Hi. I am sad. And frustrated. And also sad.
I feel like a lot of people, even people close to me, are embarrassed by me lately, because of my outspokenness publicly. Particularly when it comes to me speaking up about anti-Semitism. In related news, I also spoke up quite publicly about Ilhan Omar. I think some people have mistakenly drawn the conclusion that I must be xenophobic or racist or anti-Muslim because I am "picking on her." More on this a minute.
The main thing I want to say here is that I need people to at least try to understand who I am, and what my experience has been. I am so upset talking about this, and so utterly discouraged and frustrated, that I can hardly type these words right now. This is why I write songs instead of essays, most of the time. The emotions are too strong. I want to go get out my electric guitar right now and bash some loud power chords with my amplifier cranked up - I feel too angry and upset to even type this, but I am going to try to keep typing, because it's important that I try to explain myself.
For one - read my social media posts. Please just read some of them. I am not a crackpot - this worldwide rise in anti-Semitism has been noted by many many people far more respected than me. I have seen pointed and deeply concerned articles about the same subject and concerns recently in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the BBC, and on and on. I feel like it's really weird sometimes that people even THINK it's weird that I am calling out something that some of the most notable writers/pundits in our society also think is worth calling out and discussing. That baffles me a little. I have written and written and linked and linked and I am not making this stuff up. I feel more than a little frustrated that it seems like I am being criticized for talking about something MANY other people - again, many of them far more well-known and respected than me as social commentators - are bringing up OFTEN these days.
Is my focus on it too strong? Sometimes, even I admit, yes. But I could use some support too. This stuff is making me incredibly upset. I may be more pro-Israel than you (or not), and I also have been critical of Israel when necessary, by the way, and I continue to be), but I don't think some people get that some of this so-called "criticism of Israel" is a mask for some of the anti-Semites who hide behind the "I am just criticizing Israel" stance to cover for their much more ugly prejudices against Jews in general, not just Israel.
Again, please read the posts I put up - and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me sometime you will consider reading a GREAT and IMPORTANT book I am reading right now, and that so many are talking about right now (for good reason - it is powerful and important reading) and it is NOT from a right-wing perspective, it actually takes severe aim at Trump and Republicans too (it is even handed in this regard) - that book is "Antisemitism: Here and Now" by Deborah Lipstadt, professor at Emory University in Georgia (she is also the subject of a movie called "Denial" - it is about when she took on notorious Holocaust denier David Irving, in a libel case in the UK, and she won her case).
I can't say it enough - read this book, read this book, read this book. I am writing you this from my heart - not as a series of "proofs" that the things I am talking about have legitimacy - you do not have to take my word for any of it - if you read Professor Lipstadt's book, and I hope you do, I think you may gain a different perspective for how awful it has gotten out there again sometimes with regard to anti-Semitism.
But how do I know personally? Because I've been attacked. Look, I'm a lifelong Democrat/liberal Jew, that's how I was raised. But how would you feel if you'd been attacked like I have been by some REALLY nasty people on the Far Left? These are not nice people, some of these "trolls" on the Internet - they have called me derogatory names for Jews, have insulted me and Jewish people in general. This is not just about Israel. I guess I don't understand why people who love me don't believe me when I say I have seen with my own eyes some of the worst ugliness you can imagine, and some of it most definitely IS coming from the Far Left. Of course the Far Right is awful too.
Some ask why I don't speak up more about the Far Right? Well, actually, I have. It's just that lately the Far Left has particularly been on the attack on this stuff - just ask British Jews in the Labour Party if you don't want to take my word for it. Have you followed what is going on there? The bullying and horrible treatment of Jews in the Labour Party? This is not my "opinion" - Google "Jeremy Corbyn" and "anti-Semitism" and "Luciana Berger" if you would like to read more. Again, or you could just read some of my Twitter and Facebook posts, I try to explain things much more in detail there, because that is where I have laid out the case publicly.
Why do I do this? Why don't I just shut up?
Because this is what I believe in. This is my concern right now. I never ever want to embarrass anyone, and I have been pulling back from spending time on social media in general. But these are my strong views. Maybe discuss it with me if you want? Ask me some questions?
I can handle disagreement. I am fine with people criticizing Israel. I do have an issue with criticism of Israel that seems to be a mask for true anti-Semitism, and I have a problem with singling out Israel for criticism when so many other countries around the world do far worse things. And I have a problem with people who don't even think Israel should be allowed to exist. I encounter a LOT of those people. Do you agree with them? Wouldn't you get angry if you saw that repeated again and again? Not "criticism of settlers on the West Bank", which I can actually often agree with, but people saying Israel should not exist, the Jews should go...I'm not sure where they are supposed to go, actually, since European anti-Semitism is spiking again too, but...I'm sure the anti-Semites have some great ideas about where the Jews should go. As we have seen in history, time and again.
Mostly, I am just upset. I feel isolated and alone, and like nobody understands me.
