Jews Waking Up To Hollywood’s Antisemitism Should Try To Destroy DEI, Not Join Its Ranks
Many Jews have recognized their exclusion from the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” agenda, but they still don’t seem to recognize its inherent dangers.
That was made painfully obvious by the letter signed by 260 Jews in the entertainment industry that was published last week. They protested the new DEI-influenced rules for the Best Picture Oscar that will go into effect for films made this year.
The Oscars have always been as much about commerce and Hollywood politics as excellence. The new rules shoehorn divisive quotas into every film production, demanding that each one includes certain types of people or themes. This reflects how the art world is in thrall to toxic left-wing ideas that are transforming movies from a form of popular entertainment into an exercise in politically correct virtue signaling.
Racial or ethnic quotas have no place in movies or any other form of artistic expression. For the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — the body responsible for the annual Oscars — to mandate them in this way turns the entire concept of artistic merit on its head.
Joining DEI, Not Opposing It
Noteworthy actors like Mayim Bialik, Ginnifer Goodwin, Debra Messing, Juliana Margulies, Brett Gelman, Michael Rapaport, and David Schwimmer signed the letter. But they had no issue with DEI itself. They just want Jews to be included in it.
Perhaps it’s too much to ask anyone working in Hollywood to push back against DEI. Even the mildest hint of conservatism is not just unfashionable but a possible death sentence for your career.
They’re right when they say that the new rules are “steeped in and misunderstands antisemitism.” The letter correctly notes that a standard of inclusion that elevates certain minority groups while specifically excluding Jews “erases Jewish peoplehood and perpetuates myths of Jewish whiteness, power, and that racism against Jews is not a major issue or that it’s a thing of the past.” But they’re wrong to demand that the rules be expanded to make Jews an approved minority too.
While Hollywood rallied around the Black Lives Matter movement, relatively few celebrities have willingly braved the intersectional left’s abuse to speak up in defense of Israel — even after the slaughter, torture, and rape of Jews that took place on Oct. 7. The assumption among the fashionable left is that Jews “control” Hollywood and that they are a powerful group that must be humbled and cast aside to make way for diverse representations of approved minorities.
A similar dynamic involved efforts of Jewish groups to get a law imposing an ethnic requirement in California to include Jews in classes that are steeped in antisemitism. The problem with the curricula is the DEI mandate, not whether it includes some non-approved minorities like Jews.
Those actors and Jewish donors who foolishly hope they can get Harvard to stop encouraging antisemitism without eliminating DEI mandates fail to understand that it isn’t just linked to antisemitism. It’s a threat to the survival of America.
Jewish Groups Ignore Antisemitism
Most people will not recognize a threat until they realize that they are in its crosshairs. It’s simply human nature. That best explains why a portion of the American public recently discovered that woke ideology is a problem.
In this case, it is those American Jews, most of whom would characterize their politics as liberal and their party affiliation as Democrat. Jewish conservatives have been sounding the alarm about the toxic nature of diversity, equity, and inclusion — the catechism of the new secular leftist civic faith. But many Jews prioritized staying in sync with their political allies on the left, especially the legacy groups that purport to represent or defend their interests, such as the Anti-Defamation League.
That’s why the ADL, among many other liberal organizations, has failed to speak up about antisemitism’s connection with DEI, critical race theory, and intersectionality. Beyond this failure to speak against antisemitism, they have endorsed Black Lives Matter, a movement drenched in antisemitic invective that has incorporated woke ideas into their “anti-hate” programs.
But in the past few months that complacency about the surge in left-wing antisemitism stopped being a viable stance even for the ideologues at the ADL. Woke mobs marched in the streets of American cities and college campuses chanting slogans calling for the destruction of the one Jewish state on the planet (“from the river to the sea”) as well as endorsing terrorism against Jews (“globalize the intifada”).
Ivy Leagues Embrace Antisemitism
The failure of institutions like Harvard, Penn, and MIT to rally to the defense of Israel after Hamas attacked it on Oct. 7 shocked many liberals. Their leaders couldn’t even express outrage against the unspeakable atrocities the Palestinian terrorists committed or against the Americans who voiced support for the crimes. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., made their silence about the attack manifest during a congressional hearing on antisemitism. She asked the presidents of the three schools — all known for intolerance of conservatives and conservative opinions — whether calls for the genocide of Jews violated their codes of conduct.
They all answered that it depended on the “context.” Everyone knew that if a student were to call for the lynching of an African American or any other DEI-approved minority, then they would be expelled immediately. The fact that left-wing pundits and pop culture outlets (like “Saturday Night Live,” which satirized Stefanik and not the college presidents) rallied to the support of those who were indifferent to antisemitism was just as shocking.
There was more than just hypocrisy at play. Most of the subsequent commentary centered around the fate of the three college presidents. But the real issue is that a DEI mindset caused them not to see anything offensive about the rampant antisemitism on their campuses. The connection between woke ideology and antisemitism should have been obvious.
Jews in the Woke Oppression Matrix
The woke neo-Marxist belief system divides all people into two immutable groups: powerful white oppressors and powerless victims of color. They are forever locked in conflict. And since the left thinks of Jews as white — even though they come in all colors, with most Israeli Jews tracing their origins to the Middle East and North Africa — they are defined as part of the oppressor class that must be defeated under any and all circumstances.
This is madness, especially since the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians isn’t about race or ethnicity. But it explains why the left instinctually supports even genocidal Hamas terrorists against democratic Israel.
The “equity” of DEI is the opposite of equal opportunity. It means racial, ethnic, and religious quotas that penalize unapproved minorities, such as Jews. It’s more than ironic that the same elite institutions that today ignore antisemitism used quotas in the 20th century to limit Jewish enrollment. The “diversity” of DEI seeks to silence those with ideas that are not in tune with the woke and regards anyone not deemed sufficiently powerless as ineligible for “inclusion.”
In practice, this makes DEI a permission slip for antisemitism, as Jewish students targeted by woke mobs at these schools, and their anxious parents, have suddenly discovered.
DEI Threatens Everyone, Not Just Jews
What happened on college campuses this past fall is an illustration of how Jews are playing the role of the canary in the coal mine.
In the week when Americans supposedly celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., they should regard DEI as a universal menace. DEI has conquered academia, made inroads in the business world, and is now, thanks to President Joe Biden, the official policy of every federal department and agency. DEI demands that, contrary to King’s vision, we judge people solely on the basis of the color of their skin or family background and not on the content of their character. While antisemitism is a natural manifestation of its toxicity, it is primarily a threat to the liberty of every American.
Jonathan S. Tobin is a senior contributor to The Federalist, editor in chief of JNS.org, and a columnist for Newsweek. Follow him on Twitter at @jonathans_tobin.
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