Vigilance Starts at Home

We can all respond to anti-Jewish hate

Here’s a fact that was little noted when it was revealed last month: In 2022 America reached an all-time high in antisemitic incidents including harassment, assaults, and vandalism. At 3,697, the number was nearly three times higher than it was in 2016. Why do I pick that year for comparison? The big increase began in 2017, with Donald Trump’s rise to power with a message that encouraged hatred, anger, and rage. It has continued since then.   

Considering the unimaginable attack on Israel by the terror organization Hamas, which left more than 1,300 dead, our minds naturally turn to the irrational horror of the hatred that fueled the attack and to the question: How should I respond?

 Individual Americans may feel powerless in the face of such evil and that other than offering donations and political support for Israel's defense, there’s nothing to be done. I would suggest we look closer to home, at the problem of anti-Jewish hate in our country, and take responsibility.

 Antisemitism has been a problem in America since its founding. However, in the years after the Holocaust, public expressions of this hate had become less and less acceptable. It appeared as if bigotry was on the decline. Sadly, however, it didn’t go away. Members of the remnant Ku Klux Klan and new extremist groups openly expressed their hatred of Jews.  And in private, antisemitism was so common that President Nixon felt comfortable voicing it in the White House.

 “The Jews are all over the government,” Nixon told his chief of staff H. R. Haldeman in 1971. “…generally speaking,” he added, “you can’t trust the bastards.” (This exchange was captured by the taping system Nixon maintained in the Oval Office.) Anti-Jewish tropes could be heard in homes, offices, factories, shops, and bars – wherever bigots felt they could speak freely. By the early 1990s, businessman Donald Trump was so comfortable in his prejudice that he told his associates “The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.”

In the last 65 years or more, no major American political leader has done more to unleash hatred than Trump. His 2016 campaign featured frequent attacks on minority groups and ended with a TV advertisement that showed two prominent Jewish financiers  as Trump’s voice sounded antisemitic dog whistles about “global special interests” and “those who move the “levers of power in Washington.” After such a campaign it was no surprise that when pro-Trump extremists demonstrated in 2017, they chanted “Jews will not replace us.”  Trump initially refused to repudiate the extremists, focusing instead on his belief that there were “good people” among them.  Four years later, Trump’s term ended as it began, with displays of antisemitism at his followers’ January 6 attack on the capitol.  

Trump deserves the blame for stirring up the hate and giving permission for people to express it. I believe this is what is behind the steady rise in antisemitic incidents. I mean, just look at the numbers in the September report from the Anti-Defamation League. However, there’s another factor in this dynamic: our failure to stand against hate.  

Candidate and then President Trump exploited the fear and denial of those who recognize bigotry for what it is but fail to speak or act against it. Correcting this failure requires obvious actions. As individuals, we must be willing to take public stands, even in times when we might feel afraid, whenever we hear or see antisemites in action. Together, we must also demand that our institutions – churches, mosques, government, schools, social organizations, and others – make antisemitism unacceptable. If hate is going to arise, we must answer with resistance.

I am not the naïve sort who believes that bigotry can be completely eradicated, or that I have the answer for the hatred Hamas has visited upon Israel. But if you feel shaken, outraged, grief-stricken, and moved to act, you do have options. Speak up whenever hate appears – especially when it is voiced by an influential leader --  and demand that our institutions do the same. Vigilance must start at home.