TST owner Cevin Soling’s anti-Palestinian nonprofit

It’s been a while since we re-watched this video from nonprofit The Alliance for Integrity and Justice, but it really does exceed parody in terms of how completely it’s opposed to any sort of protest against or opposition to the state of Israel, including completely nonviolent strategies by people in the USA pushing for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS).

That organization (“AIJ”) is not and should not be important to most people, even in Zionism-watch circles; for us, the relevance is that Cevin Soling — the co-owner of The Satanic Temple which has been suing us for three and a half years — also owns that nonprofit, and it exists to target anyone who supports Palestinian people but particularly university campus students.

However, by being so inept and over-the-top, it really makes clear what other, more competent people will say with more subtlety: there is absolutely no way to advocate for Palestinian lives and autonomy that they will ever consider acceptable.

It’s also yet another sign that all of that free speech maximalism talk — “even for literal neo-Nazis!” — is being claimed in something less than full sincerity by most everyone who says it, The Satanic Temple included.

Funny enough, this has actually come up explicitly in regards to The Satanic Temple’s work before because TST remains, as always, an extension of its two owners Soling (“Malcolm Jarry”) and Doug Misicko (“Lucien Greaves”). Misicko’ has a history’s past expressions of hatred toward Jews, Muslims, and everyone in the “Holy Land” notwithstanding, it should not come as a surprise that TST as an org quickly came out strongly in support of Ukraine when it was invaded in 2022 but has been mum on Palestinians being bombed from the air and invaded with settlers and soldiers.

From a 2016 interview with the Times of Israel where Soling, as “Jarry” was out representing the Temple:

In addition to Jarry’s belief that Judaism and Satanism can co-exist, there are parallels with how Judaism and Satanism have been branded by their detractors, he said.

“The false accusations that have been thrown at Jews historically are similar to what some people say about Satanism,” said Jarry, mentioning accusations of blood libel and — more recently — fabricated allegations that Israel perpetrates genocide against Palestinian children.

“I do not accept when people delegitimize Israel or use lies to marginalize Israel,” said Jarry. “I am an unwavering supporter of Israel, so long as it remains democratic, pluralistic, and protects human rights.”

From a 2018 account by the former TST St. Louis chapter head about an incident a few years earlier:

Co-founder and executive ministry member Malcolm Jarry issued a lit response, rejecting the candidate on the grounds he was a terrorist due to his involvement with “Students for Justice in Palestine” while at university. I was seriously taken aback at Jarry’s inflammatory, unreasoned, and emotionally charged response. Then another council member stepped forward and bravely admitted they too were, or had previously been, involved with the same organization. This council member questioned whether the temple was prepared to remove them from their council position, or should Jarry’s end-all, be-all ruling on the prospect remain in place? Though I campaigned for this wonderful candidate, the issue was simply ‘case closed’. If TST hierarchy cannot hold themselves to the same standards they hold potential chapter heads to, they are unworthy of their own position. To claim this person was a terrorist is truly concerning and potentially harmful hyperbole and sets as well terrible standards for an egalitarian, decentralized governing body.

Finally, from the nonprofit’s website itself, also titled “Stop Israel Boycott”:

The mission of Alliance for Integrity and Justice (AIJ) is to undertake proactive measures against purveyors of anti-Semitism including individuals and entities that seek to delegitimize, undermine, or otherwise harm the nation of Israel. The goal of these actions is to manufacture consequences that make engaging in those kinds of endeavors socially unacceptable and not without real risks.

ABOUT US

Alliance for Integrity and Justice Ltd. (AIJ) is a non-profit registered in the state of Massachusetts. AIJ has filed with the IRS for 501(c)(3) status and is awaiting approval. AIJ was formed to fight hate groups and institutions that provide safe harbor to anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activists. By employing campaigns that aggressively target these individuals and entities such that there are consequences for their actions, AIJ hopes to deter future attacks and to introduce an appropriate measure of justice to those who peddle hate.

SOME OF THE TACTICS EMPLOYED BY AIJ

* Initiate boycott resolutions aimed at corporations that do business with governments that egregiously violate human rights at schools that have approved Israeli boycotts. Not only will this draw attention to students’ hypocrisy by going after legitimate targets that also tend to be enemies of Israel, but the excessive use of boycotts diminishes its effectiveness.

* Disseminate information and stage protests against Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and similar hate groups for providing cover for violence against women, child abuse, sex trafficking, and female genital mutilation.

* Promote a freeze on alumni donations to schools that do not effectively address anti-Semitic propaganda and the harassment of Jewish students.

* Advance legitimate indigenous peoples’ movements, such as the Maori of New Zealand, to create strife for duplicitous governments who erroneously condemn Israeli government policy.

HOW DOES AIJ DIFFER FROM OTHER ENTITIES THAT SUPPORT ISRAEL?

