EDITORIAL BOARD: Publisher: Arthur M. Horwitz Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin Browett Interim Editor: Alan Hitsky Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar Points Of View Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com Contributing Editor Editorial No Repercussions Spur Hateful Acts T Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, second from right, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., center, and - other civil rights activists march arm-in-arm in defiance of segregationist authorities in Selma, Ala., on March 21, 1965. Folly Of Farrakhan ews not only had a dis- proportionate role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but also are to blame for all black suffering since that dark period in U.S. history. But that's not all. The dastardly Jews also are seeking to push America into war with Libya and Iran. So claims the Nation of Islam and its anti- Semitic leader, the Rev. Louis Farrakhan. Further, he ridicules the "Nazi-like State of Israel" and blames America's ills on Jewish-controlled halls of govern- ment, business, finance, entertain- ment and the press. Farrakhan is spiritually uplift- ing for believers; and that's troubling. Over the years, he has branded Judaism a "gut- ter religion" and conducted an unabashed hate crusade against Jews. Why he feels this way isn't clear. Nor is it clear why scape- goating Jews has escalated from being just part of a message to being the message. His defaming tirades have alienated Jews and whites — and civilized blacks. "Listen, Jewish people don't have no hands that are free of the blood of us:' Farrakhan railed a few years back in a Black History Month speech in Chicago. "They owned slave ships; they bought and sold us. They raped and j 42 March 31 . 2011 robbed us." He said Jews lack the courage to atone and repent. Jews did sell, own and abuse slaves, but while horribly wrong, that does not excuse the Nation of Islam for falsely inflating our role and influence in slav- ery. Jews did fight on the Confederate side; the highest-ranking Jew in the Civil War was Attorney General Judah Benjamin under Confederate President Jefferson Davis. But many more Jews fought on the Union side and supported abolition. And in modern times, Jews have fought for civil rights and racial equality for blacks. I've never met a Jew proud of Jewish slavers. When Farrakhan raps about black empowerment, I wonder how he defines it. Consider his longstanding alliance with Malik Zulu Shabazz, the racist leader of the New Black Panther Party, who sympathizes with Hamas and Hezbollah — and who claims that U.S. support of Zionism was the root of why so many people died on 9-11. Bizarre Forum Once more, the Nation of Islam's annual Saviours' Day proved an exercise in Jew-hating and Zionism-bashing. Once more, Farrakhan's keynote address cackled with wild conspiratorial claims. The opening salvo of the 2011 gathering of Nation brothers came Feb. 27 in a session titled "The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Hate-Filled Jews. The title was Accusations Farrakhan is a minis- taken, interestingly ter who preaches that enough, from a two- the Talmud teaches volume history, actu- that blacks were ally an anti-Semitic cursed; that "poor screed, published by Jews died while big the Nation's historical Jews were at the root research department of what you call the (if that's a reputable Rev. Farrak han Holocaust"; and that department, research Jews plotted to cruci- has hit rock bottom). fy Jesus. Anti-Defamation League It's no surprise that Saviours' (ADL) national director Abraham Day speakers declared that Nation Foxman describes Farrakhan's books (and their anti-Semitic anti-Semitism as "obsessive, undercurrents) should be taught diabolical and unrestrained."1 in schools nationwide. couldn't agree more. Hatred of Jews has become JN The Folly on page 43 wo days after a Jewish settler family of five was stabbed to death in their home by suspect- ed Palestinian terrorists, the governing political party in the West Bank named a town square after a heinous Palestinian Jew-hater. The depraved naming was not shocking given the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority's penchant for effectively ignoring incitement to hatred and murder against Israelis, most notably Jews. The P.A. has a history of naming streets, schools, squares, youth camps, playgrounds, sports tourneys and events after "martyrs" who slaughtered Jews. "Martyr" is a code word for Palestinians who "give" their life in acts of terror against Israelis, in deference to Allah. On March 12, Fatah named a square in Al-Bireh, out- side the West Bank capital of Ramallah, after Dalai Mughrabi, the woman who led the 1978 hijacking of two buses along the coastal road between Tel Aviv and Haifa; 37 Israelis, including 13 children, died along with Mughrabi and at least eight other hijackers. The nam- ing ceremony boasted Palestinian flags and posters of Mughrabi holding a Kalashnikov rifle with a map of Israel, labeled "Palestine," behind her. The P.A. is the recipient of $600 million to $1 billion in annual U.S. aid. Under the right conditions, it also can count on Israeli and U.S. support for Palestinian statehood. But once more, the P.A. has glorified a ter- rorist while continuing to incite the hatred and murder of Jews through the West Bank's official newspaper as well as its classrooms, music videos and speeches. Such glorification has become routine, punctuating the P.A. belief that it's a high calling to die murdering Israelis – "infidels" who occupy "Palestinian" land not only in the West Bank, but also inside the Green Line. Only last November, the P.A. honored Amin Al-Hindi, mastermind behind the Black September Arab terror- ist group's murder of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches and one West German police officer at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The P.A. named the Fifth Convention of the Fatah Revolutionary Council in Al-Hindi's honor. The Western world seems unable, or unwilling, to hold the P.A. accountable. The Zionist Organization of America rightly said the P.A. "knows from experience no one will hold it to account; that no one will take note and alter their policy toward it. It knows it will pay no price. This is precisely what must change." The Palestinian Authority must be held firmly to the accountability fires by the West, including America, for the culture of hate it cultivates, beginning with kids who grow up believing "martyrdom" is more inviting than life! Ponder that insidious cultivation as the civilized world mourns the brazen killing of Israeli settlers Ruth and Udi Fogel and their three young children in Itamar, near Nablus – a couple evacuated from Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip in 2006, but who believed in the settler movement. 1 I