Joel Pollak: from Yeoville to Charlottesville, via Melville

How does a yarmulke-wearing boy born in Yeoville become speech writer for the leader of the opposition and senior editor-at-large for the third most viewed news website in the United States (US)?

Joel Pollak shared his remarkable journey and firm views on American, South African, and Middle Eastern politics with me over a café latte in a quiet Melville coffee shop.

His family moved from Johannesburg to Chicago shortly after Pollak was born in 1977 so that his father could pursue a medical career in organ transplantation. He graduated from Harvard, and won a Rotary Scholarship to study environmental science and social studies at the University of Cape Town. There, he researched the vociferous attacks by Ronnie Kasrils on Israel. He attended the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism, where ugly anti-Zionism and antisemitism spilled onto Durban’s streets.

He worked as a freelance journalist and caught the eye of Tony Leon, then leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA). Pollak became Leon’s speech writer from 2002 to 2006.

“Tony Leon is one of the most brilliant political thinkers,” Pollak said. “He covers politics with such a degree of insight from his incredible mental library.” Pollak spent several nights sleeping in his parliamentary office for his demanding (but kind) boss. He met his future wife Julia, the daughter of activist Rhoda Kadalie, through Leon.

Pollak’s politics evolved radically. “I started out left-leaning,” he said, “but being exposed to life’s realities, I changed my mind. Socialism is a luxury good, for elites.” Two incidents in South Africa’s parliament shook his beliefs. One was when an African National Congress member of parliament berated the DA benches and said, “If we’d followed Nuremburg, you’d all be in jail,” referring to the post-war trial of Nazis. The other was when then deputy president Jacob Zuma responded to a DA question about Zimbabwe by saying it wasn’t about the seizure of land, but just white racism.

Back in the US, Pollak first supported moderate Republicans like John McCain. Pollak failed in his own run for Congress in 2010, portraying himself as a “Tea Party” candidate. He moved to California.

Pollak became editor-in-chief for the conservative Breitbart News, founded and funded by Jews. Breitbart has come to be associated – rightly or wrongly – with the “alt-right” movement in the US, although he characterises its editorial line as “populist nationalist”.

Pollak explained that Republicans are split about former president Donald Trump. Many adore him. Some were reluctant to endorse him as he started out as a Democrat; others were put off by his crass mannerisms. Breitbart backed Trump though.

Pollak described what happened at the notorious rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. “Neo-Nazis hijacked a legitimate political cause. Protesters wanted the removal of a statute of US Civil War Confederate General Robert E Lee, who was made into a hero of the American South. Taking inspiration from the #RhodesMustFall movement in South Africa, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement was pushing to remove the statue. There was also a legitimate, peaceful protest against taking down the statue. Right-wing groups from out of state converged on the town. Left-wing crazies came with clubs and pepper spray, and the police let the two sides fight. It was a big mess. But the media wasn’t covering the left-wing violence, and felt it had a special responsibility to single out the right.”

After the media demanded that Trump make a statement, “In a White House press conference, Trump said, ‘There were very fine people on both sides.’ This became the story of Charlottesville – that he supported the ultra-right-wing. Trump just couldn’t win [with the media] after that. He was unfairly labelled.” Pollak points out that Trump did indeed criticise the neo-Nazis, in that very speech, but this was downplayed or ignored by the mainstream media.

But Pollak said antisemitism in the US is “a fringe phenomenon. You could fit all the American neo-Nazis into a room. The level of tolerance and embrace of Jews is incredible.” Antisemitism is a problem, however, on some university campuses. “Now Jewish kids feel they have to hide their views, they feel under siege.”

So, did Trump win the 2020 election? “Trump didn’t win,” Pollak said, emphatically. “But that doesn’t mean the election was free and fair.” He cited fear of violence stemming from BLM, with riots in 48 of the US’s 50 biggest cities that year. He said access to the media was unequal, big tech firms suppressed stories that portrayed the Democrats badly, and extending vote-by-mail to states unused to it proved chaotic. “But people voted against Trump. They felt his politics was too contentious, too intense.”

He called the social media ban on Trump “completely unacceptable … freedom of speech is under attack”.

Pollak said Trump was wrong not to have conceded the election, but insisted he was right to have boycotted Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration. “Biden demonised Trump as a neo-Nazi. How do you share a stage with someone like that?”

He said the events of 6 January 2021 – when a mob stormed the US Capitol, egged on by Trump – wasn’t an insurrection, but a riot. “[Participants] saw themselves as defending democracy. I thought the protest would be a waste of time as it was never going to change the certification of the election results … Trump was leading people into a cul-de-sac. He bears political [but not legal or criminal] responsibility.” Pollak said the congressional committee investigating the riot was exceeding its mandate.

Finally, Pollak said the South African Jewish community had the support of world Jewry in its fight against those who demonise and delegitimise Israel here. He said the Abraham Accords had profoundly reframed the Middle East. Air traffic and trade between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is booming, for instance. Pollak said the community should encourage our government to join this reconciliation. “They can support the Palestinians, but why be anti-Israel? Why miss an opportunity to be part of peace? Maybe things will change after Mohammed Abbas is no longer in power.”

Agree with him or not, Joel Pollak is an interesting chap to have coffee with.