I was surprised last Thursday to discover that I had been accused by a Drop Site article of being part of Canary Mission – the online doxxing site that’s been targeting pro-Palestinian student organizers for over a decade.
The only connection I’ve had to Canary Mission is a highly critical piece by Aryeh Shapiro that I edited here at VISION Magazine in 2018. In fact, it’s hard to imagine anyone who actually knows me – either personally or through my work – taking last week’s accusation seriously.
Although clearly more offensive in its posture, Canary Mission functions within the same ideological paradigm as the pro-Israel Hasbara industry – one built on the foundational assumptions that:
1. Israel is essentially as innocent and virtuous as the protagonist of a children’s story,
2. those fighting against Israel are for the most part religious fanatics driven by an eschatological and expansionist anti-Jewish/anti-Western interpretation of Islam, and
3. that the criticisms we frequently hear of Israel and Zionism on campuses and on social media are simply lies aimed at manipulating Western audiences into supporting Israel’s destruction.
My approach, and that of VISION Magazine more broadly, has consistently been to advocate for understanding Palestinians and their supporters on their own terms – understanding their narratives, their identities, and their motivations for fighting Israel. Whether our objective is genuine reconciliation or decisive victory, understanding Palestinians and their supporters as they understand themselves is what will empower us to break out of this conflict and move forward.
Beyond this, I’ve personally called for Israelis and pro-Israel Diaspora Jews to apply the teachings of our sages on how one should receive criticism to how we hear denunciations of the State of Israel and its policies – as Divine messages we’re meant to internalize so as to know what we must improve.
The Hasbara organizations, by contrast, not only regularly dismiss the suffering endured by Palestinians, but even go so far as to reinterpret pro-Palestinian talking points and slogans as carrying “genocidal” intent against the Jewish people (how many pro-Israel Jews hear the chant “from the river to the sea” is a clear example).
This isn’t to say that violent and ideologically-committed anti-Jewish elements don’t exist within the Palestinian solidarity movement. It’s likely that these elements are responsible for much of the recent upsurge in violent crimes against Jews in North America. But to try painting all Palestinians and their supporters with this brush actually makes it more difficult to identify the truly dangerous ones while depriving us Israelis of the opportunity to actually hear and internalize Palestinian grievances so we can grow.
Like the Westcentric messaging of the broader Hasbara industry and pro-Israel efforts to pass anti-BDS legislation in various states, Canary Mission’s activities should be seen as reinforcing systemic anti-Semitism by pushing Jews to more closely align with the power structure in the United States against other marginalized groups.
So given the fact that I’ve been making these points for years, how could it be that someone would accuse me of being connected to what is perhaps the most aggressive organization in the Hasbara family?
According to the journalist who authored the piece, my name appears on a list of employees for what seems to be a front group for Canary Mission. She also noted that I’m friends on Facebook with some of the other names on the list.
Both of these claims are actually true. She sent me the list and my name does in fact appear on it. I told her, however, that my name is relatively common here in Israel and that this person isn’t me.
Of the three other names she noted that I’m friends with on Facebook, I explained how I know the two that I actually know in real life and told her that I don’t know the third. For years, I would meet people at events, friend them on Facebook, and never interact again. I have thousands of Facebook friends and don’t know most of them. But I assume at least a few hundred of them are likely Jews who moved to Israel from English-speaking countries.
The fact that Israel’s a small country and a lot of its English-speaking communities overlap makes social media connections less significant than they might be in the United States.
It’s no secret that after spending my teenage years outside the Jewish community, I rejoined my people and our collective story through the militant Jewish Defense League. Despite the fact that I’ve evolved politically since then and my positions today are clearly different from those that most people associate with JDL, I’ve never denied my involvement with the group and even appreciate the role it played in my journey. I wouldn’t be who I am today without that experience and its influence on my trajectory.
As controversial as Canary Mission might be, it doesn’t come close to the level of JDL. So if I’m open about the fact that I was part of JDL, why – other than the fact that it’s not true – would I deny accusations of involvement with Canary Mission?
Anyone who takes a serious look at my articles, podcasts, and videos over the years should immediately see that Drop Site got the wrong person. Whether or not one agrees with my politics, it should be obvious that my positions don’t align with the Hasbara industry – least of all Canary Mission.
