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Zionist Jewish Authors Are Being Blackballed; Freedom of Expression Is Under Attack
My life and career would be a lot easier if I just announced that #AsAJew, I denounce Zionism, and that I have a manuscript telling the story of how I cannot support the apartheid, settler-colonial, white European project in “Palestine.” Phone calls would be returned, emails would be read, and literary agents would compete in bidding wars to see who could give me the biggest advance.
Unfortunately, for my writing career and reputation, I don’t believe any of these things. And, frankly, I’d have to be a major Jewish household name like Naomi Klein for that fantasy to come true. Speaking of Naomi Klein, I recently read her book Doppelganger, in which she complains about being constantly confused with conspiracy theorist Naomi Wolf. Great book, until I reached the end, which was unreadable because of her belief that Israel mirrors European “settler colonialism.” Recently, Naomi Klein was prominently featured in a letter where renowned authors declared their withdrawal from the PEN World Voices Festival, citing the organization’s failure to adequately address what they termed as the ongoing “genocide” in Gaza.
That word. Genocide. It’s a word that is carefully chosen to troll Jews. Its purpose is to rob us of our claim to a specific kind of grief and to say, “See? You Jews are no better.” It is how the world absolves itself of guilt and complicity. It’s called Holocaust inversion, and is a form of antisemitism.
Writers, of all people, should know that words have meanings, but when it comes to Israel, they usually turn off their brains and begin sloganeering. The harder thing for them to do would be to look at the real history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Writers have a critical role to play in public discourse, but when they refuse to look at all claims with a critical eye, they’ve abdicated their responsibilities.
All this would be a somewhat dull academic game over definitions if it weren’t for the fact that anti-Zionist Jewish authors are the only ones being platformed by the general media. Not only that, but Zionist Jews are being de-platformed in literary spaces.
I’m currently working on a book called From Outrage to Action: A Practical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism. What began as a small section of my book is turning into a lengthy chapter. In fact, I could probably write an entire book about this subject alone. Many of the authors I interviewed for my book spoke to me on the condition of anonymity because they’re worried about their careers. It’s too late for me. Just Google me, and you can tell just how Zionist I am.
Even Jews who are not Israeli and don’t write about the Middle East are having doors slammed in their faces. Word in the industry is that editors, agents, and publishers just don’t want to hear from Jews now. There’s a great deal of fear among Jewish authors. They are losing contracts, calls are not being returned, and books are canceled because of a perception in the industry that there’s not really a market for Jewish voices, except those of the #AsAJew anti-Zionist variety. In addition, they are being harassed and bullied at literary events.
Stranger Things star Brett Gelman had numerous book signings cancelled because of his “Jewish identity,” and his support for Israel. Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian authors are frequently platformed, and championed as “diverse” voices.
One author told me how her agent expressed hesitation about one of her book ideas, which focused on a Jewish woman. Several publishers rejected or delayed considering her work after she submitted proposals, with some editors citing issues like “too much anti-Zionism” or a “saturated market” for books about certain Jewish topics.
Another author told of a friend who enthusiastically recommended her Jewish-themed book to an acquaintance working at a major Canadian cultural institution. The suggestion was to feature her book prominently within their programming. However, the response was shockingly dismissive: “We don’t want any Jews right now,” not referring to Israelis, but Jews in general.
Despite these challenges, Jewish authors are finding ways to respond. Many are more determined to write about Jewish issues, and efforts are underway to counter the anti-Zionist narrative through online petitions and public letters. An Open Letter on Antisemitism in the Literary Community is still open for signatures and seeks to address these issues head-on. I signed it proudly. Again, likely to the detriment of my career.
The Jewish Book Council (JBC) has been trying to get a handle on the extent of the problem. They’ve set up a hotline to understand the scope of issues that Jewish authors face, and are actively working to create practical resources. Naomi Firestone-Teeter, CEO of the JBC, stated, “We want to know, is it happening on a larger scale? Are these isolated incidents or a wider problem?” She is not sure what will be done with the data and stories being collected, though. My sense is that Jewish authors have been caught off-guard.
