On August 11-12, 2017, white supremacists and neo-Nazis converged on Charlottesville, VA for a Unite the Right rally, chanting “The Jews will not replace us!” What on earth did this chant mean?
Really, Charlottesville is the lead example? A tiny demonstration from a collection of fringe, powerless people. Please use your voice to pick on racists with power, not the powerless. There are so many candidates these days.
This is a wonderful and informative piece. Just two comments. Let’s please use the correct spelling of “Antisemitism”. Too much to explain about the undertones connected to the new hyphenated spelling. And 2. There is much to say about the Black and Jewish relations in America. Although a newer form of Antisemitism via NOI and BHI, there is much history to unpack and ties to be fixed. With accountability on both ends. With regard to YT supremacy, there’s just no hope for that. That’s a forever hate. Again, great piece. Thank you.
In my experience, anti-Jewish groups (they are rarely anti-semitic, because Antisemites would oppose Arabs, Druse and other groups as well) justify their criticism by claiming to have the right to criticize Israeli government positions and actions, without actually criticizing Judaism. That is disingenuous at best.
Were there 47 countries with Jewish governments who deny freedom of worship and freedom of association to Muslims, that might be defensible. Were there 47 Muslim governments NOT calling for the annihilation of Jews and destruction of Israel it could be defensible. The origin of the current conflict is the origin of most seemingly religious conflicts, having nothing to do with religion. In the late 1800s and early 1900s Jews went to their ancestral homeland and observed infertile ground, and offered to buy it.
Arab Muslims are mostly fatalists who do not believe that they or anyone else has the power to change what currently exists, because it is the will of Allah that it be so. The Jews agreed, except they believed that cultivating soil, selecting hardy seeds, carefully weeding and pest control, added to God's lack of opposition, would suffice. They bought the land from the locals, and miraculously, it worked.
The locals soon saw how prosperous the Jews were, how productive the land was, and were jealous. They were poor with no power. Their rulers, actually responsible for their current conditions, encouraged them to believe they had been cheated by the Jews. It is remarkably easy to convince people that their plight is not their fault. It worked, and 1500 years of alliance was destroyed.
The Abraham Accords negotiated by that awful anti-Jewish racist Trump, are ignored. And Democrats have abandoned their natural alliance with Jewish Groups, believing that eventually there will be more Muslims than Jews to be knee jerk Democrats and vote blindly. Their cynicism is being rewarded.
I am a Jew, and we do tend to shoot ourselves in the foot on a rather regular basis. I try so hard to defend our people and support Israel (Holocaust, anyone?), and now our young rabbinical students want us to rethink our support of Israel, while paying no heed to the gross human rights violations occurring in so many other countries. Kinda makes you want to throw up your hands.
Really, Charlottesville is the lead example? A tiny demonstration from a collection of fringe, powerless people. Please use your voice to pick on racists with power, not the powerless. There are so many candidates these days.
Please don’t overlook “The Reverend” Al Sharpton as a shining example of a still widely respected antisemite in the black community.
This is a wonderful and informative piece. Just two comments. Let’s please use the correct spelling of “Antisemitism”. Too much to explain about the undertones connected to the new hyphenated spelling. And 2. There is much to say about the Black and Jewish relations in America. Although a newer form of Antisemitism via NOI and BHI, there is much history to unpack and ties to be fixed. With accountability on both ends. With regard to YT supremacy, there’s just no hope for that. That’s a forever hate. Again, great piece. Thank you.
In my experience, anti-Jewish groups (they are rarely anti-semitic, because Antisemites would oppose Arabs, Druse and other groups as well) justify their criticism by claiming to have the right to criticize Israeli government positions and actions, without actually criticizing Judaism. That is disingenuous at best.
Were there 47 countries with Jewish governments who deny freedom of worship and freedom of association to Muslims, that might be defensible. Were there 47 Muslim governments NOT calling for the annihilation of Jews and destruction of Israel it could be defensible. The origin of the current conflict is the origin of most seemingly religious conflicts, having nothing to do with religion. In the late 1800s and early 1900s Jews went to their ancestral homeland and observed infertile ground, and offered to buy it.
Arab Muslims are mostly fatalists who do not believe that they or anyone else has the power to change what currently exists, because it is the will of Allah that it be so. The Jews agreed, except they believed that cultivating soil, selecting hardy seeds, carefully weeding and pest control, added to God's lack of opposition, would suffice. They bought the land from the locals, and miraculously, it worked.
The locals soon saw how prosperous the Jews were, how productive the land was, and were jealous. They were poor with no power. Their rulers, actually responsible for their current conditions, encouraged them to believe they had been cheated by the Jews. It is remarkably easy to convince people that their plight is not their fault. It worked, and 1500 years of alliance was destroyed.
The Abraham Accords negotiated by that awful anti-Jewish racist Trump, are ignored. And Democrats have abandoned their natural alliance with Jewish Groups, believing that eventually there will be more Muslims than Jews to be knee jerk Democrats and vote blindly. Their cynicism is being rewarded.
I am a Jew, and we do tend to shoot ourselves in the foot on a rather regular basis. I try so hard to defend our people and support Israel (Holocaust, anyone?), and now our young rabbinical students want us to rethink our support of Israel, while paying no heed to the gross human rights violations occurring in so many other countries. Kinda makes you want to throw up your hands.
Which rabbinical students? This is news to me. I do know there are extremist sects but none that are representative.