In the above clip please notice the many people wearing bright red “Not In Our Name” t-shirts either joining in the chant or failing to raise any objections to the crowd chanting for the destruction of the state of Israel.
The same video also featured these lovely images:
The “Red Triangle” is a well-known symbol used by Hamas.
A “Victory to the Palestinian Resistance” banner, by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). The FRSO is a prominent participant in this week’s demos in Chicago. They are a Maoist organization with close ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, one of the groups that helped plan and carry out October 7.
“Dont Follow the Bourgeois Electoral Bullshit! Follow Bob Avakian!!” Bob who, you ask? Avakian is the illustrious chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, another Maoist outfit.
Below is a transcript of an interiew of Bhikkhu Bodhi by Mary Thanissara. The interview appears to have been heavily edited before it was released on youtube as part of a 100+ minute long online Israel-bashing session hosted by the “Sacred Mountain Sangha” on June 9th.
There are at least four notable things about the interview. The first is the extensive, and rather clumsy editing. It would be nice to hear the entirety of what Bhikkhu Bodhi actually had to say.
The second thing is that while Bhikkhu Bodhi encourages Buddhists to join in anti-Israel protests, he feels compelled to add “as I saidsome of them make me feel a bit uncomfortable with some of these chants.” This implies that Bodhi had previously, in the course of the same interview, been more specific about which “chants” made him feel “uncomfortable”. Since that part of the interview has been edited out, though, we are left to guess whether the chants in question were “From the River to the Sea!”, or possibly, “We Are Hamas!”, or possibly “Khaybar, Khaybar!”, or possibly something else?
The third thing is that one of the most heavily edited parts of the interview (with at least 4 edits in just over 1 minute) is where Bhikkhu Bodhi explicitly refers to a cease fire. It’s important to look at what Bodhi said about a cease fire in another interview he did in the same month as Thanissara’s interview with him:
First, we must persuade both Israel and Hamas to agree to a complete ceasefire, an end to hostilities to go into immediate effect, including release of the hostages held by Hamas as part of the deal.[From: “Buddhist Ethics for a World in Crisis”, Insight Journal, June 2024, emphasis in original]
In Thanissara’s interview with Bhikkhu Bodhi, or at least in the parts she decided to make public, Bhikkhu Bodhi never mentions Hamas or the hostages, nor does he mention October 7th. In the other interview he did in the same month he mentions Hamas six times, the hostages twice, and October 7th three times. We are left with two possibilities: either Bodhi did mention Hamas, the hostages, and October 7th in the interview with Thanissara and she decided to edit that out, or, alternatively, sometimes Bhikkhu Bodhi bothers to mention Hamas, the hostages, and October 7th when talking about a cease fire, and sometimes he doesn’t.
The fourth thing is that toward the end of the interview, Bodhi specifically endorses two anti-Israel organizations, Jewish Voice for Peace, and IfNotNow, and in doing so justifiies his endorsement by asserting that these two groups “take sort of balanced, well considered, strong but moderate approaches”. We are left wondering what makes the “approaches” of these two groups more “balanced”, “well considered”, and “moderate” than other (unnamed) groups. It would be very helpful to know what other groups do not receive Bhikkhu Bodhi’s seal of approval for being insufficiently balanced, well considered, and moderate. It’s also worth noting, along these lines, that while Bodhi does endorse anti-Israel “protest marches” and “demonstrations” he makes no mention of “encampments” and campus building seizures that have been such a prominent feature of anti-Israel activism since October 7.
In the transcipt below all of the obvious places where parts of the original interview were edited out are marked prominently with (SNIP SNIP SNIP).