None of this is to say that Jewish authors, stories, and voices should receive preferential treatment in the marketplace of ideas. Publishing is a tough business, regardless of current events. The issue, however, is the hostility toward Zionist perspectives and general Jewish narratives. If you don’t endorse the narrative of “genocide,” you are quickly labeled a racist oppressor.
Most of the Jews I’ve interviewed, like myself, are left-wing but feel betrayed by the left for supporting what they see as murderers and fascists. They are frustrated not only because this view is wrong, but because it silences those whose lived experiences lead them to different conclusions. Antisemitism is so entrenched in the culture now that there is a tendency to lecture us about what antisemitism is — and isn’t. They assert repeatedly that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, shouting over our lived experiences that suggest otherwise. And at the forefront of these “lectures” is the literary community, which is failing horribly to meet this moment in history and write about it with a critical eye. In fact, they are the bullies leading the charge.
What is the answer? Well, all I know how to do is write. I have a novel coming out next year called Found and Lost: The Jake and Cait Story. It’s about music, fame, aging, and second chances. Although one of the protagonists is Jewish, it’s not really about Judaism. This character is, to steal from Naomi Klein, sort of my doppelganger. He experiences his music as filtered through his perspective #AsAJew. I was fortunate to have found a publisher, Vine Leaves Press, that amplifies the voices of marginalized communities and counts Jews among them. See, publishers and agents? It isn’t hard to do. We all deserve to have our voices heard.
Howard Lovy is an author and editor based in Michigan, who is currently working on a book, From Outrage to Action: A Practical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism. His novel, Found and Lost: The Jake and Cait Story, will be released in 2025.
The post Zionist Jewish Authors Are Being Blackballed; Freedom of Expression Is Under Attack first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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German Intelligence Labels BDS ‘Hostile to Constitution’ Amid Alarming Rise in Antisemitism in Berlin
Anti-Israel demonstration supporting the BDS movement, Paris France, June 8, 2024. Photo: Claire Serie / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
A German intelligence service has condemned the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel as “hostile to the constitution” as a newly released report highlighted a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents across the capital city of Berlin.
On Tuesday, the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution — the agency responsible for monitoring extremist groups and reporting to the German Interior Ministry — released its annual report on threats to Germany’s democratic system and national security.
For the first time, Berlin’s BDS chapter was designated a “proven extremist endeavor hostile to the constitution.” According to the report, the campaign’s “anti-constitutional ideology, which denies Israel’s right to exist,” plays a central role within the city’s anti-Israel movement.
Der Berliner #Verfassungsschutzbericht (VS-Bericht) 2024 zeigt einen Anstieg extremistischer Bedrohungen – von islamistischen Gruppen über rechtsextreme Jugendkulturen bis hin zur israelfeindlichen Boycottbewegung #BDSBerlin, die erstmals als verfassungsfeindliche Bestrebung… pic.twitter.com/6PknYKrBcr
— Senatsverwaltung für Inneres und Sport (@Innensenatorin) May 20, 2025
The study said that BDS supporters in Berlin glorified the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were murdered and 251 taken hostages, portraying it as a “liberation struggle against settler colonialism” or an escape from the “open-air prison” of Gaza.
The report also found that multiple BDS protests across the city featured signs with stereotypical antisemitic imagery, fueling anti-Jewish hatred and even calling for the destruction of the Jewish state.
In 2019, Germany became the first European country to officially declare the BDS movement as antisemitic.
Last year, Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency, classified BDS as a “suspected extremist case.” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser issued a report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), which found that the movement has links to “secular Palestinian extremism.” The intelligence agency also said there were “sufficiently strong factual indications” that BDS “violates the idea of international understanding” by challenging Israel’s right to exist.
