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American Anti-Semitism Breaks My Heart
I was born in California, and I grew up in Manhattan and Seattle. In Manhattan, I was surrounded by other Jewish kids. I went to a Jewish preschool and kindergarten, and to Jewish summer camps. In Seattle, I was the only Jewish kid in our neighborhood. There were maybe two or three other Jews in my elementary school. My family was a member of the Jewish Community Club, where I learned to swim. I never heard an anti-Semitic comment as a child or a teenager. Not one.
When my grandparents described growing up in Weimar and Nazi Germany, they were describing another universe. America had defeated the Nazis and had everything the Third Reich stood for.
The first time I heard an American express a hostile attitude toward Jews, I was in my late twenties. I don’t believe I experienced such a charmed childhood because people were afraid of expressing their real feelings about Jews. I believe it was because America was not an anti-Semitic country.
Even recently, I thought American anti-Semitism was a phenomenon confined to the far-left. But there’s been an eruption of anti-Semitism in America lately, and it isn’t coming from the left at all.
James Kirchick has written about it at Commentary:
When the journalist Julia Ioffe published a profile of Melania Trump for GQ, she had reason to expect that supporters of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee would be disappointed by its portrayal of Donald Trump’s third wife. “Her journey to marrying The Donald is like a fairy tale, or a too-crazy-to-believe rom-com,” Ioffe revealed. “It’s a story full of naked ambition, stunning beauty, a shockingly Trump-like dad, and even some family secrets.” What Ioffe, who is Jewish, did not expect was a torrent of anti-Semitic abuse and death threats.
On Twitter, the candidate’s anonymous backers superimposed images of Ioffe’s face over those of concentration camp inmates. On her voicemail, they left recordings of Hitler speeches. “This is not a heavily critical article. There is nothing in it that is untrue,” Ioffe told the Guardian. “If this is how Trump supporters swing into action, what happens when the press looks into corrupt dealings, for example, or is critical of his policies?”
Ioffe received calls from people telling her she “should be burned in an oven,” and “be shot in the head.”
“The irony of this,” wrote Ioffe,
“is that today, when I was getting all of this horrible antisemitic [redacted] that I’ve only ever seen in Russia, I was reminded that 26 years ago today my family came to the US from Russia. We left Russia because we were fleeing antisemitism. It’s been a rude shock for everyone.”
Melania Trump, when asked about this, said Ioffe had “provoked” her fans.
But this is the sort of thing everyone on the Internet with a “Jewish name” now sees regularly:
It “has been clear for some time,”wrote Eric Wemple at The Washington Post, “that criticizing Trump while being Jewish is a hazardous online activity.”
As Shapiro wrote in The Daily Wire,
It’s not just me, of course. Jake Tapper of CNN now says he’s received anti-Semitic tweets “all day.” My friend Bethany Mandel, another orthodox Jew who opposes Trump, just bought herself a gun out of fear of unhinged Trump supporters. John Podhoretz of Commentary says he receives tweets consistently from “literally neo-Nazi White supremacists, all anonymous … I don’t think I can attribute being a supporter of Trump to being a validator or an expresser of these opinions, but something was let loose by him.” Noah Rothman of Commentary tweets, “It never ends. Blocking doesn’t help either. They have lists, on which I seem to find myself.”
He described it this way in National Review:
I was wrong.
I’ve spent most of my career arguing that anti-Semitism in the United States is almost entirely a product of the political Left. I’ve traveled across the country from Iowa to Texas; I’ve rarely seen an iota of true anti-Semitism. I’ve sensed far more anti-Jewish animus from leftist college students at the University of California, Los Angeles, than from churches in Valencia. As an observer of President Obama’s thoroughgoing anti-Israel administration, I could easily link the anti-Semitism of the Left to its disdain for both Biblical morality and Israeli success over its primary Islamist adversaries. The anti-Semitism I’d heard about from my grandparents — the country-club anti-Semitism, the alleged white-supremacist leanings of rednecks from the backwoods — was a figment of the imagination, I figured.
