CNN’s Dana Bash is latest Jewish author targeted by pro-Palestinian activists
ADL and others say antisemitism motivated hecklers disrupting Bash’s book talk
CNN hosts Dana Bash and Jake Tapper. Tapper says protesters targeted Bash because she’s Jewish. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
By Beth Harpaz September 6, 2024
CNN’s Dana Bash is the latest Jewish author to have a bookstore event disrupted by pro-Palestinian activists.
The disturbance Thursday by protesters at Washington, D.C.’s famed Politics and Prose bookstore was denounced as “antisemitic” by the Anti-Defamation League and Bash’s colleagues.
The confrontation unfolded as Bash discussed her new book, America’s Deadliest Election: The Cautionary Tale of the Most Violent Election in American History. (The book, co-written with David Fisher, is about Louisiana’s 1872 election, not the Jan. 6 attacks.)
Bash was repeatedly interrupted by several masked young women who stood up and delivered prolonged rants before bookstore security escorted them out.
“You belong behind bars! We know who you are!” screamed the first protester. “It is not a war, it is a genocide. You are complicit in the genocide!”
As security guards moved that protester out, another one rose and shouted: “You call yourself a good journalist. Tell the truth!”
She added: “You want millions from Zionists! You want millions from AIPAC!”
A spokesman for the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) confirmed in an email that AIPAC has no financial connection to Bash and has not paid her anything.
Washington, D.C., police said in an email that no arrests were made.
Bash’s Jewish identity
Bash’s Jewish identity is well known. She has spoken about her grandparents’ escape from the Nazis during World War II, and about her own Jewish upbringing, including a bat mitzvah, Shabbat dinners and Jewish summer camp.
More than a year before the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas, Bash hosted a CNN documentary, Rising Hate: Antisemitism in America, that she said led her to “realize how much hate was zeroing in on Jews.”
Now her colleagues and others say she is on the receiving end of some of that hate.
Attacked ‘because she’s Jewish’
In response to accounts of the Politics and Prose incident, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted that it is “unacceptable to hurl such antisemitic bile and false accusations against a Jewish American journalist. @DanaBashCNN handled this with grace, but no one should have to experience this awful hatred. We can’t let this be the new normal.”
It is unacceptable to hurl such antisemitic bile and false accusations against a Jewish American journalist. @DanaBashCNN handled this with grace, but no one should have to experience this awful hatred. We can't let this be the new normal. https://t.co/OCzTNaUQKY
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) September 6, 2024
CNN anchor Jake Tapper tweeted that Bash was targeted “because she’s Jewish. There is nothing about her coverage of the Israel-Hamas war that is different from most other news coverage, covering both Jewish/Israeli and Palestinian pain.”
“Yet another example of pro-pal protesters protesting and harassing high profile Jews. This is solely about Bash being Jewish,” agreed Josh Marshall, founder of the liberal news site Talking Points Memo.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, co-host of ABC’s The View, a CNN commentator and a one-time White House communications aide to former President Donald Trump, called the outbursts “harassment” that had “nothing to do with CNN’s coverage, and everything to do with Dana being Jewish. It’s vile antisemitism on full display.”
Politics and Prose, along with Bash’s publisher, an imprint of HarperCollins, did not respond to emails seeking comment.
Other bookstore incidents
The Politics and Prose disruption is one of a number of incidents targeting Jewish authors at book events.
In August, a worker at Brooklyn’s Powerhouse Arena bookstore barred a pro-Israel rabbi, Andy Bachman, from serving as moderator for an event with Joshua Leifer, author of Tablets Shattered, a new book on Jewish identity. That event, which had drawn just two dozen attendees, was canceled and later restaged at a Jewish cultural venue to a sellout crowd of 300.
In February, protesters disrupted an event in Los Angeles featuring actor Mayim Bialik, a self-proclaimed Zionist, in conversation with author Moshe Kasher. Kasher was promoting his memoir, Subculture Vulture, an apolitical account of growing up in a deaf and Jewish household and working as a comedian. The event was sponsored by PEN America, whose LA director repeatedly asked protesters to desist by noting that while PEN champions free speech, that does not include the right to silence others or engage in abusive behavior.
CNN defends Bash’s reporting
Bash did not respond to a request for comment. However, an emailed statement from CNN defended her journalistic integrity and disputed the protesters’ intimation that her reporting on the Israel-Gaza conflict is biased.
“Dana Bash is a highly respected veteran journalist who has covered politics and politicians around the world fairly and equally for over three decades,” the statement said. “We firmly stand by her and her reporting, and while we respect the right of free speech, we will not be intimidated and will continue to cover all subjects without fear or favor.”
The news network also provided links to video interviews Bash conducted in the weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks. CNN said the clips show Bash challenging assertions by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Israel’s U.S. ambassador, Michael Herzog; and Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan. In one exchange highlighted by the network, Bash asked Netanyahu, referring to Palestinian civilian casualties, “Why won’t you take responsibility now?”
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