Santa Fe New Mexican fêtes Lannan Foundation without mentioning its antisemitism and unwillingness to engage with the pro-Israel Jewish community in Santa Fe
Santa Fe Middle East Watch (SFMEW) was originally formed to try to influence the Lannan Foundation to stop bringing to Santa Fe anti-Israel/Zionist and antisemitic speakers (see the list of those Lannan-sponsored speakers here).
Since SFMEW’s founding in 2015 Lannan has been unwilling to engage in a dialogue with us. We made multiple attempts to reach Patrick Lannan and his staff through formal and informal channels, sometimes with ADL or Jewish Federation staff, and were always rebuffed or ignored. After attempts at reaching Lannan staff and senior executives we sent emails to the Lannan Foundation board members. Our results: not a single return email or letter; not even receiving an acknowledgment of receipt of our complaints.
Now the Lannan Foundation has announced it intends to spend down its corpus of funds and cease operations by 2032. While we wish this were sooner than ten years from now, we welcome their going “out of business” so their sponsorship of bigotry will also be gone.
Meanwhile the New Mexican reported on Lannan’s decision on May 10, (print edition – “Giving Until the End”, page 10) with a picture of the smiling Patrick Lannan sitting next to the anti-Zionist Noam Chomsky. And the New Mexican in an “Our View” editorial on May 12 “Lannan Foundation offered space for thinking,” fêted the foundation for its having “brought great minds and critical thinkers to Santa Fe.” The New Mexican gives praises to the Lannan’s activities without also pointing out the pain and damage they’ve done to the Jewish community at large.
Just as someone spouting spurious claims about other identities might be called racists, homophobes, or bigots, many commentators about antisemitism have shifted their verbiage, calling speakers like Lannan’s “Jew-haters.”* We’ve started using this terminology lately as well. The New Mexican’s article and editorial don’t mention the disinformation and lies that the Lannan Foundation has sponsored in our community with its Jew-hating speakers:
- biasing attendees from the Santa Fe community who have no background in the conflict and therefore might believe the false claims of the Lannan speakers.
- poisoning the minds of the next generation, high school and college students who were given free tickets, and likely have impressions made through the disinformation spouted by Lannan speakers about the history of the conflict;
- influencing the attendees’ impressions of the conflict through repeated lies and slanderous accusations against Israel (apartheid, colonialism, genocide, ethnic cleansing);
- using false characterizations of Israel’s policies and actions in securing its borders, protecting its citizens, and negotiating treaties with its neighbors;
- encouraging discord and discouraging peace initiatives by supporting and encouraging attendees to support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement;
- opposing normalizing relations between Israel and Palestinians and Israel’s Arab neighbors (anti-normalization); i.e., claiming to be for peace while opposing peace initiatives between Israel and its Muslim neighbors like the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco.
We also met with the current executive director of the Lensic, Joel Aalberts, in September, 2019 to sensitize him to the concerns of our community and ask the Lensic not to provide a venue for antisemitic Lannan speakers. We pointed out that the Lensic was unlikely to rent out its space for known racists or homophobes. He promised to follow-up with us, but has failed to do so, even when we’ve sent requests by email or left telephone messages for his response. Perhaps they are as beholden to Lannan facility rental income as the New Mexican might be from Lannan advertising?
Take Action
Write a letter to the editor of the New Mexican complaining that they missed discussing the harmful effects of Lannan’s sponsoring Jew-hating speakers. Send your letter or op-ed via the website or email to: letters@sfnewmexican.com. For more information on how to write effective letters to the editor or op-eds, see tips on our website here. Letters are limited to 150 words, and op-eds to 600 words.
Use one or two of the talking points 1-6 above, and add one or more of the following points:
- The New Mexican white-washed the Lannan’s bigotry: by not discussing the negative aspects of the Lannan Foundation’s speakers the “Our View” from May 12 “Lannan Foundation offered space for thinking” white-washed the damage their antisemitic/Jew hating speakers did to the Jewish community of Santa Fe.
- The New Mexican encouraged disinformation about the Palestinian conflict with Israel: by advertising anti-Zionist speakers and not critiquing the speakers or Lannan’s bias.
- The Lensic ignores Lannan’s Jew hatred and bigotry: by allowing anti-Israel Lannan speakers in its facility, the Lensic is complicit in spreading antisemitism and Jew hatred, as odious as if they permitted racists, homophobes, or misogynists to dispense hatred as well.
