In my last article I dealt with Lara Witt’s comments about white people and her calls for terrorist cyber-attacks on Steve Bannon and Vladimir Putin (amongst others). Since then, it has been revealed (hat tip to Heat Street and author Joe Simonson) that she had also tweeted about Jews. An in depth look at Witt’s horrific views on Jewish victims of terror and on the state of Israel reveals further damning evidence of her hateful views and unsuitability for public life.
Lara Witt was initially defiant. However, it appears she is beginning to perceive, at least dimly, the extent of her error. Her Twitter account is now protected. Click for full size.
Only yesterday Lara Witt was running her mouth off on Twitter, complaining of those who took exception to her remarks that “white people are evil” and claiming my invitation that she comment on the draft of my last article was in some way an attempt at “silencing” her. The response to my article about Witt’s vile anti-white hate speech has been astonishing and touching. Many enemies of bigotry and prejudice have taken up my invitation to politely complain to her clients and to PayPal. Earlier today Witt’s Twitter account became private.
Today’s article will deal with another aspect of Witt’s ugly bigotry – her dark views on Jews and the state of Israel. Heat Street identified a particular tweet by Witt (archive here), in which she states her view that, “I find it despicable that some Jewish figures are decrying rockets being launched at them. Israel has the means to protect itself”.
Lara Witt thinks it is “despicable” that “Jewish figures” object to having rockets fired at Israel. Rockets that killed children.
To understand the inhuman vileness of Witt’s nigh-unbelievable remarks it is necessary first to delve into her views and writings on Israel and then to put the “rocket” attacks she feels should (literally) not be reproached into their tragic and blood soaked context.
First, it is worth looking at some of Witt’s previous articles. We begin comparatively mildly with, “10 Things Every Intersectional Feminist Should Ask On a First Date” (archive here). With disturbing prolixity (1,357 words) Witt sets out her stall, “If you’re going to date someone, you want to make sure they’re woke. Here are 10 things you should ask on a first date”. In essence, it is an extremely lengthy ideological litmus test for entry to Witt’s … affections. One supposes it could be rendered into a concise form with tick-boxes.
Of particular note is point 5 – “Are you a supporter of the BDS movement?” . Add an “M” and we could be talking but Witt is not writing about sado-masochism. In her words, “”BDS stands for “Boycott, Divest, Sanctions” — an effort to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians”. In essence the BDS movement seeks global economic ostracism for Israel due to their alleged mistreatment of Palestinians.
Witt goes on to say that, “Being pro-Palestine is not the same thing as being anti-Semitic. I shouldn’t even have to express that, but being pro-Palestine and BDS is a necessary part of intersectionality.” My personal view is that supporting sanctions against Israel is profoundly misguided but I concede it does not (in itself) mean anti-Semitism.
In her writing entitled, “You Want to Be an Active Ally? Here’s How” (archive here) Witt identifies many types of bigotry before extending an invitation – “[To] my fellow LGBTQIA folks, people of color, indigenous folks, immigrants, differently abled people, and Muslim friends and family” – as to how to combat bigotry. One type of “oppression” not mentioned in her article is anti-Semitism. In fact the only reference to it I can find in any of her works is her denial that she holds anti-Semitic viewpoints.
The tweet identified by Heat Street is on a profoundly different level. When Witt speaks of “rockets” being “launched” she is talking about a sustained campaign of terrorist missile and mortar fire from Palestinian militants into Israel. These attacks have taken place over a period of years. A poll conducted in 2014 found that only 38% of Palestinians supported these terrorist attacks.
The campaign of military fire into civilian areas of Israel has let to over 1,900 civilian injuries and several deaths. These deaths include children as young as 2. For example, in on Sept 29, 2004 – little Yuval Abebeh, 4, and Dorit (Masarat) Benisian, 2, were killed by a Kassam rocket fired from Gaza while playing in the street. A chilling toll of the deaths is reported in commendably restrained and factual terms by the Israeli government here.
Readers are also recommended to read the Infogalactic article on the Palestinian rocket attacks for context (Infogalactic is an attempt at an improved version of Wikipedia, which is growing in popularity due to its more scholarly and less political approach).
Of course in an ethnic conflict that has lasted thousands of years, things are never wholly one-sided and doubtless at times some Israelis have also overstepped the mark. Nevertheless, the Palestinian approach to the Israeli state is a litany of death and terror. Overall, I find myself driven to the Israeli side – and even if morality did not compel my view, pragmatism would. Israel is a beacon of stability and order amidst the barbarism and chaos of the Middle East.
Witt has gone far beyond simply criticising Israeli government policy in relation to the Palestinians. She has called, “Jewish figures” “despicable” for “decrying” terrorist rocket attacks, aimed at civilians. She claims that, “[…] Israel has the means to protect itself […]”. To Witt merely complaining about (“decrying”) the bombing campaign is “despicable”. Could poor Yuval and Dorit (again, only 4 and 2 years old) defend themselves from the missile that ended their lives? Seriously?
