On Monday The Jewish Press Online ran a story (BDS Protesters at Carnegie Hall Accuse Israeli Philharmonic of Apartheid) about a fairly despicable demonstration of a BDS group a few days before the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra performed at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Dozens of protesters braved the freezing weather to demand the cancellation of the Israeli Philharmonic’s concert, as well as the banning of all Israeli culture. They actually claimed that the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is part of the Israeli “apartheid regime.”
Like we said, it was a despicable thing to behold, both because accusing Israel of apartheid, being the only democracy from China to Morocco (with ample parliamentary representation to Arabs) in the middle of a region mired in religious and racial massacres, mass beheadings, honor murders, slavery, chemical bombing of civilians; and because the Israeli Philharmonic, as we showed, is a major contributor to the development of Arab orchestras in Israel.
Turns out we were wrong. Not about our story, but about who were the frost-bitten Jew-haters who said the Israeli Philharmonic was the Zionist version of Soweto, South Africa circa 1960. We suggested the offensive miscreants belonged to the Boston-based “Adalah Justice Project” (AJP), associated with the anti-Israeli NGO Adalah.
We was wrong. One Patrick Connors sent us an email claiming credit for the disgusting demonstration:
“Dear Jewish Press Editors,
“I am writing to draw your attention to an error requiring correction in your new article regarding the BDS protest of the Israel Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall yesterday.”
“I am a volunteer with Adalah-NY: Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, the group that organized the protest. Adalah-NY has no relationship with the Adalah Justice Project, or Adalah the human rights organization in Israel. Similarly, Nadia Ben Youssef (from AJP – DI) is also not involved in any way with Adalah-NY. The word Adalah simply means justice in Arabic. You can thus imagine that many groups worldwide use it as part of their names.
“Adalah-NY is an all volunteer, grassroots, NYC BDS group that has been doing BDS campaigning in NYC since 2006.
“I’m sure the Jewish Press is committed to accuracy in its reporting. Please make this change and remove references to the Adalah Justice Project and Adalah in Israel, as well as Nadia Ben Youssef, and attribute the protest to our group, which actually organized it, Adalah-NY.”
Or, to phrase it in terms we all understand: You’re mistaken, Mrs. Cohen, the doctor who sent you to the showers was Mengele, not Bengele.
To remind you, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) universally accepted Working Definition of Anti-Semitism includes: Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor; and Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
We dutifully entered a correction in the original article, where you can go and read it, giving us double the hits in the process…