It’s happening again. What my parents warned me about. Anti-Semitism.

My inbox is overflowing. Overwhelmingly in support of what I wrote about Gaza. But you know what so many of those e-mailers said? DON’T USE MY NAME!

And there you have it in a nutshell. Yes, I blame the Jews. Not Israel, but the assimilated Jews in America who stood by during the heyday of BDS, during the rise of pro-Palestinian sentiment, while the perception changed, from poor Israel to poor Palestinians.

“Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a briefing early Wednesday morning that no Israeli strike, either by air, land or sea occurred near the hospital at the time of the deadly explosion. He said the Israeli military would soon publish the radar information, footage and a recording of militants in Gaza assigning blame to Islamic Jihad, a group aligned with Hamas.

“Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour accused Israel of carrying out the strike and lying. ‘Now they change the story to try to blame the Palestinians. It is a lie,’ Mansour said during a press conference at the U.N. headquarters.”

https://tinyurl.com/5u626rkd

That’s from the “Wall Street Journal,” you could read it if you wanted to but you won’t. Because the truth is irrelevant today, now it’s only about perception.

I mean who are you going to believe? One of the most technically developed militaries of the world? Or the terrorist group in Palestine?

It’s easy. Of course the Israelis are guilty.

And none of this would have happened if the Israelis hadn’t decided to retaliate, right? I mean even if it was a wayward, failed Palestinian rocket, would they be shooting off rockets if Israel didn’t threaten to invade? Get it straight, Israel is the aggressor here. The poor Palestinians have just been trying to live their lives quietly and those damn Jews upset the apple cart. They’ve got no compassion. They want to see every Palestinian desiring to return to their homeland dead. If only they wanted peace, a two state solution…

WHAT?

My inbox says all that. And I’ve never had this many people unsubscribe in one day, never. And after posting this I’m sure I’ll lose the same number, if not more. But I’m not writing for those people, I’m not writing for those taking the side of the poor Palestinians, I’m writing this for you silent Jews, afraid of suffering individually. I mean haven’t we seen this movie already? Never mind the Nazis, but in Charlottesville, never mind terrorism in Pittsburgh?

Yes, I’ve gotten e-mail from people keeping their kids home from school, because they’re Jewish. Others afraid to go to synagogue, even though there are armed guards at the temple.

But you sit there silently, trying to stay out of the fray. Fearful of blowback. Yes, you who let the pendulum swing, who got fat and happy, seeing Israel as a safe technological juggernaut. You thought you were assimilated. But you haven’t gotten those e-mails I have, talking about anti-Semitism in this supposedly Jewish dominated business.

But you don’t want to get involved. You don’t want people angry with you. You don’t want to lose friends.

Forget the wimpy executives, who are only concerned about their paycheck, where are the Jewish artists? You can’t take a stand? You are who people listen to, if not now, when?

But the executives need to stand up too. I’m imploring you. If I can take the risk, you can too. We have each other, and we need each other, but now we are divided.

That’s right, whatever and if ever the truth about the hospital bombing comes out one thing is for sure, the image of Israel and the Jews will continue to decline, and it will only get worse.

As for those Jews at colleges and universities… They’re complacent, they didn’t live through the ’67 and ’73 wars, never mind Munich in ’72. They align with their Palestinian brothers, knowing nothing of the history of the region, only knowing that the Palestinians have a good case, and they do, BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!

I’m not going to sit here and say Israel is perfect. But one thing I will say is it’s our last best hope if we are Jewish, it’s the only place we can go and not be persecuted. And if it goes by the wayside, it’s just a matter of time before they come for you.

I mean have you studied history? Again and again the Jews have been the scapegoat, and been exiled and limited in business and killed and you think just because we have the internet it can’t happen again? IT IS HAPPENING AGAIN!

Think of authoritarianism… We thought those days were through. And Poland just turned left, but what about Italy? Never mind Hungary? This was not supposed to happen, democracy was supposed to gain momentum and rule, but just the opposite seems to be happening.

So on my birthday a few years back I went to the Holocaust museum in Los Angeles. And they had reprints from the L.A. “Times.” And contrary to conventional wisdom, people knew! Yes, the repression of the Jews, their ghettoization, the stripping of their rights, their need to wear Jewish stars… WE KNEW! And what did we do? Nothing, not for a long while. And after the war the truth of the concentration camps was revealed, but now we find out the Holocaust didn’t really happen. And the Jews need to shut up anyway, because other people died too. It’s kind of like saying there’s no more racism, get the Blacks to agree with you on that one. But even the Blacks hate the Jews. Don’t tell me you don’t, do you think I’m polling each and every African-American? But the facts are there. Jews are the enemy, just ask Kanye.

