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Sunday 28 April 2019

Shaming Religious Fanatics

Every time terror strikes, a similar and logical drama unfolds. We express shock, outrage and revulsion at the level of human depravity, we grieve for the victims, we commit to fighting the evil of terrorism, and then we resolve to overcome the darkness of that evil with the light of human solidarity.
This is not just the right thing to do — it’s what we need to do.   
When the terrorist act is motivated by religious belief, as was the case with the horrific massacres in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, we are careful not to offend the religion as we condemn the evil of the act. That is also the right thing to do.
By now, we know that the bombings of churches and hotels across Sri Lanka, which resulted in 321 dead (as of press time) and more than 500 wounded, were carried out, according to local authorities, by a radical Islamist group (and perhaps a second) with help from international militants.
It’s worth noting that reactions from across the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds generally avoided mentioning the religion of the alleged perpetrators.
“There is no silver bullet when you deal with religious radicals who are willing to kill and die in the name of their God. But at the very least, we owe it to all past and future victims to look for ways to disturb their souls.”
“We denounce this heinous outrage and appeal for zero tolerance of those who use terror to advance their objectives,” World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder said in a typical reaction.
“We are outraged by the horrific attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka. … Such outrages cannot be tolerated in any civil society, and nobody should be forced to worship in fear. We hope that those who are responsible and those who aided and abetted them will be brought to justice,” Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Chairman Arthur Stark and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein said in a statement.
Those statements could have applied to any terrorist act, regardless of motive.
It’s true that when the motive is fascism or racism or any motive not rooted in religion, we are less reluctant to condemn the ideology, as we saw with the recent attacks in Pittsburgh and New Zealand. But maybe because a disproportionate number of violent acts are committed in the name of Islam (including many against other Muslims), we are especially and justifiably sensitive not to paint all Muslims with that dark brush.
The question remains, however: Can we add something to our condemnation of religious terrorism that would deter such acts without offending a whole religion?
I realize there is no silver bullet when you deal with religious radicals who are willing to kill and die in the name of their God. But at the very least, we owe it to all past and future victims to look for ways to disturb their souls.
“Can we add something to our condemnation of religious terrorism that would deter such acts without offending a whole religion?”
One approach we have tried is to claim the terrorist has “hijacked” or “perverted” his religion. But because this is usually directed at the general public, it serves more to defend the image of the religion than to shame potential killers.
And let’s face it: Any fanatic who thinks he is doing God’s work by murdering innocent people — whether he is Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu — deserves to be humiliated.
You can’t shame a religious killer with secular talk; the only language he’ll listen to is the language of faith. Religious leaders of all faiths must speak directly to their own fanatics and show them why they are sinners. The point is not to defend a religion with the public, but to shame and potentially even rehabilitate fanatics who harbor murderous beliefs.
As part of that process, we ought to consider different labels for religious killers. It’s not enough to use obvious labels like terrorist or extremist or hijacker of religion. That just feeds into their pathologies.
One label I heard recently that may have some merit in diminishing the fanatic is “half-believer.” A religious killer may be a believer, but he is incomplete. He has a long way to go before he can be a true believer. Because of his violent ways, not only is he not superior to others, he is inferior. That is pretty sobering. 
I have no clue, of course, if any language can ever get the attention of a religious extremist who is drunk on certitude. Maybe the only real language is the blunt threat of physical violence or “bringing them to justice,” which must always be our primary options.
But what I do know is that every time a fanatic murders in the name of religion, all religions suffer. It’s up to each faith to take responsibility for their own fanatics. That wouldn’t necessarily eradicate terrorism, but it would help rehabilitate religion

