Predicates to 10-07-2023

Subject: At a relatively small impromptu gathering held at the University of Illinois, Chicago Branch in 1965; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke briefly about historic discriminatory housing practices targeting Chicago’s African-Americans without let-up. He responded to 2 audience questions; one of which still resonates within my mind all these years later, (as memory serves) “No form of discrimination should ever be tolerated in silence. For any reason, at any time; for such only serves to keep open the door to nurture future discriminations; to which no group may prove immune.” Hence the following:

For years, the rights of dangerous provocateurs seemingly overshadowed those of their targeted victims. Will this change or is the world getting ready for another October 7th?

Opinion Piece

Bruce Portnoy

 03/13/2025

Since the 1975 United Nations General Assembly resolution (3379) equating “Zionism Is Racism;” numerous other forms of anti-Israel condemnations of various forms appeared, most met with minimal to zero opposition.

One of the most heinous in the brew was the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS); a calculated scheme to gradually weaken Jews. It had roots within 1930’s Nazi infested Germany. The intention being to marginalize Jews; socially, politically and economically, until the despised minority were reduced to poverty and became categorically insignificant.

It began in earnest with simple employment of intentional half-truths, misconceptions, misdirections, exaggerated lies, as well as concentrated efforts to demonize, delegitimize and utilize double standards towards Israel and Jews.

Accretive to this were perfected Nazi propaganda techniques’ that included: “Tell a lie big enough, repeat it often enough and people will start to rely upon it. All the while, suppress the truth from coming forth as it is the mortal enemy of the above and most importantly, choose a credible fabricated enemy of the people upon which to build popular resentment, frustration and anger.”

Ultimately, state-sanctioned elimination stages could test the waters for opposition; before becoming the “Final Solution.”

The above historical lessons did not go unrecognized by later generations of organized extremist haters of all stripes with simmering hatred and anger towards Israel and Jews.

In recent years, these haters readily succumbed to nefarious rhetoric blaming Israel – and anyone who supports Israel (i.e. Jews) – as the primary cause for popular discontent; worldwide, but particularly more so in the Middle East, where Jews, as an unwelcome minority in the Middle East, nevertheless became ‘the regional power.’

An international byproduct of such contempt was an unexpected unity of shared enmity connecting violent Islamic extremist elements with far-right neo-Nazis, white supremacists, as well as growing hostile elements from within the so-called liberal, woke, progressive US political spectrum that began to woo votes by cementing the various hate agendas expeditiously together. This, combined with the never-ending streams of attention getting anti-Israel sanctions spewing forth from the United Nations, provided a world stage to vent grievances.

This enabled fledgling youth-oriented biased organizations to more effectively target Israel and Jews; at various test schools of higher learning, worldwide; but most proficiently within the United States. ‘Students for Justice in Palestine,’ ‘Jewish Voices for Peace,’ ‘American Peace Now,’ ‘J-Street’, ‘and others of their ilk seemed to coordinate their anger issues with other populations to garner sympathetic media attention.

None expressed any willingness to seek ‘peace and justice’ for all populations within the Middle East; only to foment social isolation of Israel and Jews by whatever means necessary.

All the while, campus administrators and some elements from within the legal system appeared somewhat reticent to intervene on behalf of the seemingly criminally afflicted minority Jews. Perhaps it was for fear of being labeled anti-1st Amendment rights to free speech, even when groups promoted repeated violent patterns and a number of which were allegedly populated by suspect elements of outside agitators seemingly familiar with disorderly activities.

Recognizing that the extremist provocateurs did not represent the majority of Americans; Congress initiated the 2016 Antisemitism Awareness Act (ASA). This passed the US Senate floor votes virtually unopposed.

Among its key elements was a codification of definitions of acts representing “antisemitism;” from which to have a basis for legal accountability for those who pursued patterns of hate-based, discriminatory attacks.

The appearance of singling out of Jews and potentially other faith-based groups on campus, simply because of religious beliefs or ethnicity, could no longer be summarily dismissed. At least that was the theory.

Then the protestors cleverly shifted gears and adopted a softer approach of “anti-Zionist” political actions, instead of the often-referenced antisemitic verbiage. The press appeared seduced and transformed to be more amenable to the protesters’ agendas, especially when Zionism was re-characterized within a manufactured back-story of the ‘David-versus-Goliath’ struggle, with Israel portrayed as ‘the’ brutal aggressor and the Middle East Palestinian Arabs as perpetually poor, defenseless, perpetual victims, through no fault of their own.

The House initiative was then relegated to committee, until it eventually voided for lack of follow-through within the designated time period allowed. Score a victory for the purveyors of hate. More of the same would follow that course over the years to come; including the ‘Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019’ (S.1), which passed the initial bipartisan Senate test; but because of specific provisions intended to curb legal challenges to individual states and local governments’ right to pass anti-BDS legislation– collapsed; even with its otherwise well-defined national security provisions.

Congressional efforts might not have been necessary had Title VI of the “US Civil Rights Act of 1964’ not limited its list of proscribed list of discriminations to race, color, and national origin. By omission, acts of religious discrimination would prove difficult to contend within American campuses and streets; thereby setting a stage for Muslims, Christians, and Jews, as well as other minorities to suffer potential discriminatory indignities in silence, and not be able to avail the protections available to racially discriminated African-Americans.

The rights of dangerous provocateurs seemingly appeared to overshadow those of their targeted victims.

America became progressively insensitive towards the issues posed by hate-motivated thugs who acted as if entitled to deprive others, particularly Jews, of their rights and seemingly got away with such simply because they could effectively intimidate and coerce silence.

Even the egregious events of October 7, 2023, further victimized Jews worldwide, particularly so on the campus encampments and streets where the media fed the chaos of extremist, if not radicalized ‘anti-Israel elements’ which appeared to devolve into a dangerous social era experiment successfully fomenting discrimination against Jews worldwide and reminiscent of the earlier Holocaust Era.

Meanwhile Iran, joined by its proxies; Hamas, PIJ, Houthis and various militias appeared to tighten the noose around Israel’s neck, as it poked for weak points while waiting for an opportune time to deliver a threatened death blow.

Iran, the IRGC and their proxies cling to their vows to wipe Israel off the Middle East map while developing, if not accumulating nuclear weapons and perfecting their missile guidance and satellite systems to deliver their intended threat, all as a precursor to eventually targeting America.

At the end of the day, the question remains: are Jews vulnerable to another, perhaps even more lethal ‘October 7th Perfect Storm;’ or will the recent changes within the US government seeking “justice for Jews” prove sufficient to prevent another attempted Holocaust?

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Bruce Portnoy is a contributing Opinion Journalist and author of the highly predictive 2015 Geo-political thriller, First, the ‘Saturday People’, and then the…