A letter-writer who blames Jews for bringing anti-Semitic hatred upon themselves while causing many of the world’s ills hoped to get a second op-ed piece into the Berkeley Daily Planet. Instead he received a public tongue-lashing from the paper’s editor.
Kurosh Arianpour, an Iranian-born student studying in India, sparked something of a furor when his op-ed — claiming Jews brought persecution on themselves from the times of Cyrus the Great up to the Holocaust and beyond — appeared in the Planet’s Aug. 8 edition. While readers were understandably outraged by Arianpour’s assertion, anger was also leveled at Planet editor Becky O’Malley for publishing a submission she described to j. as “overt anti-Semitism.”
At the time, she told j. the fact an educated person could hold such putrid views should be an eye-opener for Bay Area readers, and warranted publication. But she had a fairly curt description for Arianpour after reviewing a second anti-Semitic screed he sent her way in recent weeks: “I realized he was something of a dumb kid and I had to talk to him in something of a patronizing way the way you would talk to a kid.”
O’Malley’s Sept. 12 editorial, “Unlearning Anti-Semitism: A Few Pointers,” explained the difference between the terms “Zionist” and “Jew,” the folly of using them interchangeably and the unacceptability of anti-Semitism.
“What has made many of our Jewish readers and others extremely unhappy is the way you keep trying to blame all Jews or even all Israelis for the actions of the government of Israel which you don’t like. That’s called ‘anti-Semitism,'” read the editorial.
“Your statement that ‘Jews/Zionists’ have been the most hated throughout history is nonsense. You need to spend more time studying history. Hatred between groups is part of the history of the whole human race, unfortunately — it’s not a special problem about Jews.”
Jonathan Bernstein, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said O’Malley’s editorial was a positive, but not perfect, step.
“She acknowledges anti-Semitism is wrong and really comes down hard on the letter-writer in explaining that. I’m pleased to see she was taking him to task for that,” he said.
Other elements of the editorial bothered him. O’Malley stated she did not publish Arianpour’s second letter because it merely echoed his first, meaning more “overt anti-Semitism” could find its way into the paper.
Also, Bernstein felt O’Malley misinterpreted the Jewish community’s “near-unanimous” support for Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and democracy, and was confused by O’Malley’s claim that Rachel Corrie, the International Solidarity Movement activist crushed by an Israeli bulldozer, was Jewish (“I don’t know why I thought that,” O’Malley told j. That mistake was corrected in a later edition of the Planet).
Some animosity still seems to linger between the ADL and O’Malley regarding a proposed meeting: The ADL says it proposed one and O’Malley says they didn’t.
Tami Holzman, the ADL’s assistant regional director, said O’Malley turned down a request for a meeting. O’Malley told j. she never turned the meeting down but did say it would be pointless.
Both sides now say they are willing to meet.