Emphasis mine.
archive.today • Sag Harbor Santa Is Fired Over His Views on Israel-Hamas War - The New York Times
When word got out that he would be Santa this year, a group of people from a local synagogue, Temple Adas Israel, sent a flurry of emails to the event organizers objecting to his selection.
Mr. Dorph, they said, had made people uncomfortable during a Nov. 30 talk at the synagogue about the Israel-Hamas crisis, sharply criticizing a pair of speakers from the American Jewish Committee, a nonprofit advocacy group that supports Jewish people and Israel, from his seat in the audience.
“He was very antagonistic, belittling them,” said Rona Klopman, 85, a member of the temple who attended the event virtually but was not involved in the email campaign. “I could see why people would not be comfortable with him as Santa, who is supposed to be this jolly fellow trying to keep peace in the world.”
Fluent in Arabic, Mr. Dorph fostered an interest in the Middle East over more than four decades working frequently in the region as a consultant in the financial sector. Beyond his day job, he regularly gives talks as an expert on the subject, believing Arab cultures and the Middle East are gravely misunderstood.
Mr. Dorph attended the talk at the synagogue — titled “Answering Tough Questions on Israel” — as a guest of a member.
[...]
Mr. Dorph, who emphasized that he was heartbroken by the war and “desperately” wanted it to end, objected during the event to the speakers’ characterizations of several topics — the exact language of the Hamas charter, the relevance of the West Bank settlements to the current conflict. When called on during a question-and-answer session, he implied they were feeding the audience political talking points.
“Honestly, you two could have been propaganda for the Netanyahu government,” he said, referring to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader. “I am appalled.”
Certain audience members were visibly taken aback by Mr. Dorph’s comments. The guest speakers engaged politely, but sternly, with Mr. Dorph each time he spoke up, and the session ended without other issues.
Mr. Dorph acknowledged later that he should have just left. Given the title of the talk, he said he had expected a forum for debate. Instead, he said, it felt more like a workshop designed to equip pro-Israel attendees with responses to touchy questions about the conflict.
[...]
“We were able to find an anonymous Santa Claus free of distraction, and had a great event focused on the simple joy and wonder that is the holiday season,” her statement read.
The Dec. 9 gathering otherwise proceeded as planned, even though the alternate Santa had unfortunately shaved his beard, thinking his services were not needed this year. Mr. Dorph stayed home and made a gingerbread house. But restlessness in the community has lingered.
[...]
He said he was proud to stand out in his close-knit community — among other things as a gay, white father of two Black adopted children — and that he would keep sharing his views on anything, with anyone.
And despite feeling down, he appreciates the absurdity of the situation, too. This was not the first time, he pointed out, that Saint Nick had lost his job.
“In ‘Miracle on 34th Street,’ Santa was canceled because he was drunk,” he said, referring to the classic holiday film. But Mr. Dorph was not on Santa duty that night at the synagogue: “I was canceled because I said something in a completely independent setting.”
