Rudy Rochman
רודי רוכמן‎
Born (1993-09-06) 6 September 1993
Paris, France
NationalityIsraeli, French
Alma materColumbia University
Known forJewish activism
Military career
Allegiance Israel
Years of service2011–2013, 2023
Unit
Battles/wars

Rudy Israel Rochman[1] (Hebrew: רודי ישראל רוכמן; born 6 September 1993) is a Jewish-Israeli rights activist.[2]

Early life

Rochman's maternal grandparents were Sephardic Jews from North Africa and his paternal grandparents were Ashkenazi Jews. According to him, both sides of his family are of the Tribe of Levi.[3] He was born in Paris, France, but moved to Israel when he was three years old.[4] Two years later, his family moved to the United States.[4] In 2000, at the age of seven, Rochman experienced antisemitism after being physically removed from a bus in London, England, for being Jewish; he has described this experience as the origin for his will to defend Jews worldwide.[4][3]

Rochman served in the Paratroopers Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces from 2011 to 2013. Following his discharge, he attended the University of California, Los Angeles, but later transferred to Columbia University after seeing that it was named the most antisemitic university in North America, hoping to help defend the Jewish people there.[4] He graduated from Columbia University in 2018 with a BA in political science.

Activism

Rochman is a noted speaker and writer on Jewish rights.[5] He frequently speaks at college campuses and to organizations that are pro-Israel. He is also known for his work as a Jewish and Israel rights activist on social media, where he has gained thousands of followers and subscribers across platforms and services such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.

During his studies at Columbia University in New York City, Rochman founded the school's chapter for Students Supporting Israel and served as its president.[6] In 2018, he received the "36 Under 36" award as a recognition for his influence as a young leader.[7] In 2020, Rochman ran in the World Zionist Congress elections as part of the Vision slate.[8] He currently serves on the board of The Israel Innovation Fund, a philanthropic organization, and as part of the leadership team of HaBayit, a platform that aims to bring unity through dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.[9]

Rochman has been working on a documentary series called We Were Never Lost, which interviews "lesser-known Jewish communities".[10]

Arrest in Nigeria

In July 2021, Rochman and two other Israeli filmmakers were arrested by Nigeria's secret police, the State Security Service, while filming the We Were Never Lost documentary.[11] Although not having political motives for their visit, they were suspected to be politically involved with the conflict between Biafran separatists and the Nigerian government after meeting with the Igbo Jewish community. They were released after being imprisoned for 20 days in reportedly "horrendous conditions" and were "officially cleared of all wrongdoing".[10]

Military

Rochman returned to active duty as a paratrooper in the Israeli Defense Forces during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.[12] As a sniper in the airborne paratrooper reserves, his unit was the first to enter southern Gaza where it was deployed to the region of Khan Younis.[13] He gave numerous interviews from the battlefield to major news outlets such as MSNBC, Fox News and CBS, offering them a firsthand look at the conflict including a description of what he witnessed in the aftermath of the Kfar Aza massacre.[14][15][16]

Views

Rochman is a Zionist. His argument for the State of Israel's right to exist is not based on religion, but the point of view that Jews are indigenous to the land,[17] and that they always yearned to return there since their expulsion by the Roman Empire.[17] He views Zionism as a movement of decolonization and believes that self-determination must involve being able to control, protect and self-identify with the Land of Israel.

Rochman has notably stated that, although "Jewish people's connection to a higher power and Torah is an essential part of their identity", Judaism is not a religion. Rather, he refers to it as "a portable suitcase" that carries different elements of the Jewish identity, such as their culture, traditions, way of life and "a connection to a higher power". He explains that religion is considered a belief system in a deity or god that can spread across borders and nations, whereas if a Jew rejects the notion of God and the Torah or considers themselves to be atheist or agnostic, they would still be part of the Jewish people.[17]

Rochman opposes the two-state solution as the solution for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In his opinion, it does not fulfill the aspirations of both Jews and Palestinians.[18] Rochman believes that neither of the populations can be "liberated...without liberation of the other" and both groups should build "a just civilization as one that works for all".[19]

Rochman is also against the United States foreign aid to Israel. He views it as making Israel dependent on U.S. military supply, and thus preventing Israel from being militarily self-sufficient.[18]

Rochman has criticized the way intersectionality has been misused as a tactic by movements critical of Israel such as SJP to "pursue its agenda of demonizing Israel" and "build alliances" with minority groups such as the LGBT community by equating their unrelated injustices to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[20][21] He is also a critic of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.[22] He believes that the movement's agenda is rooted in antisemitism and that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has contributed to the rise in antisemitic incidents on college campuses.[23][8][24]

