“…hatred for Trump is misleading the people and forcing Blacks to vote Killary. We cannot resort to the lesser of two devils. Then we’d surely be better off without voting AT ALL.”
This fake social media posting by the Russians posing as Trump supporters in mid-October by “Woke Blacks” during the 2016 election has been decried throughout the US, and is one of the causes of Robert Mueller’s indictment of 12 people who were creating a conspiracy against Hillary Clinton, according to the New York Times.
What would you call these social media postings? Criminal Lies.
If you’ve driven down Old Pecos Trail past San Mateo/Camino Lejo, or if you’ve read the Santa Fe New Mexican in the past week (January 7 or 14), or if you watched KRQE on January 6, or if you read Hyperallergic, “a forum for playful, serious, and radical perspectives on art in society” in New York (who knew?), you can’t have escaped the images of the murals and sign depicting Israel’s soldiers taking aim at or detaining Palestinian children or women. Some of the images are reproduced in this blog posting. At least two, if not more of these images are lies – no different from the Russians attempting to influence the election. No different from fake news. No different from conspiracies blaming the world’s ills on Jews. What would you call it? Plain and simple anti-Semitism. Read on…
The New Mexican calls these depictions “Pro-Palestinian” art. We would question three assumptions behind this phrase. First, is it art? It is a “wheat paste” copy of photos (copyright infringement?) – nothing original or creative here, except perhaps its location – illegally constructed – the Municipal Code prohibits the number and size of these images – in a high traffic historic district location. Further some of these images are photo-shopped fakes.
Second, is it “Pro-Palestinian”? A more accurate characterization is that, at least the accurate images, are anti-Israel and clear propaganda, attempting to depict a complex conflict in false, simplistic, and inaccurate ways. [We’ve written about propaganda before (see here).]
Third, is it real? Many of these images have been photoshopped or the real story is something other than that shown. Is the above photo the real one or the one just below – note the similarity – mirror image without the mother? Here’s an analysis by Gail Ellis, former “photo altering editor” at Mixam, about why it likely has been photo-shopped.
At a time when anti-Semitism has been increasing in the US and Europe, these murals are deceptive depictions of hatred that could have severe consequences, inciting more hatred and anti-Semitic acts. Unfortunately, at least two of them are lies, and the New Mexican and the other media outlets have, perhaps unwittingly, publicized these images as something worthwhile to reprint in their own pages.
Take Action: Write to the New Mexican (letters@sfnewmexican.com) to protest their having…
- …published on their front page and interior pages misleading and fake images, especially the second time when reporting the City’s requiring the murals to come down;
- …stated that the Jewish community is somehow “divided” in favor of such propagandistic depictions; the New Mexican should stop quoting Jeffrey Haas as a member of the Jewish community;
- …perpetuated a story that can incite anti-Semitic violence.
Facts:
- The New Mexican on January 14 reprinted on the front page the same picture it had shown on the 7th.
- The New Mexican on January 7th stated, “…members of the city’s Jewish community were divided on the display.” They only quoted Jeffrey Haas, leader of Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. Neither of these organizations speaks for the Jewish community – they are fringe groups that perhaps represent at most a handful (out of 6,000) Jews in Santa Fe. The mainstream Jewish community is unequivocally opposed to the display of these anti-Semitic and propagandistic images. The Jewish Federation of New Mexico and SFMEW are coming out with a joint statement in the next day or two.
- The second publishing of the image on January 14 reinforces the falsity of their purported message, that Israeli soldiers purposefully detain and shoot at children. This is demonstrably false. Israel has the most stringent rules of any country on the use of live fire against both combatants and civilians.
Take Action: Write to the Mayor (mayor@santafenm.gov) and City Attorney (ekmcsherry@santafenm.gov) asking them not to grant a permit for any signs on this property because the murals and signs are:
- inciteful propaganda
- anti-Semitic
- not in conformity with the Municipal Code controlling signs in the Historic District,
- public health hazards, and
- the property owner knew he needed permits and failed to obtain them.
