Why the Murals on Old Pecos Road are Anti-Semitic

On this International Holocaust Remembrance Day we are reminded that vicious lies incorporated in Nazi propaganda at least 85 years ago – years before the liberation of the camps – started the Holocaust.  Vicious lies and propaganda today can bring about great harm to Jews and other minorities, who often are preyed upon after the Jews are driven out or killed.

As noted by the Institute for Tolerance Studies in a Facebook posting today, “These threats to Jewish life can be the result of unwitting anti-Semitic canards from people of good will that feed conspiracy fearing people who do have violence within themselves…In our land neo-Nazism, nationalism, and white supremacy movements are once again emboldened. This time even the Progressive Left is blaming the Jews.”

Such is the ongoing propaganda of the murals on Old Pecos Trail – inciting both hatred in some, and fear in others.

Take Action:  If you haven’t written to the Mayor (mayor@santafenm.gov) and City Attorney (ekmcsherry@santafenm.gov) asking them why the murals continue to persist on the wall when the owner, Guthrie Miller, was supposed to have removed them by the end of today, then write now. 

Ask them not to grant a permit for any signs on this property because the murals and signs are:

1. inciteful propaganda
2. anti-Semitic
3. not in conformity with the Municipal Code controlling signs in the Historic District,
4. public health hazards, and
5. the property owner knew he needed permits and failed to obtain them.

See our prior blog posting here for the rationale for each of our reasons 1-5 above.

And, if you haven’t written a rebuttal to the wayward letters produced on the letters page of the New Mexican, please write rebuttals as letters or op-eds today also (letters@sfnewmexican.com).

There were  two letters recently in the Santa Fe New Mexican, that of Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine (SFJP) proud member Kathleen Christison on January 21 (she has also written spuriously about “IDF detention of Palestinian Children” and justifying the falsifying of history by a discredited Lannan speaker, “No, Ilan Pappe gets it right“), and that of Naomi Harrison, “Labeling doesn’t help conversation” on January 23, 2020.

There are too many historical and insidious false assertions by Christison to take up now – feel free to write a letter rebutting these per your own analysis.  We’ve written about many of the same assertions in one form or another in previous blog postings on www.sfmew.org.

Let’s take a closer look at Harrison’s arguments, the substance of which is “this constant conflation of anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel has got to stop…stop labeling those who disagree anti-Semitic.”  We’ve all heard the self-justification for anti-Semitism incorporated in the way Harrison claims (her full letter is below) – the claim is that anti-Israel policy is not anti-Semitism.  Sometimes that’s true, but these days more often anti-Israel criticism is not anti-Israel government policy, it is anti-Semitism.

Here’s why this applies specifically to the murals on Old Pecos Trail:

1. At least two of the murals are fakes – doctored photos (we documented this in our last blog posting here) – false depictions of how the Israel Defense Forces act.  They are made to depict all Israeli soldiers as purposely pointing guns at children, women, or huddling fathers and sons, and the inappropriate detention of teens caught in harmful attacks on troops.
2. Because all Jewish Israelis are drafted and serve in the Israel Defense Forces, by depicting IDF soldiers falsely the murals are lying about Israeli Jews. 

   

3. And let’s be clear, the artist Remy, and the homeowner Miller, and the writer Harrison are not commenting on all Israelis (including approximately 20% Arab Israelis), but Jewish Israeli soldiers – there are few Arab Israeli soldiers – Arab Israelis are exempt from IDF service.
4. If we depicted all women as frail and retiring, or all African-Americans as lazy, or all Palestinians as terrorists would we not be stereotyping in a way that is offensive to women, blacks, and Palestinians?  Would we not call that sexist, racist, or anti-nationalist?
5. Clearly Remy/Miller/JVP/SFJP and Harrison (“I think [these drawings on the wall] are great”) cast aspersions as stereotypes only on Jews in these murals/signs.  They are not reproductions of true photographs and they are only about Jews.  In other words, they are lies and anti-Jewish propaganda, not legitimate criticisms of Israel policy.
6. This is the classic anti-Semitic blood libel, now often depicted in a different form.

   

7. These murals are not just pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel, but anti-Jewish – clearly the definition of anti-Semitic.

Now, what about Harrison’s broader claim that these murals are criticism of Israeli government policies or actions?  This is an even bigger problem with Harrison’s assertion because…

1. There is no government policy that states soldiers should fire against or detain innocents, whether adults or children.  To the contrary, if done it is investigated and the perpetrators prosecuted.
2. The live fire engagement policy of the IDF is the most stringent in the world.
3. After every bullet is fired or significant other force used in subduing rioters using unlawful means there is a formal investigation into the appropriateness of the actions.
4. Detention of those (adults or teens) attempting to harm soldiers is a common policy in every democracy in the world.
5. Teens and children are not dealt with any differently than a reasonable democracy like the US would deal with them after they create material damage or injure soldiers or civilians.
6. Some of the teens rioting against soldiers are recruited by terrorist groups like

   

   Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades and Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades.  Others feel compelled to riot against the IDF through peer pressure.  All are taught in Palestinian textbooks that Jews are vile, and terrorists are to be lionized.

[See here for a critical evaluation of Palestinian texts.  Recently the UN called on the Palestinians to stop inculcating hatred in school curricula and textbooks.]

To the contrary of the imputed assertion by Harrison, as stated by Major General Herzi Halevi,

the Israel Defense Forces maintains strict rules of engagement for soldiers, requiring approval of senior commanders before a shot can be fired, and performs investigations into every bullet fired…we have not — I’m not saying not yet, I’m saying not — found even one incident of a soldier [just] deciding to shoot into the crowd, even on tough days.

So what Israeli government policies are the murals attempting to argue against?  Only those lies of the doctored photos, and purposefully incorrect interpretations of the detentions of rioting teens using harmful force?

As we remember, Hitler started with lies and propaganda against the Jews, which then escalated into great destruction and death.  On this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, the murals are a type of propaganda similar to the campaigns of the original Nazis and today’s neo-Nazis and some progressive leftists who deny their complaints are propaganda inciting hatred.  As the Institute for Tolerance Studies stated today in its Holocaust memorial statement,

You say it cannot happen in America, but those living in the crosshairs of the violence cannot be so sure. We ask for caution from those of good will to not inflame the smoldering coals of anti-Semitism.

These murals are not legitimate statements about government policy or action.  They “inflame the smoldering coals of anti-Semitism.”  They are blood libels against Jews everywhere.  What’s “false and, frankly, ridiculous” is that Harrison can’t distinguish the difference.

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Update:  the original posting stated that David Jaffe was the author of the quotes that were actually from the Institute for Tolerance Studies.  We regret this misstatement of attribution and have updated the post on January 28 to correct it.