Associated Press Reporter Out After Conservatives Flag Pro-Palestine Activism in College

[Mr. Sparkle]

Source: mediaite



Reporter Emily Wilder, who joined the Associated Press last month, is no longer working at the company, Mediaite has confirmed. Her departure comes after a chapter of the College Republicans flagged her involvement in a pro-Palestine group while in college, as well as comments she made about Israel and Palestine. Reached for comment, a representative for the AP told Mediaite, “Emily Wilder no longer works for the AP. We refrain from commenting on personnel matters.”

On Monday, the Stanford College Republicans highlighted Wilder’s past involvement in pro-Palestine activism and tweeted screenshots from social media accounts purporting to belong to Wilder, who is Jewish and grew up in an Orthodox community in Phoenix. The thread notes that Wilder once belonged to Students for Justice in Palestine, which has more than 200 chapters across North America. The group also took issue with Wilder’s descriptions of late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson as a “naked mole rat” and Ben Shapiro as a “little turd.”

The Stanford College Republicans also claim that Students for Justice in Palestine has “ties to Hamas affiliates,” though the conservative group did not elaborate. Subsequently, Fox News and The Federalist ran stories describing Wilder as being “anti-Israel.”

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/news/associated-press-reporter-out-after-conservatives-flag-pro-palestine-activism-in-college/

[Jedi Guy]

1. The Internet is forever, kids. N/T

[TheRickles]

2. The things she did in college weren't actions she should be ashamed of, or try to hide.

The AP is the one who should be ashamed, for letting her go in response to a Republican hatchet job. The old slur still works, apparently: advocating for Palestinian rights makes someone anti-Semitic. Jewish Voices for Peace is a highly respected organization, but if membership and activism with them is now a disqualifier for future work in the media, we are in big trouble.

[DBoon]

7. "are you now or have you ever been..."

[Jedi Guy]

8. I assume it was more than just membership in that particular organization.

The snip mentions comments she made about Israel and Palestine, so it was probably that more so than her membership in Jewish Voices for Peace.

In any case, AP evidently felt it called her journalistic objectivity into question, and no one is entitled to work there.

But this is the new pastime, isn't it? Find someone you don't like and then go on a fishing expedition in their social media to see what they may have said that can be used against them.

[McKim]

11. Great Post!

Yes, Great Post!!!! AP should be interested in balance especially since their building was bombed!

[TheRickles]

16. Yes, in effect she was trying to prevent the bombing of her employer's HQs. How ironic!

[msfiddlestix]

18. This 10,000 %

[mahina]

24. Exactly

[Mosby]

25. American Jews do not think JVP is a highly respected organization

Its nominally connected to the Jewish community, and is ridiculed by American Jews across the political spectrum. Their one sided anti-Israel approach to the conflict is a huge turn off.

Wiki:

The Anti-Defamation League criticized JVP for what it described as "anti-Israel radicalism" and "questionable tactics" to promote its agenda, describing a 2017 video campaign as "veering dangerously close to repeating anti-Semitic slurs".[44][45][46]

In October 2010, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) identified JVP as one of the top 10 anti-Israel groups in the United States[51] In a September 2010 report, the ADL wrote:

While JVP's activists try to portray themselves as Jewish critics of Israel, their ideology is nothing but a complete rejection of Israel. In May 2008, for example, members of JVP protested many of the celebrations of Israel's 60th anniversary that took place around the country, essentially illustrating that they oppose Israel's very existence.

In September 2011, Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Relations Council, said: "Jewish Voice for Peace routinely allows itself to be used as political cover by organizations promoting anti-Israel boycotts and divestment so that they can claim that they have Jewish backing for their positions, even though JVP represents a tiny fraction of the community."

In 2017, JVP was criticized for inviting Rasmea Odeh, a former PFLP member convicted in the 1969 Jerusalem supermarket bombing that killed Israelis Edward Joffee and Leon Kanner, as a featured speaker in its biennial conference.[66][67][68] Odeh was subsequently deported from the United States after pleading guilty to immigration fraud and losing her American citizenship.[69] In June 2017, JVP received sharp criticism from Jewish progressives and members of the LGBTQ community after some of its members disrupted New York's Celebrate Israel Parade,[70][71] garnering accusations from Jewish Queer Youth (JQY), an organization for Jewish LGBTQ teenagers mainly from Orthodox communities, that the JVP action constituted "an act of homophobia".[72] JVP Deputy Director Alissa Wise called the backlash against its action "opportunistically cruel" and said responses to it relied on "tired, homophobic memes" and were "hyperbolic in the extreme".[73] Later that month, JVP issued a statement that supported the expulsion from the Chicago Dyke March of marchers who carried rainbow flags that included a Star of David, which march organizers said "made people feel unsafe".[74][75] In July 2017, the Anti-Defamation League criticized JVP for what it described as "anti-Israel radicalism" and "questionable tactics" to promote its agenda. The ADL said JVP engaged in "harassing LGBT groups", shouting down pro-Israeli speakers at events, and praising convicted Palestinian terrorists such as Odeh and Marwan Barghouti.[44][45]