Th (Thanissara): What do we need to understand, practice, to do to build a more vibrant activist, it’s like linking the inner work of liberation … BB (Bhikkhu Bodhi): Yeah Th: … with liberation from these systems of oppression, to build that bridge. BB: Yeah (SNIP SNIP SNIP) Often what draws people initially to the dharma is they’re dealing with inner problems within themselves, either psychological conflicts or just a general sense of dissatisfaction with their lives, with their relationships, and so often they relate to Dharma almost as a kind of, I wouldn’t say a psychotherapy, but maybe a kind of existential therapy. And then others who approach Buddhism through maybe a more traditional lens do take it as a path to enlightenment and liberation. And so in this way they’re appropriating Dharma against what I would call a largely a traditionalist background. And I think what has to be understood is that culture and religion goes through different stages of development, and sometimes we have to transform the religion to meet the particular needs of the time (SNIP SNIP SNIP) The main thrust of traditional Buddhism is on personal inner cultivation, of course ethical relationships in one’s everyday life, but mainly inner cultivation aimed at some kind of insight, enlightenment, liberation, and liberation from suffering is understood as liberation from the inner suffering, the suffering that comes from psychological suffering and from the general suffering, the existential suffering of samsara. It seems to me a sort of a pressing need of our own time is to expand our understanding of the Dharma beyond those narrow confines that come from the traditional background and to see a Dharma, a kind of a integral Dharma, a Dharma that extends both to the social domain in which we’re living in a very active and even forceful way, and also a Dharma that’s concerned with preserving our natural environment. So this, we see coming to manifestation with what’s called now eco-Dharma and Buddhist environmentalism (SNIP SNIP SNIP) So we have to broaden the expanse of our understanding of the Dharma to extend it into all these different dimensions of our life: political, social, economic, and environmental, as well as the personal and immediately social (SNIP SNIP SNIP) Yet here what I would say is what we need I call it a searing sense of a Buddhist conscience which is guided by a kind of vision of what kind of a world do we want? Do we want a world in which countries are able to attack other countries and just bombard them. And the particular situation in Gaza is just so horrific and just completely repellent to the conscience, because the main victims, like 90% of the victims are not, this isn’t a combat situation, where one army is confronting another army, or confronting the bases of another army, but this is a case where the victims are an entire population, the population of Gaza, which has been under a kind of occupation (SNIP SNIP SNIP) But now just the most horrific assault has been launched which has no constraints at all, no moral constraints, and this is, should be completely repellent to our moral consciousness and should just mobilize any person of conscience to act. But it seems that there’s a kind of, I have to say, a weak sense of a Buddhist moral consciousness, a Buddhist moral conscience, and that’s where I think we have to, again, expand that understanding of what it means to be a follower of Buddhist ethics, where we have to develop a sense of responsibility for the world, a mind that takes, that has concern for the wellbeing of the world. And particularly when we see one country attacking another, an occupied territory to a degree that could be well classified as genocide. This should stir up a strong sense of repugnance and a compulsion to act to do something [18:19] (SNIP SNIP SNIP) An unavoidable, absolutely essential starting point has to be a complete and unconditional cease fire, just stop the killing, stop the destruction, and let us at least begin some kind of negotiations, as difficult as they would be (SNIP SNIP SNIP) Of course a big problem here this has to deal with the dynamics of the American political scene (SNIP SNIP SNIP) Th: You know while they’re talking on the one hand Biden like (inaudible) BB: Yeah this is the US, yeah, yeah, a billion dollars, yeah, yeah. Th: The US is completely underwriting now and actively colluding in what is a genocide. BB: Yeah, and this is what really makes this situation so tragic from the standpoint of the United States, because we have become with Israel, hypocritical on our part. We’ve always been presenting ourself as the defender, the primary global defender of the international rules-based order (SNIP SNIP SNIP) Yet now the rest of the world is standing up and coming to support of the cease fire at the UN, the proposal to make Palestine, to recognize Palestine as a state. [19:35] Pretty much three-quarters of the world has already done that, the other countries are ready to do it. And so we’re becoming a kind of pariah, the antithesis, the chief underminer and opponent of the international rules-based order (SNIP SNIP SNIP) Like could we as Dharma practitioners Th: This is what I want to ask, yeah (SNIP SNIP SNIP) BB: Um, you know like one thing that could be done is to join these these protest marches, these demonstrations, [20:02] though as I said some of them make me feel a bit uncomfortable with some of these chants. Or one can, I would say, it would be good for Buddhists to maybe to, who have that need to do something, to join organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace, you don’t have to be Jewish to join. Th: Right you don’t BB: I’m a member, too. I’ve become a member as a Buddhist not as somebody of Jewish