"It seems that American Jews don’t see anti-Semitism in America because they don’t want to, not because it isn’t real."
I'd qualify that and say "many" or "most," because it's certainly not true of all of us. tabletmag.com/sections/news/…
"In fact, the frequency of attacks here is highly disproportionate, and rightfully alarming. Yet the reckoning taking place in Britain seems light years away from this side of the pond." This I agree with. Jews always top the FBI's list for religious hate crimes, and
the tiny community of British Jews did a remarkable job of coming together in the face of Corbynism. American Jews are still hugely divided.
"in America, anti-Semitism seems to render American Jews further from their Jewish identity, and closer to a desire to blend in—as leftists, as allies, as Americans."
Again, this describes lots, but not all, American Jews.
"when Jews don’t confront anti-Semitism, there’s zero public outcry. That’s the cycle that the American Jewish community appears to be trapped in."
Yes, there needs to be more public outcry.
"Many Jews collude in this self-mutilation, only calling out anti-Semitism when it comes from the right—which, after all, is where hatred exclusively comes from." Wait -- what?
"The left does all these things not on fringe websites or in meetings in someone’s basement like the right does, but in classrooms at some of America’s finest universities, and in impeccably edited reviews and journals aimed at people with graduate degrees." Yes.
"They seek to raise the price of Jewish identification w/ our own culture and history and ancestors to the point where many people of Jewish descent will feel themselves forced to choose between our own lived identities & inheritance as Jews, or social and professional suicide."
"This is a two-pronged nightmare, worsened by the reality that American Jews seem more prepared to fight all other fights apart from their own. In fact, they seem eager to choose the other fights first."
"An American generation that has only ever known a powerful Israel can’t understand why American Jews deem Israel under threat from anti-Zionist politics, or why the false portrayal of Israel as a bloodthirsty racist colonialist enterprise should threaten them."
"Rather than see anti-Semitism as a real phenomenon, they view it as a chess piece to be played."
"To try to manipulate anti-Semitism instead of fighting it wherever it arises is fatal. The willingness to erase one’s Jewish identity in order to become a 'normal' American is also fatal."
"In the eyes of an anti-Semite, you’ll always be a Jew first and an American second, if at all. But that is a message that American Jews of both the left and the right seem supremely uninterested in hearing."
I disagree. But more important is how we see ourselves.
"By contrast, American Jews are eerily silent; sleepwalking through a rising tide of Jew-hatred."
As one of the loud ones, yes, more people should speak up.
"How can you expect to have your places of worship respected, your history understood, and your identity recognized and validated if you won’t stand up for yourselves, and admit your real vulnerability?"
TL;DR, this article was not written for (or about) people like me, but it'll speak to many, and they should read it.
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Shafik says she condemns antisemitism and is committed to confronting it.
Experience since 10/7 says otherwise. #Columbia
Shafik mentions Hamas — which an Israeli student told me she hadn’t on campus for a long time.
Shafik says she’s spent most of her time as president on these issues. So why have Jewish and Israeli students described being ignored by Shafik and other administrators?
Except it's not “extremely rude and disrespectful" to question an elected official's commitment to fighting antisemitism when they vote against a (largely symbolic) bill opposing antisemitism in a city where it's a big problem. forward.com/fast-forward/5…
"A council member who abstained accused Jewish community leaders of failing to call out hatred against Palestinians and supporting apartheid in Israel."
Ah, injecting antisemitism into a discussion about why it's important to oppose antisemitism.
“'In this city, how could anyone deny that antisemitism has become a real problem?' said Kalman Yeger."
The only people who could deny it are those who don't pay attention or think the bad news is actually a positive.
Will the people at this alternative Shabbat dinner be davening beforehand, and if so, will they be facing toward Jerusalem or somewhere else? dailyprincetonian.com/article/2023/0…
Also, who exactly celebrates "Israeli nationalism over Shabbat dinner"-? Last I checked, Shabbat had nothing to do with Israeli politics.
That "dozens of students also signed an open letter condemning the event" sounds totally normal and not at all like those students are condemning Jews for observing Judaism.
"The most acute examples of discrimination involved Harvard’s Israeli students."
"Indeed, social alienation is unavoidable for Harvard’s Israeli students. Students recall moments of feeling like their 'humanity was questioned.' One student said to their Israeli peer, 'I can only imagine the war crimes you have committed.'”