11
Oct
20
Sep
A Boy Named David
by Symi Rom-Rymer
David, the recently released feature film directed by Joel Fendelman and written by Fendelman and Patrick Daly, sets out to tell one story, but ends up telling two. The first is about the accidental meeting of two boys, Daud and Yoav, one Muslim, and one Jewish, from the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn who manage to break out of their religious bubbles and form an unlikely friendship. The second is the story of the accidental meeting of the same two boys, one the son of immigrant parents and the other of American parents.
In the first story, religion plays a complex role: at once uniting and dividing the protagonists. Initially, it is the reason Daud and Yoav meet. Eleven year-old Yoav forgets his prayer book on a park bench after studying with his friends. ...
17
Jul
Roma Life Today
Since the mid-1970s and early 1980s, Roma activists and groups such as the International Romani Union and Roma National Congress have worked to transform the scattered Roma into a cohesive political force. Nevertheless, the Roma remain fragmented and continue to face social exclusion, extreme poverty and discrimination.
17
Jul
Roma in the Holocaust
What Jews call the Holocaust, the Roma (also known as gypsies) call Porrajmos, their “devouring.” Between 220,000 and 500,000 Roma were murdered by Nazi Germany and its sympathizers during World War II. Despite the enormity of these numbers, the Roma experience during the Holocaust is not widely known, even among the Roma themselves.
28
Jun
Hate Speech in the Netherlands
by Symi Rom-Rymer
Last week, popular far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders was acquitted of all charges of inciting hatred against Muslims. The allegations made against him were based on his provocative statements that likened the Koran to Mein Kampf and called Islam a fascist religion. The judges, after just 20 minutes of deliberation, threw out the case. According to the BBC, “although the found warning of a 'tsunami' of immigrants to be on the border of what is permissible, they said he had stayed within the bounds of the law. judges called some of Mr. Wilders’ comments 'crude and denigrating,' but not illegal.” Buoyed by his success, Wilders gave a victory speech following the verdict in which he did nothing to tamp down the controversy surrounding him. Instead, he declared that his win...
17
Jun
Shuttering Yale's Center on Anti-Semitism
By Symi Rom-Rymer
Yale University announced yesterday that it is closing its Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism (YIISA). According to Thomas Mattia, an official from the university’s Public Affairs office, the center is being closed down because it “was found in its routine faculty review to not have met its academic expectations.”
Faster than you can say ‘anti-Semite,’ Yale’s decision has launched a contentious debate. Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called it “particularly unfortunate and dismaying” and a victory for anti-Jewish groups. David Harris of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) said it would “create a very regrettable void” in anti-Semitism scholarship.
The trouble seems to stem from a 2010 YIISA conference entitled ‘Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity’ which focused on anti-Semitism in the Muslim world. According to the Jerusalem Post and other Jewish...
10
Jun
Is NPR Anti-Israel?
by Symi Rom-Rymer
It’s practically impossible for a news organization, especially one like NPR, that is considered left-of-center, to cover the Middle East conflict and not to be accused, by someone, of being anti-Israel. A quick Google search shows that people across the spectrum have taken issue with NPR and its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2000, CAMERA (The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America), a conservative pro-Israel media watchdog group, called the station’s coverage of Israel hostile, adding that it presented Israel as “morally reprehensible.” In May of this year, it criticized the Diane Rehm Show, saying that Rehm “stacked the deck against Israel” in a segment. Of course, it’s not only pro-Israel advocates who take issue with NPR’s Middle East reporting. In 2001, FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), a liberal...
23
May
Lars von Trier Acts Up…Again
By Symi Rom-Rymer
This past week at the Cannes International Film Festival, Danish film director and provocateur Lars von Trier announced in a press conference for his most recent film, Melancolia, that he understood Hitler and that Israel was a “pain in the ass.” These comments and several others, made in response to a question by a journalist about his self-described ‘Nazi aesthetic,’ predictably caused an instantaneous uproar at the festival. Cannes organizers responded by banning von Trier from the festival. Jason Solomons, chairman of the Film Critics' Circle in London told Reuters that he believes the political furor in the wake of von Trier’s remarks will prevent the festival from considering his current entry for the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top award.
The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors & Their Descendants (AGJHSTD), an umbrella organization...
13
May
Bosnian Jews and the Siege of Sarajevo
By Symi Rom-Rymer
People have wrestled with the question of what drives human beings to commit genocide since the end of the Holocaust. Less often considered is the flip side: Why do some societies subsumed by violence not lead to genocide? A paper recently presented at the annual Association for the Study of Nationalities conference, held at Columbia University's Harriman Institute, examines two cases of recent genocides in which two different religious minority groups not only abstained from the mass killings, but actively tried to help those who were under threat. The instance most pertinent to this forum is the case of the Sarajevo Jewish community, who in the midst of the Bosnian War (1992-1996), rescued, fed, and even educated those who were attempting to escape the military onslaught.
The Jewish presence in Bosnia dates back to the 16th...
05
May
Celebrating Bin Laden's Death
By Symi Rom-Rymer
When President Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden in the late hours of May 1st, the country breathed collective sigh of relief. Spontaneous celebrations broke out in front of The White House, at Ground Zero and in Times Square. College students mugging for the camera chanted "U-S-A, U-S-A!" There were even some reports of kegs. Eugene Robinson, a columnist for the Washington Post, wrote the next day, “The flag-waving, horn-honking crowd that converged at the White House Sunday night was brimming with unrestrained joy, unmitigated patriotism and a sense of unlimited possibility—which meant Osama bin Laden had suffered not only death but defeat as well.”
The frat-party atmosphere, however, made others queasy. The sense of unease seems to come not so much from the question of whether it was right to kill...