Encourage the City to back off of their claim that they cannot regulate content of signs – a letter from SFMEW to the Mayor and City Attorney states,
While the Jewish organizations and individuals that object to this mean-spirited mural recognize and support the First Amendment right to free speech, we also think it only right to point out that this right has limits. “The First Amendment permits restrictions upon the content of speech in a ‘few limited areas,’ including obscenity, defamation, fraud, incitement, fighting words, and speech integral to criminal conduct.” United States v. Stevens 559 U.S. 460, 468 (2010). The very point of these murals and signs and the anti-Israel message is not realistically to promote the cause of peace in the Middle East.
Writing in your own words is best. As CAMERA states:
You have more of an impact when you share your thoughts in your own words. Please use the information included here as background for your letter instead of forwarding, or cutting and pasting from, [this Take Action].
Take Action: Write to KRQE TV to object to their coverage of the images (newsdesk@krqe.com, online at https://www.krqe.com/about-us/contact-us/, or by telephone: 505-243-2285)
The covered story by KRQE’s Francesca Washington claims that “It’s not really the message people are complaining about, just where it’s located.” This is patently false because the messages are lies.
Background
Guthrie Miller (the owner of the property) in 2016 was told to take down his original sign because he had not received a proper permit for it according to the City of Santa Fe Code of Ordinance section 14-8.10. He then applied for a permit and was given one (permit #16-3078) for a sixteen square foot sign on January 5, 2017. This permit was for a “political” sign for a temporary period – until January 5, 2018.
The sign should have come down at that time. We don’t know if the sign was given an extension on the permit beyond 1/5/2018, but it has remained up and continues to be renewed with anti-Israel messages. The Historic preservation district sign code prohibits wall signs (murals) over 20 square feet or 15% of the facade. These murals clearly exceed the 20 square feet limit.
Miller proudly displays these murals because he wants “to put himself out there.” He seems to say he is atoning for not being an activist the many years he worked at Los Alamos National Labs. As a scientist wouldn’t he want to depict the truth rather than fake facts, fake photos, or misleading depictions that could incite violence against Jews and those who support Israel? If he now wants to be a humanist, wouldn’t he want to avoid hatred and bigotry by encouraging murals of peace and enlightenment?
And some of his colleagues, such as Ellen Shabshai Fox in her letter to the editor in today’s New Mexican (January 19, 2020 – full letter below), follow right down that path of intellectual dishonesty by making spurious associations of intersectionality (re: Native American and Palestinian struggles) between the murals and simplistic sloganeering (“land theft, relocation and confinement to reservations [when the West Bank and Gaza are viewed as a reservation]”) that have little to do with interpreting what the actual murals purport, sometimes deceptively as shown above, to depict.
We could easily dissect the falsity of these murals – the case of Muhammad Al-Dura, for example. This iconic picture purporting to show Israeli brutality during the second intifada in 2000 has been shown definitively through persuasive evidence “that the fatal shots could not have come from the Israeli soldiers known to have been involved in the confrontation.” (James Fallows, “Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura?” the Atlantic, June, 2003). This original photo was used to incite the murder of hundreds of Israelis in the second intifada. The Miller/Remy mural goes further, purporting to show a soldier directly firing at the youngster when in fact during the Palestinian-Israeli gunfight the Israeli soldiers were in guard towers quite a
distance away (see here for more information).
We don’t even know for a certainty if al-Dura was indeed killed that day. After he purportedly had been shot and was dead he raised his right arm and gave the “V for victory” sign.
The case of Faris Odeh is another one – the picture on the wall depicts him throwing rocks at a tank, seemingly innocuous behavior given the David and Goliath picture. However, Odeh was not killed for this act, but ten days later when he was at the head of a crowd of Palestinian males throwing rocks at Israeli troops after his mother and father implored him not to do so, as they knew it would be very dangerous.
