by Steve Timmer

Nov 21, 2023, 1:00 PM

Bibi Netanyahu is not the leader of the Jews

In recent days, MFT59, the teachers’ union for the Minneapolis schools, published this adopted resolution:

MFT59 resolution on Israel/Palestine

It seems that currently some 40 members of Congress support a ceasefire, including Jewish and Muslim members. Congress members Betty McCollum and Ilhan Omar support a ceasefire, as does our attorney general, Keith Ellison.

It is also obvious Minnesota’s anti-BDS law stifles legitimate First Amendment-protected criticism of the policies of Bibi Netanyahu, the Likud government, and Israel’s IDF. I wrote about the anti-BDS law here.

Predictably, the MFT 59 resolution set off a howl of protest from the Jewish Community Relations Council, which was instrumental in getting the Minnesota version of the anti-BDS law passed in the first place. “Antisemitic,” it spits, and says that MFT59 needs a Stern Talking To.

Anybody who offers up the mildest criticism of Israel or AIPAC needs a Stern Talking To; just ask Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib.

I think that AIPAC and the Jewish Community Relations Council need a Stern Talking To, and Gabor Maté is just the person to do it. Maté is a Hungarian-Canadian physician and a survivor of the Holocaust. He was once a Zionist.

This Zoom interview is twenty minutes long, but it is definitely worth it. Among many points, he reiterates that Israel is not the equivalent of Jews. (David Gregory once introduced Bibi Netanyahu as the leader of the Jews on Meet the Press.) Criticism of the policies and conduct of the state of Israel is not antisemitism.