Minneapolis LGBTQ Bar Sees Protests Over Owner’s Anti-Semitic Facebook Posts
A soon-to-open LGBTQ bar in Minneapolis has been the subject of heavy criticism in the local Jewish and gay communities after it was revealed that its owner had written several anti-Semitic Facebook posts.
Cheers Minneapolis was scheduled to open at the end of the month during the city’s Pride weekend, but after the offending posts were discovered on owner Emad Abed’s social media page, its GoFundMe and Facebook accounts were deleted and more than 200 people signed up to protest it on a Facebook event page called “Queers Against Cheers.”
Abed wrote over the years that “all world problems are caused by Israelis and Jews,” that the United States was “controlled and run by racist Jews,” and that “Hitler should have finished them all.”
When critics called him out on the bar’s Facebook page, Abed was unrepentant. “I’m in business to make money,” he responded to one person. “You and your community can kiss my ass and none of you evil people commenting on this post are allowed in my bar. Go have a drink in hell because all of you are going there when you exit this earth.”
He told the local newspaper City Pages that he was not an anti-Semite and was just “reporting the facts.”
“Most of my friends are Jewish, and I love them,” he added.
This excuse was not bought by local Jews and LGBTQ people, including the people behind the “Queers Against Cheers” protest. “Let’s demonstrate the revolutionary spirit of Stonewall with a good old-fashioned sidewalk picket with whimsy and camp,” they wrote. “We’re gonna show this looney tune what happens when you try to come into our community to make a buck while degrading us.”
Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, who is Jewish, echoed their concerns. “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “While you will find this welcoming attitude at LGBTQ bars throughout the city, you won’t find it at Cheers. I’ll make sure to patron the welcoming ones this pride month. L’chaim! (Not Cheers)”
Contact Aiden Pink at pink@forward.com or on Twitter, @aidenpink
This story " Minneapolis LGBTQ Bar Owner Wrote Anti-Semitic Posts " was written by Aiden Pink.
Fewer Than 150 Attend Vaccine Education Program In New York Orthodox Community
( JTA ) — Fewer than 150 women turned out for a vaccine education program in Monsey, New York, less than a month after the same hall was filled with many hundreds of men and women for an anti-vaccine symposium.
The women’s-only event in Monsey, a Rockland County town with a large haredi Orthodox population, was hosted by a coalition of pro-vaccine Orthodox Jewish groups on Monday night, the local newspaper, the Journal News, reported .
It was for women only so that they would be comfortable asking questions, pro-vaccine activist Shoshana Bernstein told the newspaper. She also called women the “gatekeepers of health in the family.”
Bernstein is the author, with the Orange County Health Department, of a vaccine informational booklet called “Tzim Gezint,” which means “Be Healthy” in Yiddish. It was distributed to the Rockland Jewish community.
The program allowed women to visit booths and ask questions of individual doctors and other healthcare professionals.
The event came less than a month after a symposium with leaders of the anti-vaccination movement attended by hundreds of haredim. That event included a range of speakers who defy the medical consensus and urge families not to get their children vaccinated. They include Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the British physician whose study linking measles vaccines with autism has been both debunked and condemned, appearing via Skype; and pediatrician Dr. Lawrence Palevsky.
Orthodox communities in New York City and Rockland County are at the center of the worst measles outbreak since 1992. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said Thursday said Thursday that there had been 550 confirmed cases of measles in New York City between Sept. 2018 and May 29. Rockland County officials said 254 cases of measles had been reported there as of May 28.
This story " Few Attend New York Jewish Vaccine Education Program " was written by Marcy Oster.
Department Of Education Investigating Williams College Over Rejection Of Pro-Israel Group
( JTA ) — The U.S. Department of Education is investigating Williams College in Massachusetts for discrimination after the student government refused to give a pro-Israel group official status.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights in Boston has opened an investigation into a complaint alleging that the College Council, the college’s student government, violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the College Fix reported . Title VI prohibits “discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.”
The complaint was filed by George Mason University law professor David Bernstein. He was notified on Friday of the opening of the investigation.
The complaint notes that earlier this spring 2019 Jewish students at Williams sought for a group called Williams Initiative for Israel. On April 23, the Williams College Council voted 13-8, with one abstention, against recognizing Williams Initiative for Israel, according to the cpmplaint.
The complaint notes that the College Council had previously recognized Students for Justice in Palestine. That means the council “has no policy, formal or informal, against recognizing student groups that take positions on foreign affairs in general, on the Middle East specifically, or on matters related to Israel or the Israel-Palestinian conflict,” it said.
Less than a month after the College Council turned down the application for recognition by pro-Israel group, the Williams administration granted the group official status , bypassing the council. It is not known if that decision will make a difference to the Office for Civil Right’s investigation.
It was the first time in over a decade that a student group was rejected after complying with council bylaws, minutes from the meeting show, according to the Williams Record student newspaper.
This story " Department Of Education Investigating Williams College " was written by Marcy Oster.