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By: STEPHANIE GARBER Staff Reporter
Thanks to the Internet, an antisemitic incident that occurred at the College of Wooster last October and was reported in the CJN last month ("Message of hate brought to Wooster campus," Feb., 6) spread within hours from reader to reader and state to state.
Readers responded with letters to the college, its newspaper, the Presbyterian Peacemakers (who provided the speaker) and this reporter, to say that antisemitism masquerading as anti-Zionism will not go unchallenged.
Peter Pozefsky, a professor at the college and director of Hillel on campus, had almost single-handedly been trying to rectify the damage caused by the speaker, Samir Makhlouf, for months. He posted the article on the National Hillel Faculty listserve (e-mail list) and immediately began receiving letters from colleagues all over the country expressing their regret and support.
Dr. Steven Jacobs, chair of Judaic studies, associate professor and Hillel faculty advisor at the University of Alabama, read about the Wooster incident on the Hillel listserve and called Pozefsky to ask if there was something he could do to help. Pozefsky asked Jacobs, who had recently published a book about the history of the Protocols, if he would be willing to speak at the college. Jacobs agreed.
Jacobs told the CJN in a telephone interview that he already had a busy national speaking itinerary lined up, but the timing of Makhlouf's presentation coinciding with Jacob's newly published book, Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, seemed to be beshert (fate).
"I had been at the College of Wooster as the theologian in residence in 2001, and had a marvelous time there." He felt concern reading the article because, he says, "It seemed to be a different place" from the one he experienced.
Jacobs, who will be speaking at the college on April 19, says he will discuss the historical consideration and the political motivation surrounding the Protocols, and will focus on bridge-building through speaking on campus.
Shayna Sharpe Trappenberg, a 1999 graduate of the College of Wooster, read about the incident in the CJN. "I was so shocked and sad that an organization I loved so much would be involved in such a controversy," she told this reporter.
Immediately, Trappenberg fired off e-mails containing links to the story to the alumni association, the board of deans, and professors. She expressed concern that something had not been done sooner, and noted that her senior independent study was on the Holocaust. "(I learned) firsthand what this type of atmosphere of hatred, intolerance and antisemitism can create," she wrote.
Trappenberg says she was heartened by the fact that she received letters back from the president and professors. But she is interested to know what lessons the college gleaned from this incident for the future. "Should an incident like this occur in the future, no matter who was offended - blacks, Muslims, Jews -- I'd like to know how they would handle it."
Blog (online discussion group) author David E. Bernstein, a law professor at George Mason, posted the story on the Volokh Conspiracy blog and received a "flurry of response."
Commenting on the Presbyterian Peacemakers, the group that provided the speaker whose presentation used the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a factual work, and had a star of David morph into a swastika, Mason says, "I'd hate to see what the Presbyterian racist warmongers are like."
Jeffrey Imm, who lives in Baltimore, read the CJN article on a terrorist and hate crime watch Web site where it had been posted. Imm, a former FBI employee who does outsourcing work for Homeland Security, thought the incident was nothing less than reprehensible. Further, he told the CJN, "As a Presbyterian, it was a gross insult to me personally."
Imm sent off between 300 and 400 letters to Presbyterian pastors and church officials. The letter read, in part, "I call upon you, as a Presbyterian, and an American, to condemn the actions of the Presbyterian Peacemakers organization in sponsoring such a shameful, twisted, and sick individual - and to tell the world that the Presbyterian Church does not accept, does not abide, and will not tolerate such hate crime language in the name of the Presbyterian and Christian Church."
Imm's wife, Karen (nee Heiser), a former Clevelander who is Jewish, recalls asking her husband, "Are you sure you want to put your phone number on those?" He assured her he did, adding, "I know what I believe, and I believe it firmly."
