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NPR's Code Switch

Washington
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NPR's Code Switch's recent episode entitled What James Baldwin can teach us about Israel, and ourselves is the most antisemitic piece I have ever heard on American radio. Code Switch receives grant money from the CPB. I come from a traditionally Jewish liberal background. I have been taught to identify and challenge racism, bigotry and hatred, and to work to heal the world. Your screed about Jews and Israel does not build bridges or work to heal the world, but rather serves to divide, stigmatize, and justify antisemitism. The driving narrative of the Code Switch piece is that Israel is an illegitimate, murderous settler colonialist, racist state artificially constructed purely for Western interests and to allay Western guilt for the Holocaust, and that Jews are worldwide oppressors of people of color, whether that oppression occurred in the Harlem of James Baldwin, the Middle East or Africa. Depicting Jews as a worldwide scourge for people of color, Neda Ulaby states that “what Baldwin would do in later writing was to explicitly talk about how the power structure in Israel was involved in the oppression of Arabs and other people of color around the world.” Code Switch foments hatred of Jews by exhorting listeners to equate the oppression of African-Americans with the alleged oppression of Arabs by Israeli Jews and by Jews worldwide who support Israel. Code Switch quotes James Baldwin as stating that “I have been, in America, an Arab at the hands of the Jews.” By using this quote, Code Switch seeks to divide African-Americans and Jews, and characterize Jews as inherent oppressors. In interpreting James Baldwin, Professor Feldman maintains that “the figure of the Jew is actually a political figure - a figure that stands in for the Israeli state, rightly or wrongly, but that’s what he is getting at.” Sadly, Code Switch adopts the notoriously antisemitic trope of “the Jew,” as if all Jews are alike and are universally demonic, whether “the Jew” is American, Israeli or of some other nationality. Code Switch’s title, What James Baldwin can teach us about Israel, and ourselves, encourages listeners to view and judge all Jews, and especially Israeli Jews, through the single lens of James Baldwin as he saw things over 50 or 60 years ago. Code Switch looks to James Baldwin as the historian and moral arbiter even though he visited Israel only once in 1961 and died nearly 37 years ago. Advancing an antisemitic narrative to demonize and delegitimize Isreal and Jews, Code Switch quotes James Baldwin characterizing the creation of Israel as “one of the most cynical achievements - really murderous, merciless, ugliest and cynical achievement - on the part of the Western nations.” Code Switch does not invite listeners to take a nuanced view of Jews or the Israeli-Arab-Palestinian-Persian conflict, but rather presents Jews, and especially Israeli Jews, as universal oppressors responsible not just for the suffering of the Palestinian people but also for the ills of all people of color worldwide. For over 2,000 years of antisemitism, Jews have served as a kind of scapegoat which can change shape according to the real or perceived ills for which Jews are blamed. Jews have been portrayed as the killers of Christ, although the Romans were in charge. As scapegoats, Jews have taken the shape of bloodthirsty murders who killed Christian children for their blood for ritualistic purposes. During the Black Death plague of the Middle Ages the Jew as scapegoat took the shape of the poisoner of wells spreading the epidemic. In the antisemitic imagination, Jews have also taken the shape of international capitalists whose avaricious tentacles strangle peoples worldwide. At the same time, Jews were also Marxists, Communists and Socialists who sought to tear down capitalism and destroy communities, societies and nations. In more modern times, many persons in both the Muslim and non-Muslim world hold the Jews responsible for the September 11th attacks and the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris. And now we have NPR’s Code Switch utilizing James Baldwin to scapegoat Jews for oppressing African-Americans, Palestinians, and persons of color worldwide. Your piece teaches listeners to draw a straight line connecting Jewish tradesmen, rent collectors, real estate agents and pawnbrokers in James Baldwins’ Harlem to Israelis’ alleged oppression of Palestinians. James Baldwin is quoted as characterizing the Harlem Jews as “operat[ing] in accordance with the American business tradition of exploiting negroes, and they are therefore identified with oppression and are hated for it.” Your piece also quotes James Baldwin as writing: The Jew has been taught and too often accepts the legend of Negro inferiority. And the Negro, on the other hand, has found nothing in his experience with Jews to counteract the legend of Semitic greed. Following the reading of this passage, Gene Denby suggests that although Jews may have been marginalized or oppressed, they have not shown empathy, and that they should “know better.” So now we learn that Jews, despite