Open Season in openly New York City Jews

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The second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, hosted a roundtable at the White House Wednesday on the rise of antisemitism in the United States, saying there is an "epidemic of hate facing our country."

"Words matter," Emhoff said. "People are no longer saying the quiet parts out loud, they are screaming them."

The husband of Vice President Harris was joined by a dozen leaders from the Jewish community, including representatives of Hillel, the Anti-Defamation League and Orthodox Union.

The meeting comes amid a surge of anti-Jewish comments and actions from prominent people.

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, Biden's special envoy who monitors antisemitism around the world, told the roundtable that many people have not taken antisemitism seriously enough.

"For too long, Jew-hatred has been belittled or discounted because Jews have erroneously been considered white and privileged. This is a very real threat to Jews, and that alone would make it worth fighting with all our soul and with all our might," Lipstadt said.

The White House asked participants for their ideas on how the administration could address the rising tide of antisemitism at home — insights that were shared during a private portion of the meeting closed to reporters.

Wednesday's meeting was the first high-profile policy issue that Emhoff — the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president — has led at the White House.

"We cannot normalize this," Emhoff said. "We all have an obligation to condemn these vile acts. We must not stay silent. There is no either/or. There are no two sides. Everyone must be against this."

He talked about growing up in Brooklyn and New Jersey in a typical Jewish family, going to synagogue and celebrating his bar mitzvah.

"What's happening now is just it's visceral, it's real. And that's why this is so personal to me," he said

The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks antisemitism, has reported more anti-Jewish attacks last year than it has in any year since it started tracking in the 1970s. Jewish people are very concerned, said Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the group.

In the past, politicians have raised concerns about giving extremists more oxygen by paying attention to their views, but leaders say it's a different time.

Ian Russell, a Democratic strategist, says that was a view before the election of Trump, whose blunt rhetoric and aversion to political correctness angered detractors and fueled supporters.

"There was a unspoken tacit understanding between the two major parties that there were some things you just didn't say," said Russell, a former deputy executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

"Some dog whistles you didn't send and some things we just kept out of mainstream political dialogue in the United States because we all believe in never again. Instead, Trump said the quiet part out loud. He turned the dog whistle into a megaphone."

But this type of talk is now part of the mainstream political dialogue. He said the White House is right to call it out.

A number of Republicans, including Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Tim Scott of South Carolina and James Lankford of Oklahoma, signed onto a bipartisan letter, led by Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-N.V., calling on Biden to develop a national strategy against antisemitism.

Rabbi Eliana Fischel is an associate rabbi at Washington Hebrew Congregation, a large Reform synagogue in Washington, D.C. She says many congregants are grappling personally with the national increase in antisemitism, even if they haven't faced harassment themselves.

She's gotten questions from people who are wondering if it's still safe to wear a Star of David necklace in public or put a mezuzah on their front door.

"A lot of people are not wanting ... to tell the world that their home is Jewish because they fear for their safety," Fischel says. "And that's a huge change and a huge shift that I've seen, that it's actually affecting our behavior in a way that it hasn't before."

Fischel has also noticed that more people come to synagogue after antisemitic incidents, seeking community and guidance. That's true even though many are also more anxious about doing so, and tend to have questions about building security.

Fischel says safety concerns are nothing new, particularly after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and the Texas hostage-taking, and every rabbi in the country has likely thought about what they would do if something were to happen in their own synagogue.

"I think that unfortunately, our staff has gotten used to this, and living in both of those worlds," she adds. "The world of fear ... as well as knowing that we are doing really good work and providing people with this beautiful religion of 3,000 years of tradition that gives meaning and elevates their lives to an extent that I really believe nothing else can."

Fischel, who grew up in a suburb with a large Jewish community, says it took her a while to realize how prevalent antisemitism actually is across the U.S. She believes it's crucial to empower others to identify and respond to common antisemitic tropes, and is now starting to teach that for the first time in her five-year career — on the day she spoke with NPR, she was holding her two first sessions, for the congregation and for Jewish congressional staffers.

As she sees it, people get riled up about antisemitic incidents in brief bursts, then assume things are OK when they are not. Within her congregation, she's sensing both anxiety about Ye's remarks and frustration that this will be one of those cases.

I think the more that we have this mix of anxiety and frustration, ideally, the more Jews are going to speak up and say, 'This is not OK, we are a minority and we are ... the highest targeted religious group for hate crimes in the country and this needs to be taken seriously,' " she says.

Shortly after Ye's antisemitic tirade began, well aware of the damage such rhetoric can do, the Holocaust Museum LA reached out to the rapper to offer him a tour.

Kean, the CEO, says museum leaders were upset that such an influential celebrity was using his platform to spread antisemitic hate, and wanted to help him understand the reach and power of his words by showing him the museum and introducing him to a Holocaust survivor, "so he could learn from a firsthand witness where hate and prejudice can lead when bigotry goes unchecked."

