"The new reality" – that is what US Jews are calling the recent spate of anti-Semitic attacks in their districts, neighborhoods, and synagogues.
Sometimes it's "just" a swastika painted on a wall, sometimes insults and curses, and frequently it's actual violence – punches or attempted killings. Jews can't explain the reasons for what is happening or why it's happening now. Nor can they explain the fact that many of the instances of anti-Semitism and violence aren't being perpetrated by Islamist radicals or neo-Nazis, but by members of the African American community, which shares a lot of values with Jewish leaders, particularly those from non-Orthodox streams.
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It's hard to stop thinking about the general atmosphere in the US right now. In the old debate between liberals and conservatives, which has been splitting American society for years already, sometimes one camp wins, sometimes the other. Feelings change, and so does the leadership.
Until Donald Trump was elected. The president not only represents conservatism on steroids, he is also the ultimate nemesis of everything else. The opposing camp objects not only to his ways, but to his very existence. So the other party launched a process of impeachment, which will never go through. The media, intellectuals, Hollywood and Broadway artists are all rabidly opposed to him. Once again, it appears that liberals are very intolerant of other viewpoints – both in Israel and in America.
The incitement leads to violence, and not only when it comes from the Right. Because in contrast to how violence is stigmatized, it crosses dividing lines. Conservatives in the US have become targets. Trump supporters are shunned. The Orthodox community in America is identified with the conservative camp, and its members can be spotted easily, making them targets. It starts with the mentally deranged. A lot of the people behind the recent hate crimes have a history of mental illness. Then it moves on to premeditated, well-planned assaults, and murders. The police and the local authorities are nearly helpless at this stage and are refusing to supply basic security measures.
What about the Jews themselves? They're mostly confused. They fear that they are easy prey, and there is no one to help them. Outside the big Chabad House at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, a group of Guardian Angels – most of whom are black or Hispanic – have undertaken to protect the Jewish neighborhoods. As those who have been the targets of violence themselves, the volunteer safety organization patrols, unarmed, in violence-ridden areas and help the residents in places where the authorities have failed to. The Hassidim see the irony of this. The immigrants who took beatings are now the ones beating others, and the ideological defense group they set up decades ago is protecting the Jews from them.
