I am not a “Jewish journalist”

I have been an American journalist for 64 years.

I am Jewish by birth, and proud of my heritage, but I never wanted to be known as a “Jewish journalist.” 

Once I became a columnist at the Philadelphia Daily News, and was free to choose my subjects, I avoided writing about Judaism, or Israel. I almost never went there, unless dictated by news events — such as war in the Mideast, or a “Jewish topic” that went mainstream. 

I did that because I did not want to be pigeonholed as a “Jewish journalist.”

Why not?

Because once you are pigeonholed as one thing, there’s a ton of people who won’t read you, thinking you are a partisan ideologue. I try to be a centrist, calling balls and strikes impartially.

Example: In 2017,  Roger Waters, co-founder of Pink Floyd, had a concert coming to Philadelphia, and he had been identified by some as an anti-Semite. There was no question that he was and is anti-Israel and an anti-Zionist, but is that the same as hating all Jews?

In my column, I concluded that, no, it is not the same.

It was not an easy call for me, and some Jews were mad at me, but I went by reason, not by emotion. 

I regard the charge of anti-Semitism to be so toxic, I won’t use it without certainty. The same with racism, which is tossed around much too casually.

I sometimes think there is such a shortage of actual racism in America, some people have to invent some. I some of you won’t like reading that.

Anyway, when some called for Temple University to fire Marc Lamont Hill for alleged anti-Semitism for anti-Israel remarks he made at the U.N., I defended him. I think he is deeply deluded, very wrong about Israel,  and a wannabe revolutionary in search of a cause, but not someone who hates all Jews. His speech had nothing to do with his employment at Temple, which issued a statement condemning his remarks, and let it go at that. Fine. Hill was fired as a contributor to CNN, which I also disagreed with. If you don’t like cancel culture — and I don’t — you have to oppose it whether it comes from the Right or the Left. 

Free speech means just that, and I believe in it to the max, stopping just short of the well-established red lines of physical threats and libel. 

In March, I came to the defense of a loathsome Palestinian-American teacher who was fired by Cabrini College for his virulently anti-Israel tweets, and anti-Ukraine tweets, too. But they were on his personal account and had no connection to his teaching duties. The firing violated his freedom of speech, argued his attorney, Mark D. Schwartz, who brought suit against Cabrini. [Schwartz was my lawyer in my successful defamation suit against my former employer, the Inquirer.]    

Personally, I would like to see the cockroach fired, but the principle of free speech means free for all, even ugly speech that I abhor.

A corollary: There has been a remarkable increase in anti-Semitism in recent years, and I know some Philadelphia Jews who tell me they are actually afraid to walk the streets.

But, as I wrote earlier this year, while the percentage of anti-Semitic “incidents” increased a lot, the number was extremely small —114 incidents in all of Pennsylvania last year.

Even the word “incidents” is broad and vague. It includes “vandalism,” “harassment,” “assaults,” even conspiracy theories.

Physical assaults numbered 29.

In Philadelphia, 24 “incidents” were reported. 

Nationally, the FBI report on religious hate crimes listed 1,005 in all, 31.9% directed against Jews. That is 320 “incidents” in a nation of 332 million — or one hate crime per million people. 

Does this mean anti-Semitism is nothing, I asked my fellow Americans, and Jews? No, but it certainly should not freeze you with fear. 

Some Jews said I was minimizing anti-Semitism. My feeling — as a journalist — is I go with the facts, not my emotions.

Despite that, some say I am pro Israel because I am a Jew, it’s as simple as that.

Then why am I pro Ukraine? I am not Ukrainian, and Ukraine actually has a sad and well-documented history of anti-Semitism.

So why would you side with Ukraine?, some ask.

Because that was the past, and Ukraine, like Israel, is a democracy that a neighbor is trying to extinguish. Its past is something it will have to bear, but it seems to have rehabilitated itself, as has Germany. 

As has America for slavery. I know some of you won’t like reading that.

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They say truth is the first casualty of war, and so it is with any debate over Israel.

Both sides shave the truth, and seek to put forward the facts that put them in the best light. Since I have been thinking about, and writing irregularly about Israel since 1977, I have heard every argument from every side.

There was a terrible tragedy the other day, when a Gaza hospital was damaged by a missile, bomb, or rocket, killing maybe as many as 500 people.

Almost immediately the Internet was filled — with no factual basis — with word that it was an Israeli attack. Shit-for-brains Congresswoman Rashid Tlaib tweeted out a message blaming Israel, and also President Joe Biden. She is a totally irresponsible moron and never retracted her falsehood.

The cable networks reported the attack, the accusations against Israel, and that Israel was looking for evidence of what had happened. Israel took more than six hours, and by that time the “Israel did it” narrative had been planted in Arab nations, and was digested by the Arab street. I reported on this earlier.

I note that Israelis did not dance in the streets or hand out candy when they learned of the hospital catastrophe — as West Bank Palestinians did when they learned of 9/11 (and Yasir Atafat tried to confiscate the footage, recognizing this joy would not play well in the West).

Can we be 100% certain of Israel’s proof? No, but it does buttress government statements that Israel does not target hospitals or schools, unlike the terrorist it faces. Independent sources provided video that exonerated Israel.

Did I write the above as a Jew? No, as a journalist using what facts I have at my disposal to reach the truth.

I will continue writing about the current war in the Mideast, as I will write about Philadelphia issues, always as a journalist seeking to comment on the facts, without ideology.

But with a point of view some of you won’t like reading.