The Sweet Magic of Mimouna

Photo from Wikipedia
When I was growing up in Los Angeles, the way my family finished Passover was very different from how most of my friends’ families did. My peers were mostly Ashkenazic Jews, and as the holiday ended, their parents would dutifully pack away their Passover dishes for another year.
In our small West Hollywood apartment, though, something magical was happening.
My parents — immigrants from Morocco and Algeria — were gearing up for one of the highlights of our family’s Jewish year, a remarkable celebration called Mimouna.
Rooted in the Jewish communities of North Africa, Mimouna, which falls on the night when Passover ends, is one of Sephardic Judaism’s most beautiful celebrations. For our family, it was an all-night party. My mother, dressed in a beautiful kaftan, would lay out a sumptuous spread of Moroccan sweets on our Mimouna table — marzipan pastries, dates and fried dough pancakes dipped in honey called moufleta, to name just a few. My father would crank up Arabic music or an Enrico Macias album on the stereo. We’d swing open the doors and welcome scores of guests: fellow Moroccan Jews, Holocaust survivors from Eastern Europe, Israelis, Muslims, Christians and a fair share of neighbors who just wanted to see what the excitement was all about.
From those modest beginnings in the homes of families like ours, the sweet magic of Mimouna has grown in recent years into a far larger phenomenon. When Mimouna arrives the night of April 27, Mimouna celebrations will take place across Israel in homes, public parks, gardens and city streets. Here in Los Angeles, too, and around the country, congregations and communities, both Sephardic and Ashkenazic, will join in the festivities.
How did a Moroccan Jewish festival with origins shrouded in mystery grow into such a popular celebration? What is it about Mimouna — an open house party featuring lavish sweet tables, Andalusian Arabic music, colorful caftans and Judeo-Arabic blessings — that has created a buzz in Jewish communities and penetrated the heart and soul of Israeli society? 
Hefzi Cohen-Montague has one answer. “I think all Israelis enjoy Mimouna, because what’s there not to enjoy?” she said. “Sweets, delicious foods, music, happiness — it’s all positive.” Cohen-Montague grew up in the small Israeli coastal town of Givat Olga. “As a child, we went ‘Mimouna hopping’ from one house to the other, but it was exclusively our North African neighbors and friends,” she recalled. “Ashkenazi Israelis were not part of our Mimouna experience.”
Today, Cohen-Montague hosts one of the largest Mimounas in Jerusalem, with people of all backgrounds and ages mingling and celebrating together. She said the event’s growth reflects the evolution of her place as a Sephardic Israeli woman: “We’ve come a long way in Israeli society, from the days when Moroccans were viewed as second-class citizens, to all Israelis now wanting to come celebrate our festival with us.”
An active participant in an egalitarian Sephardic minyan, Cohen-Montague welcomes another aspect of her celebration: men joining the women to help mix the dough and fry it in oil to make moufleta, the crunchy pancakes dripping in honey that are the culinary centerpiece of Mimouna. 
This year, Cohen-Montague’s Mimouna was advertised on Facebook and three Israeli organizations are co-sponsors: Tikkun (a Mizrahi-based movement for social change), Ha-Yeshiva ha-Mizrahit (a Mizrahi-based Torah study group for young Israelis) and Congregation Degel Yehudah (Israel’s first-ever Sephardic-egalitarian minyan in Jerusalem). The three groups have joined forces to help spread the magic of Mimouna to as large and diverse an audience as possible.
Figuring that having so many sponsors would make for an especially large gathering, I asked Cohen-Montague where this year’s Mimouna would take place. She seemed surprised by the question. “In my home!” she said. “Where else would you hold a Mimouna — in a public social hall? Mimouna is first and foremost about opening up your home, and no matter how many people show up, there’s always plenty of room and food for everyone.” 
That’s part of the sweet magic of Mimouna: There are no formal invitations, and food is abundant and seemingly endless. The traditional greeting at Mimouna is Tirbah u’tissad (May you prosper and succeed), and it seems that the aura of prosperity and success hovers over every Mimouna. 
Photo from depositphotos.com
Of course, Cohen-Montague said she also cherishes the values that make Mimouna particularly attractive to contemporary Israelis. “Unity, acceptance and tolerance amongst Jews, and especially the value of cordial relations between Jews and Arabs, are all central to the Mimouna,” she said. “We open our Mimouna to all Israelis — Jews of all backgrounds as well as Muslims. Most Israelis are tired of living in a polarized, war-torn society, and Mimouna offers an experience when all of that goes away, at least for one night.”
