• Writer / artist / educator / human rights activist
• Fervent anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian advocate
• Supports the most extreme pro-Palestinian groups, including International Solidarity Movement and Al-Awda
• "I am not a Zionist because I do not support nationalism as a solution to the question of injustice or persecution."
• "Animosity towards Jews, in whole or in part, coming from the Middle East is not much more than a century old, in reaction to the imperialist intentions of Zionists . . ."
• Member of Women in Black
• Founded Café Intifada, an arts events organization that tries to infuse politics into art
• Does not condemn the gross violation of human rights by Palestinians
  
  

Overview 

Emma Rosenthal is a self-described "writer / artist / educator / human rights activist." A familiar figure in the progressive-left scene in Los Angeles, Rosenthal is a fervent anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian advocate who couches her indictments of Israel in lofty slogans and in calls for a world free of injustice and war. Noble as these ideals are, they have little to do with the real world or the facts on the ground.

Rosenthal attacks the idea of nationalism in general and the idea of a Jewish state in particular. She contends that it is not an answer for anti-Jewish injustice and persecution. She emphasizes her Jewish identity and argues that Israel violates the true, universalist spirit of Judaism. She frequently describes her multi-cultural Passover Seders as an example of Judaism's true spirit. They include Arab guests where all "pray together, sing, dance, discuss freedom, justice, and tell the story of Passover. We compare our different traditions, marvel at the similarities, and truly love each other." She implies that if this approach were tried in the Middle East, the conflict would end.

Despite these warm, peaceful images, Rosenthal supports the most extreme pro-Palestinian groups. She endorses the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) though it has refused to condemn "armed struggle" and has harbored known terrorists in Israel. She sided with the Rutgers University faction when even the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) broke with the chapter in the fall of 2003 over its refusal to condemn terrorism and its insistence on an absolute right of return. She claims Israel was cruel and militaristic from its very founding, and that this is why anti-Semitism developed in the Middle East. She exploits her Jewish identity and the Holocaust to accuse Israel of behaving like the Nazis. Among the charges she has made are the following: 

• Israel's policies "will only result in the same desperation that besieged those brave fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto, who, with their own lives, defended the ghetto against the Nazis longer than all of the rest of Poland."
• "I hear of Israeli soldiers marking numbers on the arms of Palestinian prisoners /(the camps)/ rounding up all the men /(the ghettos) /torture /(the camps) /targeting children /(the ghettos -- the camps)"
• "I am not a Zionist because I do not support nationalism as a solution to the question of injustice or persecution."
• "Animosity towards Jews, in whole or in part, coming from the Middle East is not much more than a century old, in reaction to the imperialist intentions of Zionists such as Herzl and Jabotinsky and the terrorist activities of Jewish groups."
• "Israel is . . . by far the most dangerous state for a Jew to live in."

Biography 

Emma Rosenthal, who lives in the Los Angeles area, became an activist as a young girl during the anti-Viet Nam War movement. Her website shows a picture of her at the March on Washington in 1969 when she was about ten years old. She went on to become a "writer / artist / educator / human rights activist," was a classroom teacher for twenty years (specializing in bilingual and multicultural education), and became a "grassroots organizer" for various progressive causes.

Rosenthal is acutely sensitive about anti-Semitism and has written about the evils of the Holocaust. She takes from its legacy "a profound belief in the universality of human rights and the imperative to fight for justice globally, seeking global solutions to issues of domination, oppression and genocide." These ideals frame her militantly anti-Zionist views. She believes the very idea of a Jewish state violates this legacy, and that Israel is nothing but a colonialist creation that has spawned anti-Semitism in the Middle East.

While Rosenthal's hopes for a world free of injustice and war are commendable, her approach is shockingly naïve. She relishes telling stories of her multi-cultural Passover Seders, as if to say that the solutions are simple. And her positions are not as benign as her philosophy would suggest. She became a prominent figure in the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel movement in southern California. A member of Women in Black, she founded Café Intifada, an arts events organization that aims to "unite art with critical consciousness" or, in plainer language, that tries to infuse politics into art. The organization spotlights pro-Palestinian figures; its goal is to "raise funds for Palestinian Programs" and to "highlight . . . the current plight of the Palestinian people." Its website's home page features a photo of a small Palestinian child facing an Israeli tank. Members of prominent and controversial pro-Arab groups, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), are on Café Intifada's advisory board.

Rosenthal also founded the Writing Empowerment Project (WEP) as an extracurricular college prep writing course for high-school students. Though WEP's website describes the program as a joint project with Baldwin Park's Department of Parks, an official at the Parks Department had no knowledge of the program when phoned about it on December 5, 2004. The WEP's advisory board includes many of the same people as the Café Intifada advisory board, including members of CAIR and ADC.

Rosenthal strongly supports the most radical pro-Palestinian groups and agendas. She wrote that she "casts her lot" with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), though it condones "armed resistance." She signed a statement supporting the radical Rutgers University wing of the Palestine Solidarity Movement when it split over support for terrorism and the right of return in the fall of 2003. She signed a "Jewish Statement in Opposition to the Geneva Accords" in January 2004 because it did not endorse the full right of return for Palestinians. She signed an angry position statement with other Los Angeles KPFK radio activists because the station's feminist program had aired an interview with legendary feminist and Israel-supporter Phyllis Chesler. She co-sponsors programs with Al-Awda, the Right of Return Coalition whose extreme views led to a rift in the anti-war coalition in 2003. In the fall of 2004, she co-sponsored a film series with Al-Awda in Orange County, California. 

While Rosenthal fancies herself a human-rights activist, she does nothing to condemn the gross violation of human rights on the Palestinian side. Her analysis of the conflict is blatantly one-sided and blames only Israel for abuses. Furthermore, Rosenthal is not well informed about the history of Israel or of the Middle East. When she speaks, one hears only a repeat of the Arab narrative about the conflict.


This profile is adapted, with permission, from Stand4Facts.org.