Imm says the overwhelming majority of those who responded were strongly in support of his position. "Most of the feedback was from people who said they were glad I let them know about the situation, and they were shocked it had happened. One or two made sarcastic comments, and one pastor, a Reverend Harry Eberts, defended Gordon Shull (the former C.O.W. professor who hosted the speaker). Reverend Eberts made a point of indicating to me in his correspondence that being anti-Israel is not the same as being antisemitic," says Imm. In reply, Imm, a member of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, sent both Shull and Eberts a complimentary copy of the Wiesenthal publication, Dismantling the Big Lie.
Imm told the CJN that he was appalled by the response he received from the local Presbyterian government of Wooster, Ohio, in which the synod's (church council) executive defended Gordon Shull regarding the presentation and his failure to express regret or issue an apology. The message, he says, was "to drop the whole matter."
Imm likens the troubling attitude of the Wooster Presbyterians to finding a sleeper cell among people you thought you could trust.
"Ever since the attack against our country in New York and Washington, there has been such a bonding in our country," Imm says. "I can't imagine why, when Makhlouf brought up the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Gordon didn't stand up right then and say, 'Stop right there. This speech is now over.' We all lose when hate is fostered, whether it's through a cross burning at a KuKluxKlan rally, or an antisemitic speech on a college campus." Imm has taken the first steps to creating a new Web site to fight antisemitism: www.againstnazi.com.
R. Stanton Hales, the president of the College of Wooster, has recently issued an apology and met with the ADL, Pozefsky, and the student president of Hillel to discuss ways to foster good relations with Jews on campus.
The Presbyterian Peacemakers issued a statement distancing themselves from Makhlouf's presentation and, while "renouncing antisemitism," reaffirmed their stance on Israel's "right to exist within legitimate and secure borders."
While others associated with the presentation may attempt to cloak antisemitic attitudes under the facade of "anti-Zionism, but not antisemitism," Lt. Col. (Res) Gil Elan, director of the Ohio Region Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces, comments, "Anti-Zionism is a disguise for antisemitism. When people say they are anti-Zionist, you have to wonder, to what do they object. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Are they opposed to democracy? 'A homeland of the Jewish people' is the only definition of Zionism. Do they object to a homeland for the Jewish people?"
Readers responded with letters to the college, its newspaper, the Presbyterian Peacemakers (who provided the speaker) and this reporter, to say that antisemitism masquerading as anti-Zionism will not go unchallenged.
Peter Pozefsky, a professor at the college and director of Hillel on campus, had almost single-handedly been trying to rectify the damage caused by the speaker, Samir Makhlouf, for months. He posted the article on the National Hillel Faculty listserve (e-mail list) and immediately began receiving letters from colleagues all over the country expressing their regret and support.
Dr. Steven Jacobs, chair of Judaic studies, associate professor and Hillel faculty advisor at the University of Alabama, read about the Wooster incident on the Hillel listserve and called Pozefsky to ask if there was something he could do to help. Pozefsky asked Jacobs, who had recently published a book about the history of the Protocols, if he would be willing to speak at the college. Jacobs agreed.
Jacobs told the CJN in a telephone interview that he already had a busy national speaking itinerary lined up, but the timing of Makhlouf's presentation coinciding with Jacob's newly published book, Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, seemed to be beshert (fate).
"I had been at the College of Wooster as the theologian in residence in 2001, and had a marvelous time there." He felt concern reading the article because, he says, "It seemed to be a different place" from the one he experienced.
Jacobs, who will be speaking at the college on April 19, says he will discuss the historical consideration and the political motivation surrounding the Protocols, and will focus on bridge-building through speaking on campus.
Shayna Sharpe Trappenberg, a 1999 graduate of the College of Wooster, read about the incident in the CJN. "I was so shocked and sad that an organization I loved so much would be involved in such a controversy," she told this reporter.
Immediately, Trappenberg fired off e-mails containing links to the story to the alumni association, the board of deans, and professors. She expressed concern that something had not been done sooner, and noted that her senior independent study was on the Holocaust. "(I learned) firsthand what this type of atmosphere of hatred, intolerance and antisemitism can create," she wrote.