Other organizations combat BDS and other hate groups largely by disseminating factual information about Israel and its enemies and by arranging for leaders of those groups to travel to Israel in order to educate them on realities through first-hand experiences. AIJ applauds these efforts, but our approach is dramatically different. AIJ proactively fights back against organizations, institutions, and entities that provide safe harbor to anti-Semitism by going on the offensive and employing strategies that target these entities. By utilizing some of the same tactics that have regrettably proven successful at unjustly vilifying Israel, as well as many new approaches, AIJ exposes lies and hypocrisy and responds in kind. Instead of simply defending Israel from baseless attacks, AIJ subjects those who peddle anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hate to appropriate consequences designed to deter future incidents.

It would be nice for someone to ask on the record what Soling counts as “antisemitism” given that nonviolent protests like BDS are one of his main targets. It also is more than a little bitterly funny that advancing Indigenous rights in Aotearoa (“New Zealand”) or presumably the Land Back movement in the USA is Soling’s idea of an effective “gotcha” rather than just the consistent application of principles of a global Indigenous sovereignty movement. Yes, the state of Israel is a genocidal, European settler-colonial project like many before it, and that’s sort of the whole point of the criticism.

In response to the Harvard Crimson writing the editorial “In Support of Boycott, Divest, Sanctions and a Free Palestine“, Soling apparently wrote an open letter describing it as “antisemitic bigotry” although we haven’t been able to find the open letter itself, beyond Ronn Torossian quoting a section of it.

Again: this is one of two men who control everything about The Satanic Temple. The other corporations Soling owns and causes he champions are relevant to people who associate with the religion he considers his private intellectual property.

If people know all of this stuff about the Temple and its owners and choose to continue giving TST their money, volunteer labor, and elevating its clout, then very well. But most people, as they become more aware of The Satanic Temple beyond its own marketing pitch, find themselves much less enthusiastic for that organization.

One more thing, which is small in the context of ethnic cleansing by an apartheid state but relevant as far as how all this petty bullshit wraps together.

“Spectacle Films Inc.” is Soling’s movie production company that, starting in March 2012, pushed “The Satanic Temple” as part of Soling’s idea for a prank documentary film project. “Spectacle Films” was the entity putting out the initial press releases, despite the original idea falling through. And five years later in 2017 — three years after the establishment of a for-profit company doing-business-as “The Satanic Temple” had been established — Spectacle Films was still the corporation on the invoices that Misicko was turning in to get paid, with money ultimately coming from what people donated to TST via yet another Soling nonprofit “Reason Alliance Ltd.“

Circling back to the current topic, on June 4, 2018, the supposedly completely distinct Spectacle Films published the to Vimeo the trailer at the top of this article comparing criticism of Israel to the two-minutes hate from George Orwell’s novel 1984 for use by “Alliance for Integrity and Justice“. You might could argue that Soling was just trying to produce the highest value trailer for his new anti-Palestinian nonprofit, and using resources he owned again was the most expeditious way to do that, but since this is not a tax-exempt church (like Soling’s The Satanic Temple, Inc.), there are some disclosures required.

In 2021, we find this:

It’s not obvious why the 2018 Spectacle Films Inc. documentary The Gilligan Manifesto (also directed by Soling) would be listed as a $35,000 asset for the nonprofit, is it?

One crowdfunding description says: “After years of research, interviews, and editing, The Gilligan Manifesto is now almost ready for its debut. It needs $35,000 to be completed and to rent a theater in NY for a week of screening“, further breaking that down into “1) $25,000 to license the music in the movie” and “2) $10,000 for a one-week screening of the film at a theater in New York City“. However, the second crowdfunding listing says the need was “$15,000 for a one-week screening of the film at a theater in New York City.” In total, the two crowdfunding campaigns raised $290.

So, what’s going on here?

Well, there’s too much evidence of Soling putting his own name behind this sort of work and doing so in the circles he cares about (Harvard) to think it’s all some kind of cynical grift. As always, there is a shuffling of resources back and forth between Soling’s various incorporated entities presumably for some tax benefits, but sincerity and grift can go and-in-hand pretty well. Maybe better, even. On examination, there does not seem to be any evidence that this has so far been an effective or powerful nonprofit in terms of ruining the lives of people who oppose apartheid, ethnostates, and settler colonialism; however, that seems more a question of competence than intent.

So to psychologize perhaps a bit too much, we’ll chalk this up to Soling’s desire to be taken seriously as a public intellectual and thought leader, a Renaissance Man of multiple talents and degrees, rather than identified for what he is: a mediocre landlord scion with enough money to self-publish albums, self-publish movies, self-publish books, and buy public relations firms and Fiverr freelancers to round out what he can’t do himself. Soling likes to think of himself a certain way, and unlike most of us, he has the money to fund his delusions and incorporate them.

If Cevin Soling were more competent, instead of just rich, he’d hurt a lot more people than he is now. Lucky us, he’s who he is instead.