One Day in May—in Jerusalem and in New York City

by Phyllis Chesler

The tsunami has finally made landfall.

We have been trying to beat back these dreadful waters for nearly 22 years—and here they are, fully upon us.

Big Lies, Blood Libels, and anti-Zionist narratives have taken over our planet. From coast to coast, both in America and Europe, young people chant lethal lies and, in their name, hold violent protests.

The cognitive war against the Jews is, perhaps, the hottest war and, as well as the IDF, will determine the outcome of much else.

Meanwhile, as Israeli Jews are being knifed, stoned, rammed, axed, and shot to death by their Arab Islamist neighbors; barely surviving attempted lynchings; being stoned by terrorists atop the Temple Mount who are hurling rocks towards the Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall—Israel is being blamed in the media for daring to defend itself and for acting to end the unprovoked violence.

As usual.

Last week, on May 13th, members of Fatah, terrorists all, in a bid for power, stole a Christian Palestinian woman’s coffin to propagandize her death.

The media in general blamed Israel for committing an outrage.

Still, perhaps foolishly, I tried sharing some media reports about the Fatah-borne coffin across the Great Chasm. The kindest responses generated were grudging comments such as: “Well, there are always conflicting stories, how can we ever know the truth?” And: “Let’s not fight, I will never change my mind and want to keep you as a friend.”

What was I thinking? Most “good,” liberal Jews do not understand what really happened in the Al-Dura case nor are they familiar with what my esteemed colleague, Richard Landes, has dubbed “Pallywood.” They believe that Israeli soldiers committed a “massacre” in Jenin (of course they did not), and that the Mavi Marmara was filled with Turkish pacifists seeking justice, not with weapon-wielding assassins (which it was).

And I am the one who assures others that we reached the point of no return long ago, that talking across the yawning, precipitous divide is pointless. People’s beliefs about Israel/Palestine are set in stone.

These narratives prevail because the lethal lies have been circulating globally, in universities, high schools, the media, in movies, union meetings, and in international bodies, at the United Nations, at conferences, both in the Islamic world and in the West, and on the streets, probably ever since the day after Israel won its war of self-defense in 1967. Maybe sooner than that—when Soviet Russia decided that Israel would not become a satellite state.

What’s different is that these traditional Blood Libels were not powered by the internet as they now are, 24/7, and in almost every language on earth.

****
I was a professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) for nearly 30 years and retired before it was taken down by the same plague of politically correct anti-Zionism that has infected higher learning all over the Western world.

On May 13th of this year, the same day that members of Fatah stole the coffin of journalist Shereen Abu Aqleh in Jerusalem, the CUNY Law School graduates elected one of their own—this was not an administrative decision—to deliver a commencement address. It was the student body, our future lawyers, who proudly support the most vulgar brand of Jew hatred and Israel-hatred.

Please understand: These are our future lawyers who presumably, are committed to social justice law.

The speaker, Nerdeen Mohsen Kiswani, the founder and director of “Within Our Lifetime”(WOL) and a known hater of Israel, was wildly applauded and cheered, many times, by the student body that had chosen her. In doing so, they were also applauding themselves for having chosen a woman who identifies as Palestinian, wears hijab, and speaks clearly and eloquently in American English.

Mohsen Kiswani has called for “Intifada, Revolution, Now,” and supports violent protests which target recognizable Jews on New York City streets. Mohsen Kiswani leads such protests with chants such as “”5-6-7-8 smash the settler state;” “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution;” and “Globalize the Intifada.”

She has “liked” a post which celebrated the murder of three Israeli civilians and shared a video by Muna El-Kurd which referred to Israelis as “Zionist dogs.” She has also celebrated terrorists, such as Rasmea Odeh.

We make a mistake if we think that hijab-wearing Muslim women are only passive, helpless, victims. Indeed, while some may be victims of Islamism, (honor killing, forced veiling, FGM, child marriage, etc.), something they do not usually address, some have chosen the only path of glory open to them namely, that of being very aggressive, even vulgar in public, in order to condemn Israel, Jews, and America.

Think Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib who has just introduced a House Resolution Recognizing the Nakba and Palestinian Refugee Rights as a holiday to be commemorated in the United States. Tlaib is not alone. Think Ilhan Omar who joins her.

Tlaib refers to the “violence and horror…the scars borne by the close to 800,000 Palestinians who were forced from their family homes and their communities, and those killed are burned into the souls of the people who lived through the Nakba.”

Tlaib also brings in what she calls “the assassination of Shireen Abu Aqleh…(and) the war crimes.”

Surely, the global Intifada which Mohsen Kiswani calls for has now made landfall in the American Congress.

I would like to acknowledge Lauri B. Regan, Esq., Students and Faculty for Equality at CUNY (S.A.F.A CUNY) David Litman of CAMERA, and Canary for leading me to the CUNY Law School bousha (shameful act)..

First published in Israel National News.