It Happened on Halloween
Image by eli valley
The month of Halloween hasn’t been friendly to Anti-Defamation League Director Abraham Foxman’s position of authority in the Jewish community.
In early October, Foxman batted away the findings of the Pew Research Center, which showed that a majority of American Jews were ambivalent about Israeli government policies by remarking, “This is a poll of everybody. Some care, some don’t care…. I’m not going to follow this. I don’t sit and poll my constituency. Part of Jewish leadership is leadership. We lead.”
Then, on October 21, Foxman’s organization seemed again to dismiss most of American Jewry when it excoriated Jewish groups for being critical of Israel and for “intentionally exploit[ing] Jewish culture and rituals,” using as an example the suggestion of one group that an olive be added to the Seder plate “to symbolize the Palestinian struggle.”
For me, this leads to the question: What’s at the heart of Foxman’s antipathy for American Jews?
Eli Valley, Artist in Residence at the Forward, is finishing his first novel. His website is www.evcomics.com, and he tweets @elivalley
Click to expand Image by Eli Valley
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