That unifying quality goes back to Mimouna’s roots, said Rabbi Eliyahu Marciano, Israel’s foremost expert on the holiday. “In Morocco, at the conclusion of Passover, our Muslim neighbors would come to Jewish homes with leaves of fresh Sheba vine and nana (mint), flour, milk, honey and sometimes fresh fish,” he recalled. “They helped us launch Mimouna, would wish us a blessed and successful celebration, and then asked for one of us to bless them.”
Marciano has written three books on Mimouna, one titled “Mimouna: The Holiday of Reconciliation and Reunification.” Those timeless themes have particular relevance today, he said: “We had cordial relations with our Muslim neighbors in Morocco, and Mimouna serves as a powerful reminder of that today for all Israelis.”
When I asked Marciano about Mimouna’s origins, he offered several theories, including that Sephardic exiles from Spain brought the custom to Morocco in the 15th century. But when I probed further, he told me I was asking the wrong questions. The proper way to experience Mimouna, he said, is not to ask where it comes from, but rather to understand its symbolism and spiritual depth.
“Mimouna is first and foremost about opening up your home, and no matter how many people show up, there’s always plenty of room and food for everyone.”
— Hefzi Cohen-Montague
Marciano compared it to the widespread custom of ending Shabbat with a melaveh malkah — a gathering to escort the departing Sabbath Bride — and Simchat Torah, the joyous celebration of Torah that follows the weeklong festival of Sukkot. “We started Passover by saying, ‘Let all who are hungry come and eat,’ and we end this joyous holiday of redemption in a celebratory fashion, by once again opening our homes and inviting everyone in to eat and celebrate,” Marciano said.
While Marciano’s books helped document Mimouna’s history and customs for Israel’s traditional/observant communities, a new book shares Mimouna with a wider audience. Its author, Rabbi Dalia Marx, is not Moroccan, and she did not grow up celebrating Mimouna. A 10th-generation Jerusalem native, Marx is an Israeli Reform rabbi with a doctorate in liturgy who teaches at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem.
Aimed at a contemporary Israeli audience, her book, “Ba-Zeman (About Time): Journeys in the Jewish-Israeli Calendar,” is a month-by-month survey of the traditional Jewish holidays and modern-day Israeli observances. I asked Marx what motivated her to include Mimouna. “In the spirit of what Mimouna stands for — inclusion — I felt that it was time to include this rich, beautiful and meaningful holiday,” she said. “Today, Mimouna is a well-established part of the tapestry of Israeli celebrations.”
Mimouna’s inclusion in such a book reflects a sea change in Israeli society. The culture of Marx’s childhood sought to create a uniform Israeli, and Mimouna did not fit into that Israel’s heavily Ashkenazi-Eurocentric narrative. Mimouna’s new popularity reflects how today’s Israel fosters ethnic pride for people of various Jewish backgrounds. 
“Today’s bigger question is not whether or not we celebrate Mimouna, but should Mimouna remain a Moroccan festival that the rest of Israelis are invited to, or should it become an official Israeli holiday?” Marx writes. While she does not have a definitive answer, the fact that this is even a question shows how big Mimouna has become.
Marx’s book beautifully brings to life the vibrant features that adorn a traditional Mimouna table. These include a whole fish, a bowl of flour topped with gold coins, dairy products, honey, dates, a colorful array of marzipan sweets and pastries, tea with mint, mahya (Moroccan arak) and, of course, the tasty moufleta pancakes. The custom is to line the table with flowers and green leaves, and the tablecloth often has an elaborate mosaic design. These foods and decorations are symbols of fertility, prosperity, abundance and sweetness, all reflecting the Tirbah u’tissad Mimouna greeting.
“Mimouna has a uniquely feminine vibe,” Marx said. “Preparing for Mimouna is a traditional bonding space for women, and they take tremendous pride in the tables they prepare.”
In a newly produced YouTube video on the holiday, Neta Elkayam elaborates on the woman’s touch at Mimouna. “The Mimouna table goes far beyond just setting a holiday table,” said Elkayam, a multidisciplinary artist and world-renowned Israeli-Moroccan singer. “It’s a culinary work of art, an artistic display of colorful desserts that every Moroccan woman creates with pride and love. Egalitarian values are great, but this one belongs to women!” 
Elkayam feels that Mimouna offers Israelis a glimpse into a distinct strain of Judaism, far from the mainstream narratives of discrimination and oppression. “Moroccan Jewry’s narrative is not one of trauma or persecution,” Elkayam said. “Through our Mimouna, we offer Israelis a non-traumatized Judaism of sunshine, warm desert climates, joie de vivre and cordial relations with our non-Jewish neighbors. We invite all Israelis to come experience this type of Judaism, as we feel it could provide a healthier narrative going into the future.”
