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In an escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and associated culture war, we now have one of the first(?) terroristic threat charges brought against someone in the States. A teacher felt that a student’s comment about his flag was disrespectful and responded by threatening to behead her. It is reported that the teacher shouted:
And students report hearing that
The teacher who made this terroristic threat is Benjamin Reese, a Jewish man from Georgia, and the flag he had in his room was an Israeli flag [1] [2]. I find this noteworthy for two reasons. A Jewish man is making threats that I would have guessed came from a Muslim, which tells me about my bias and the level of passion on both sides of the conflict right now. But I’m also surprised that, despite the story first being published 24hrs ago, it’s untouched by mainstream news except RawStory. There’s local affiliates, RawStory, and YahooFinance Canada. But there’s no CNN, Fox, NYTimes, etc. They can’t be waiting for more information, because we already have the police reports. I predict that this story will not gain the traction that it would had the threat been made by a Palestinian man, or Muslim generally. Certainly that would be brought up on prime time Fox.
This instantly reminded me of the Day of Hate news blitz, when the Chabad-affiliated Barry (Baruch) Nockowitz picked up a toddler and threw him against a wall because of “anti-semitism”, telling police he would find another kid to attack [3]. Besides Miami Herald, this had zero news coverage, all the while coinciding with the “day of hate” which received George Floyd levels of news coverage and zero crimes committed. (As proof of how little coverage it got, themotte is on the first page of google results for his name, linking to the last time I mentioned this crime).
I don't see how an unhinged teacher screaming threats at a student is an "escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Nor does it seem worthy of a national news story. And no, I doubt a Palestinian teacher threatening to cut off a Jewish student's head would make CNN or NYTimes either. (Fox, maybe.)
A student hung a Palestinian flag on a Menorah for like 30 seconds at Yale. It got picked up by NYT, AP, CNN, and many more. This story with the Middle School teacher has more of the trappings of a national news story, a teacher threatening to kill and behead a middle school student is extremely unusual and certainly a much bigger crime against society than a milquetoast protest on a college campus, which is now being investigated by police as a "desecration" and hate crime.
The teacher was arrested (for "terrorism"). Highly visible protests in the midst of an ongoing public conflict are much more likely to attract media attention (indeed, that is their purpose) than one unhinged teacher screaming at a student in bumfuck Georgia.
Where could an Israeli flag be placed that would cause a similar media reaction, with police and federal authorities launching "desecration" and hate crime investigations? I think you are bending over backwards to not acknowledge a double standard:
A bigger question is, if this is a desecration, then why are these profoundly important religious symbols being displayed on public land? How is this not a state establishment of religion? If the government posts profoundly important religious symbols and then persecutes protestors of that symbol for desecration and hate crimes, and it becomes a National News story with lawmakers and institutions all falling on the side of protecting the sacredness of the symbol that is being displayed on public land across the entire country (with no equivalent Christian or Muslim symbol, I might add, and during one of the most important holidays on the Christian calendar), how much room exactly do you have to deny a double-standard in the treatment of Jews versus Palestinians in our media and legal apparatus?
I think if someone plastered Israeli flags over a bunch of mosques it would get some attention. But as far as double standards, yes, the American public is generally more sympathetic to Israelis than to Palestinians. This isn't a puzzler, nor is it evidence of Jews controlling the media.
Crosses and nativity creches are also frequently displayed on public land. It is not prohibited to display religious symbols on public land - you just can't give preference to a particular religion.
Let me know when the student who hung the Palestinian flag on a menorah indeed gets prosecuted for "descration" or "hate crimes." A senator performing outrage (and probably feeling some genuine outrage) is pretty weak sauce, as ZOG accusations go.
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Stick "stochastic" in front of it, Amadan, and it's a phrase I'm seeing sprinkled everywhere about - well, I'm not entirely sure what, it has something to do with voting Republican?
Under that definition, I think threatening to slit someone's throat and cut their head off does count as "intimidation".
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