Bending the Truth about Hadassah
Democracies, like people, are multi-faceted and complicated. Some things you may like and others you may not. That’s how I feel about this country (news flash: If I didn’t love it here, I would leave. But that’s not to say there aren’t things I think we can improve). As a child, I thought the Vietnam-era slogan “America — Love it or Leave” it was ridiculous. But apparently, that’s how media consultant Alan Bergstein wants us to feel about criticizing Israel.
Bergstein recently slammed Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization for profiling Amy Spitalnick in a recent article in Hadassah Magazine. Spitalnick, who created a nonprofit that filed a lawsuit against the “Jews will not replace us” Charlottesville White Supremacists (winning a stunning $25 million judgment against them) recently became Bend the Arc’s CEO.
Bend the Arc is a left-of-center national Jewish organization that’s stated goal is to work for social justice, often by forging coalitions with other minority and traditionally marginalized groups in the United States. I searched the internet to find evidence of some of Bend the Arc’s supposedly Israel-hating agenda, as alleged by Bergstein in his Op Ed in the The Jewish Voice.
Maybe Amy Spitalnick or Bend the Arc have criticized Israel before. I don’t know. If they did, I wouldn’t be shocked. Why? Because I myself am a committed Zionist and have criticized Israel. Let’s get some nuance here. Constructive criticism is healthy and actually helpful in improving things with which one disagrees. (Go back to my Vietnam War example for proof). That’s not a problem. As esteemed Zionist thinker Professor Gil Troy says, “Criticize Israel like a mother and not like a mother-in-law.” Criticize out of love and because you want to make it better. What is a problem is when the act of questioning and criticizing becomes verboten.
I’m glad that Hadassah invited Amy Spitalnick to keynote at one of their conferences and be featured in their magazine. What Ms. Spitalnick did in combatting White Supremacy was amazing. And if she does criticize Israel, I may or may not agree with her depending on the issue. But that doesn’t take away what she accomplished regarding Charlottesville.
But Bergstein doesn’t end there — he needs to throw in some “reputed” allegations about donations to Hadassah by antiSemitic lightning rod George Soros. Hey, George, if you’re reading this, could you please send some grant money Hadassah’s way? Hadassah Hospital is creating medical miracles every day and is building a bridge to peace in the Middle East through medical healing. In fact, if the Koch Brothers are reading this, Hadassah Hospital could put their grant money to great use too. This day and age we’ve got enough real antiSemitic enemies to battle. We don’t need to waste our time with hyperbole and innuendo to bend the truth, ripping our Jewish community to shreds.