While Miller and Remy (the “artist” who put up the murals) may believe rocks are innocuous, throwing rocks is extremely dangerous. Indeed, a 2018 ABC news program states, “Hitting someone in the head could easily cause death, which is why the Israeli military takes stone throwers seriously.”
As noted above, many of the images produced during struggles between Palestinians and Israelis have been shown to be faked or purposefully mis-reported. (See here, here, here, here, and here for examples; there are many more.) It’s called “Pallywood.” As CAMERA’s UK Media Watch states in a 2014 article, “Those – such as [International Solidarity Movement] and their extremist allies – who advance the narrative of Israeli snipers firing at innocent Palestinian civilians feed into calumnies about Jews which, as we’ve seen in recent antisemitic outbursts in the UK and across Europe, often have extremely dangerous consequences.”
Above is another mural image, shown on the front page of the New Mexican twice (January 7 and 14), which only tells part of the story.
Fawzi al Junaidi is now “the new face of Palestinian resistance.” Except what really happened to him? We only have his side of the story, and a Turkish TV report (video) which purports to show him being manhandled clearly shows two different individuals – Fawzi in blue jeans, and another male in striped long pants. While you can’t see Fawzi’s shoes in the picture below, you can get a glimpse in the video; clearly the male on the left is barefoot.
Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British military forces in Afghanistan, states, “Based on my experience…the Israel Defense Force…does more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.”
The New Mexican in its January 7 article gives the false impression that the Jewish community is “divided” over these images. Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine (SFJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) commonly reason that just because some of their members are Jewish, therefore they can’t be anti-Semitic. This is logically false. As CAMERA stated in an article in 2017, “In fact, the radicals who support BDS and single out the Jewish state for demonization and delegitimization include Jews on the margin who publicly distance themselves from mainstream Jewry and its support for Jewish self-determination.” In other words, just because they are Jewish doesn’t mean they represent the Jewish community. The Jewish Federation of New Mexico, ADL, SFMEW, and the Jewish Community Council of Northern New Mexico can make that claim; SFJP and JVP cannot. JVP members think that by saying they are Jewish it gives their protest against Israel greater moral authority.
As an example of a Jew who is in favor of the murals (and often instigates their being produced) the New Mexican only quotes the leader of SFJP and JVP, Jeffrey Haas, seems to agree that the fraudulent or misrepresentative graffiti on Miller’s wall somehow depicts information fairly and accurately. Haas represents perhaps a handful of Jews (out of an estimated 6,000 in Santa Fe alone). The great majority of American Jews and Jews around the world support Israel’s right to exist and self-defense, and don’t try to undermine US-Israel security the way JVP does.
Further, Haas’ objection that being anti-Israel is not anti-Semitic can only be considered self-deception. Such a claim falls on deaf ears from those who understand the world’s growing acceptance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism (found here). JVP endorses the BDS movement, which by definition is anti-Semitic. We’ve written before (here) about how JVP supports the elimination of Israel and violent protests and terrorists.
We applaud Willy Richardson, not an SFMEW member, who wrote in the New Mexican letters on January 16, “Criticism of Israel’s current government is a good thing, but meme-like emotional messages that don’t tell the whole story do lead to violence. Violence against Jews is on the rise in the U.S. and Europe.” And we applaud Joan Less, who wrote in the January 13 letters to the editor, “The New Mexican published an incendiary, propagandist picture of supposed ‘art.'[…]A true artist would learn the history of both sides of the conflict and look to see if it really compared to the Native genocide in our country.” These original letters and Ellen Fox’s are reproduced below.
While the US first amendment protects hate speech like that on Miller’s wall, newspapers certainly can avoid providing a venue for hate images and false statements that the Jewish community is divided. The New Mexican can avoid printing fraudulent images; it needs to do better. And the City should not be complicit in approving signs for Miller, a recidivist offender of the Municipal Codes.
