On the Unbearable Lightness of Rabbi Ari Jun

Our organization has come under fire recently from Rabbi Ari Jun, the Director of Cincinnati’s Jewish Community Relations Council and an outspoken Cincinnati Zionist. On June 17, CityBeat published an article on our informational picket outside US Representative Greg Landsman’s office in Walnut Hills. Journalist Lily Ogburn quoted Jun as calling us “tasteless” and “looking like an extremist or hate group.” Remarkably, Rabbi Jun does not deny that our organization has a democratic right to hold Rep. Landsman accountable for his actions; nor does he make any substantive criticism of any of our public claims. Jun’s objections to our political speech, like those of other local Zionist spokespeople, is vague and impressionistic; like them, when Jun cannot provide reasoned arguments, he offers a smokescreen of catchphrases, speculation, and buzzwords.