MARCH 14 • 2024 | 25

In the months following 
Oct. 7, the author of The 
Wrong Kind of Jew: A Mizrachi 
Manifesto, has been on a lecture 
circuit. Speaking from his hotel 
in New York City, where he had 
events scheduled throughout 
the tri-state area, Mazzig said 
he spoke with the Jewish com-
munity in Cleveland and also 
sat courtside at the NBA All-
Stars game in Indiana, where he 
accompanied hostage survivors 
and Israelis whose family mem-
bers were murdered by Hamas. 
Unlike the extremely tight 
security inside and outside the 
building at Temple Beth El, 
Mazzig said a speaking engage-
ment held at a Connecticut 
church was canceled due to lack 
of security when the church 
could not guarantee his safety. 
As pro-Israel speakers and 
events are being threatened 
or even canceled across the 
globe, Mazzig remarked that 
the other side is becoming even 
more emboldened and are not 
concerned about going under-
ground with their protests and 
marches that are often disrup-
tive to the public. Mazzig said 
he welcomes civil debate while 
the other side does not and 
goes as far as causing violence 
and glorifying the self-im-
molation of a U.S. Airman in 
front of the Israeli embassy in 
Washington, D.C., as a form of 

protest.
“The ‘Free Palestine’ move-
ment claims that they are not 
safe, but the truth is they are 
so safe,
” Mazzig retorted. “How 
often do you see Palestinian 
protesters on the streets wear-
ing a keffiyeh unafraid, yet a 
woman who wears a Star of 
David or a man who wears a 
kippah is afraid for their safety? 
We [Jews] are the ones who 
constantly need to have security 
at our protests and our events. 
Yet, we are not the ones call-
ing for the genocide or ethnic 
cleansing of anyone.
” 
Mazzig acknowledged that 
Detroit’s Jewish community 
lives among the largest Muslim 
and Arab population outside of 
the Middle East. He is troubled 
by the “dangerous and scary” 
online and congressional state-
ments of Rep. Rashida Tlaib 
“that reads like a Hamas press 
release and puts Jews in danger 
in many ways.
” 
However, he cautions Jews 
living here to walk a careful 
line between calling out the 
extremism of radical Islamic 
ideology and asking Muslims 
to self-reflect about the strains 
of antisemitism and other 
bigotries that run in their com-
munity. 
“This is not an issue with 

Muslims or Arabs, but with 
radical Islam,
” explained 
Mazzig. “Muslims are not about 
killing or committing acts of 
terror, but this lies within rad-
ical Islam. We have to have a 
hard conversation about what 
is this ideology and why is it so 
prevalent without shaming any-
one or attacking their religion. 
To hold radical Islamic ideas is 
actually anti-Muslim.
” 

The soft-spoken Mazzig 
served for five years in the 
IDF as an openly gay com-
mander and lieutenant in the 
Coordinator of Government 
Activities in the Territories unit. 
In this capacity, he worked with 
Palestinian civilians in coor-
dinating humanitarian efforts 
such as building hospitals, 
roads, overseeing environmen-
tal projects and making sure 
Palestinian civilians received 
medical care in Israeli hospitals.
“To say that the IDF has such 
a position is very telling about 
what values it upholds,
” Mazzig 
said. “I have been a soldier 
in wars, and it is hell. No one 
wants to be in a war zone. I 
have seen how far Israel goes to 
support Palestinian lives. It is a 
reminder to me and should be a 
reminder to all that Israel’s fight 
is not against Palestinians but 
Hamas.
” 

Hen 
Mazzig

Hen 
Mazzig

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