Media Watch:

Those Who Disagree with Globe Are 'Anti-Semitic'

A New Low in Bullying Tactics

By MassNews Staff
May 2002

The Boston Globe labeled the selectmen of Hamilton as "anti-Semitic" in its lead story on the front page of City and Region last month, with a big picture and headline, Debate of hate.

They announced that the Anti-Defamation League had requested that the selectmen sign their "No Place for Hate" campaign. The Globe breathlessly reported that 54 communities in the state had already done so and there was a "not-so-subtle undercurrent of anti-Semitism" in Hamilton.

Nowhere in the Globe story, not once, was it reported that the main project of the ADL these days is to promote the homosexual agenda in the state's schools. The Globe believes that the molestation of children at Fistgate was a wonderful experience. It equates "sexual orientation" with the civil rights of "race" and "religion."

But Brian Camenker, a leader in the battle against the molestation of children in our schools and an Orthodox Jew, disagrees. He sides with the selectmen.

"The ADL is an organization that has clearly outlived its usefulness," Camenker tells MassNews.

"A real problem is that over the years, the ADL has attracted a large number of hard-boiled political radicals and wide-eyed secular Jewish liberals. They believe they are on a grand progressive crusade, and the rest of us 'just don't get it.'

"The ADL has become a shameful embarrassment to Jews across the country. Much of America actually thinks the ADL represents Jews and Jewish values! Their high-profile activities are seen as very offensive and destructive (which in fact they are) by mainstream America. And if that's not confronted now, I don't like what I see down the road."

Rabbi Says ADL Is Jews' 'Own Worst Enemy'

Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition goes further than Camenker.

He says that the head of the ADL, Abe Foxman, is the Jews' "Own Worst Enemy." He told UPI that Foxman's "tireless efforts" to convince American Jews that they are beset by "a phantom of anti-Semitism," when their own experience suggests otherwise, "have helped to confirm many in the belief that being a Jew has to do mainly with being oppressed and hated."

Rabbi Lapin points out that the ADL "gets paid [by contributors] according to how much anti-Semitism it finds." It is running low on anti-Semitism nowadays and is seeking to keep its revenue base flowing by protecting homosexuals from "hate."

The Jewish columnist for the New York Times, William Safire, called for Foxman's resignation after it was disclosed that he had lobbied Bill Clinton for the pardon of Marc Rich, who had donated large sums to the group.

Although everyone agrees with Foxman that we must end anti-Semitism, most are not convinced that homosexuality is in the same category and should be bundled with anti-Semitism.

Would It Be Allowed by Knights of Columbus?

Others are wondering if the campaign were run by the Knights of Columbus or the Christian Coalition whether the Globe would favor it in the schools. They say it certainly flies against the separation of church and state.

The following lead paragraphs in the Globe story were very misleading:

"Eighth-grader Hanna Hoy thought she was doing a pretty good thing when she asked the Board of Selectmen to sign a pledge against hatred, already approved in 54 Massachusetts communities.

"'Was I surprised when they rejected it? Yeah, definitely,' said Hoy, a poised, articulate 13-year-old. 'I mean, who wouldn't want their town to be a more accepting place?'

"Other people in this community of horse farms and dignified prosperity are wondering the same thing. The rejection has ignited a debate about the role of government, the definition of leadership, and what some people are calling a not-so-subtle undercurrent of anti-Semitism.

"The Hamilton selectmen are the first municipal leaders in the state to turn down the feel-good program designed by the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish organization that battles anti-Semitism."

But anyone who bothers to read further down in the long story discovers that it was not just a pledge against hatred that the selectmen were asked to sign.

The Globe readers had been deceived yet again. Further down, if he got that far, the reader found that the "the program also makes some demands." The ADL was coming to town with its "resources" and with a "speaker list." It had plans for a "peace quilt" and a "parade."

So it wasn't just a "pledge against hatred," as the Globe tried to make its readers believe when it launched this attack against the town.

Globe Asked Out-of-Towners

The Globe apparently had trouble finding local people to comment so it went all the way down to Duxbury, where the paid town manager suggested that the Hamilton selectmen should resign.

"Rocco Longo, the Duxbury town manager who helped bring the No Place for Hate program into his town in 1999, said he doesn't think Hamilton's selectmen should be afraid to take a stand," wrote the Globe.

"'Good leadership provides direction for the city,' Longo said. 'This program has kept these issues constantly in our vision .... If [Hamilton's selectmen] don't want to provide that, maybe they should think about stepping down.'"

One resident was tricked into believing that the program would actually protect his son.

"Hamilton psychologist and activist, George Beilin, said he's not ready to call for anybody to step down. But he takes the matter personally. His son was the target of an anti-Semitic slur a few years ago and he's angry at the board's position.

"He wonders how Alexander Hamilton, the great Conservative statesman for whom the town is named, would respond to the dispute. 'Hamilton was an illegitimate immigrant born in the West Indies,' Beilin said. 'I think this whole thing would make him roll over in his grave.'"

But others wonder if this father really believes that anyone is going to stop children from picking on each other because they are too short or too tall, too skinny or too fat, or whatever.

This is particularly true when no one has been able to stop the adults at the Boston Globe from bullying anyone who doesn't agree with their extremely liberal ideas. A schoolyard bully looks pretty tame compared to them.