A family helped a Holocaust survivor escape death. Then they became his real family
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A family helped a Holocaust survivor escape death. Then they became his real family
What they didn't expect was the flood of antisemitic emails and social media comments they would go on to receive — Kean says it went from something they'd see "maybe once in a blue moon" to a "daily occurrence," with 10 or so each day.

She says most of the messages were alluding to Ye being right about the Jews, and appear to be from young people who are regurgitating his rhetoric without understanding what it means. That includes repeating offensive antisemitic tropes that Kean calls reminiscent of the dangerous propaganda leading up to the Holocaust.

Beth Kean is the CEO of the Holocaust Museum LA and the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. She says her grandmother saw "her own siblings and parents walk straight to the gas chambers, and it started with words."
Holocaust Museum LA
"I think of my grandparents who were Holocaust survivors, and they would never have imagined in a million years that something like this would happen. I'm actually thankful that they're not alive to see this," Kean says. "The Holocaust started with words and and we need to be mindful of that."

Between Ye's tweets, the freeway banners, antisemitic flyers distributed in Beverly Hills and the backlash to the museum, Kean says the community is shaken. But she's also seen people channel those feelings into action — and museum attendance.

After the weekend the banner and flyers were displayed, Kean happened to get to the museum early and saw dozens of students in school uniforms waiting outside with their teacher. The teacher had decided to walk them the few blocks to the museum because they were so upset about what had happened.

Holocaust education is lacking in the U.S., and mandatory in fewer than two dozen states as of last year. Kean says the museum knows that many students may be reluctant to visit Holocaust museums, or question why such field trips are necessary. But visitor evaluations show that 96% of students leave the LA Holocaust museum convinced that other young people need to learn about the Holocaust in order to understand where racism and prejudice can lead.

Fischel, the rabbi, believes that the "No. 1 thing that's going to combat antisemitism is Jewish pride, is saying that we are Jewish and we are proud of it, and for people to know who Jews are." That could mean wearing a Star of David necklace or kippah in public, attending services or doing social justice work through a Jewish lens.

Lipstadt, the antisemitism envoy, offers a similar assessment. She says there's not one easy answer, but it's clear "there's been a failure to take antisemitism seriously."

"Jews can pass, unlike people of color, who don't have a choice ... [Some people] look at Jews, and they say, 'Oh, they're well-set. They're in good shape. What do they have to worry about?' " she explains. "Jews don't present as many other victims of prejudice. I know Jewish parents who are now having with their children the equivalent of what Black parents have had for decades — 'the conversation.' It's a danger."

The Internet has made it a whole lot easier to spread nonmainstream ideas of all kinds, both good and bad.

I've been expecting this for decades.

After 9/11, the "9/11 Truth" movement spawned a revival of "conspiracy theories" generally, including a revival of what I call grand conspiracy ideology. More and more people like Alex Jones were promoting ideas very similar to the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," "The International Jew," and the medieval "blood libel," except that most of them didn't target Jews specifically.

You probably missed the interview where Alex Jones condemned Kanye West's anti-semitism. Jones bringing some sense back to prejudice, only white people should be allowed to be anti-semitic.

Open Season In Openly New York City Jews

I've been expecting this for decades.

After 9/11, the "9/11 Truth" movement spawned a revival of "conspiracy theories" generally, including a revival of what I call grand conspiracy ideology. More and more people like Alex Jones were promoting ideas very similar to the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," "The International Jew," and the medieval "blood libel," except that most of them didn't target Jews specifically. Instead, most of them targeted "Satanists," Pagans, occultists, Freemasons, and (e.g. in Pizzagate and QAnon) Democratic Party politicians. (Back before 2008, Republican politicians such as G.W. Bush were targeted too.) Some also targeted alleged space aliens.

All along, there were at least a few grand conspiracy ideologues who targeted Jews too. It was only a matter of time before this faction would grow, along with grand conspiracy ideology more generally and its accompanying assorted bigotries.

Popular themes in antisemitic 9/11 conspiracy theories:

The Mossad was behind the attacks.
Variations of this theory have circulated since 2001 and assert that the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, was behind the 9/11 attacks. The most common “proof” cited is the false claim that five Israeli Mossad agents were arrested on 9/11 by police who observed them filming and celebrating the attack. This narrative of the “dancing Israelis” is a recurring element of many conspiracy theories.

