The Oct. 17 explosion at Gaza’s al-Ahli Arab Hospital should have been a wake-up call for the mainstream news and pundits. Hamas initially said the blast, which killed hundreds of Palestinian people, was caused by an airstrike from the Israeli Defense Forces. Further investigation, however, suggested it was actually a malfunctioned rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Nevertheless, the incident set off weeks of finger-pointing and debate in the media, with The New York Times issuing a mea culpa for its reporting and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib being censured, in part, for blaming the IDF.
As Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza, in which more than 11,000 Palestinian people have reportedly been killed, one would think everyone would have learned to avoid jumping to conclusions. But that does not appear to be the case.
In one of the latest incidents, Jewish groups from metro Detroit claim their members were prevented from attending a “March for Israel” rally in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday due to antisemitic bus drivers, who called in sick and left hundreds of their members stranded at an airport.
The trip was organized by local groups the Jewish Federation of Detroit and the Jewish Community Relations Council. According to reporting from the Detroit News, the Jewish Federation of Detroit’s David Kurzmann blamed the incident on a “malicious walk-off of bus drivers” who allegedly refused to transport the travelers.
“When we were informed of this, we were told that they did so when they were told of this assignment today,” Kurzmann said, according to the Detroit Free Press. “To me, it was a malicious act targeting the Jewish community. It was relayed to us that it had to do with the nature of the event.”
At least two travelers told the Free Press that they felt the alleged boycott was an example of antisemitism.
“This was a peaceful march, with nothing negative or violent, just an attempt to share our values and viewpoint in a normal American way,” one member said. “And we were prevented from doing that by people who harbor hatred of us.”
It’s important to note that this entire narrative hinges on something one guy said. Both the Detroit News and Free Press report that the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit declined to identify the name of the bus company or companies who it says refused them service, with the Free Press reporting that Kurzmann did not do so because the alleged “sick-out” was the independent action of the drivers.
This doesn’t quite make any sense. While Kurzmann may not want to harm a business for its role in an incident it could not control, withholding the name of the bus company makes it impossible for journalists to verify what actually happened.
Nevertheless, numerous news outlets ran with the claims as fact, without qualifiers. (Something like “according to Jewish groups” or “Jewish groups say” would help here.) Take a look at these headlines.
Fox 2 Detroit: “Bus drivers stage sick-out preventing local Jews from attending D.C. rally”
The New York Post: “About 300 Jewish people headed to DC Israel rally left stranded by bus drivers staging ‘deliberate and malicious’ walkout” (It notes the Jewish Federation of Detroit “repeatedly refused to name” the bus company.)
News Nation: “Activists stranded heading to DC rally after bus drivers’ ‘malicious’ walkout” (It reports: “The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit declined to identify the bus company or companies involved. So far, no company has issued any statement regarding the event.”)
You get the idea.
Of course, antisemitism exists. (So does COVID-19, and the flu season; the drivers could also very well have been sick. There’s also been a well-documented labor shortage in recent years.) But even if the bus drivers did stage a boycott, it’s important to remember that criticism of the actions of the Israeli government is not necessarily antisemitism — although it’s easy to see why the people trapped for hours at the airport, causing them to miss a historic rally, would feel that way.
The simple fact is we don’t know for certain what happened here. Neither the the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit nor the Jewish Community Relations Council responded to Metro Times’s requests for the name of the bus company.
A similar thing happened following the alleged murder of Samantha Woll, a Detroit synagogue leader who was found stabbed to death outside her home on Oct. 21. Given its backdrop against the escalating violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the Jewish community understandably feared the worst. But Detroit police soon said they did not believe the alleged murder was a hate crime, arresting a suspect who reportedly is Jewish. (The suspect was later released without charges; the investigation remains ongoing.)
In the meantime, many prominent pundits swiftly blamed Woll’s death on antisemitism.
“This is a hate crime,” the Israeli influencer Hananya Naftali wrote on social media. “Jews fear for their lives as Antisemitic violence has risen since the October 7th massacre of Israelis.”
“Enough. Enough of the hate. Enough of the antisemitism,” the podcaster Steve Hilton wrote.
“This is a hate crime,” conservative activist Laura Loomer wrote. “Likely Incited by Rashida’s calls for violence against Jews and her support for HAMAS.”
“We MUST find a way to stop hatred, and to raise our children to respect those of other faiths, races [and] nationalities,” actress Mia Farrow wrote.
Again, you get the idea.
This is a dangerous time. People are scared, and angry, and upset. That’s all the more reason — for all of us — to be more careful with our words, and to do our best to seek the truth before casting judgment.
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