Yes, Jews are the cause of all the world’s problems, don’t you know? And if they’d just let those damn Palestinians live in peace… And give them back their country while they’re at it, everything would be groovy. Iran would be happy and Lebanon would be happy and…ARE YOU DREAMING?

But you are asleep. Because you’re afraid to get in the fray.

But I don’t care if you’re mother’s mother was Jewish and nobody else, when they come looking, you’re going to be considered Jewish, there’s no getting away from it. You think you’re immune, but you’re not.

So can all you wusses out there, afraid of having your names revealed, stand up and be proud to be a Jew? Stand up to the misinformation?

Of course it’s a thorny issue. And the Israelis haven’t always been right, but they haven’t been celebrating the death of Palestinians, whereas it’s vice versa on the other side.

I won’t even talk about all the times the Palestinians were offered their own country as part of a two state solution..,

That’s another type of e-mail that drives me wild. The “risk-takers” who tell me that everybody just needs to believe in peace. That if we all sat down the problem could be solved. That we need a two-state solution. Don’t you get it, Israel has agreed to all that, it’s the Palestinians who are holding us back, who will only be happy when Israel ceases to exist, when the Jews are driven into the sea. Don’t think those are metaphors, that’s Hamas’s charter!

This is only the beginning. As this war progresses, Israel is going to look worse and worse, just you wait. It’s going to be even harder to be a Jew. The right has turned on Ukraine, what are the odds every American is going to side with Israel? And yes, there are Christians who support Israel because that’s where Jesus lived, but if you think this means they’re sympathetic to the Jews…

It is happening. Right now. We Jews are losing purchase, we’re losing power, we’re losing the argument, it’s going in the wrong direction. But you think it’s all happening over there, that it doesn’t affect you.

You couldn’t be more wrong.

WAKE UP!

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From: Michael Fisher

Subject: Re: Gaza

“But that’s the society we live in. Where money, your job, triumphs. Tell me how that works for you when you’re rounded-up and put in a ghetto.”

Exactly. You should’ve added “and dragged off and murdered”. I’m African-American and German. My mother was German. I was born in Germany and grew up among plenty of “Ex-Nazis” and their children.  I grew up hearing what they said. To this day when I’m in Germany (I was there in the beginning of the year) I keep hearing “Well, you’re half black, but at least you’re not a Jew”. I’ll hear that from Germans who will usually present themselves as completely pro-jewish. So, don’t get it twisted. Anti-semitism is still around, rising and virulent. And it’s deadly. Anti-Black racism is about “keeping Blacks in their place”. Anti-Jewish racism (Anti-semitism) is straight up about genocide.

Michael 

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From: Jason Hess

Subject: Re: Gaza

A few years ago, My daughter was bullied in high school for being Jewish by pro Palestinian students. You know what the administration did? They said they were trying to have honest conversations about the issues. This is response to my daughter getting pictures of Hitler and being told that all Jews are racist animals. So you know what I did? I sued them in federal court at tremendous personal and emotional expense. I took a stand. I am no hero but almost everyone told me to let it go. But I could not do it Bob. We settled and received an apology. I hope I had an impact but I doubt it. They all hate us. But we must keep fighting.

Jason

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Subject: Re: Gaza

Bob, 

I read your news letter daily. Sometimes it’s too long. But today u got it right. I have lived as a Jew with anti semitism my entire life. From having pennies thrown at me in middle school to being ridiculed because I am a female JEWISH lawyer. I remain a proud Jew, maybe not religious, but I know I am a Jew. Each day at my previous job, now retired, I tried to have a Holocaust moment and explain to my associates that every day I say NEVER AGAIN. You got it right. We killed innocent people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With war comes consequences. Hamas started it. Let Israel and the US if necessary finish it. Those hostages are goners their lives are done even if saved. They will forever suffer. The time is now. So shut up and stop crying for innocent people. Let’s get this job done the way we should have when people walked my relatives to ovens. It’s time. 

Thanks for reading

Gail LEVINE

A proud Jew

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From: Ronli Tzour

Subject: Re: Gaza

Thank you for speaking out, Bob.

It’s nauseating to see fellow jews say nothing.

It’s nauseating to see non-jews say nothing.

It’s nauseating to see people I called friends, people I still have to work with, people that were in my home liking and sharing posts that are riddled with misinformation.

And it’s nauseating when I reach out to explain why what they’re engaging with is straight propaganda or incorrect and they simply, don’t respond.

Our babies are beheaded. Our women raped then butchered. Our families erased. Our college kids mourn our slaughtered, behind them is a group of pro-Palestinian students screaming at them how it’s justice. Our houses are being marked with ‘Jew’ or Magen Davids to indicate jews live there. Our businesses are being trashed either physically or accounts are being unfollowed or spammed with hate. Our flags are being burned in the name of another statehood and there are chants of our genocide and yet in Israeli marches – we sing about how we just want peace for Israel and dance around together. There is video evidence of all of this.

