It is common knowledge that anti-Semitism is on the rise all over the world. Incidents and expressions of hostility towards Jews in the U.S. and in Europe is increasing and intensifying. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that there were 2717 anti-Semitic incidents of assault, harassment, and vandalism in the U.S. in 2021. This was the largest number of reported cases since the ADL began keeping records in 1979. A similar condition is true throughout the world.
Herewith a few recent incidents:
The 2022 off-year election campaign season has seen an array of signals, signs, and associations which are indicative of the extent to which politics in America—largely on the right—is insensitive to anti-Semitism. In the Republican race for Governor of Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano paid a $5000 consulting fee to the White Supremacist Gab website which was the site where the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue murderer posted just prior his deadly mass shooting attack in 2018. Mastriano also told Gab CEO Andrew Torba concerning his activities, “Thank God for what you have done.” (It is no coincidence that Mastriano’s Democratic governatorial opponent is Josh Shapiro, a positively identified Jew.)
Rabbi Eric Solomon, the leader of Beth Meyer Synagogue in Raleigh, North Carolina, while walking to services last Saturday morning, found bags of anti-Semitic flyers on the street. Several of his congregants also brought the flyers to the synagogue after finding them in their own driveways. Rabbi Solomon discovered that there were several packages of flyers distributed throughout the neighborhood during the preceding week. The literature employed Holocaust imagery and identified Jewish political figures.
Similar flyers were distributed as well in the Five Towns, Rockville Centre, and Oceanside Jewish communities on Long Island. This past weekend flyers also appeared in the more Jewish areas on the New Jersey shore. What is perhaps most alarming about the distribution of these materials is that it appears to be orchestrated by a relatively new radical group called the Goyim Defense League. This group has been trolling over the internet—nationally--anti-Semitic smut and conspiracy theories. The organization created its name by mocking the right-wing, extremist Jewish self-protection group, the Jewish Defense League, which was created in 1968.
Judge Bruce Reinhart, the federal magistrate who approved the FBI’s request to search the home of former President Trump in Mar-a-Lago, is a member of the board of Temple Beth David in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He has been the recipient of anti-Semitic attacks and threats on right-wing social media platforms and message boards. Reinhart’s synagogue has taken precautions and increased their security while local and federal law enforcement agencies are responding to ensure Reinhart’s safety.
The most outrageous large scale recent public display of anti-Semitism and Jewish history occurred in Berlin last week when Palestinian Authority President Mohammad Abbas appeared on a platform with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. At a press conference held following a meeting to discuss Middle East issues, a reporter asked Abbas if he had any comment concerning the forthcoming 50th memorial anniversary of the Munich Olympic massacre in which eleven Israelis were killed by the Palestinian Black September terrorist group. Abbas’ response (in Arabic) was to comment on suffering that the Palestinian people have endured since 1947, including “50 Holocausts” (which he pronounced in English) at the hands of the Israelis.
Beyond the outrage of Abbas’ remark, all that Chancellor Scholz could respond in the moment was a grimace. While Scholz did follow up with appropriately distancing himself, his Government, and the German people from Abbas’ outrageous assertion, it was inexplicable that Scholz was unable to react to Abbas’ remarks on the spot. Tolerance of such a disgrace in Germany of all places was incomprehensible. While the German media attacked Scholz and his poll numbers plummeted, the very fact that this occurred, and that the German Chancellor was unable to reply immediately and challenge Abbas’ allegation, suggests once again the extent to which the Holocaust is becoming more and more trivialized, and anti-Semitism being tolerated.
While in some instances this is a function of ignorance, in most cases it is likely a function of blatant indifference about anti-Semitism. The fear is there is no sense that this condition will abate soon. Politics in the U.S. and in many places throughout the world have permitted the acceptance of extremism. Sober and moderate voices tend to be dismissed. Rational thinking has
been replaced by extremism. Jews like all minorities once again bear the brunt of this behavior.
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