I’ve been reading many blogs over the past few days, including those by people whom I deeply respect. We have spent a considerable amount of time attacking the mayor of New York, myself included. But I’m increasingly convinced we’re giving him exactly what he wants: attention, publicity, and another opportunity to play the victim.
Every time we attack him, we give him another headline. Perhaps we need to restrategize how we approach this character, whom I regard as an antisemite. Because endlessly expressing our disgust is accomplishing what, exactly?
I despise the guy. I think he is an awful human being, and I believe he has no place leading New York City. But there are many other people I despise, too. I do not believe he is the whole problem. He is a symptom of a much greater problem—and we keep arguing about the symptom while the problem gets worse.
Now, I am not by any means saying we should ignore this individual’s actions. I believe his actions are repulsive, disgusting, insensitive, and anti-American. Hold him accountable. Challenge him. But stop confusing giving him publicity with defeating him.
I’m someone who grew up in South Africa, moved to America, and adopted America by choice. I became a citizen by choice. My children were so lucky, and I have respect for my hundreds of colleagues and friends, the thousands of people I’ve met, and the millions of people who have stood up for what the United States is supposed to represent.
That is precisely why this makes me so damn angry.
The United States is in deep trouble, and that trouble did not begin when this person was elected mayor of New York. The trouble America is experiencing is a fight between morality and immorality, and it is happening across multiple sectors of American society. It has been happening for years.
We have allowed arguments over gender and pronouns to consume public life while treating tradition as something embarrassing. Marriage, an institution once held in high regard as a fundamental institution of society, has been trivialized. It’s been thrown around. Values that once demanded commitment are now treated as disposable.
There are many other aspects of society in the United States and across the liberal Western world that explain why what is happening today is a symptom of a much greater problem. The challenge of America today, and the challenge of every country today, including the State of Israel, is the challenge of morality.
And today, the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay, the South African former UN human rights chief who chaired the commission that accused Israel of genocide in Gaza—an accusation I reject. (nobelprize.org, reuters.com)
I regard this decision as a slap in the face of the Jewish community and every decent individual who expects these institutions to apply their principles honestly.
In 1994, that very same committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly to Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres. Arafat was the leader of the PLO and the founder of Fatah, which carried out attacks against Israel. (nobelprize.org, nobelpeaceprize.org)
Apparently, a record of violence becomes easier to overlook when someone puts on a suit and attends the right ceremony.
Awarding such high prizes to people I regard as bad-faith actors diminishes the value of the prize given to those who actually deserve it and have dedicated their lives to doing good in this world. The committee owes them an apology. A prestigious medal does not wipe away a record. It should make the scrutiny harder, not make it disappear.
This is the moral failure I’m talking about. We need to stand up against rape, murder, and kidnapping. We need to stand up for women’s rights and respect. These principles should not become negotiable the moment the victims are Jewish.
We need to stand up as a society, acknowledge our core values, and actually follow them. Otherwise, all this talk about creating a better world is empty bullshit.
Israel also needs to confront its own failure to communicate effectively with the world. We need to utilize the tools we have: truth, honesty, and accountability. We need to demonstrate why our values are superior to the values of these thugs and crooks—and stop assuming the world will figure it out on its own.
They will continue trying to delegitimize the right of the Jews to a homeland. Antisemitism is an inherent hatred that has existed throughout the centuries. We know this too well as Jewish people. We should also know by now that being right does not guarantee being heard.
But continuously mentioning this individual in New York—I purposely have not mentioned his name once—is not doing us any good. We see the publicity he’s getting. We see the outrage. We see another round of posts, another round of arguments, and another day in which he remains the center of attention.
We need a strategy.
Do I know what that strategy is? No, I don’t. But we need to figure it out together, because I am sick of watching people who despise everything we stand for dominate the conversation while we spend our days reacting to them.
Our anger needs to accomplish something. Otherwise, we’re doing his publicity for him—and he doesn’t even have to pay us.