It is not the only time that Witt has made bizarre comments in relation to terrorism. In my previous article I revealed she had called for cyber attacks against Steve Bannon of the US Government and President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
Witt’s bigoted remarks violate the memory of innocents. She is spewing her hatred despite the fact of the burning corpses of innocent children. No one could condone such heinously vile political commentary. What reputable organisation or publication could associate itself with her unspeakable views?
To their great credit, readers have been contacting publications that feature Witt’s work to complain. As a reminder the list includes the editor of Teen Vogue Elaine Welteroth (Elaine_Welteroth@condenast.com), Jodi Jacobson the editor of Rewire (Jodi@rhrealitycheck.org, press@rewire.news), Nikki Gloudeman co-founder and Editorial Director of “The Establishment” (nicholemarie29@gmail.com), the President of Whyy.org William Marrazzo (wmarrazzo@whyy.org) and the editor of “Wear Your Voice Mag” Ravneet Vohra (ravneet@wyvmag.com).
Readers have also been in contact with PayPal to complain of apparent breaches of their terms at aupviolations@paypal.com. PayPal prohibits the promotion of hateful content. Lara Witt advertises her PayPal as paypal.me/larawitt and her email as LaraWitt@gmail.com.
Readers complaining to publications or to PayPal are asked to keep their letters and emails polite, factual, courteous and respectful. To make use of hatred and threats is to descend to the revolting levels occupied by Ms Witt.
Lara Witt, her views on terrorism and her bigotry have no place in public life.
strongly advise anyone reading this article to contact #PayPal (politely) & comment in The Donald or start a new thread of your own — Lara Witt Indoctrinating our kids
I greatly appreciate this article, as well as the previous article on Lara Witt. I absolutely cannot stand bigotry on any level. I am especially sickened by anyone who uses racism as an excuse to be racist. Looking at her writing, it is clear she does not work fulltime. Most professional freelance writers get to that point by developing a following through previous employment. She lists in her Twitter profile the number of publications she writes for, but most of these she has only written one or two articles. The editor of Teen Vogue recently tweeted: “Lara is not an employee of Teen Vogue—she is a freelance writer who contributed one article to our website. She doesn’t speak on our behalf.”
She is clearly not a full time writer, lets hope it stays that way. I’m sure she will blame her income on the wag gap. It is amazing to me how many educated young people think they have the world figured out because they spent four years being brainwashed by university professors who have spent their lives living on campus and in a bubble. These profs do not understand how the real world works and are creating a generation of bigots just as disgusting as typical hate groups. At least typical hate groups can blame their bigotry on stupidity. What excuse do these millennials have?
It depends on the university and the individual professor, and it seems to be dying down in some places (I live in a university town and the whole “Social Justice” thing is no longer as loud as it used to be), but in general this is accurate, yes.
Some of the professors who do this aren’t even bad people as individuals. They may be forced to say such things, or perhaps they tow the line because if it wasn’t for the education that they have received, they would be working a blue-collar job despite their intelligence. Ironically the majority of those who receive an education are likely going to be working a blue-collar job, since the market is saturated with degrees.
Your use of the term “alleged” to describe the crimes of the of the Israeli state against Palestinians marks you as every bit as “allegedly” prejudiced as Lara Witt.
Overall, you should be “driven” to the side of right – and by far the majority of any atrocities have been perpetrated against Palestinians in this conflict.
I disagree. Israel is a democracy surrounded by medieval states and it deserves our support.
I like your articles but you and I are in totally different worlds. Of all these insane ideas of the Left the most important to you is the support for BDS. It is not by definition antisemitic but it is. You might be surprised at how many people on the Left are insanely antisemitic. (They know better than to be public about it.) Yes indeed, the only time they mention antisemitism is to deny they are antisemitic. But out of the 10 points in her article this is almost a sane position.For me it’s poetic justice for the multi-culti mayhem American Jews seem to love so much. And then there’s Israel. They aren’t that useful an ally. I almost went insane off the coast of Israel I was working so hard, my brother was billeted in the barracks when it was blown up by Islamic terrorists 12 years later. I look back on all this as service to Israel at the detriment of my own nation. I feel like we’ve done way too much for Israel. They never really apologized for the U.S.S. Liberty, you know. They are only “allies” in proportion to our use to them. When you think about it, basically Israel was founded in terrorism and by bureaucratic fiat. The Soviet Union was behind the U.N. machinations that led to the creation of Israel in the first place. A history very different than the founding legends of other peoples. I don’t think there will ever be peace. In the ultimate analysis the Palestinian people are only fighting for their survival.