Is Antisemitism Getting The Attention It Deserves?

I am a Jew. My entire family going back generations have been Jewish-Americans and have had minimal run-ins with antisemitism in our daily lives. However, on January 18th, 2017 that all changed. My grandmother, Libby Berman, was among 200 people who were at the Friedberg Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Oceanside, New York when a bomb threat was called in. The entire JCC was evacuated, searched, and cleared by the police before it could reopen a day later. When I talked about this with my grandma, she said that she had never felt less at home in New York in her life. She said that she had never experienced anything remotely close to this magnitude before, and she was truly shocked and disheartened. The story of my grandma and her JCC was not an uncommon one. Between January 9th and March 13th, there were at least 100 bomb threats called into JCCs around the country, and two Jewish cemeteries (one in Philadelphia, Kansas City, Rochester and Saint Louis) have been desecrated. Much of modern Americans beliefs about antisemitism are false and are outdated. The belief that Jews have been assimilated into american society and no longer face widespread discrimination and threats of violence is blatantly false. The lack of recognition of the struggles of Jews in America allows for people to brush aside antisemitic acts and America as a nation has become more passive when antisemitic acts occur.

Antisemitism has been around in Western civilization since the Jews were exiled from the land of Israel by the Romans. Starting with the expulsion of over 100,000 Jews from France in 1305 and continuing with the Holocaust in 1941-1945, Western Europe has not been a safe place for the Jews. Antisemitism runs deep in Western culture; for centuries, Jews were perceived as outsiders and were treated as such. Many Jews, even in America, lived in self-contained communities that were largely independent from mainstream society.

One would think that after the tragedy of the Holocaust and the creation of Israel, the world's only majority-Jewish state, that the Jews would finally have a safe place to call home and be free from antisemitism. However, you couldn't have been more wrong. Israel was attacked by its neighboring Arab countries (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan) three times in its first 30 years of existence (1948, 1967, 1973). Even after peace treaties between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Palestine were signed, the threat to Israel was not over. During the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority waged two ruthless Intifadas on Israel which killed many civilians. In addition to the two Intifadas, Hamas continued to instigate wars with Israel in 2008 and 2014. While Israel was intended to be a homeland for the Jews, many of its neighbors and regional rivals have sought to eliminate the country or to make it into a war zone in which no one could live in peace.

Antisemitism isn’t just the personal hatred of Jewish people; it also includes anti-Zionism. Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people have the right to establish and maintain a Jewish state in the land of Israel. While some will say that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are two totally different things, in reality they are one and the same. Denying Jews the right to exist peacefully is antisemitic. Delegitimizing Israel and discrediting its leaders is antisemitic. Demonizing Israel and creating false narratives of abuse and criticism of Israel is fair, as would be criticism of any country, but often criticism of Israel goes far beyond simple politics. Israel is still the only liberal, secular functioning democracy in the Middle East. To criticize and single out Israel for crimes it may have committed while Syria and Assad’s regime gas their own civilians and other nations commit a myriad of other crimes against humanity, isn't based off the critics inherent sense of right or wrong, it is plain old antisemitism. Singling out Israel while ignoring the crimes of other nations isn't because Israel commits more or worse crimes than other states it is because Israel is a Jewish state and a functioning democracy. Criticism of Israel often blends with casual antisemitism and the belief that Jews are just fancy white people who do not need or deserve their own state.

The belief that Jews no longer suffer from antisemitism or other forms of discrimination legitimizes the idea that Jews are as privileged and free from discrimination as White Christians. While in fact, Jews suffer from more hate crimes than any other religious group. In 2015, out of 1,354 hate crimes motivated by religion, Jews were the target 51.3% of the time.

While the sheer number of antisemitic attacks are mind boggling, the real tragedy is that people don't think they are as large of an issue as they actually are. According to a Pew research poll only 44% of Americans believe that Jews face discrimination a lot or some of the time. There lies the problem, people in America do not recognize or understand the severity of the many antisemitic attacks that occur here. Even in today's connected society, people are still oblivious to the tragedies that occur around them and because of that action cannot be taken to solve the issue of Antisemitism. Because people don't believe that antisemitism is a major issue or occurs as often as it actually does it is impossible to limit antisemitism and create a more united and accepting America. Ultimately, laws can be passed and politicians can condemn antisemitism, but until the general public takes responsibility and unites against hate there will continue to be antisemitism. Antisemitism is just another rung in the ladder, we cannot focus only on Islamophobia while ignoring Antisemitism or homophobia. While these issues go by different names, Attacks on Jews are attacks on American society just as much as attacks on a mosque or attacking homosexuals. It is evident that there must be more dialogue about antisemitism and give others the opportunity to understand what is going on within the Jewish community because if there is no dialogue there will be no change. Every day without dialogue or discussions about hate is another day closer to the next bomb threat or cemetery desecration.