I figured wrong. Donald Trump’s nomination has drawn anti-Semites from the woodwork. I’ve experienced more pure, unadulterated anti-Semitism since coming out against Trump’s candidacy than at any other time in my political career. Trump supporters have threatened me and other Jews who hold my viewpoint. They’ve blown up my e-mail inbox with anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. They greeted the birth of my second child by calling for me, my wife, and two children to be thrown into a gas chamber. Yes, seriously. This isn’t a majority of Trump supporters, obviously. It’s not even a large minority. But there is a significant core of Trump support that not only traffics in anti-Semitism but celebrates it — and god-worships Trump as the leader of an anti-Jewish movement.
Yesterday, Jonathan Weisman, The New York Times’ deputy editor, spent eight hours re-tweeting the anti-Semitic abuse he’s been receiving:
I know Seth Mandel, who writes for Commentary. His wife, Bethany, writes for the Federalist. She and I are longtime Facebook friends. Her response:
Bethany has filed police reports in response to the death threats. So has Julia Ioffe. Last October, Bethany asked in The Forward why Trump wouldn’t stand up to his anti-Semitic fans. She thereafter received so many threats that she purchased a firearm.
As my friend Jason said a few hours ago,
So am I, boychick. In fact, I’m old enough to remember when neither side was.
Bethany’s column for Ha’aretz yesterday carried a headline I never in my life imagined I’d see: Jews Face a Precarious Future in a Trump America:
[William] Kristol was deemed by Breitbart as a “renegade Jew” for opposing Trump. What Kristol and other Jewish conservatives (myself included) are doing by taking on Trump, even if it means a GOP loss in November, is to try to protect the very fabric of the American experiment. And as is increasingly clear, our loss would mean the ascendency of hate, and an America as unpalatable for Jews as much of Europe already is.
To judge from what I’m seeing, America is already there. And it didn’t take much, either, which really breaks my heart.
Published in General
No words.
This.
I agree.
You seem to be talking about a movie of “Gentleman’s Agreement”. I read the book, which belonged to my mother, when I was about eleven. It informed the fierce pro-semitism I’ve felt all my life.
Ask me what Western Civilization owes the Jews? Just. About. Everything.
And speaking of heartbreak–have you read Patty Friedman’s “Too Jewish”?
I had picked up a bit on this intramural anti-semitism from my in laws. But this book made me cry and cry. I hope it isn’t accurate.
What do you call what you wrote? Hieroglyphs?
My first brush with this was during my father’s congressional bid, when he received a couple of rambling, antisemitic messages. I was 19 at the time, and had never run into it before and wanted to respond. My dad took the letters, smiled, and said not to waste our time on morons.
I’m at a loss as to how I’ve been spared the current abuse. I occasionally get an angry Trumpkin on twitter, but they never go there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking for it.
The legions of anti-Semitic college professors may not hold political power, but they have plenty of cultural power. Ditto Al Sharpton, who had his own national TV platform. The media gave voice to Occupy Wall Street, amplifying its power, while deliberately underplaying the anti-Semitism that the movement was rife with. Cynthia McKinney served in congress. President Obama himself trafficked in anti-Semitic stereotypes of moneyed Jewish donors buying influence when he was pushing his sham Iran “deal” through the Senate. He got away with it because Jews on the left excused it. (Never mind the close relationships to Rev. Wright and Rashid Khalidi.)
And this doesn’t take into account the fact that vocal minorities can often achieve their objectives even if they do not wield power directly, by shaping the terms of the debate or the policies their allies fight for. It is the Left that has painted Jews as colonial oppressors — so that those who see themselves as fighting oppression often consider Jews to be among their enemies. Yet Jews on the left appear to be sanguine about the influence of such anti-Semitism coming from its own side.
Define decent. As in polite, or as in competent?