ethnicity. Yeah, and so I think Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, take sort of balanced, well considered, strong but moderate approaches (SNIP SNIP SNIP) One of the major sort of terrible aspects of Israel’s campaign against Gaza is not only the bombardments and the destruction of all of the infrastructure, but also this very, very rigorous blockade that Israel has imposed on Gaza. It’s virtutally a total blockade (SNIP SNIP SNIP) Children who are just their bodies reduced to skin and bones, do write to one’s Congressional representatives, and send this to express your dismay at Israel’s actions in Gaza and to insist that they adopt policies that will in some way change the course of events in Gaza, and the West Bank, we shouldn’t lose sight of the West Bank (SNIP SNIP SNIP) You could also look into your University, if you could find out something about your Alma Mater, find out their finances, see if they are engaged in financial support to the Israeli military, and insist that they divest from those investments (SNIP SNIP SNIP) Th: Excellent BB:Actions we can take in the visible realm.Meditation on compassion, and praying for peace. You can recite the name of Guan Yin Bodhisattva, other great Bodhisattvas, and dedicate the merit to the Dharma protecting Deities, sort of imploring them to intercede on behalf of the human community here on this planet earth (SNIP SNIP SNIP) Certainly you should take the concrete action in this world, but I believe that beyond the visible plane there’s also a kind of collective psychic plane, which is permeated by our thoughts, our intentions, our wishes, our aspirations, our prayers, our hopes, and so forth. And it’s possible that when these reach a certain threshold of saturation with benevolent wishes, this could trigger changes in the visible plane, by making a subtle invisible impact on the thought processes of the global leaders, or even causing material changes that could bring about major transformations in the social sphere (SNIP SNIP SNIP) Th: Thank you BB: And so we should use all of these, both concrete, visible acts, actions in the visible plane, and also permeating the psychic plane with our meditations, aspirations, recitations, and so on (SNIP SNIP SNIP) Th: Thank you so much, thank you, thank you. BB: Yeah Th: Bye bye now. BB: OK. Th: Bye
The interview with Bhikkhu Bodhi starts at about 13 minutes and 23 seconds into the below youtube video:
This post deals with the subject of suicide and also contains at least one reference to Scientology and quite possibly other sensitive/offensive topics. Consider yourself trigger warned.
If you are in crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Lifeline provides confidential support to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. Support is also available via live chat .
In most ways, Mary Thanissara is just another leftist spouting the anti-Israel party-line.But there is one thing that does make her different from the Jeremy Corbyns and the Rashida Tlaibs of this world: Thanissara is a Buddhist teacher.
Unfortunately there is today a small but rather loud group of “engaged Buddhists” who have adopted the whole megillah of leftist anti-Israel, anti-Zionist rhetoric and slogans, much of which is deeply antisemitic.
A case in point is Thanissara’s latest anti-Israel harangue: Gaza and the Battle for Earth. (You can read it here, or watch her reading it here).
There’s a lot to not like.
First off, there is the ludicrous title. It sounds like something you’d find on the cover of an L. Ron Hubbard novel, or maybe on the case of a Marvel Avengers video game.
Stylistically, Thanissara’s screed is as bombastic and grandiose as it’s title suggests. She imagines herself as a spiritual leader of a movement to “break the spell of this psychopathic miasma …. which is currently controlling the destiny of the planet …. We, global citizens everywhere, are the last chance to circle out from this culture of death….”
Thematically, and by this point this should be obvious, the content is apocalyptic and megalomanical. This kind of millenarian ranting is normally associated with Pentecostalist preachers, but Thanissara is part of small (but possibly growing) group of Buddhist teachers whose relentless catastrophizing at best distracts from any practical real-world engagement with social and political issues, and, at worse, encourages extremist views and ultimately extemist actions.
In terms of any actual Buddhist content, there simply is none. Where there purports to be Dharma there is only moral grandstanding and knee-jerk anti-imperialist, jihadist-adjacent political sloganeering.
But all of the above is trumped by an even bigger problem with Thanissara’s End-Times diatribe. What is really, truly, deeply abhorrent about Thanisara’s Battle for Earth is her praise for the mentally ill antisemite Aaron Bushnell.
The story of Aaron Bushnell’s short tragic life is a sad tale that can be told in half a dozen sentences. He spent the first 20 years of his life in a small Christian cult that Bushnell himself described as “toxic” and “abusive”. He left the cult and joined the Air Force. He started hanging out with far-left activists and came to consider himself an “Anarchist”. He spent a lot of time online. He became obsessed with Israel and Palestine and absorbed the left’s antisemitic hatred of Israel to such an extent that he supported the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th because all Israeli Jews are “colonial settlers” who deserve to die. When his Air Force service contract was about to end he committed suicide by setting himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy while shouting “Free Palestine!” (it took him seven hours to die from his self-inflicted injuries).