being deeply involved in the civil rights movement, are incapable of empathy, at least when it comes to people of color. In an ironic twist to the well-worn phrase of racists who state, “some of my best friends are black,” Code Switch sugarcoats its antisemitic tropes by stating that Baldwin’s “best friends in high school were Jewish.” Code Switch's piece is nakedly antisemitic because it exhorts listeners to cancel Israel as an illegitimate racist state. Gene Denby, Neda Ulaby, Nadia Alamed, Keith Feldman, and Ben Ratskoff, who all clearly have an agenda, present a wholly one-sided maximalist understanding of the conflict between Israelis and Arabs in which Israelis are the racist oppressors and Palestinians are virtuous victims. They use James Baldwin to exhort listeners to cancel Israel for being deeply harmful to humanity. The episode characterizes Israel as “a settler colonial project,” and directly links the oppression of African-Americans to the oppression of Palestinians. Professor Alamed asserts that “Black power is where Baldwin really kind of got his language and his discourse on Israel as a settler colonial project.” This characterization of Israel is deeply offensive to Jews. It feeds into the false and demeaning narrative characterizing Israelis (and Jews who support Israel) as oppressive white European settler colonialists. Unlike people from traditional colonial powers such as France, the United Kingdom and Belgium, Jews are indigenous to the land called Palestine or Israel. Since ancient times, Jews have had a continuous presence in Palestine, and their religion, history and culture are intimately tied to Israel. In contrast to the classical Western European colonial powers, Israelis never sought to impose their culture or religion on other peoples, and the “settlers” did not come from a single mother country as agents seeking to economically exploit another group of people for the benefit of the mother country. Also, unlike actual colonialists from Western European countries, Jews were refugees fleeing to their ancestral homeland where Jews have been residing for 2,000 to 3,000 years. They sought refuge from unrelenting campaigns of antisemitism and persecution over the centuries, culminating in the Holocaust. That Jews who fled or emerged from the Holocaust were white make them no less deserving of humanity and an ancestral homeland than any other people. Contrary to the false and offensive Western “white supremacist colonialist” narrative portrayed by Code Switch, most Israelis are not Caucasian or European (only about 1/3 of Israelis are white), but rather they or their ancestors came from Muslim North African, East African, central Asian and Middle Eastern countries from which they were expelled or forced to leave in the face of extensive persecution, especially after the formation of Israel in 1948. Nearly one million of these Jews, known as Misrahi Jews, were forced out of countries such as Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Algeria, Morrocco, and Ethiopia. The Misrahi Jews were stripped of their businesses and property, and violently uprooted despite having developed a rich culture and history in these lands over many generations. Mizrahi Jews constitute approximately 40% to 45% of Israel’s total population. Not surprisingly, Code Switch makes no mention that Israel rescued Ethiopian Jews en masse in the early 1980’s. Code Switch does not call for Mizrahi Jews’ right of return or for the return of their homes and property. Despite the mass expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Mizrahi Jews, Code Switch demonizes Israelis and Jews by characterizing only Palestinians as being dispossessed. Code Switch’s episode is profoundly antisemitic not only because it demonizes and dehumanizes Israelis and Jews through the use of caricature and false narratives, but also because it uses James Baldwin to portray Israel as a purely modern construct of Western interests. Code Switch works to erase Jewish identity by ignoring the centrality of Israel to centuries of Jewish history, culture, and religion. Just as Palestinians feel an intensely close tie to the land based on their history, religion and culture, so do Jews. Through such institutions as boarding schools, Canada and the United States brutally worked to erase Native American culture, history, religions and traditions. It is no less wrong for Code Switch to work to erase or delegitimize the culture, history, religion and traditions of Jews and Israelis. James Baldwin rightly perceived that social hierarchy existed in Israel during his visit 63 years ago. Yet, Code Switch exhorts the listener to connect so-called Jewish exploitation of people of color in the United States in the 1960’s and early 1970’s to the Israel of today. Code Switch imposes a familiar double standard. Israeli society has been far from perfect. Hierarchies still exist in Israel. Yet, most all countries, including Arab countries and Turkey, where Baldwin lived for nearly ten years, have hierarchies based on race, religion or ethnicity. Unlike most other countries, Israel has faced war after war and terror campaign after terror campaign waged by the neighboring Arab and