BDS seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination. Leaders of the movement have repeatedly stated their goal is to destroy the world’s only Jewish state.
This week, the country’s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) released its annual report documenting antisemitic incidents in Berlin 2024, revealing an alarming increase in anti-Jewish hatred.
RIAS recorded 2,521 antisemitic incidents in Berlin last year, marking a staggering 98.5 percent increase over 2023 in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
According to the study, anti-Jewish hate crimes averaged 210 per month in 2024 — around seven per day — with nearly 44 percent directly linked to the Oct. 7 attacks and the ensuing Israel-Hamas war.
There has also been a sharp rise in attacks against individuals, reaching the highest levels since RIAS began documenting such incidents — often triggered by visible Jewish symbols or the use of Hebrew in public spaces.
In Berlin, public demonstrations have become one of the most visible manifestations of antisemitism. The study argues that these protests go beyond political expression, serving instead as platforms for antisemitic rhetoric, the glorification of terrorism, and acts of violence.
RIAS has documented a significant rise in open calls for violence, Holocaust trivialization, and the justification of Hamas terror attacks permeating mainstream discourse and public spaces, both online and offline.
According to the report, anti-Israel activism was the leading identifiable background for antisemitic incidents for the second consecutive year, with classic antisemitic stereotypes being redirected toward Israel and the term “Zionist” used as a coded way to reintroduce long-standing antisemitic tropes under the guise of legitimate political criticism.
The post German Intelligence Labels BDS ‘Hostile to Constitution’ Amid Alarming Rise in Antisemitism in Berlin first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Antisemitism in K-12 Private Schools a Major Challenge Across the US, New ADL Report Finds
Pro-Hamas activists calling themselves the United Front for Liberation lead march through Valley Plaza Mall. The ‘Ceasefire’ rally began at Wilson Park in Bakersfield, California, on Dec. 16, 2023. Photo: Jacob Lee Green via REUTERS CONNECT
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has launched a new initiative to reduce antisemitism in K-12 schools, a growing problem that has, since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, prompted a slew of lawsuits and federal civil rights complaints.
Announced on Wednesday, the effort has its roots in new ADL research — produced by its Ratings & Assessment Institute and the Center to Combat Antisemitism in Education — showing a surge of antisemitic incidents on K-12 campuses in recent years. As mentioned in the organization’s annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, 1,162 such incidents occurred in 2023 and 860 occurred in 2024. Since 2020, antisemitic outrages at K-12 schools have increased by 434 percent.
As parts of its research, the ADL conducted surveys and focus groups to get a better sense of the problem in K-12 private/independent schools, which are the main focus of the civil rights group’s new initiative because they “operate outside of the direct oversight of public education systems, meaning they typically have greater autonomy in shaping their curricula, policies, and disciplinary procedures, which can lead to inconsistent responses to antisemitism.”
Among surveyed school parents, 25.2 percent said their children had experienced or witnessed antisemitic symbols in school since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the ADL’s newly unveiled findings. Perhaps more striking, 45.3 percent of surveyed parents reported that their children had experienced or witnessed some form of antisemitism since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, and 31.7 percent said their children had “experienced or witnessed problematic school curricula or classroom content related to Jews or Israel.”
Parents are displeased with schools’ handling of the issue, the ADL said. Focus groups told its experts that schools decline to denounce antisemitism or resort to denying altogether that it is fostering a negative learning environment which causes student discomfort and precipitous declines in academic performance. In a poll, over a third of parents have said their local school’s response “was either somewhat or very inadequate.”
Moreover, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, which were purportedly meant to improve race relations, abstain from recognizing antisemitism as a form of hatred meriting a focused response from administrators. The Algemeiner has previously reported that many of those programs also ignore antisemitism because they actively contribute to spreading it. Due to this, schools lack authority figures who understand antisemitism, its subtle and overt variations, leaving Jewish students with no recourse when they become victims of hate.