In Battle for Earth, Thanissara holds up Bushnell as someone to be admired, someone who has set an example to be followed:
Besides the sheer moral outrage of Gaza, the uprising for Palestinian rights has traveled like wildfire around the world as everywhere citizens see themselves in the fate of Palestinians. We understand, as Aaron Bushnell said, that “this is what our ruling class has in mind for the world.”
But what does Thanissara really know about Aaron Bushnell? Does she know that most of his life was spent in an abusive cult? Does she know that he openly supported Hamas as an “anti-colonial resistance organization” and publicly declared his approval of the rape, murder, and kidnapping of Israeli civilians on October 7? In other words, does she realize that he was a psychologically damaged young man obsessed with violent antisemitic ideas? It is very likely that Thanissara does not know this. After all, she couldn’t even quote his dying words accurately!
Bushnell recorded his final moments. Just before setting himself on fire he said “This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.” (NOT: “This is what our ruling class has in mind for the world.”)
One also has to wonder if Thanissara realizes that suicide is the second leading cause of death for young men and adolescent boys? Does she know that the rate of suicide among young men of Bushnell’s age has been increasing dramtatically for the last 15 years? Does she know that the suicide rate among active duty military personell is not only now at an all time high, but that suicide is now the leading cause of death for active duty military personell?
Does she understand that the way in which cases of suicide are portrayed in the media and online can be a major contributing factor to an increase in suicide attempts? According to the World Health Organization’s Preventing suicide: a resource for media professionals: “Do not use language which sensationalizes or normalizes suicide, orpresents it as a constructive solution to problems.”
Surely as a long time Buddhist practitioner and experienced Buddhist teacher, Thanissara must be aware of the fact that a significant portion of those who are drawn to Buddhist teachings are individuals who suffer from a variety of psychological and bevavioral problems, especially depression, anxiety, and substance abuse? In fact, “mindfulness” practices (based on Buddhist teachings) are often promoted as a form of therapy for depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Because of this, Buddhist teachers have an increased responsibility to exercise great caution when discussing the subject of suicide.
But Thanissara recklessly holds up Aaron Bushnell’s suicide as an act to be admired and praised. And it has to be emphasized that Thanissara’s praise for Bushnell’s suicide can only be understood as an endorsement of suicide as a “constructive solution”.
When eschatalogical raving about the imminent collapse of human civilization is combined with extolling the virtues of a young man who has committed suicide, this has to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. And when this is done in the name of the Dharma it is inexcusable.
At the moment this post is mostly just a list of links. I hope to come back later and provide a brief overview of each of the linked-to items. They all pertain to the subject indicated by the title of this post: “The deep roots of antisemitism in the Islamic world.” The main point is to show that the blind hatred for Israel that pervades modern day Islam did not spring forth, fully formed, when the state of Israel came into existence as a result of the Israeli War of Independence from 1947 to 1949.
In fact, the war of 47-49 was the result of antisemitism, not its cause. The war began when the United Nations proposed to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. A two-state solution. The Arab state proposed in 1947 would have had twice as much land as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank combined. Why did this proposal lead to war? Because the Arabs of Palestine, joined by the entire Arab world, completely rejected the idea of having a Jewish state in Palestine.
The Arab rejection of the 1947 partition plan was really not terribly surprising, considering the fact that they had also rejected the partition plan proposed by the British in 1937, which would have given the Arabs even more land (and the Jews even less).
Why were the Arabs so adamantly opposed to a Jewish state in their midst? Arabs and Jews had lived side-by-side for centuries throughout the Middle East and North Africa. But Jews had always held a subordinate position. Now the Jews were seeking the very same thing that the Arabs sought – self determination. But to the (overwhelmingly Muslim) Arabs the idea of Jews having the same rights as Arabs was intolerable. This is the essence of antisemitism, and this essence had been there all along.
[UPDATE: As of July 9, Meta has updated its Hate Speech policy to reflect the fact that in some cases “‘Zionist’ … may be used as a proxy to refer to Jewish or Israeli people”. See bottom or post for more details.]
