So Democratic Jewish outreach liaison Dani Gilbert is getting criticized because Adam Kredo took the journalistic initiative to stalk through her Facebook page to reveal a picture from 6 years ago when she was in college, taking an ironic pic with her Jewish female friends involving horns/big noses/cash money/general Jewish stereotypes that she titled Jewbags!. Bad form, Adam Kredo; when you stalk a lady's Facebook page you should never reveal you actually did it. I hope you at least kept all of your hands above the waist for the duration and didn't let yourself daydream about Ms. Gilbert performing a "Duct Tape Rosenthal" on you.
But that's enough about Mr. Kredo. What really disturbs me is that Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Dani Gilbert appear to be the same exact person at different ages. Seriously, take a look.
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is on the left, Dani Gilbert is on the right, but it's hard to tell it's not just a younger Debbie W-S. Perhaps that's because it is. Yes, I will come right and out and say it: a thorough search of her public statements reveal that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has never publicly denied growing a clone in the lab to use as a staffer.
And they've frankly been basically blasting this terrible truth out there for anyone who was looking. Several Halloweens ago Ms. Gilbert even dressed up as Debbie Wasserman-Schultz; the office called it a costume but I think it's clear there's more there. Adam Kredo, I am counting on you to really get to the bottom of this.
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Serious part:
On a more serious note, this is the stupidest controversy ever. She's a Jewish girl who made some jokes about Jewish stereotypes with some of her Jewish female friends on Facebook, with the (mistaken, but not her fault; Facebook's fault) expectation that it wouldn't be available to the general public. A LOT of Jews joke with each other about Jewish stereotypes. It's been our way of mocking the anti-Semites for years and years (which is what they were doing, pointing to their stereotypically Jewish noses, putting up fake horns, kissing a dollar bill). I've done it myself a LOT. Even once directly to an anti-Semite.
Last year I was in a parking lot in Toco Hills (area of Atlanta metro with large Orthodox Jewish population) at the Kroger with a major kosher selection when a guy with a thick Southern accent sees my friend's tzitzit and asks "What are those strings hanging out of your pants." The friend responds, "It's to remind me to do good deeds." The guy didn't seem to understand, so trying to make it relevant to the guy, he said, "You know, it's like a What Would Jesus Do" bracelet. The guy responds, "I thought you guys didn't like Jesus. If you did, why'd you kill him." Of course, we went the 'mock the stereotype' route. I responded by paraphrasing the great Lenny Bruce: "Because he didn't want to become a doctor. What kind of Jewish boy becomes a carpenter." Other friend had to one-up me with: "The real question is, will we kill him again when he comes back." Now, this probably wasn't the smartest thing to do in Georgia when the guy could well have been armed and shot us (fortunately he just mumbled something about how "Eye-ran has your number. They're gonna get you" and drove off). The point is that this wasn't out of character, and
a frum guy I know who's done work for the Republican Jewish Coalition on something or other found it hilarious when I told him about it.
The point is that this is stupid. I mean the girl at age 11 won the prize of a free trip to Israel in a South Florida-wide contest on knowledge of the history of Zionism (article is pay-per-view although it wasn't several days ago ...) and gave the tickets away because her mother does tours to Israel.
More recently, she was a was a researcher associate for Dan Senor (a Jewish Republican who's at least nominally Orthodox), helping him with the facts and research behind his book Start-Up Nation, which describes and attempts to explain Israel's hugely disproportionate number of start-up companies, especially technology companies. I believe the book's only critics have been Israel-haters.
Of course, it's even stupider to bring her parents into this like Politico (in theory not a right-wing nut website) is doing.
Her mother Nancy Gilbert is, as I mentioned, a travel agent who does tours to Israel.
Nancy Gilbert is the CEO and President of Travels and Dialogues and its subsidiary The Masorti Travel Bureau, companies specializing in tourism to Israel. Since 1995, Ms Gilbert has organized groups for tens of thousands of passengers, winning awards and commendations from El Al Israel Airlines and the Israel Ministry of Tourism. She developed the pilot itinerary for what is now known as BIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL, an international program which provides trips to Israel for young Jewish adults around the world. She has served on the executive boards of the South Palm Beach County Jewish Federation, The National Council of Jewish Women Boca–Delray Section, The Levis JCC in Boca Raton, Florida and was an honorary board member of the Palm Beach County Chapter of the American Jewish Committee.
Seriously, she did the itinerary for the pilot for Birthright. She got awards from El Al and the Israeli מסרד התיירות (Ministry of Tourism?). Served on the board of pretty much every possible Jewish organization in the Palm Beach area? How is this supposed to annoy Jewish voters?