Jewish neoconservatives were behind the attacks.
Proponents of this theory claim that the leaders of the influential neoconservative political ideology in the United States, many of whom were Jewish, plotted with members of the Bush Administration and enlisted the help of the Mossad to implement the attacks in order to benefit Israel. This theory alleges that supporters of Israel hatched the plan well before 9/11, with the goal of invading Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries to allow the U.S. and Israel to seize control of resources and power in that area.
The Jewish-controlled media and government manipulated narratives about the attacks and worked to prevent the truth from emerging.
Conspiracy theorists claim that the “truth” about Israeli and Jewish involvement in the 9/11 attacks has been suppressed because Jews control the media and government, including the 9/11 Commission tasked with investigating and reporting on the attack. They further claim that “powerful” Jews intentionally manipulated the narrative of the events to place blame on Muslim individuals and nations and to deceive the American public.

Jews or Israelis had foreknowledge of the attacks and chose not to inform the U.S. government.
One of the most common antisemitic myths about 9/11 states that 4,000 Jews who worked in the World Trade Center were informed by Israeli intelligence agencies to stay home from work on that tragic day.

Zionists exploited the 9/11 attacks to expand surveillance of American citizens.
Conspiracy theorists who promote this claim allege that Zionists used the attacks to create conditions in the U.S. in which privacy could be revoked and a restrictive police surveillance state could be implemented in the name of national security. Some specifically claim that these actions were inspired by supposed Israeli treatment of Palestinians.

The technical details of the attacks do not add up; therefore, the entire historical narrative must be fraudulent.
A fundamental component of 9/11 conspiracy theories promoted by antisemites and non-antisemites alike claims that the technical details of the “official” story are not supported by scientific or documented evidence. Antisemitic proponents of this conspiracy theory claim that, if the official narrative was indeed fabricated and 9/11 was a false flag event, then either Jews or Israel are inevitably the most likely culprits. Some offer alternative explanations as to how the attacks were supposedly executed—such as claiming that explosives rather than planes and fires brought down the towers—while others admit that they do not know what really happened, just that Jews or Israel are to blame.

“Jewish Ownership” of the World Trade Center. Conspiracists focused on what the “Jewish owners” of the World Trade Center stood to gain from its destruction.
According to this theory, Jewish businessmen—most notably Larry Silverstein, whose company had recently taken out a lease on the World Trade Center complex—plotted to destroy the towers in an effort to obtain millions of dollars in insurance money. The implication is that their inside knowledge of the complex allowed them to help the Mossad execute the plan. This conspiracy theory incorporates the antisemitic trope of “Jewish lightning” and goes to the heart of the myth of the greedy Jew.

Which simply is not true. Before this Kanye West crap started I knew black people like the guy I shared a room with in the last facility I stayed in who told me that they hated Jews. Because a lot of black people in the deep south are very "Christian" and Jews are not.

It's funny to me the way our society focuses so much on the bigotry of white culture but when it comes down to the black culture we don't like to even like to acknowledge their issues with things like misogyny and homophobia.

And I personally blame a lot of that on the church culture in black communities.

What I can't believe is that so many Americans in this country are stupid enough to believe all this absurd BS.

The Internet has made it a whole lot easier to spread nonmainstream ideas of all kinds, both good and bad.

I think black people generally lump Jews with whites. Can you blame them? Jews happily migrated to the US and (like all European and east Asian groups) participated in the institutions of Slavery and Jim Crow.

In an ironic twist the African Americans had to fight for their own civil rights on their own. Many of the victories they had in civil rights ironically benefitted Jews, hispanics and Asians who gratefully accepted the new laws and thanked black people by kicking them in the guts.

I followed the 9/11 truth movement closely in the 2000s, even believing in a few of the theories and I find the Anti-Defamation League article makes it seem like all of the theories were equally popular and important when they were not.

The Neo-Conservatives were the main suspects of 9/11 conspiracy theorists. The main suspect neo-cons were non-Jews Vice President Cheney and the Bush Family.

Mossad was a popular suspect. The "dancing Israelis" was based on an actual case where 5 Israelis were arrested filming the aftermath of the attack and were suspected of being spies. It is inarguable that Israel had the motive to scare the American public into further support. That said that Israel would take a risk of infuriating the country they were almost completely dependent on seems implausible but who knows?

That the Jews had advanced knowledge was something that started in Arab newspapers right away but had minimal traction afterwords.

There were no 9/11 truthers running around attacking random people who looked Jewish or praising Hitler.

In conclusion, many 9/11 conspiracy theories do ape anti-Semitic tropes and some did say neo-cons or Mossad as code words for Jews but the article incorrectly conflates them. One should not draw a straight line between the 2000s and now.

The "Great Replacement Theory" was fringe and "woke ideology" was not a thing.

Jews didn't "happily" migrate here and get welcomed with opened arms, from what I understand of history many were rejected when they came here seeking refugee from Nazism and sent back to where they came from. And anti-semitism and even support for fascism was more popular in America back in those days, Jews often faced violence and discrimination of their own from Americans who didn't want them around.