Marching to protest against anti-Semitism makes sense when organizers and participants are truly against violence and hatred towards all Jews. No stranger to protests, the most recent one I attended was the anti-New York Times protest this past spring. Like many Jews, I have been angered over the uptick in anti-Semitic assaults not only globally, but hyper-locally (Brooklyn, Jersey City, Manhattan, Monsey).
Every day another member of my tribe was being assaulted, and there was no pushback from elected officials. It took the horrific Hanukkah attack in Monsey, NY for Gov. Cuomo to finally speak up, but it was too late. The most brutally attacked victim of the Monsey machete stabbing, Josef Neumann, is not likely to recover.
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Liberal politicians in New York have steadily remained silent for months as anti-Semitism was becoming more visible. Where was Mayor DeBlasio? Senator Schumer? Senator Gillibrand? Each one of those politicians have a powerful platform to discuss issues affecting their constituents. Are Jewish people not citizens in their city and state? It sure didn't seem that way as anti-Semitism not only kept rising but becoming more violent.
In just one week's time, teenagers threw a beverage and shouted anti-Jewish slurs at a Jewish man (Dec 24th), a man wearing a kippah was punched in the face (Dec 25th), a Jewish woman was hit in the head while walking with her son (Dec 26th), a woman slapped three Jewish women, the same night that a man threatened to shoot up the Chabad World Headquarters. Even after five Jews were stabbed at a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey, NY liberal politicians barely spoke up to not only denounce anti-Semitism but also acknowledge the perpetrators. Mayor DeBlasio seemed stunned at a recent press conference that a reporter brought up the topic and then blamed anti-Semitism on President Trump. It's as if the Jersey City kosher store massacre was no big deal to liberal leadership. There was no plan of action to curb anti-Semitic incidents from anyone in local government, these attacks have been going on for too many months.
A 'unity' march was partly organized by the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), an organization that thinks anti-Semitism is strictly associated with white neo-Nazis, which has ignored most of the NYC area attacks because the anti-Semites have been black and brown. The other organizations organizing it were the American Jewish Committee (AJC), UJA Federation (also largely silent when Israel is attacked especially of late), and whose several representatives in the area couldn't be bothered to say that Jews being threatened is anti-Semitism. They combined it with 'all hate.'
Many of the signs at the march were plastered with 'no hate, no fear.' The planners could not even be bothered to highlight anti-Semitism. To combine anti-Semitism with 'all forms of hate' is to not singularly focus on the dangerous situation currently at hand for Jews. In order to address the issue, it is necessary to identify the problem.
After palling around with Ilhan Omar, after denouncing Israel's non-existent occupation, Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez had the temerity to attend Sunday's march. The JCRC (Jewish Council Relations Council) even thanked AOC for showing up at the march.
Anti-Semitism is not a liberal only issue of course. There are plenty on the Right who are anti-Semitic too. Most recently, the shootings in Poway, CA and Pittsburgh, PA were at the hands of white Neo-Nazis. The difference between the parties is that today's Republican National Committee routinely speaks out against anti-Semitism and denounces any Republican who is against Jews. However, neither of those murderers cited President Trump, and with good reason, as President Trump has been the most pro-Israel American leader of our time.
Liberal policies, especially locally, have undeniably led to an environment where anti-Semites, particularly other minorities who are the assailants, have been given leniency. This all stems from bail reform. Money for bail has been largely eliminated by New York and a laundry list of crimes has been reduced in their charges – hate crimes being on one of them. Assault as a hate crime is no longer eligible for bail or pretrial detention. The liberal District Attorneys have been releasing the anti-Semitic criminals, and many re-committed crimes soon after being free on the streets.
To march against anti-Semitism is to speak up on behalf of all Jews – Jews being assaulted in Western Europe, mostly by Muslims, to show support for the only Jewish homeland, Israel. And to clearly identify the perpetrators.
A march in itself is great, but morally I could not attend. To be fair, some people, who I know attended, while upset with the number of hypocritical organizations and leaders, were nonetheless glad they themselves joined to lend a voice. The march should have instead called out the officials who have been ignoring anti-Semitism as it continued to grow in strength for the better part of this past year, especially in Orthodox Jewish areas of Brooklyn, NY.
There are real solutions to the issue, after all, this was not happening at this magnitude under Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg. Finally, Governor Cuomo announced that severe anti-Semitic attacks would be classified as domestic terrorism. Further, requesting that the local black leadership speak up would be a major step to curb assaults, dialing back bail reform, and increasing punishment for anti-Semitic attacks are all concrete actions politicians can enact.
Anti-Semitism will never disappear but if the assaults do not dissipate and there needs to be another march, I hope that the next one will feature organizations that actually vocally denounce the oldest and most cancerous of evils, and who are not against Israel.
Laureen Lipsky is a pro-Israel advocate living in New York, and is the founder of Taking Back the Narrative.