Original letters to the editor
January 13, 2020 Letter to the editor
As Jewish people now have to live in fear of being targeted for a hate crime, maybe shot and killed, The New Mexican published an incendiary, propagandist picture (“Pro-Palestinian art appears on Old Pecos Trail wall,” Jan. 7) of supposed “ art.” The picture and article took up most of the “Local & Region” Page A-6, when the attention it warranted should have been a paragraph at most.
The creator of this propagandist mural is ignorant of the very basic facts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and I suppose he was looking for his 15 minutes of fame. A true artist would see that life is not black and white, good or bad. A true artist would work to understand the many nuances and shades of color that compose our world. A true artist would learn the history of both sides of the conflict and look to see if it really compared to the Native genocide in our country.
It is so hard to stay positive in these trying times. Simplification for sensation is not the way to bring people together. The New Mexican should do better.
Joan Less, Santa Fe
January 16, 2020 Letter to the editor
The owner of the wall with anti-Israel propaganda, Guthrie Miller, stated he hasn’t received any critical letters (“City says pro-Palestinian art has to be removed,” Jan. 14). Well, here’s a critical letter.
The mural offended my family (three generations of Jews here in Santa Fe) and many friends expressed concern.
I ask Miller to please read about the history of Jews, their right to autonomy and the history of failed attempts by Jews to bring Arab neighbors to peaceful agreements over the past decades.
Take note of the recent stabbing during a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi’s home just north of New York City by a man who internet-searched “German-Jewish temples near me.”
Criticism of Israel’s current government is a good thing, but meme-like emotional messages that don’t tell the whole story do lead to violence. Violence against Jews is on the rise in the U.S. and Europe.
Willy Richardson, artist, Santa Fe
January 19, 2020 Letter to the editor
The Navajo artist known as “Remy” created the now defaced mural to draw a comparison between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the plight of Native Americans during (ongoing) colonialism and conquest (“City says pro-Palestinian art has to be removed,” Jan. 14). The predictable, immediate labeling of this image as anti-Semitic, as well as the violent defacement, obscures the similarities in land theft, relocation and confinement to reservations (when the West Bank and Gaza are viewed as a reservation) with the legacy of post-traumatic stress disorder in both populations. And the city found a clever way of avoiding the volatile political situation, never mind freedom of expression.
Is it exceptionalism that perpetrates this inability to recognize the relationship between these horrific historical and contemporary actions? Suffering is suffering. Do I suffer more than you when we both have our land stolen; are relegated to a reservation or a camp; are murdered because of religion, skin color or perceived trespass? I think not.
Let’s give up the contest and join in protest against all forms of oppression. Even given the contradictions, this is still a Jewish value.
Ellen J. Shabshai Fox, Santa Fe
CD3 Congressional Candidates Coffees
Because of the snow storm we had to cancel last Thursday night’s coffee with Valerie Plame, so you still can hear all four of the top Democratic congressional candidates. Here are the dates (all Thursdays at 5:00 pm):
- January 23, John Blair
- February 6, Teresa Leger-Fernandez
- February 13, Marco Serna
- February 20, Valerie Plame
If you haven’t RSVP’d and would like to be on the list to get the location and position papers of these candidates, send an email to info@sfmew.org. The location for each candidate will be sent out about one week before each coffee.
Jewish Federation of New Mexico’s Super Sunday
Don’t forget to answer the phone and generously donate to the Federation on Super Sunday, February 2. SFMEW is a beneficiary organization of the JFNM – they do good work. Support them!
Israel Advocacy Workshops
- Albuquerque, Sunday, February 23 (1:00 – 6:00 pm)
- Santa Fe, Monday, February 24 (10:00 am – 4:00 pm)
See something in newspapers, social media, TV, etc. that you need to refute? Want to communicate better with your elected officials, friends and acquaintances about Israel? Come learn and develop skills for improved Israel advocacy: an all-star line-up of experts in Israel advocacy in media, politics, and conversation will be in ABQ (Sunday) and Santa Fe (Monday), including experts from CAMERA, AIPAC, CUFI, and AJC. More information will be forthcoming. Hold the date!