Phylisa Wisdom

Gaza is starving. Where are the American Jewish leaders? A fear of being labelled antisemitic still deters American Jews and Jewish institutions from taking a position that is morally correct.

"“God’s name is being desecrated through our sins,” Rabbi Amital wrote nearly five decades ago. “Is it possible to remain silent?!” Today, his challenge tragically rings just as true."

My words in the Forward today (appropriately on Rav Amital’s yahrtzeit)

forward.com/opinion/7575...

It doesn't matter if they are ever coming for you.

It was always ever already too much that they were coming for anyone.

“Secret police” are your words, not mine. Seems like you’ve been giving them a lot of thought.

Unlike NYPD, your agents don’t identify themselves & wear masks that cover their faces. Now they ignore judges’ rulings, too.

What law enforcement agents are supposed to uphold … is the rule of law.

This violence does nothing to help the Palestinian cause, but will raise tensions in NY and undermine the work being done to advance peace in Israel & Palestine. This senseless, antisemitic attack contributes to growing fears in Jewish communities in NY & throughout the country. 2/4

We are shocked by the vile, antisemitic attack last night outside the AJC event at the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington D.C. 1/4

Dan Goldman: Democrats shouldn’t make antisemitic visa holders into ‘martyrs’ The New York congressman said that his party needs to be focusing more heavily on the hostages, rather than the detentions of antisemitic campus activists

Supporting hostages & supporting 1st amendment is not either/or choice. Nor does one have to agree w/what a person says to believe they have right to say it--and to not be deported. Anyone committed to democracy & the Jewish people must reject such binaries.

jewishinsider.com/2025/05/dan-...

Correct from the president of Harvard

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/u...

JFNA and Eric Fingerhut attacking a statement from the Conservative & Reform movements & others, organized by JCPA, as not “mainstream”…. tells me that JFNA in fact is outside the mainstream.

This attack inspired me to make a gift to JCPA. Join me: jewishpublicaffairs.org/donate/

Did the president come out with strong condemnation of this attack on a Jewish governor on the first night of Pass– what’s that? He gave a brief statement claiming the guy wasn’t a “Trump fan”? And then his admin went back to threatening students over “antisemitism”? www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Passover teaches us why Jews should stand with Mahmoud Khalil As Judge Jamee Comans has ruled Mahmoud Khalil can be deported, U.S. Jews celebrating Passover must think harder about what liberty means.

"I don't know how to read a story of deliverance from an unjust system w/o thinking of how my own country is...attempting to expel someone for their 'expected beliefs,' or of how this is being done in the name of Jewish safety"
For @forward.com on Moses & Mahmoud Khalil
forward.com/opinion/7119...

I hope that at every single seder, as we contemplate and celebrate our ancient liberation story, we draw connections between what is being done in our names and what was historically done to us. None of this is about Jewish safety, none of this is okay.

NYJA was proud to join this effort. May we go into Passover thinking about liberation for all people, and each of our roles in that.

NO THANK YOU, Marco.

apnews.com/article/mahm...

(🧵1/3) DHS can now deny immigration benefits -- including applying for visas and lawful residency -- based on whether or not the current administration thinks your social media activity aligns with *their* interpretation of antisemitism.

DHS to Begin Screening Aliens’ Social Media Activity for Antisemitism | USCIS Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin considering aliens’ antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying imm...

BREAKING: The Trump administration will begin screening immigrants’ social media for “antisemitism.”

This will NOT fight antisemitism.

This is simply using Jews as an excuse to move a cruel, anti-immigrant, authoritarian agenda.

We refuse to be used this way.

www.uscis.gov/newsroom/new...

Tonight we learned that it was indeed Andry, the gay man sent to El Salvador because of his “mom” and “dad” tattoos, who an American journalist saw sobbing as guards slapped him repeatedly and shaved his head.

He is an innocent. And Trump sent him to a torture prison.

Bring them back!

Hands off this nuts cart just trying to cross the street!

Hands off! NYC

It has been two weeks since a Georgia woman was arrested for her miscarriage, and not one major national outlet has covered the story

I am a proud Ohioan and stick up for my state constantly. Bernie Moreno does not represent the good in the Buckeye state. The fact that he has the audacity to call the highest ranking Jewish politician ( @schumer.senate.gov) fuhrer is beyond disgusting and antisemitic. All should condemn this.

"I don't want a Disney vacation of our history! I don't a whitewashed history, I don't want a homogenized history. Tell me the wretched truth about America, because that speaks to our greatness" -- 20 hours into his speech, Cory Booker is spitting absolute 🔥

Real ones thought about the Stackhouse filibuster episode all day.
cc @bradleywhitford.bsky.social

People on here who are poo-pooing Booker underestimate the power of storytelling in politics.

can not believe new york times pitchbot is on blue sky
this place is going places i can feel it

Harvard’s president is okay with the Trump admin placing our community at the tip of its authoritarian spear, making us less safe by setting us up as scapegoats. They don’t know how to combat antisemitism, and they don’t actually care about doing so.

Oh my god. They deported a man who an immigration judge had declared was "more likely than not" to face persecution in El Salvador ... to El Salvador, during the big March 15 AEA flights!

They outright admit it! Yet the Trump admin's response to a court is basically "oops, well, no take backsies."

Here’s the thing: nothing Harvard does matters, unless it’s a total capitulation to Trump — because for him this is not actually about fighting antisemitism. It’s about exploiting real, legitimate concerns about antisemitism to gut our educational institutions and our democracy.

When scholars of authoritarianism and fascism leave U.S. universities because of the deteriorating political situation here, we should really worry.

As much as we're seeing cowardice, we should also recognize bravery when it appears. Jeffrey Goldberg knew very well he may be locked up for publishing what he put out, and it's a big deal he did what he was supposed to.

It may seem like the "minimum" to some, but today the minimum is exceptional.

The only piece of actual wisdom I have ever learned about US politics is "Never believe something is too stupid to happen."