The ADL said on Wednesday that it will address K-12 antisemitism by expanding its offering of “parent advocacy resources,” which include forging networks of advocacy the ADL calls Jewish Leaders in Schools (JLS), counseling parents on methods for combating antisemitism in their home districts, and even providing them free legal counsel through the K-12 Antisemitism Legal Line.
“These independent schools are failing to support Jewish families. By tolerating — or in some cases, propagating — antisemitism in their classrooms, too many independent schools in cities across the country are sending a message that Jewish students are not welcome. It’s wrong. It’s hateful. And it must stop,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “ADL is partnering with parents to demand change.”
ADL vice president of advocacy, Shira Goodman, added: “School administrators and faculty have a duty to ensure safe, inclusive environments for all. ADL will fully invest in bolstering the families who are demanding that their schools meet this obligation.”
Antisemitism in K-12 schools is receiving increased attention, notably in California, after years of falling under the radar.
In April, a civil rights complaint filed by StandWithUs and the Bay Area Jewish Coalition alleged that the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) in California allows Jewish students to be subjected to unconscionable levels of antisemitic bullying in and outside of the classroom.
The 27-page complaint, filed with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), describes a slew of incidents that allegedly fostered a hostile environment for Jewish students after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel set off a wave of anti-Jewish hatred across the US. SCUSD students, it says, graffitied antisemitic hate speech in the bathrooms, vandalized Jewish-themed posters displayed in schools, and distributed stickers which said, “F—k Zionism.” All the while, district officials enabled the behavior by refusing to investigate it and blaming victims who came forward to report their experiences, according to the complaint.
“SCUSD has allowed an egregiously hostile environment to fester for its Jewish and Israeli students in violation of its federal obligations and ethnical responsibility to create a safe educational space for all students,” Jenna Statfeld Harris, senior counsel and K-12 specialist at StandWithUs Saidoff Legal, said in a statement at the time. “SCUSD leadership repeatedly disregards the rights of their Jewish and Israeli students. We implore the Office for Civil Rights to step in and uphold the right of these students to an inclusive education free from hostility toward their protected identity.”
In March, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a civil rights complaint which recounted the experience of a 12-year-old Jewish girl who was allegedly assaulted on grounds of the Etiwanda School District in San Bernardino California — being beaten with a stick — told to “shut your Jewish ass up,” and teased with jokes about Hitler. According to the court filings, one student admitted that the behavior was motivated by the victim’s being Jewish. Despite receiving several complaints about the treatment, a substantial amount of which occurred in the classroom, school officials allegedly declined to punish her tormentors.
“While an increasing number of schools recognize that their Jewish students are being targeted both for their religious beliefs and due to their ancestral connection to Israel, and are taking necessary steps to address both classic and contemporary forms of antisemitism, some shamefully continue to turn a blind eye,” Brandeis Center founder and chairman Kenneth Marcus said in a statement at the time of the filing.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Antisemitism in K-12 Private Schools a Major Challenge Across the US, New ADL Report Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jordanian School Textbooks Still Promote Antisemitism Even as State Maintains Peace With Israel, Study Finds
King Abdullah II of Jordan attends an official welcoming ceremony at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier in Sofia, Bulgaria, on April 3, 2025. Photo: STR/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
Jordan’s textbooks in schools continue to promote antisemitic ideas and justify violence against Israel, including the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, according to a new report.
The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an international research group which analyzes schoolbooks and curricula around the world, released a new study this week revealing the extent to which hateful beliefs against Jews and other groups have penetrated the Jordanian educational system.
Applying the analytic standards of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), IMPACT-se reviewed 294 textbooks used in Jordan during the 2023-2025 school years spanning such subjects as Islamic education, Arabic, social studies, civics, history, and geography.
“The Jordanian curriculum continues to fall short of UNESCO-derived standards of peace and tolerance in education,” the report states. “While some content promotes general concepts of tolerance and moderation often citing the Amman Message (a statement calling for tolerance and unity in the Muslim world) and highlighting Christian-Muslim harmony — the curriculum continues to proliferate anti-Jewish narratives and justify violence against Israel.”