Meir Buzaglo shares her perspective. The son of the Moroccan composer and singer Rabbi David Buzaglo, he is a professor in Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and chairs the social justice organization Tikkun. He calls Mimouna “one of Moroccan Jewry’s greatest contributions to Israeli society.”
With others from Tikkun, Buzaglo has helped spread Mimouna to cities and communities all over Israel, creating themed Mimounas centering around music, Torah study and dialogue groups. One this year is a joint Jewish-Bedouin Mimouna. “Our goal is to turn Mimouna into a transformative day of Israeli unity, and we have even bigger plans for Mimouna 2020,” he said. 
Mimouna’s practice and message also are spreading in Jewish communities outside of Israel.  Public Mimounas around the United States this year include a celebration at New York’s 14th Street Y and the Israeli-American Council’s Mimouna at the Solomon Schechter Day School in Newton, Mass. Synagogues planning Mimounas include Magen David Sephardic Congregation in Rockville, Md. (known as “The Sephardic Synagogue of the Nation’s Capital”), and Kahal Joseph Congregation, an Iraqi-Sephardic synagogue in West Los Angeles. In the Bay Area, JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa) is partnering with Urban Adamah (an educational farm and community center in Berkeley) for its annual Mimouna.
It’s striking that none of these Mimouna celebrations is sponsored or hosted by Moroccan Jewish organizations or synagogues. In communities that have long been dominated by Ashkenazic customs, Mimouna now invites Jews of all ethnic backgrounds to taste and feel the flavors, sounds and aura of North African Sephardic Judaism.
Rabbi Sarah Bassin of Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, a Reform congregation, is what I call an “Ashkenazic Mimouna Pioneer.” In 2015, her first year at Emanuel, she was looking to build a creative forum in which her synagogue’s young professionals could meet and interact with young professionals from other Jewish organizations in Los Angeles.
In partnership with JIMENA, Sinai Temple’s ATID, the American Jewish Committee and a host of other organizations, Bassin started “Mimouna LA.” In a converted warehouse space, the team created a Mimouna decked out with all of the traditional décor, music and foods. One added feature: booths representing various organizations, to give young professionals the chance to explore L.A.’s diverse Jewish community.
In U.S. communities that have long been dominated by Ashkenazic customs, Mimouna now invites Jews of all ethnic backgrounds to taste and feel the flavors, sounds and aura of North African Sephardic Judaism.
“I wanted young professionals to feel what Moroccan Jewry experiences by going from home to home on Mimouna — I wanted them to feel comfortable going from organization to organization,” Bassin said. “People loved the open and inviting aura that Mimouna provided, and one of the most powerful parts of the evening was that the majority of the 300-plus attendees were not Moroccan, Sephardic or Mizrahi.”
For all the excitement about such public Mimouna celebrations, Esther Malka of North Hollywood, for one, still sees the home as the best place for a Mimouna. Born and raised in a Moroccan home in Israel, Malka migrated with her family to Los Angeles in the 1970s, when she was 11 years old. At first, the family felt alone and isolated, especially the night of Mimouna. “There wasn’t the large community we have here today,” Malka said. “My mother prepared the same beautiful Mimouna table she did in Israel, but missing were the hundreds of guests coming in and out of our house.”
For the past 28 years, Malka and her husband, Haim, have hosted a beautiful Mimouna that now attracts over 300 guests. “I’m proud to have successfully recaptured the aura of Mimouna I grew up with in Israel,” she said. “I love seeing so many guests — Sephardic, Ashkenazic, Israeli, American, religious and secular — all enjoying the sweets, the music and the joyful atmosphere.”
Malka is particularly motivated by her four children and two grandchildren, who eagerly anticipate the event each year. “I feel great knowing that by my doing this, Mimouna will carry on well into the future within my family,” she said.
Hearing that, I couldn’t help but think of my own family’s celebrations back in our West Hollywood apartment. Who could have guessed back then that Mimouna would reach blockbuster status, becoming a national holiday in Israel and a celebration marked by Diaspora Jews of all backgrounds? To paraphrase the traditional Mimouna greeting, the celebration itself has found prosperity and success. Tirbah u’tissad.