Trappenberg says she was heartened by the fact that she received letters back from the president and professors. But she is interested to know what lessons the college gleaned from this incident for the future. "Should an incident like this occur in the future, no matter who was offended - blacks, Muslims, Jews -- I'd like to know how they would handle it."
Blog (online discussion group) author David E. Bernstein, a law professor at George Mason, posted the story on the Volokh Conspiracy blog and received a "flurry of response."
Commenting on the Presbyterian Peacemakers, the group that provided the speaker whose presentation used the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a factual work, and had a star of David morph into a swastika, Mason says, "I'd hate to see what the Presbyterian racist warmongers are like."
Jeffrey Imm, who lives in Baltimore, read the CJN article on a terrorist and hate crime watch Web site where it had been posted. Imm, a former FBI employee who does outsourcing work for Homeland Security, thought the incident was nothing less than reprehensible. Further, he told the CJN, "As a Presbyterian, it was a gross insult to me personally."
Imm sent off between 300 and 400 letters to Presbyterian pastors and church officials. The letter read, in part, "I call upon you, as a Presbyterian, and an American, to condemn the actions of the Presbyterian Peacemakers organization in sponsoring such a shameful, twisted, and sick individual - and to tell the world that the Presbyterian Church does not accept, does not abide, and will not tolerate such hate crime language in the name of the Presbyterian and Christian Church."
Imm's wife, Karen (nee Heiser), a former Clevelander who is Jewish, recalls asking her husband, "Are you sure you want to put your phone number on those?" He assured her he did, adding, "I know what I believe, and I believe it firmly."
Imm says the overwhelming majority of those who responded were strongly in support of his position. "Most of the feedback was from people who said they were glad I let them know about the situation, and they were shocked it had happened. One or two made sarcastic comments, and one pastor, a Reverend Harry Eberts, defended Gordon Shull (the former C.O.W. professor who hosted the speaker). Reverend Eberts made a point of indicating to me in his correspondence that being anti-Israel is not the same as being antisemitic," says Imm. In reply, Imm, a member of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, sent both Shull and Eberts a complimentary copy of the Wiesenthal publication, Dismantling the Big Lie.
Imm told the CJN that he was appalled by the response he received from the local Presbyterian government of Wooster, Ohio, in which the synod's (church council) executive defended Gordon Shull regarding the presentation and his failure to express regret or issue an apology. The message, he says, was "to drop the whole matter."
Imm likens the troubling attitude of the Wooster Presbyterians to finding a sleeper cell among people you thought you could trust.
"Ever since the attack against our country in New York and Washington, there has been such a bonding in our country," Imm says. "I can't imagine why, when Makhlouf brought up the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Gordon didn't stand up right then and say, 'Stop right there. This speech is now over.' We all lose when hate is fostered, whether it's through a cross burning at a KuKluxKlan rally, or an antisemitic speech on a college campus." Imm has taken the first steps to creating a new Web site to fight antisemitism: www.againstnazi.com.
R. Stanton Hales, the president of the College of Wooster, has recently issued an apology and met with the ADL, Pozefsky, and the student president of Hillel to discuss ways to foster good relations with Jews on campus.
The Presbyterian Peacemakers issued a statement distancing themselves from Makhlouf's presentation and, while "renouncing antisemitism," reaffirmed their stance on Israel's "right to exist within legitimate and secure borders."
While others associated with the presentation may attempt to cloak antisemitic attitudes under the facade of "anti-Zionism, but not antisemitism," Lt. Col. (Res) Gil Elan, director of the Ohio Region Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces, comments, "Anti-Zionism is a disguise for antisemitism. When people say they are anti-Zionist, you have to wonder, to what do they object. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Are they opposed to democracy? 'A homeland of the Jewish people' is the only definition of Zionism. Do they object to a homeland for the Jewish people?"
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