The report’s findings are “disappointing” given Jordan’s role as a Western ally that has maintained a peace treaty with Israel since 1994, according to IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff.
“It is therefore particularly disappointing and concerning that Jordan’s curriculum includes some of the oldest antisemitic tropes, glorifies martyrdom, and portrays Israel with such hostility,” Sheff said in a statement to multiple news outlets. “Oct. 7 was the most brutal attack against Jews since the Holocaust, yet it is described in textbooks as legitimate resistance.”
The report describes one textbook for students as downplaying the Oct. 7 onslaught, in which Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during their invasion of southern Israel, and labeling those taken captive as “settlers” living in “Israeli colonies which surround the Gaza Strip,” thus offering justification for their captivity, torture, and murders.
While the Jordanian curriculum emphasizes religious moderation, tolerance and peacemaking, “these values are generally not applied to Jews or Israel, either historically or in the present day,” according to Impact-se. Instead, the textbooks generally cast Jews in a negative light, “particularly in the context of early Islamic history, using antisemitic messages that depict lying, treachery, deceitfulness, and hostility as ‘natural qualities’ and inherent ‘traits of the Jews.’”
Antisemitic ideas about Jewish involvement in the economy also predominate. The report notes that textbooks accuse Jews of “exploitation” and usury, and the religious curriculum accuses Jews of acting on behalf of Satan and fomenting conflicts between Muslims. The books also deny Jewish connections to Israel and dispute the facts underlying Jewish religious beliefs.
The textbooks embrace silence when it comes to the Holocaust. A lesson on World War II reportedly “ignores the Holocaust and other Nazi atrocities, and excuses actions of Nazi Germany.”
This animosity toward Jews juxtaposes with more positive depictions of Christians who are characterized as “an integral part of the Jordanian social fabric” while “other religious groups are rarely represented.”
Israel’s history comes in for demonization and distortion in Jordanian schools. The texts analyzed characterize the Jewish state as illegitimate, racist, colonialist, and expansionist while Arab peace deals with Israel are cast as begrudging concessions rather than genuine bridgebuilding. Poetry taught in the classroom celebrates violence and expelling Israelis. Interpretations of the Islamic doctrine of Jihad emphasize violent interpretations and martyrdom.
The curriculum also casts LGBTQ individuals as threats, according to Impact-se’s report. One book describes homosexuality and “homosexual propaganda” as a threat to humanity while another condemns those who “imitate” the other gender. Women generally receive respectful portrayals, though some religious textbooks contain stereotypes of wives submitting to their husbands and deferring to their decisions.
“The Jordanian curriculum persistently falls short of UNESCO-derived standards of peace and tolerance in education. While certain content promotes broad principles of tolerance and moderation, it continues to reinforce anti-Jewish narratives and legitimize violence against Israel,” the report states in its main findings. “Recent textbook revisions have not only failed to rectify these issues but, in some cases, have exacerbated them by incorporating even more extreme antisemitic tropes, homophobic rhetoric, and a heightened hostility toward the peace treaty with Israel.”
On April 23, Jordan banned the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood and confiscated its assets, a response to the arrest of 16 members after determining its involvement in a foiled terrorist plot linked to Iran. The banning makes it a criminal offense to promote the Brotherhood’s Islamist imperialist ideology or to publish its books. Political analyst Mohammed Khair Rawashdeh described the move as “a final divorce between the state and the Brotherhood after decades of fluctuating between co-opting them and merely tolerating their presence.”
In August 2024, a “high-ranking” Jordanian source told Israel’s Channel 12 that the Hashemite Kingdom had agreed to allow the Jewish state the use of its airspace to repel attacks from the Islamic regime in Iran.
The post Jordanian School Textbooks Still Promote Antisemitism Even as State Maintains Peace With Israel, Study Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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