I don't think many of you DO understand me, and if you'll forgive me, I would like to give you a few reasons why I think that. Note, I didn't say some of you don't TRY to understand me, but I just think maybe you can't know what I think and feel until you have walked a mile or two in my shoes. I know you love me - and I love you too. But I am asking you now to, for a moment, leave your world of experience and take a minute to come into my world.
I live in the music world, and my last name is Israel. Instead of seeing nice, nuanced and even educated criticism of Israel like you maybe see more often in your world, in MY world it is often not so educated or nuanced. There is some really really ugly stuff said about Israel - and even, yes, just about Jews - in my world. Sometimes the anti-Israel thing and the anti-Jew thing are different, but, and this is a REALLY important point, they often are NOT different in my world.
So try being a public figure in this day and age, in a world (like the music scene) that is far from uniformly even supportive of Israel's right to exist (again, this is not "criticism" of Israel - this is people actually regularly debating whether Israel should be annihilated). So imagine yourself me, in that world, with my last name - with that kind of hostility out there in some quarters simply towards the WORD "Israel" - and then think about how someone who is pro-Israel (like me) might get treated sometimes in that world. And mind you, I regularly point out that I don't side (generally) with Likud (the party of Netanyahu, definitely more right wing) in Israel - I regularly say, publicly, that I have problems with the Israeli Right, with the settlements, etc.
And I STILL get treated horribly by some people, simply for arguing, again, that Israel has a right to exist. I am willing to bet you don't interact as often as I do with other human beings who actually call for Israel's destruction. It's not fun. When I ask where the six million Jews who live in Israel should go if Israel is destroyed, they often shrug their shoulders or even laugh or respond with a joke. Yes, it's very funny, the prospect of six million Israeli Jews being evicted (or, more likely, just killed) if Israel were to be "abolished."
So we can all disagree about Israeli policies, and even may just feel really sad that Israel has turned into a walled country (I share that sadness, and yet have not even been able to visit Israel - I am trying to make it happen sooner than later), but we generally don't sit with our friends and have to defend the right of Israel to exist (I do).
I also have had people that I know quite well in the music scene endorse awful stuff like Holocaust denial. Yes, I have actually had to debate whether the "Holocaust was as bad as we Jews say" with people. People I know in the music scene have embraced 9/11 "trutherism" - and some of them have gone so far as to suggest that the absurd story (totally debunked, obviously) that 4,000 Jews stayed home from the World Trade Center on 9/11 was "true," and that the attack was not carried about by 19 Al Qaeda hijackers, but rather by the Israeli "Mossad" (Israel's CIA, basically). Yes, for real, these are actual things I have had to debate with fellow musicians.
So, unless you have had such experiences, I'm not sure you can know what it feels like.
I am exhausted by all of this. I am not angry, but I wanted to explain a little. I have so much more I could tell you, but I hope you will read "Antisemitism: Here and Now" and maybe take a little time on some day when you have time and read a bunch of the links I have posted in the last couple months. I know it's a lot, but I feel like I shouldn't have to repeat everything I want to say about this right here in this post - I have clearly documented why I'm concerned with those postings. If you don't want to read more, fine - but then I will say, I will have a hard time discussing things if you don't even want to try to find out why I am so worried.
I know a lot of people are worried about me lately. I am worried about me lately. I am going to stop typing this long missive in a minute (I have typed so many similar things lately, my fingertips are sore) and get some groceries. I am ok. I am taking care of myself and I am definitely backing off from posting as much stuff right now. I get it - I did overdo it a bit, but I also felt threatened and I am trying, even if you are not really going to understand unless you can walk a mile in my shoes, and I suppose that is too much to hope for, because nobody can, I am trying to explain myself.
I don't want to embarrass anyone. But I have been threatened and heard a lot of awful awful stuff and it has started to make me very concerned. I live with a lot of casual and not-so-casual anti-Semitism in my world, and I walk around with a last name that I am proud of but which does not allow me any "cover." I am exposed, in this way. I don't want to change my name. I am proud of my name. But being a public figure, in 2019, in the music scene, WITH this last name, combined with my sometimes-fierce outspokenness at what I TRULY believe, in my heart, to be a dangerous rise in hatred of Jews - well, I guess you can't know, but I am trying to tell you - it ain't too damn much fun.
I'm not "enjoying" this part of my life. I see it as necessary. My son is arguably walking around with an even more identifiably Jewish name than me, if that's possible. I don't want him to feel ashamed of his name and of who he is. I don't like some of what's going on, OK? You may think I am calling all criticism of Israel "anti-Semitism", but quite frankly, I am not doing that, and I know the difference, and there is a difference.
But in my world, in MY circles, that I sometimes (unfortunately, at times) have to travel in in the music business - that distinction is NOT being made very clearly at all sometimes. And I need you to understand that. And to read that book. Once again, here it is: "Antisemitism: Here and Now" by Deborah Lispstadt. She is MUCH more eloquent than me, and is more able to separate her emotions when writing on the subject. I fall apart. I get too damn upset. It's too personal.
