Constitutional Rights<\/a>, and, of course, descendents<\/a> of the Palestinians buried there.<\/p>\n

In its scorched-earth campaign to deflect appropriate criticism of Israeli policy by smearing advocates of equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians, the Simon Wiesenthal Center fails abjectly in key elements of its stated agenda: to \u201cpromote human rights and dignity\u201d and \u201cconfront bigotry and racism.\u201d It\u2019s a patent double standard: the Wiesenthal Center\u2019s misguided notion of what it means to \u201cstand with Israel\u201d trumps universal human rights regardless of religion and ethnicity.<\/p>\n

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has amassed a substantial track-record of self-righteous finger-pointing. It\u2019s time to point the finger back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Mondoweiss in 2010: Why does the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) have nothing to say about the rabbinical edict circulating in Israel\u2014currently signed by more than four dozen rabbis\u2014forbidding the sale or rental of homes to non-Jews? Or, why has … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,14925],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-israel","category-simon-wiesenthal"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t