Rabbi Daniel Bouskila is the director of the Sephardic Educational Center and the rabbi of the Westwood Village Synagogue.

Mourning the Loss of Chabad Synagogue Congregant Lori Gilbert Kaye

Lori Gilbert Kaye
Today an anti-Semitic hate crime shot and killed my friend Lori Gilbert Kaye z”l while she was praying in synagogue. Lori you were a jewel of our community a true Eshet Chayil, a Woman of Valor. You were always running to do a mitzvah (good deed) and generously gave tzedaka (charity) to everyone. Your final good deed was jumping in front of Rabbi Mendel Goldstein to take the bullet and save his life.
Your life was defined by your good deeds. Lori leaves behind a devastated husband and 22-year-old daughter. When I heard the horrific news, Lori I called your best friend Dr. Roneet Lev Lee who is at the hospital with the other victims. Friends, if you had not heard, please note and share this widely – Today at the Chabad of Poway Synagogue on Shabbat and the last day of the Passover holiday, 19-year-old John Earnest stormed in and said ‘F*ck the Jews’ and opened fire with an AR-type assault weapon during the Rabbi’s sermon.
The hateful murderer had written and posted online a manifesto with anti-Semitic screeds and talked about planning the attack! He shot and killed Lori Kaye z”l who took the bullets for the Rabbi. Tragically the Rabbi was still shot in the hand and he STILL kept giving the sermon telling everyone to stay strong.
The horror continues, the murderer also shot a 8-year-old girl, Noya Dahan. She asked for her pictured to be shared and for everyone to know she is strong. Noya’s family moved to San Diego from the Israeli city of Sderot (San Diego’s sister city) to get away from the terrorism and the constant attacks on their community.  The other victim who was shot was Along Peretz, age 32, Noya’s uncle who came from Sderot to visit his family for the Passover holiday.  They are both now in stable condition. The peaceful city in Israel they’re from is in the Negev and is less than a mile from the Gaza border. For years their home has been a major target of Qassam rocket attacks from terrorists in the Gaza Strip. A brave off-duty border patrol agent working as a security guard chased and fired at him as he ran off. Fortunately he was caught and is in custody. Hate crimes are real and are deadly. Anti-Semitism is real and is deadly. The press is saying this is a “possible hate crime.”
THIS IS A HATE CRIME! Lori would have wanted all of us to stand up to hate. She was a warrior of love and she will be missed. Please share and be strong!

Friday 26 April 2019

Paris uni cancels conference with Jewish philosopher due to threat of protests


Organisers pull event with academic Alain Finkielkraut saying 'security is our top priority and it’s preferable to take no risks'

Alain Finkielkraut in his Paris home (Robert Sarner/Times of Israel)
Alain Finkielkraut in his Paris home (Robert Sarner/Times of Israel)



Organisers cancelled a conference at a Paris university featuring an address by Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut following the threat of protests.
“Security is our top priority and it’s preferable to take no risks,” organisers of the event at Sciences Po university wrote Tuesday.