So you can buy it on Amazon. I have a copy I would love for you to borrow. I would buy anyone a copy if they would like one and can't swing it right now. But, again, you don't have to take my word for ANY of this stuff. Read the book, read who is talking about and praising the book STRONGLY in reviews (NY Times, Wash. Post, etc. etc.). Please. I beg of you. I really want you to know what is going on. I would like more people to understand. Nobody has to become an "activist" like me. And I am toning down my personal activism (too much blowback, I worry for my personal safety, etc.) and focusing back on music as much as possible (sometimes the new songs cover similar subject matter, but perhaps more subtly or enjoyably for the listener).
But I never want to embarrass anyone who I love, and I love you all. You are free to criticize me or disagree with me - but if you refuse to read that book, then I cannot promise I want to discuss a whole lot more right now, because if I try to tell you about all the reasons I feel this way right now, I will fall apart out of frustration and sadness and anger about anti-Semitism, so please read the book first, or at least some of the stuff I post, and then maybe we can talk?
I am happy to talk. I welcome it. I actually don't want people stewing about me, I would rather be told to my face. But then, you might also have to hear me explain myself. After you read that book.
And by the way - I am not anti-Muslim or anti-Somali or racist in general. I am not. I have never posted anything racist, I don't argue on the side of racists, I reject racism in every form. It sounds so lame to say "I have black friends" but I don't know how else to tell you - I associate in a very friendly and relaxed manner with people of color every day - frankly, quite a bit, in the music business, and I have almost always had friendships and acquaintances that I truly value. Very little conflict - maybe once in a while a disagreement as to how dangerous Farrakhan is (I would not have any friends who LIKE Farrakhan, just occasionally get frustrated when people - black or white - try to downplay the seriousness and awfulness of what Farrakhan continues to preach publicly - again, see my wall for the link to that, he just gave a speech in Chicago last week, in front of thousands of people in a public arena, that was literally Hitler-like). But my point here was that NONE of my criticism recently of Ilhan Omar (by the way, a real "right-winger" named Nancy Pelosi also totally agreed that Omar's "It's all about the Benjamins" tweet was indeed anti-Semitic) had anything to do with her being black or Muslim or Somali, and I really reject that line of reasoning. I have many good interactions with Somali people in Minnesota - just out and about, or particularly when I play music in the Cedar-Riverside area, where the Cedar Cultural Center and other music venues are. I interact frequently with many warm, friendly, wonderful Somali people. The issue with Omar was absolutely NOT an issue with Somalis or Muslims or anything like that, and I frankly have been quite clear and vocal about that anytime I have posted about her.
I suspect some of this will just not go over with the people I most want to try to understand me. So be it. I can say I love them until I am blue in the face, and I do, but I also really wish they would try a little harder sometimes to understand why I might feel the way I do.
I have struggled a long time in music. I have been called "the hardest working singer-songwriter in Minnesota" and it's literally true, I have worked my butt off. I also worked my butt off for 21 years at the Office of the Revisor of Statutes. I never do anything halfway, and I have strong feelings about some things. At the same time, I fully recognize that not everyone agrees with me on everything, and, much as you might not believe me when I say this, I really truly don't expect everyone to agree with me on everything. I also get why you might want me to shut up sometimes because in some way if I am a loudmouth and you are close to me, you might feel it reflects poorly on you.
I have never, ever intended to put anyone in a bad situation, and if being associated with me has caused trouble for anyone, I apologize from the bottom of my heart. Of course, it should be noted, on the flipside, a lot of the reason people know me is for a perhaps more universally positive reason - because I am also an acclaimed singer-songwriter, who a lot of people in Minnesota have heard of at this point (and some in other places too), and most have a pretty high opinion of (most, I said, not all!).
If I sometimes am too outspoken, then I apologize, in a way, but it is also an integral part of who I am.
I speak out most through song - because I am compelled in my soul to speak out - but there are times when I can't express everything I need to in a song. That has happened a lot lately, though, to be honest, I AM trying to channel things more back into songwriting and less into essay writing.
On that note, I am going to finally wrap this up now. I could write all day, and some still would not be convinced. Some never will be. That is ok. All I ask of those I love is to at least try to understand where I might be coming from. I'm not your enemy, and I never want to embarrass anyone. I am toning down and pulling back as much as possible from social media, mainly because so much of the time it is unhealthy. It feeds my anxiety and depression, and makes my poor gut sick again too. I can't get all unhealthy again, so I am trying to stay away. But part of this is to explain the past couple months, more than prescribe a future path. I know in my heart that my future will feature more long-form writing and songwriting and less direct social media. I get that part. But changing my feelings? Being silent when I see injustice? No, I will not promise that, and you wouldn't believe me (rightfully so) if I did promise it.
Anyway, sorry this all sounded angry. I am not that angry (usually). I love you, even when you think I am embarrassing you (I'm not, actually, for the most part, by the way)!
Thank you.
With love,
Dan
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