People don’t want to see what’s happening. They want to blindly hate Israel and jewish people. They want to believe we’re evil, no matter what we do.

We are seeing the 1930s play out in front of our eyes. People watching our Instagram stories but won’t say anything to us or on their own socials is the equivalent of their not-so-distant ancestors just watching jews thru their windows being rounded up..

Thank god we have our own defense force to help us in 2023. Never again is now. And truly (and I mean this from the bottom of my soul and from my long line of actual resistance fighter ancestors), f*ck anyone that believes any differently. Too harsh? Too bad.

In multiple jewish group chats I am, we are discussing: Removing our mezzuzahs from our doors. (We dont want to.)

Is it safe to wear our Magen David necklaces? (No, but we’ve dusted them off and are now constantly wearing them.)

Do people need security to walk them to synagogue? (Yes, in LA there is a volunteer group that walks families to synagogue whenever they need – let alone the amped up security at synagogues to begin with.)

Amongst many, many other things but these barely just scratch the surface.

May peace be with us soon, may all of our families stay safe, may the 150+ hostages make it back to us alive and unharmed, may we never know this kind of terror again, and may Hamas be eliminated forever.

Our hearts are so broken and also so angry. I will never understand this level of hate that has been unleashed.

Thanks again for speaking out, Bob. We need more people to use their voices, too.

Am yisrael chai –

Ronli Tzour

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From: Gary Lucas

Subject: Re: Gaza

Thank you for this Bob. We’ve all been there—even in a supposedly Jewish-dominated music biz.

Years ago when I was a copywriter at CBS Records, I really wanted to get into A&R, but found it to be a closed shop (especially for a guy who had played with Captain Beefheart).

After much badgering, the Jewish head of A&R at Columbia told me:

“Bring me a hit first, and then we can talk about hiring you.”

So in 1986, I’m in the UK with my English-Jewish wife visiting her family, and while there ventured forth into UK record company-land in search of a hit for Columbia.

I lined up a meeting with the head of A&R at London Records, who was a very affable fellow.

I told him Columbia had just done a licensing deal with Geoff Travis’s  Rough Trade Records—and did he have any potential hits for us to license?

He proceeded to play me the soon to be released new single by The Communards, a cover of Thelma Houston’s smash “Don’t Leave Me This Way”.

This new version had “hit” written all over it.

He told me they are about to make a deal for America, but that if Columbia wants in…

He gives me a cassette to take back and play for my guy. His parting words as I leave his office are :

“What’s the matter with Columbia—do they just want to do a deal with a bunch of Jews??” (Geoff Travis is Jewish).

I don’t know if he knew that I was Jewish or not. Perhaps he just thought he was being funny–but I was seriously offended.

Nevertheless, as I wanted an A&R gig, I swallowed my pride and said nothing–which I regret to this day.

When I got back to NYC, I duly delivered the cassette to my “rabbi”, and gave him a big pitch on The Communards—and he duly threw the tape in a drawer…next!

A few months later this song is #1 on the Billboard Dance Charts. I felt more than vindicated re my A&R instincts, but whatever.

A few years later, partially out of frustration with the record biz, I left my day-job of 13 years to become a full-time artist.

And I did a collaboration in London with Alabama 3—huge Beefheart fans who had recently been schmeckled vis a vis their song “Woke Up This Morning”–part of the very warp and woof of “The Sopranos”—

which their manager licensed away forever for a pittance in a one-time buy-out with HBO.

While doing this session for their new song about the Great Train Robbery, “Have You Seen Bruce Richards Reynolds”

(you can hear it here, I’m on National steel bottleneck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QbmRgKuWa8 ),

they played me another new track entitled “Hello I’m Johnny Cash”, whose lyrics consisted of lines from various Johnny Cash songs.

In settling up on the phone with their manager for the session the next morning, I mentioned how much I enjoyed their Johnny Cash pastiche, and he said:

“I’m sure some Jew lawyer from New York will try and sue us for that”.

Ouch!  I should have said something right there again, but as I wanted to get paid…

Anyway, you could say maybe it’s just a UK thing. Maybe it was just crass Jew-baiting.

But we all know too well that anti-semitism is worldwide, it sucks, it ain’t going away—and we should call it out for what it is whenever it rears its ugly head.

Gary Lucas

NYC

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From: Lynn Crosswaite

Subject: Re: Gaza

Yes! Right on! I’m losing my mind over the pro-Palestinian marches. We need Doron!  Send in Doron and his crew to obliterate Hamas off the face of the earth! 

Lynn