Persian nations and by the Palestinians. Although hierarchies based on race, religion or nationality exist in virtually all countries, Code Switch targets only Israel for severe opprobrium and erasure. Asserting that Israel is built around “ethnonationalism”, Code Switch singles out Israel as inherently flawed and evil. Yet, how is Israel much different from the many other countries which evolved and were formed around an ethnic, religious and/or national identity? Are Iran, Ireland, Spain, Turkey and Indonesia any less legitimate because they formed around an ethnic and religious identity, even though persons from other ethnicities, religions and national origins occupy the same space, often at a disadvantage? Through Professor Feldman, an adherent to the antisemitic construct of Israeli racist settler colonialism, Code Switch suggests that James Baldwin was troubled by Israel’s “very adversarial relationship to its neighbors.” Code Switch suggests that Israel is solely responsible for the “adversarial relationship” with its Arab neighbors. But Code Switch ignores that the neighboring Arab states waged war on Israel from the moment it was created and have repeatedly waged war against Israel in order to destroy it and all the Jews who lived within Israel. Code Switch states that during the Six-Day War Israel “took over the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and parts of Syria and Egypt.” Yet, Code Switch chose to ignore that Israel never wished for the Six Day War as it was thought that Israel could not survive such a war. Code Switch ignores that all the armies of the neighboring Arab states mobilized for war and were ready to pounce, but that Israel saved itself by first striking with its air force. In reference to the “fences and walls” in Israel, Mr. Denby refers to “the violence implied by their maintenance.” Mr. Denby ignores that the walls were constructed in response to repeated campaigns of Palestinian terror in the first and second Intifadas. Not surprisingly, Code Switch makes no mention of the barbaric massacre of October 7th, a pogrom which fences and walls unfortunately did not prevent. Neda Ulaby suggests that all the violence in the region can “be traced back to Western colonialism.” Here again, through the false construct of Israel as a racist settler colonialist state, Neda Ulaby suggests that Jews and Israelis are solely responsible for the conflict between Israelis and Arabs. Using the devices of false narratives and demonization, Ms. Ulaby suggests that the listeners interpret the events of today in the Middle East through the lens of the 1960’s Black radicals and intellectuals who utilized antisemitic tropes to characterize Jews and Israelis as exploitive racist imperialists. The Code Switch episode ends by asserting that Baldwin showed us ways of “sitting with history” and “finding connections across cultures and geographies.” But Code Switch clearly means that listeners should create such bridges only to Palestinians and not to Israelis or Jews. Code Switch exhorts its listeners to “sit with history” by interpreting history through a narrow lens in which the viewer can see only the oppressor (the universal “Jew”) and the oppressed (Palestinians and all people of color). Code Switch appears to have failed to take to heart the cautionary words of Uri Berliner, who, before resigning from NPR, wrote: "More recently, we have approached the Israel-Hamas war and its spillover onto streets and campuses through the “intersectional” lens that has jumped from the faculty lounge to newsrooms. Oppressor versus oppressed. That’s meant highlighting the suffering of Palestinians at almost every turn while downplaying the atrocities of October 7, overlooking how Hamas intentionally puts Palestinian civilians in peril, and giving little weight to the explosion of antisemitic hate around the world." Code Switch is serving as a bullhorn of the New Antisemitism. Through the subtle and not-so-subtle antisemitic messaging in the episode concerning Baldwin and Israel, Code Switch is adding fuel to the “explosion of antisemitic hate” that Uri Berliner identified in his parting essay. While not all criticism of Israel is antisemitic, there is no basis to conclude that all criticism of Israel is necessarily not antisemitic. Expressions of empathy for other peoples, including the Palestinian people, is laudable. It is important to affirm our common humanity. But I believe that voicing support and establishing connections for one group of people should not be done by demonizing, dehumanizing and erasing another group of people. Certainly, not all Palestinians are terrorists and not all Israelis are racist oppressors. Both groups have compelling histories of suffering. Although neither Israelis nor Palestinians come with purely clean hands, they are all human and deserve fairness and compassion. I respectfully hope that the CPB in their grant decisions, NPR and Code Switch take a nuanced, compassionate and balanced view of the complexities of the real world without demonizing Jews, Israelis and all other peoples who value their own ethnic, religious or national identity. Sincerely, J******n S****y s*******w@e*******k.net (206) ***-****

