In the past we’ve argued that you can be Jewish and antisemitic (here); a MyView in the New Mexican today, February 23, 2024, is proof.
The piece is by Alex McDonough (“Another way to fight Antisemitism“; If you don’t have a subscription to the New Mexican you can see the full MyView: Alex McDonough – Another way to fight antisemitism _ My View _ santafenewmexican.com). This piece is so far off base that we think it was published somewhat prematurely: it should have come out on April Fools day.
One person who read the piece sent us a text, “So much BS in this letter I could grow a whole garden!” After all, only an uneducated fool would think there is any legitimacy with the opinions he expressed. If McDonough truly believes what he wrote, his views are one or all of the following:
- totally ignorant of the facts of the history of the Middle East;
- a farcical attempt to claim not to be hateful while espousing his own hatred for Israel, Zionism, Judaism, pro-Israel Christians;
- a conspiratorial delusional view of the world; or
- a propaganda piece by Hamas or Fatah (maybe they do work together for viewpoints like this) written under his name (or is this a pseudonym?).
The New Mexican should be ashamed that they printed McDonough’s piece. They obviously didn’t do any fact checking. Or maybe they just believe McDonough’s assertions? This screed does nothing but contribute to the Jew hatred literature.
A quick read shows you the absurdity and illogic of the piece. We won’t pick it apart here; we think many of McDonough’s delusions are self-evident; and readers can peruse Steven Farber’s comments that do pick it apart here (thank you Steven).
1. Write a letter to the editor of the New Mexican TODAY countering one (just one of many) of the points McDonough makes and counter it with the facts as exposed by Farber, or simply make fun of the MyView with outrageous humor.
Don’t leave this to someone else – write right now – flood the New Mexican with objections – they need to know they overstepped the boundary between legitimate criticism of Jews and Israel, and Jew hatred. Submit your letter through the web: here (or cut and paste https://www.santafenewmexican.com/site/forms/online_services/letter/letter_editor/). Letters are limited to 150 words. To increase the probability of getting your letter printed, make it as short as you can, preferably under 100 words: .
You can also comment online at the end of the article like Farber, David Jaffe, Lance Bell, and others.
McDonough’s MyView was so laughably ignorant and malevolent that you can consider using absurd humor that denigrates the writer’s points. Here are some thoughts that come to mind:
- We’re waiting for a MyView by McDonough that says, “There was no slavery in the US, just some folks who wanted to live on plantations and work for free.” Or “In the 1700s Native Americans really liked the idea of self- governance on reservations and embraced it in later centuries.”
- McDonough bought the Brooklyn bridge, and now is so delusional that he may jump off it.
- McConough is so against hate that he expresses and legitimizes hate throughout the article.
- McDonough’s article would have best been published on Kristallnacht in 1938.
- McDonough’s article should have been published on April 1st – it is after-all simply a fool’s expression.
- We bet that McDonough is also a vaccine denier and believer in Jewish conspiracy theories.
- McDonough’s farcical piece was so absurd that it could have been written by Mel Brooks and made into a song for The Producers.
- Maybe Sasha Baron Cohen could get McDonough and his Jew-hating friends to chant antisemitic tropes in a revised Borat?
Copy us (info@sfmew.org) on whatever you send in. If the New Mexican doesn’t publish it we’ll copy it for the next SFMEW blog posting.
2. Call the owner and publisher of the New Mexican and object that they published this highly defamatory article.
ADMINISTRATION |
||
| Robin Martin | Owner | (505) 983-3303 |
| Patrick Dorsey | Publisher | (505) 986-3006 |
| Phill Casaus | Editor | (505) 986-3033 |
| Inez Russell Gomez | Opinion Page Editor | (505) 986-3053 |
3. Write to the Governor to ask her to condemn the New Mexican for publishing McDonough’s piece.
Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham has been an outspoken opponent of antisemitism. She adopted the IHRA definition for the state government by executive order (see here). She reasserted her commitment to her executive order when she lit the first candle for the Hanukah menorah on the plaza this past December, 2023. We appreciate her support.
Other notes:
Letters and MyViews since October 7, 2023 Hamas assault and massacre on Israel.
There have been many writings by Israel backers, especially SFMEW members, since the horrible massacre of October 7. Similarly, there have been many anti-Zionist letters as well in the New Mexican, including Jew-hatred letters like the one by McDonough. Given the volume, we decided not to put out a blog posting on every one of these pro- and anti- incidents. We thought the McDonough MyView to be so over-the-top that it had to be called out. Perhaps in the near future we’ll put together a compendium of the many letters and MyViews done in the New Mexican. (We don’t monitor the ABQ Journal closely. If you see something of note in that paper please send us a copy: info@sfmew.org.)
The Jewish Community Relations Coalition of New Mexico and Meow Wolf
The newly established Jewish Community Relations Coalition of New Mexico (JCRC-NM), of which SFMEW is a member, has addressed some of the more egregious events, like the Matisyahu cancellation at Meow Wolf (MW) last week (February 14, 2024), and praising our two US Senators (Lujan and Heinrich) for voting for the Ukraine/Israel/Taiwan funding bill, while decrying their wayward votes for Bernie Sanders’ anti-Israel resolution S. Res. 504, which failed in the senate by a vote of 89-11.
You can see the letter sent to MW last week by the JCRC, the Meow Wolf CEO’s responses, and the follow-up letter from the JCRC here.
If you are not on the JCRC’s email list, be in touch with them requesting they add you here (or cut and paste https://www.jcrcnm.org/get-in-touch).
Sign up for AIPAC’s regular contacts with our Members of Congress
Go here…It makes it easy to contact MoCs.