I got called an antisemite on Facebook!

Barking up the wrong tree there...

How utterly bizarre.

An actual friend from college from whom I hadn’t heard in years posted on my page, “Antisemites shouldn’t be posting Jewish jokes.”

I had forwarded a joke that a Jewish friend of mine posted about an antisemite and a Jewish restaurant owner. Maybe it wasn’t all that funny but it certainly didn’t seem antisemitic, and the friend wasn’t saying it was.

Then he pointed to a post I had shared about Philadephia DA Larry Krasner now being under review by the state Attorney General in some of his cases. Here’s an article about that: https://penncapital-star.com/criminal-justice/pa-supreme-court-ruling-curbs-philly-district-attorney-adds-state-attorney-general-oversight/.

It’s not exactly a secret that while I used to support Krasner and even co-hosted a fundraiser for his first campaign, I now oppose him. The city isn’t safe, he prefers criminals to victims and the public safety, and he’s brought in a whole lot of people who are incompetent. So I take a position on a local issue that has nothing obvious to do with Jewish people as a whole or Israel.

The problem, it seems, the smoking gun that convinced this friend that I am an antisemite, was that the post said, “Soros-backed DA Larry Krasner.” From this, the college friend concluded that I am an antisemite.

To be honest, I didn’t know that George Soros is Jewish. Apparently it’s well known, and apparently he is not a supporter of Israel. I had no idea on either front. I always thought Soros sounded like a Greek name, to the extent I thought of it at all which is basically never. Are we now all responsible of knowing the religion or ethnicity or however you define it of people who give a lot of money to progressive causes and politicians?

Perhaps I should have searched up (as the kids like to say) a different article on Krasner’s circumstances, as I later did. But really… posting “Soros-backed” makes one an antisemite? How about posting “Sanders-backed” and calling that antisemitic because Bernie Sanders is Jewish? Quite confusing.

I took the opportunity to post all of my pro-Israel and against antisemitism articles from Splice Today on Facebook, which I hadn’t done in awhile, as well as a few entries from the blog. For the most part I post flower pictures and cat paintings, but when picked on for something I’m obviously not, I’m going to defend myself.

It was lovely that a few Jewish friends posted that however they may disagree with various things I post, they can vouch that I am no antisemite. Here is my favorite:

“While I firmly disagree with most of what April has been posting as of late, as a Jew who has known her for almost 40 years, I can also firmly vouch that she is NOT an anti-Semite, and, in fact, she is more pro-Jewish than many Jews I know.”

Over the almost three years since I started speaking out in support of Israel and against antisemitism, I’ve had occasion to wonder why it is that I am more pro-Jewish and way more pro-Israel than any number of Jews you might know.

I’ve observed that many Jews, especially liberal Reform Jews, seem to feel a certain amount of guilt about the Palestinians they may have encountered on trips to Israel or otherwise found out about. Liberal Reform Jews tend to be extremely nice people who want to help everyone, especially those who are somehow disadvantaged. My former principal (You are my principal, now and always, she says, paraphrasing Jon Snow…) was such a person. He traced his choice of career to his Jewish values, which is wonderful and admirable. I got no problem with that. But to the extent that caring about Palestinians blinds one to the reality that their stated mission and intent is to kill Jews, that strikes me as a problem.

I have no interest in telling anyone how to be Jewish. I certainly don’t know and I respect however it is that people practice their religion or connect with their heritage.

What I do know a bit about is how to survive, and making oneself vulnerable to people who are quite open in their murderous intent is a bad idea, no matter who those people are.

The more significant thing I’ve observed is that many non-Jewish Americans see standing with Israel as a logical part of standing up for our civilization and way of life. We have one set of values that includes a great deal of individual freedom, freedom for women, rights for LGBT+, and so on. The Muslim Arab world has a different set of values that are easy to see and about which they make no secret. We don’t want to have to veil, convert to Islam, give up our dogs, or any number of other things. I don’t mean to make light of it, but it’s just so obvious that I wonder why so many of the smart people I know seem confused. While we may want to live in peace with all people, quite a few people do not want to live in peace with us.

It took the horror of October 7 to wake me and a lot of others up to just how bad things have gotten. While progressives ran into the streets celebrating the horror and calling rape resistance, the Republican Party of Philadelphia made an unequivocal statement immediately condemning Hamas’ actions and pledging to keep Jews and Israelis in Philadelphia safe. I remember thinking… “Wait, I always thought the Republicans were the bad guys…” while my party blamed Israel before the blood of the massacred was dry.