Joshua Muravchik writes that JVP's positions and activities are "strikingly distinctive" for a self-described Jewish organization, and in his view they are designed "to weaken Israel materially or in reputation."[76]

[TheRickles]

26. So says the ADL, the voice of AIPAC.

A growing number of American Jews now oppose settlements and the occupation, 40% according to one recent survey. Here are the results of another survey: [link:https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-gaza-conflict-escalates-heres-what-us-jews-think-about-israel/

A couple of nuggets:
• "The majority of American Jews rated Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership “only fair or poor,” while 40% said he was “excellent or good.”
• "But only one-third of American Jews believe Israel is sincere about making peace with the Palestinians, and the number drops to 24% among Jews under 30 and to 20% among Jewish Democrats.

[Mosby]

29. Under the bus goes the ADL!

[mahina]

35. Agreed and AP needs to hear it from all who think so

Contact associated press at link


https://www.ap.org/contact-us/contact-newsroom

[ck4829]

3. Suddenly silent about cancel culture is what we're seeing

[Jedi Guy]

9. It's a game that two can play at, and they're proving that. N/T

[tenderfoot]

23. Someone couldn't be happier about this.

[Jedi Guy]

30. I don't particularly care about her career one way or another.

But people have learned and continue to learn, to their sorrow, that things you say online can and do come back to haunt you later. She's certainly not the first, and most certainly won't be the last.

Hence the saying, "the Internet is forever."

[tenderfoot]

31. What did she do wrong?

eom

[Jedi Guy]

33. Dunno. Ask the AP. Evidently she said something they didn't like. N/T

[tenderfoot]

34. So being held accountable for doing horrible things equals saying something a few don't agree with

[Jedi Guy]

36. She's not entitled to the job.

If they feel her remarks are out of step with their organization, that's up to them. She's got the freedom to say what she likes; they have the freedom not to employ her if they don't like what she says. It really is that simple.

[tenderfoot]

37. LOL

[JI7]

4. Don't see anything wrong with what she said

At least based on the parts posted in OP.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. The AP should be ashamed. She's Jewish and believes in justice

.... what a horrible thing ( ).

[Rhiannon12866]

14. +1

[DBoon]

6. I could think of worse things to call Sheldon Adelson than "naked mole rat"

Has anyone ever lost their job at a press outlet for saying bad things about George Soros?

I don't think so

[Crowman2009]

10. College GOPers have zero credibility.

No one should trust those creepy pricks.

[eppur_se_muova]

12. I'm sure if she had shown a pro-Israel bias the reaction would be just as harsh. nt

[Hassin Bin Sober]

13. Cancel culture! Cancel culture! Cancel culture!

[oldsoftie]

15. If we're going to applaud "cancel culture" it goes both ways

And its silly either way

[Devil Child]

17. +1 n/t

[Jedi Guy]

38. Bingo.

Rooting around in people's social media trying to get them in trouble: it's fun for those of any political persuasion!

[msfiddlestix]

19. She called Adelson as "naked pole rat"... maybe we should introduce AP and Fox what a scum bag

he really was. Oh, wait so are they. nevermind.

[flying_wahini]

20. AP news has been corrupted.

I take everything they say with a grain of salt.

[Warpy]

21. Right wing Christian CANCEL CULTURE

This is stupid beyond belief.

I can see assigning her to stories that have nothing to do with the Middle East, avoiding any possible bias in reporting.

However, being overly passionate about a cause in college is rather one of the things college is for. It's only when bad behavior lasts far into adulthood that it needs a really close look.

You know, like right wing Christians trying to ruin anyone who doesn't conform to their perverted world view.

(and FWIW, I think the Dems were wrong to attack Kavanaugh for his shitty treatment of anything female. They should have inquired how half a million dollars in debt conveniently vanished just before he was nominated)

[BradAllison]

22. I'm sure Bari Weiss and Ben Shapiro will stick up for her. n/m

[Marrah_Goodman]

28. So being pro-palestinian is a fireable excuse now?

Unreal

[tenderfoot]

32. It's adorable when conservatives pretend that they care about Israel and Jewish people

Because they really don't at all.