The conference on Europe’s future was to include other speakers, but they were not named in the letter threatening protests. Finkielkraut was accosted recently on a Paris street for being a “Zionist.”
In their statement, the authors of the call to demonstrate outside the conference at Sciences Po wrote: “We cannot accept Finkielkraut’s ‘modern Europe’ and his islamophobic, racist, sexist and homophobic rhetoric.”
The university recently cancelled an event on “Israeli apartheid,” which the protesters alleged as showing a pro-Israeli bias by faculty.
Finkielkraut is a centrist thinker who has criticised the far right, as well as Muslim communities and far-left activists, for failing to integrate. A best-selling author, Finkielkraut entered the pantheon of French academia in 2016 when he was admitted into the Academie Francaise, a council of 40 greats elected for life.
A Zionist supporter of Israel, he is a member of the dovish J Call group styled after the J Street lobby in the United States.
In February, police extracted Finkielkraut from a hostile crowd after he was recognised on the street by participants of so-called yellow vests demonstrations over the cost of living. His assailants called him a “dirty Zionist” and told him to “go back to Tel Aviv.”

UKIP candidate: ‘I’m sorry about the Holocaust but I don’t give a s***’


Isabel Infantes / AFP / Getty Images
A YouTuber who is UKIP’s star recruit to run in the upcoming European elections has a history of using racial slurs, including repeatedly saying the word n-word, BuzzFeed News has found.
Carl Benjamin, known by his moniker Sargon of Akkad, was tapped to run by UKIP for next month’s election as part of the anti-immigration party’s attempt to appeal to younger, more online, far-right voters.
Since the announcement earlier this month, much of the mainstream media scrutiny of UKIP and Benjamin has focused on a disparaging tweet about rape he sent to Labour MP Jess Phillips. It led to tense scenes at the party’s official launch, where Benjamin shouted at a woman journalist that he wouldn’t apologise.

Isabel Infantes / AFP / Getty Images
UKIP leader Gerard Batten defended Benjamin and fellow YouTuber-cum-UKIP candidate Markus Meechan — known online as Count Dankula. “These gentlemen are free speech merchants making comedy acts.”
But a review of YouTube videos, recorded Google Hangouts, livestreams, and podcasts featuring Benjamin shows the newly minted political candidate has a track record of using racial slurs and other offensive terms.
In two videos — one of which has since been deleted by YouTube — Benjamin repeatedly used the n-word. He said a YouTuber and the alt-right were “faggots” and “acting like niggers” in showing him disrespect because “white people are supposed to be polite”.
In another video, Benjamin said Jewish people “needed to drop the identity politics” before, adding: “I’m sorry about the Holocaust, but I don’t give a shit.” In another video, Benjamin linked feminism with mass killings carried out by misogynistic men.
Last week, BuzzFeed News revealed Benjamin was organising his campaign for the EU elections on a private Discord server, inviting supporters to join his gaming chat community, which was full of death threats towards EU MPs, anti-Semitism, and white supremacist comments. Responding to questions, Benjamin blamed “alt-right infiltration” and that his “moderation team” sometimes missed the comments.
Approached by BuzzFeed News for comment on Thursday, Benjamin provided a statement: “BREAKING NEWS: Anti-political correctness entertainer has used naughty words for fun. Subscribe to Buzzfeed for more hard-hitting and worthwhile political activism.
“I expect my statement to be printed in full, have a great day.”
UKIP declined to comment when asked whether it would stand by Benjamin as a candidate and whether the political organisation endorsed the use of racist and anti-gay language.

Leon Neal / Getty Images
In February last year, Benjamin took part in a Google Hangout with a far-right YouTube user who goes by the name Michelle Catlin. The discussion centred around how various far-right figures were making memes about Benjamin’s self-proclaimed belief in “liberalism”.
But over halfway into the two-hour video, Benjamin seemed to lose his patience for the discussion. He repeatedly resorted to calling Catlin the n-word for not being able to have a civilised conversation.
“This is what I mean about the chat, I just can’t be bothered to deal with people who treat me like this, it’s really annoying,” Benjamin said. “You’re acting like a bunch of niggers, just so you know.
“You act like white niggers. Exactly how you describe black people acting is the impression I get dealing with the alt-right.
“I am just not in the mood to deal with this type of disrespect. I know it sounds like, ‘Oh my god, he’s demanding respect.’ Well to be honest with you, do you not think we should have a level of decorum and interpersonal interactions?
“‘Oh look the internet is bullying me,’ I am not saying you’re bullying me. I’m just saying there’s just no point dealing with this type of attitude