Perhaps more are waking up now that the report on Pakistani rape gangs in the UK is out. Maybe more people will realize that even if you hate Netanyahu, he had a point when he said that this is not a clash between civilizations, it is a clash between civilization and barbarism. Between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life.

During the time immediately following October 7, I hopped on the phone as fast as I could to check on all my Jewish friends. Guess what? They were not okay! All different varieties of not okay, but one thing I did hear repeatedly was that their non-Jewish friends had not called.

I decided to use the best tool I have, which is my writing, to try to come to my friends’ defense. In the beginning it really was mostly about just a few people who are important to me. Friends from college, high school, my professional life.

It wasn’t until November of 2023 that I even met an Israeli. I had always been a supporter of Israel, my dad taught me that, but I had no personal ties other than a strong idea that Israeli men are the hottest guys on earth (a view I stand by to this day.)

So it seems to me that my old friend who accused me of being an antisemite was barking up the wrong tree. He’s since disappeared so maybe he concluded the same.

I could be called a lot of things… I’m often reminded of the dialogue in Evita between Eva Peron and Mussolini:

Eva: Did you hear that? They called me a whore! They actually called me a whore!

Mussolini: Signora Peron, it’s an easy mistake. I’m still called an Admiral, yet I gave up the sea long ago!

I’ve been attacked enough in my life for being seen with this or that guy or wearing something the wacko feminists thought was too friendly to men that I’d say, okay, I can see why you’d say that. It is nice to have reached an age where no one accuses me of sleeping with my boss (which a young co-worker on a job I had a couple of years ago pointed out would be great cover if I were sleeping with my boss. Which for the record I wasn’t. Really, I wasn’t. He was a Millenial and we all know Millenials don’t do things like that!)

But antisemite? No. Accused of sexualizing Jewish men on the basis of their ethnicity? Yes. To which I say, “Precisely which one filed a complaint?”

Disagree with me as many should and do, find a better name to call than antisemite.

But for those who were looking for an antisemite…

I am very afraid for my friends in New York. Things are obviously out of control. Mamdani and his socialists are winning more and more. I’m so happy that some of my friends are becoming more politically active to do something about this. I did the same, if in different ways. But you should not have to defend your right to safely live, worship and wear a Star of David in your own hometown. Most of my friends in New York have lived there most of if not all their lives. It’s their home. They aren’t running to Florida nor should they have to (though Florida seems very nice and if anyone offers me a chance to live in a nice retirement community with a golf course I’d probably take it. Not because I play golf but because I tend to like people who do. They are quiet. Golf if quiet. I like golf.)

I was recently at 30th Street Station, the train station where you catch Amtrak to New York and DC and Boston among other places from Philly. I hadn’t been there in years, then suddenly I was there twice in one week! I thought to myself, “I can imagine visiting New York or DC again.” It’s been a long time since I’ve ventured far from home. I would love to see the museums again and hang out with some New York friends. But New York does not seem like a safe place. As someone who does not dress as an Orthodox Jew or look stereotypically Jewish (maybe because I’m not), you might say I have no reason to be afraid. But I am afraid of a place where my Jewish friends have reason to be afraid.

Still not an antisemite.

I’m going to write my civilized friends in my Philly neighborhood and ask them if they know of any nice events that are happening July fourth weekend. I’m a bit scared to go to any of the big things downtown because of the possibility of terrorism, old fashioned crime, or just mayhem. So I’m fishing for an invitation to what I hope will be a dinner party of local nice people. I can bring deviled eggs! They’re Catholics… Catholics like deviled eggs too, right?

Still searching for a church home… thinking I might try out some churches that a friend suggested I might find comfortable. That may wait until after six day a week SAT prep is over though. I may be too tired to move much on my one day off!

Looking for a church home where one does not feel out of place praying for our Jewish brothers and sisters, in Israel, at home, and all over the world.

Still not an antisemite…

It’s about time to get my nails done again, and I’m thinking of a conservative pale pink because it goes with everything and where I teach in the summer an unobtrusive manicure is a better call than my school year glitter, but I’d have to say, I loved going bright red for the first time in years.

Red nails, red light saber, and faithful to the blue Israeli flag and the American flag, the country where I am proud to be a citizen and an active participant in our democracy.

Still not an antisemite.