Antisemitism is often considered the world’s longest form of hatred; it has existed for over two millennia. The antisemitism was avoided in public during the decades following the Holocaust, but it still remained prominent in private. For a period of time after the Nazi defeat in 1945, anti-Semitism lost Favor in western Europe and the United States. Even those who were anti-Semitic were hesitant, if not embarrassed, to express it.
American Jews became an integrated part of culture and society in the postwar United States. Barriers to complete Jewish participation in business and politics fell, and Jews found few obstacles in their way as they sought to participate in American life. Anti-Semitism became a fringe phenomenon with occasional lethal manifestations in hate crimes. But even if they were fewer in number, less widespread, and less tolerated by American society, virulent anti-Semitic acts still occasionally occurred.
Recently, antisemitism is being expressed more overtly. An old kind of hate has been very visible lately. High-profile entertainers and athletes have openly spouted antisemitic tropes. There’s also been a steady rise in the number of hateful incidents directed at Jewish people over the past several years.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, 2022 was the highest year on record for documented reports of harassment, vandalism and violence directed against Jews. These record-breaking numbers present as part of a consistent, five-year upswing in the number of antisemitic incidents, unprecedented in the ADL’s three plus decades of data collection. The Jews across America confront rising antisemitism with anxious resolve. The expanding use of social media by antisemites is a major concern.
For years, extremism experts and historians have sounded alarms about rising antisemitism and what they say are clear warning signs of emerging fascism and extremist violence. Their warnings have only grown more dire as influential American politicians, media personalities and celebrities routinely amplify antisemitic conspiracies that have historically led to the killing of Jews. Yet an even deeper, darker worry compounds those concerns in a community acutely aware of how antisemitism, disinformation and conspiracy theories normalize the kind of hate speech and violent incidents that foment persecution and can escalate to genocide. In many countries a significant part of the political left had become highly critical of Israel, a development that was disquieting to Jews who were once comfortable on the left and felt that their erstwhile allies had turned against Israel or Israeli policies. Some critics of those policies compared them to those of Nazi Germany, and in political cartoons Jewish figures were depicted in a manner not dissimilar to Nazi propaganda.
Scholars and students of anti-Semitism struggled to distinguish between legitimate criticism of policies of the Israeli government and anti-Semitism. One-time Soviet human rights activist Natan Sharansky suggested three markers to delineate the boundary between legitimate criticism and anti-Semitism. Under his “3D test,” when one of these elements was detectable, the line had been crossed: double standards (judging Israel by one standard and all other countries by another), delegitimization (the conclusion that Israel had no right to exist), or demonization (regarding the Israeli state not merely as wrongheaded or mistaken but as a demonic force in the contemporary world). As the world watched fighting rage in Israel and Gaza, US Jews endured an increase in antisemitic attacks on a scale not seen during previous Middle East conflicts.
The heads of three top US colleges have pushed back against claims that they are not doing enough to combat antisemitism on their campuses.
The leaders, who included Harvard president Claudine Gay, testified before the House of Representatives.
The students at the universities have accused administrators of not protecting Jewish people since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Jewish students said they faced antisemitic threats, assault and more. I cry out we JEWS are in deep trouble. OUR LIVES AND THE LIVES OF OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN ARE IN JEOPARDY. The time machine of history has brought us back to 1933 Germany; 1938 Kristallnacht is approaching if not already here. I have been cautioning this was happening, but most refused to listen. America is no longer the Goldena medina for us. In EUROPE there is nowhere to run where antisemitism has not raised its ugly head. All the prayers and rallies will not help unless we JEWS arm ourselves to the teeth. We need to walk and travel in pairs or groups. Avoid the ivy league schools where there are both professors and students who wish to destroy us. The fact that millionaires are withdrawing their donations means nothing as that money will be replaced by funds from Arab and MUSLIM states which us harm and the destruction of ISRAEL. Most probably face book will not be happy with this message and put me in Facebook jail. Please consider Aliyah, much of my own family is already there. I am old and not in the best of health but I fight for Jewish existence day and night. If I was a young man in good health I would start a JDL world wide. We have a few militants but not enough. In this country and other countries professors are teaching the young that HAMAS are victims and we JEWS are the Nazis. Babies are branded by HAMAS, WOMEN RAPED AND THE WORLD IS BASICALLY SILENT. In Europe and AMERICA AND IN FACT AROUND THE WORLD JEWS are being beaten up or murdered and Judges require very little in way of punishment.
Please listen to my warning this time before it is too late.
RABBI DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG, son of Holocaust survivors.
Rabbi Rosenberg teachings, books and articles. 