Note from CPB: Thank you for your support of NPR's Code Switch. We welcome all comments about public media’s content and services though the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) does not produce Code Switch or any programming. If you have questions or comments about the show, please contact codeswitch@npr.org – subject line, Ask Code Switch.

Ayesha Rascoe

Colorado
Feedback:
Her manner remains grating, particularly her presence with Will Shortz. She’s not needed. She should step aside and let him do his thing.

Ayesha Rascoe

Pennsylvania
Feedback:
Her voice is horrible. I cannot listen to weekend Edition if she is hosting. I will hint at my age by saying that her voice is like 'fingernails on a chalk board'!

"The Worst Song Ever" -- Ayesha Rascoe -- 9/08/24 -- Sunday morning

North Carolina
Feedback:

One song that was submitted should definitely NOT have been approved for airplay by PBS. The woman that submitted "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton is clearly ignorant of the song's history. That is understandable, but for PBS to co sign this lady's ignorance by putting her comments on the air is the height of irresponsibility. This lady said, "The singer is clearly only interested in the woman's looks and ability to look after him when he is drunk." Eric Clapton fell in love with English model Pattie Boyd while she was still married to George Harrison, his best friend. He proclaimed his love for her in the song Layla. Years later, after she and Harrison had divorced, Eric dated and then married Pattie. It was during their marriage that he wrote and recorded "Wonderful Tonight." So, of course, Wonderful Tonight is not a song about some fictional woman. It is Eric's homage to the love of his life. This is common knowledge. I can not believe that PBS was not aware of Pattie Boyd and her role as a muse for both Clapton and Harrison, who wrote "Something in the Way She Moves" about Pattie. I can not believe that PBS would let "Wonderful Tonight" be included on a list of the worst songs. It will always be on the list of the BEST songs of all time. PBS owes Eric Clapton an apology.

Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB does not broadcast programming. Please contact your local station or PBS with your concerns at http://www.pbs.org/about/faq/contact-us/.

Channel 9-2 NASA Channel

Utah
Feedback:

I'm guessing you have no control over it, but I miss your Channel 9-2 NASA Channel. The plus.nasa.gov isn't as good of quality. When I try to watch something on it the video is constantly freezing (although the audio is good). To unfreeze the video I have to go back and restart it. But then it freezes again within a few seconds. And I haven't figured out how to find the current programming.

Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB does not fund the NASA Channel.

PBS News Hour

Illinois
Feedback:

A suggestion. Your Friday News Hour discussion between Capeheart and some other person is tired and uninteresting. Same guy, same topics, same point of view. So how do you boost viewership? Bring in Victor Davis Hanson as one of the duo along with the person you highlighted during the DNC.-She is a pollster by trade. Actually, anyone who would sit across from VDH would be great. He contributes to the NYT and WSJ, so you can't be blamed for hosting a "conservative" for heaven;s sake. What do you have to lose, other than more viewers?

Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Although CPB does not produce or distribute programming, we welcome all comments about public media’s content and services. CPB does not produce PBS News Hour. All inquiries, complaints and feedback for PBS News Hour can be sent to viewermail@newshour.org.

Weekend Edition Sunday

California
Feedback:
I never post negative reviews….. but I’ve listened to kpbs San Diego since the late 1970’s and this is the first time I’ve been driven to contact you. I cannot listen to weekend Sunday. I’ve tried, but Ilsias voice is so so grating that it’s impossible. That and weekend edition Saturday used to be of my favorite shows. Even her Advertisements for the show is painful. Sorry thoughts you needed to know!!

PUBLIC**** RADIO PHONE COMMENTS

Ohio
Feedback:
YOU ARE NOT FOR THE PUBLIC ,, TAKE PUBLIC OUT OF YOUR NAME , FOR PROFIT ONLY ?? NOT NONPROFIT............... GO BACK TO ALLLOWING PHONE IN PUBLIC COMMENTS FOR WKSU RADIO

Meet The Helpers

Florida
Feedback:
Wow what a wonderful opportunity for kids to know and learn about people who can help them in all different situations. My favorite Helper is the ALS Helper. That is extremely important for children who are deaf/hard of hearing. But all Helpers did a great job of explaining of how they can help.