- Perhaps the New Mexican is too beholden to Lannan advertising revenues to honestly report on Lannan’s harm to the Jewish community?
- The Lannan Foundation contributes to bigotry in Santa Fe and could be directly or indirectly endangering the Jewish community: with antisemitism at an all-time high in the United States, and in New Mexico, producing events that encourage antisemitism and Jew hatred has the potential for contributing to increased antisemitism in the Santa Fe area. See the ADL’s “2021 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents“. In a press release from the ADL we learned, “In the Mountain States Region of Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming, the number of reported antisemitic incidents spiked by 49 percent, surpassing the national percentage increase.”
Anti-semitism documented by ADL in New Mexico in 2021 included one case of assault, two cases of vandalism, and three cases of harassment.
Footnote and addendum
*See Stephen Smith’s article in the Forward from 2020, “Since we’re debating labels, stop calling it anti-Semitism. It’s Jew Hatred.” See also the concise and well-stated op-ed by Ruth Wisse, “Anti-Semitism isn’t merely another kind of hate” from the Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2021. Abe Foxman, former head of the ADL, said in a WSJ letter to the editor (Aug. 15, 2021) in response to Wisse’s op-ed:
Antisemitism, the hatred of Jews, is timeless, universal and multipurpose. It serves many masters, many interests. It has continued to metastasize. It matters not what Jews do or do not, say or not say. Facts and truth are irrelevant, as long as the hatred of Jews serves the interests at hand—political, ideological, religious or commercial.
It was in the past when Jews were prohibited from doing things others were permitted to do. Today, it is the state of Israel that has become the Jew among the nations. It alone cannot be allowed to decide its capital or have the right to defend itself. And that is not just a hatred as all others.
By the way, over the years SFMEW members have met with the Santa Fe New Mexican Editor (Phil Casaus) and Opinion Page Editor (Inez Russell Gomez) to discuss with them concerns with the wire services they use regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict (as an example, see “Santa Fe New Mexican delivers 2 anti-Israel articles in a week…”), and we mentioned our concerns with their accepting advertising from Lannan about speakers who are antisemitic. While the meetings were initially cordial, after we sent an SF New Mexican Murals Critique Jan-Feb, 2020 to Casaus (and Gomez), Casaus has refused any further dialogue with us.
Beyond the Lannan Foundation concerns, SFMEW has expanded by also combatting other forms of anti-Zionism, antisemitism and Jew-hatred in the Santa Fe area (e.g., the murals incident of 2020 just before COVID hit, antisemitic activities of Jewish Voice for Peace and Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine), and educating the community about the full history of the Arab-Israeli (or now mostly the Palestinian-Israeli) conflict by bringing in our own speakers (Dennis Ross, Yoram Ettinger, etc.). We have less than 1% of the resources of the Lannan Foundation ($150 million according to the New Mexican article), so we can’t produce the same level of advertising, pay speakers the same amounts, or rent out the Lensic for our activities without a direct appeal to our supporters. If you are interested in supporting our work please click here or on the “Donate” button below, and designate your gift to the Jewish Federation of New Mexico for Santa Fe Middle East Watch.
We also need proud and dedicated pro-Israel activists who are willing to prepare and design advertisements and social media campaigns against the Lannan speakers and other speakers brought in by anti-Israel groups in the Santa Fe area. We thank Israel and Nancy Sushman for their ongoing efforts with posting items on social media over the years.
Do you have friends or relatives who are pro-Israel and want to keep up with the concerns of the proud, pro-Israel, pro-Zionist community in the Santa Fe area? Ask them to sign up for our emails that provide the blog postings and action requests we send out from time-to-time.
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SFMEW is non-partisan; with rare exceptions we don’t rate, rank, advocate for, give funds to, or endorse candidates for political office. We will consistently highlight when politicians or other individuals or organizations take particularly good or bad actions regarding Israel or the US-Israel relationship. We strongly encourage our pro-Israel members to get involved in the political process, particularly at the federal level (House, Senate, President) to keep the US-Israel relationship strong, and help maintain a strong and secure Israel.
We’ve posted some known pro-Israel advocacy political organizations on the column to the right. Some of these organizations permit you to contribute easily to pro-Israel congressional candidates individually as well as collectively. They also indicate positions candidates have taken on Israel-related issues.
SFMEW is a beneficiary of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico. Give to the Campaign for Ukraine by sending an email to rob@jewishnewmexico.org.