In December 2022, Rochman on a video posted to Instagram stated that "the majority of the Jewish people just walked into the gas chambers" during the Holocaust. These comments drew allegations of victim-blaming by some in the Jewish community.[25] Later that month, Rochman faced further criticism for defending basketball player Kyrie Irving, who posted a link on Twitter to the documentary Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, which contains antisemitic tropes and Holocaust denial. Rochman defended Irving saying: "there is some truth" to the documentary and that the Black Hebrew Israelites "are waking up to their identity. When they are coming to other Jews and say, 'My brother. I finally found out who I am. Come, let's unite together,' and most Jews, who have never heard this idea because a lot of them were raised in Europe, and have a lot of European mentality. They tend to say, 'You're not Jewish. You're African. We've never heard of such a thing.'"[26] The Black Hebrew Israelites are a designated hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Rochman's comments in defense of the Black Hebrew Israelites were condemned by many in the Jewish community including Tyler Samuels, an African-American Jew, who said: "When you say that some of their points are correct, you bring damage to Black Jews like me...Judaism has an established protocol on who is and isn’t Jewish. I am deeply disturbed that a Jewish advocate has allowed this."[25]

Personal life

Rochman is fluent in Hebrew, English, and French. In a 2017 interview, he stated that he is a dual citizen of Israel and France and has an American green card.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ ""Within Zionism" Podcast- Episode 26". Spotify. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  2. ↑ Plower, Isabel (16 September 2020). "Jewish-Israeli activist talks identity, antisemitism, conflict". The Daily Free Press. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 L'Chayim (2017): Rudy Rochman.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "'Israeli Rights Activist Talks Jewish Identity, Zionism". Emory Wheel. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  5. ↑ "Combatting Anti-Semitism During COVID-19: A Panel With Neil Lazarus and Rudy Rochman". The Commentator. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  6. ↑ Rochman, Rudy (23 December 2016). "Rudy Rochman". The Forward. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  7. ↑ Mimeles, Danielle. "It's Not Enough To Talk About Hummus And Israeli Tech". jewishweek.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 14 August 2020. Profile
  8. 1 2 "World Zionist Congress elections presents 'rare opportunity' to strengthen global Jewish community". Jewish News Syndicate. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  9. ↑ "Jewish-Israeli activist talks identity, antisemitism, conflict – The Daily Free Press". Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  10. 1 2 Berman, Lazar. "Israeli filmmakers leave Nigeria after nearly 3 weeks in prison". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  11. ↑ "Israeli filmmakers arrested in Nigeria, allegedly for Igbo separatist ties". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  12. ↑ "IDF Paratrooper: We Are 'Prepared' to Go to War". Yahoo! News. 21 October 2023.
  13. ↑ My Experience Fighting in Gaza. Rudy Rochman. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2024 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ↑ "We Saw Tragic Things Happening: Rudy Rochman". Fox News. 10 October 2023.
  15. ↑ "IDF Reservist Offers Harrowing Description of "Slaughters and Massacres" of Israeli Civilians". CBS New York. 13 October 2023.
  16. ↑ "Israeli Army Reservist on Getting Ready for War with Hamas". MSNBC. 14 October 2023.
  17. 1 2 3 J-TV: Jewish Ideas. Global Relevance.: Judaism is NOT a Religion.. YouTube, 2018.
  18. 1 2 "VISION Magazine | A New Vision for Hebrew Liberation with Rudy Rochman". VISION. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  19. ↑ "What happens when Jews and Arabs sit to talk - and listen? - Inside Israel". Israel National News. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  20. ↑ "Israeli Rights Activist Talks Jewish Identity, Zionism". The Emory Wheel. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  21. ↑ "Activists Blast Inclusion of Student Group's Anti-Israel Events in Columbia's LBGT Awareness Month". Algemeiner Journal. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  22. ↑ "Pro-Israel influencer shares advice for college students defending the Jewish state". WIN. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  23. ↑ "HAKOL-November 2019". HAKOL Lehigh Valley. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  24. ↑ "Jewish Campus Activism With Rudy Rochman". Vision Magazine. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  25. 1 2 "Under the Sudra". Jewcy Magazine. 16 December 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  26. ↑ "Rudy Rochman: 'There's some truth' to Kyrie Irving-shared antisemitic documentary". The Jerusalem Post. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
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