Judy Woodruff Resign

Arizona
Feedback:
I used to respect her but she had just proven to be a total fraud, like all of the corporate media that parrots Democratic talking points.. Apologize and don't make excuses that others reported it. It did not happen that Trump tried to stop a cease fire and is an appalling failure.

Judy Woodruff

Montana
Feedback:
Liar! To say your egregious lie regarding communication between PM Netanyahu and Trump “was a mistake based on other wire services reporting” is a marvel of understatement. You abandoned journalistic standards and lied to smear a candidate and the PM. Then you lied again in trying to cover it up as a mistake. I used to be avid listener before all things “cpb” lurched to the far left. You should be defunded.

Judy Woodruff

Feedback:
My tax dollars are paying the salary of one of your PBS correspondents, Judy Woodruff, who abused her platform by lying about former President Trump during a live on-air broadcast on Monday, August 19, 2024. Judy Woodruff has been quoted as saying, “our democracy is as strong as it is because we have a free press, because we have a press that is dedicated to getting answers and getting facts and ultimately the truth” and “When you use the word ‘lie’ you’re saying someone said whatever they said with intention to mislead, to misrepresent.” As managing editor of PBS News Hour, Judy Woodruff either intentionally was not dedicated to doing her job of “getting facts and the truth” and made her statements with intent to mislead, or she is completely incompetent as an editor, anchor, and journalist, or both. Both of the above are highly likely, given her also being quoted as saying “her remarks had not been based on any original reporting on her part.” I am calling out fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement within the programs and operations of public broadcasting if Judy Woodruff is not fired immediately.

YOU ARE AJOKE

North Carolina
Feedback:
you should be defunded you are a joke1

Judy Woodruff

Feedback:
She should resign. Disgrace

Judy Woodworth

New York
Feedback:
Unbelievable statements about former President Trump and the Israeli Prime Minister...Trump wants War extended....Complete fabrications prior to the Presidential election seeks to create disinformation and lies, one can assume, to tarnish the former Presidents image. If you condone this type of Political bias and character assassination, I for one, will no longer monetarily support you. She should be dismissed !

Prime Time Coverage of the DNC

Colorado
Feedback:
Woeful wordy constant comments by obviously partisan talking heads that drown out any meaningful coverage of the proceedings. Less than 50of the broadcast lets voters see & decide for themselves what is being presented. I know Judy Woodruff, but only David Brooks brings a touch of balanced realism to his comments about the process or the whole electorate. Less commentary, more coverage is what is needed.

Woodruff Specials

North Carolina
Feedback:
Woodruff should have conducted special interviews years ago instead of uhing, hemming and hawing, forgetting the name of her guest as she stumbled through the “NewsHour”. I never watched the “NewsHour” because I found her so distracting. I now have watched several of her specials on the News Hour. Did she use a speech coach to change her delivery? Is she still paid $3 million a year? She was never a news anchor worth that amount, and is not worth that amount for her specials.

Ayesha Roscoe Grammar and Accent

North Carolina
Feedback:
Ayesha Roscoe makes many grammatically incorrect statements. By allowing her to broadcast the news Public Radio conveys its impartir and tacitly approves her poor grammar. Her improper grammar creates an unwanted distraction that attenuates the message she is attempting to convey. As a result, I switch off Public Radio whenever I hear her voice.

PBS News Hour

Arizona
Feedback:
When a reporter on PBS News Hour demonstrates Clear and Concise information about a segment they are sharing with viewers on YouTube and does this consistently it greatly enhances my interaction and viewing pleasure of the PBS News Hour. Stephanie Sy has demonstrated an immense talent when preforming her reporting be it only a segment or at the anchor desk. Stephanie Sy will develop into the next incarnation of Judy Woodruff. Please don't loose this valuable talent.

Weekend Addition

California
Feedback:
Ayesha Roscoe's voice is grating and intolerable. I just had to turn her off - again. I read somewhere that she chose to keep her "accent". I can tell you as a now elderly retired woman from the inner city projects in New Jersey, that I consciously worked on NOT sounding like a Jersey girl from the projects, especially when I practiced law, because the stylized speech patterns and grating tone of my youthful voice made people pay more attention to my voice than to what I was saying. Get rid of her if she will not reform. I am sure there are many more people like me who can't believe you would hire a host with such an irritating voice. I can still pull out my Jersey where appropriate - but not on the radio! Get ridda huh!