“There are many spheres in Britain in which it has become common sense that Israel is a unique and radical evil in the world. ‘Zionist’ has now become an insult, an epithet for evil.
These shared assumptions about Israel are fertile ground for the emergence of an anti-Semitic movement…..
There’s an overenthusiasm about anti-Zionism. British and American operations in Falluja cared less about civilian casualties than Israeli operations in Gaza. Israel is far from the most serious human-rights abuser on the planet, but how to explain this focus on the uniqueness of Israeli evil? ….
You can see it in the way people think about Hizbollah and Hamas. Both have openly genocidal policies towards the Jews, and yet, in the summer, placards reading, ‘We are all Hizbollah now’, were accepted on peace demonstrations.
This hasn’t always been the case. In fact, Nick Jackson’s 2007 article is the first time (that I know of) that anyone had publicly called attention to how “Zionist” was becoming more widely used as “an epithet for evil”.
A key moment in the evolution of “Zionist” into an antisemitic slur was June 9, 2009, when Barack Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright infamously claimed, in an interview with the Daily Press of Newport News Virginia (direct link to article): “Them Jews ain’t going to let him talk to me.” This was an in-your-face textbook example of one of the hallmarks of classical antisemitism: the sinister, all pervasive power of “Them Jews”. Two days later, Wright tried to extricate himself with the explanation: “I meant to say ‘Zionists'” (in an interview with Sirius XM host Mark Thompson – here is a politico.com article about it). While this didn’t convince anyone, it did send out the clear message: you can take even the most obvious antisemitic tropes and simply repace “Jews” with “Zionists” and, voila, it’s no longer antisemitism! And the real beauty of it is that everyone still knows exactly who you are really talking about! The one rule is: don’t say “Jews” first and then later claim you meant to say “Zionists”. Just say “Zionists” from the start, and you’re good.
Here is a somewhat random collection of links and quotes that give a very rough outline of how things have progressed since then.
The word “Zionism” means different things to different people. Some use it a badge of honour, unconditionally defending the state of Israel right or wrong. Yet, many Zionists take umbrage at the appellation of Israel as a Zionist state. They insist that it is a “Jewish state”, a “state of the Jewish people”. Quite a few people who identify themselves as Zionists, are distressed by what Israel is and does, but remain reluctant to express their distress in public. Others, including quite a few Israelis, see Zionism as the main obstacle to peace in Israel/Palestine, a path to collective suicide. And, finally, in some circles the word is used as an insult.
Zionism is how I connect to my Judaism and it is being slandered as a racist ideology that supports apartheid and oppression across college campuses by anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hate groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). It is a new way to insult Jewish people without directly coming off as anti-Semitic.
“Instead, when I was at the 2015 Labour Party conference with fellow members of the Oxford University Labour Club (OULC), several attended the LFI (Labour Friends of Israel) reception wearing Palestine Solidarity Campaign lanyards and made a point of smirking when the assassination Yitzhak Rabin was mentioned by one of the speakers. When I confronted one of those members later in the evening and raised the work Rabin had done for peace, working with the Palestinian leadership to produce the Oslo Accords, the response I received was, ‘Who cares? He was a Zionist.’
A spokesperson for Meta stated that the company is reviewing posts containing the term “Zionist,” recognizing its potential to convey anti-Semitic sentiment. While acknowledging that “Zionist” often refers to a political ideology rather than a protected characteristic, Meta emphasized that the term can also be used to target Jewish or Israeli individuals.
First off, there is the ludicrous title. It sounds like something you’d find on the cover of an L. Ron Hubbard novel, or maybe on the case of a Marvel Avengers video game.
In terms of any actual Buddhist content, there simply is none. Where there purports to be Dharma there is only moral grandstanding and knee-jerk anti-imperialist, jihadist-adjacent political sloganeering.
But what does Thanissara really know about Aaron Bushnell? Does she know that most of his life was spent in an abusive cult? Does she know that he openly supported Hamas as an “anti-colonial resistance organization” and publicly declared his approval of the rape, murder, and kidnapping of Israeli civilians on October 7? In other words, does she realize that he was a psychologically damaged young man obsessed with violent antisemitic ideas? It is very likely that Thanissara does not know this. After all, she couldn’t even quote his dying words accurately!