Here's the BuzzFeed News video showing UKIP's star candidate Carl Benjamin – known as Sargon of Akkad – repeatedly using racial slurs in YouTube videos:

987 people are talking about this
Benjamin pushed back against a portrayal of being an “upper-class twat”: “You understand I am a person don’t you?”
He continued: “You carry on, but don’t expect that I have to debate with one of you faggots. Why would I bother? Like why would I bother?”
“‘You act like an upper class twat’? Maybe you’re just acting like a nigger, mate. Have you considered that? Do you think white people act like this? White people are meant to be polite and respectful to one another and you guys can’t even act like white people.
“It’s really, like, amazing to me.”
The payment platform Patreon later removed Benjamin from its service saying it had acted on a complaint about the February video of the Google Hangout with Catlin. Benjamin responded by posting another YouTube video, titled “You Cannot Trust Patreon (#PatreonPurge 1),” where he explained why he’d repeatedly used the slurs.
“I was trying to use their own language against them,” Benjamin said. “And do what I can to hurt them because they were doing what they could to make my life an absolute misery.”

Benjamin appears alongside comedian Carlos Alazraqui and YouTube-based independent journalist Tim Pool in New York last year.
Sargon of Akkad / YouTube / Via youtube.com
Benjamin appears alongside comedian Carlos Alazraqui and YouTube-based independent journalist Tim Pool in New York last year.
A few months after the rant on the Google Hangout, Benjamin appeared in New York alongside YouTube-based independent journalist Tim Pool and stand-up actor-comedian Carlos Alazraqui for an evening of free-wheeling discussion with questions asked from the gathered audience.
The video of the trio’s appearance was uploaded to Benjamin’s YouTube channel under the title “The Manhattan Panel”. Towards the end of the evening, an audience member asked about an “influential and powerful” Jewish political group, and how he can “point them out without automatically engaging in what can be considered identity politics”.
Benjamin addressed the question by talking about the antisemitism scandal within Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party: “I am loathe to defend a socialist like Jeremy Corbyn but he didn’t deserve the absolute pasting he got in my country.”
He went with a rambling explanation of “resentment” towards Jews and “identity politics”.
“Jewish people do very well in our societies. That’s to their credit, they work hard. It’s not that this is illegitimately gained. But then I can see why people are resentful that successful, rich, well-off people, who are well connected, who are socially very advanced, are then playing the game of identity politics as well.
“I can see why it doesn’t seem fair. It seems like an unfair defence, an unfair advantage that they have. If someone were to say, ‘Well that’s anti-semitic thing to say,’ it would sound to me like someone criticising feminism and being called a mysoginist. To me it’s just another brand of identity politics.”

Sargon of Akkad / YouTube / Via youtube.com
Benjamin said there needed to be an “honest conversation” and continued: “Jewish people are very smart, they work very hard, of course they’re successful, if we want to even have any idea that we’re living in a meritocracy, if Jews weren’t succeeding in our societies they must be being held back. But they’re not, they’re doing great, because they’re not being held back, because they do work hard, because they are smart.
“We need Jewish people, unfortunately for them, have got to drop the identity politics.
“I’m sorry about the Holocaust but I don’t give a shit. I’m sorry.”

In 2017, Benjamin interviewed a Singaporean blogger called Amos Yee for his podcast, The Thinkery Podcast, where the two discussed scrapping the age of consent for sex. During the interview, Yee argued it “should be fine” and “completely reasonable” for adults to have sex with 13- or 14-year-olds.
“It’s controversial because people have a kind of mental block in their minds when they talk about this,” Benjamin said. “Because in, I think probably this country, we’re in America at the moment and in Britain the age of consent is 16. If you were to say something like, ‘Well, I think it should be reduced to 14,’ that sounds like a hugely controversial opinion, that sounds like you want adults to prey on children.”
“Exactly,” Yee replied.
“It’s actually not as controversial as you think,” Benjamin said. “For example, I think in the Netherlands the age of consent is something like 12 or 14. It’s actually surprisingly young to Western, you know, English-speaking sensibilities. But across the European continent its a lot lower than you would think.
“So you’re being treated like you’re a terrible criminal but that means the Dutch are terrible criminals as well.”
The age of consent for sex in the Netherlands is 16 years old, consistent with the UK. Benjamin added that he didn’t want to change the age of consent.
Benjamin has also addressed the topic of male mass murder and feminism to his YouTube followers multiple times. As the Guardian first reported on Monday, in a 2014 video posted after Elliot Rodger murdered six people in California, Benjamin told viewers: “This is what feminism has wrought — a generation of men who do not know what to do, who are being demonised for what they are.”

