The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the nation’s oldest pro-Israel organization, has set up a special antisemitism hotline for Jewish staffers at the New York Times and other outlets who are victims of antisemitism from their colleagues.
The ZOA was reacting to the resignation of Times opinion editor Bari Weiss on Tuesday, who left the Times over what she alleged was an increasingly intolerant environment, including antisemitism directed toward her: “My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m “writing about the Jews again,” she wrote.
In response, the ZOA has set up a phone number and email account to receive complaints about media antisemitism.
In a statement, ZOA President Morton A. Klein and Chair Mark Levenson said Wednesday:
ZOA condemns the hostile antisemitic work environment now on full and public display at the NY Times. Bari Weiss’s decision to resign from her position as a writer and editor at the Times highlights the problems of journalists who call out antisemitism on the right and the left, and stand up for Israel.
No journalist should pay a price for expressing these views. In her resignation letter, Weiss revealed that her Times colleagues called her “a Nazi and a racist.” They criticized her for “writing about the Jews again.”
To all journalists: We are with you and we are here to help you. ZOA has a long and proud record of effectively fighting antisemitism and standing up for the rights of Jews and those that support Israel. We do it in the courts, in Congress, in the media, in schools, and on college campuses. Rest assured, ZOA will stand up for you, too.
If you have been bullied, harassed, or even threatened for expressing support for Jews or Israel, please contact us. We will guide you and stand up for your right to express those views – and the public’s right to hear them.
Contact us at (212) 481-1500 or info@zoa.org. Together we will fight this culture of intolerance and hostility and bias and bigotry against Jews and the Jewish State at the NY Times and other media outlets.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), traditionally an organization that has taken the lead in fighting antisemitism, has said nothing about Weiss’s claims of antisemitism at the Times, as of this writing. It is focused instead on an advertising boycott against Facebook.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.