Benjamin discussing feminism and male mass murders in YouTube livestream last year.
Sargon of Akkad Live / YouTube / Via youtube.com
Benjamin discussing feminism and male mass murders in YouTube livestream last year.
In a YouTube livestream posted in May last year, Benjamin returned to the topic. His livestream was titled “The Incel Rebellion Has Begun” and the YouTuber repeatedly laughed while scrolling through the online news coverage of the Toronto van attack, where a self-described incel inspired by Elliot Rodger murdered 10 people.
He read the New York Times definition of incels, that is, “misogynists who are deeply suspicious and disparaging of women, whom they blame for denying them their right to sexual intercourse”.
“They sound like feminists who blame men for denying them the top jobs that they deserve,” Benjamin said. “This entitlement thing, if feminists hadn’t spent the last 20 fucking years being so goddamn entitled, I wouldn’t be able to sit there and turn this around and make incels sound like a male-feminist movement. Incidentally, to point how absolutely pathetic feminists are.”
In an archived version of a YouTube video Benjamin posted in 2015, the political commentator narrated along to a 2011 educational video about the word “retard” and other abusive terms towards minorities, which featured Glee cast members Jane Lynch and Lauren Potter.
It showed a series of actors as minorities asking for people not to call them slurs. In Benjamin’s video, he paused after each one to repeat the slurs, often gleefully, or go further.

Sargon of Akkad / YouTube / Archive.org / Via archive.org
It opens with a black actor saying, “It’s not acceptable to call me a nigger.”
“Why would you begin our conversation like that?” Benjamin said, pausing the video. “It kind of makes me think you want the internet to open up with a big bunch of memes on your ass calling you a nigger. It’s not personal — no one really thinks you’re a nigger.”
“It’s just that you’ve turned around and said, ‘It’s not acceptable to call me a nigger!’ And no one fucking one knows you, dude, you’re wearing a suit and tie. No one thinks you’re some gangster or anything,” he said.

Sargon of Akkad / YouTube / Archive.org / Via archive.org
Later, an Asian actor says it’s “not acceptable to call me a chink”.
“You lose! It’s actually fine. It’s actually just fucking fine and I’ll tell you why. Because Asians are privileged,” Benjamin says. After ranting about Asians “making more money”, doing “better in life” and having “institutional privilege” over white people, Benjamin adds: “So fuck off, chink, it’s ok for me to call you this because racism is power plus prejudice.”
A male actor then says, “It’s not acceptable to call me a fag.”
“Oh fuck off, you fag,” Benjamin replies. “That’s not racial discrimination, that’s not even sexual discrimination, that’s just you being a fucking fag. I don’t even know if you’re gay, you might not be gay, but you’re still a fag. Shut up, fuck off.”
Another male actor then says to the camera, “It’s not acceptable to call me a kike.” The video pauses and Benjamin says, “I totally agree, absolutely unacceptable, how dare you.”

Sargon of Akkad / YouTube / Archive.org / Via archive.org
Anti-Semitic images are then overlayed on the screen, showing several different versions of hook-nosed caricatures.
The video ends on Potter, who has Down syndrome, asking not to be called a “retard”. Alongside her, Lynch says the r-word is like any other minority slur.
“Well then good job trivialising minority slurs, you nigger, spic, fag, chink, kike, retard,” Benjamin said, again pausing the video. “Who the fuck do you think you are? Do you think you’re my mum or something?”
The video was later removed from YouTube for violating the company’s policies.
Additional reporting by James MacWhirter.