As I said before, this is a campaign that has broken all the rules. You had 15 people in the GOP field struggling to define themselves, one stuck with a last name he tried replacing with a “!” and one who was already a celebrity. Trump got tons of free publicity and did not feel compelled to build a massive national staff. That leaves him vulnerable to this kind of crap.
But he sloughs it off because he’s been so successful in not doing things everybody else would do. That may be evidence of arrogance but not of malevolence.
What I’m seeing here is irrational hysteria. “Trump has attracted racists, and therefore he is a racist,” is a statement that carries as much weight as the “rape” crisis on university campuses. In either case, the allegations are serious enough to demand substantial proof. That’s not an excuse, it’s the decency that you demand. You’re not morally superior for demanding standards of others that you’re not willing to demand of yourself.
The Court of Public Opinion is a hanging court, a mob that cares not for rules of evidence or the truth. And I understand politics is full of it.
I’ve gone on record in these pages that I would have preferred a brokered convention that may have been able to reach out and persuade an honorable man like James Mattis to run. I’m not going to get that. But I’m not jumping on the Hillary bandwagon, either. Nor will I serve her interests in anyway as they do not intersect with mine.
You are young enough to have recent experience in college admissions and college life. Do you wish to retract your statement?
Although you are in a rigorous graduate academic discipline, are you aware of what law and medical school admissions are like nowadays?
Because Jon has placed his body in front of yours.
No, to both questions.
A lot earlier than college. I have had to call out my parish priest and several grade school teachers
This.
And sharing this stuff, writing about it as a way to tear Trump down, only perpetuates and artificially magnifies it. As I always hasten to add, I’m not a Trump supporter and didn’t vote for him. But I’ve been disturbed by the lengths anti-Trumpers are willing to go to, whether it’s masquerading as anti-Semites or blowing it out of proportion by writing about it, sharing it over and over, and perpetuating it in any way.
Truth. I am sick and tired of all of the guilt-by-association nonsense.
I don’t know about “legions” of anti-Semitic college professors, but Sharpton’s influence on the left has certainly decreased since the Crown Heights Riot. Also, does anyone even watch his show? I would think that on the modern left, the Jewish Paul Krugman through his platform at the New York Times has more influence than some race-baiting has-been.
I’m wondering if this is really about scapegoating. Let’s blame everyone who might be responsible: the limping economy, the beleaguered government, the banks–after all, Jews control the world’s wealth–and the Jews on the left will say the Jews on the right have brought it on themselves as the Jewish left ignores its own role in feeding this hatred.
JB: you took the ‘words’ right out of my mouth. Besides being stunned speechless, any response in words would have violated the CoC.
p.s. you are the best ‘liker’ in all of Ricochetdom (but your settings don’t allow for this comment privately)
Though I agree that Trump’s manner and campaign success has helped bring this hatred to the fore (regardless of Trump’s own opinions), a general nastiness and brutishness has been rising in mainstream American culture for decades. It is typified by the sort of comedy that has become popular, which prefers insults to wit and delights in despoiling of beautiful and sacred things.
The Left has been driving this change. But the Right increasingly echoes what it sees. Bitter sarcasm and fun in insults abound in conservative communities.
Any society would not long survive half of its politically active members living by hatred and delusions. If both sides succumb to constant anger (even if there is plenty to be angry about) and schadenfreude, that society’s future is dark indeed.
I am following this post and will read more fully later, but limping along on my husband’s hot spot on cell phone since dreadful storms took out our wireless and burned up our home phones last night. I wanted to talk about this in context with your other posts. I have found it shocking too, the stories I read about the antisemitism in Europe, rise of extremism on both continents and the vulgarity that our American society has hurled towards, certainly most recently.
I am shocked at the Christian ethnic cleansing, and our administration remains silent. Beheadings in 2016 on public display? These are all part of a bigger picture. A void that the traditions supported by Judaeo-Christian values once filled in the western world, and has been systematically removed with barely a whimper – will be filled with evil – and we will see more of this. You wrote about it 10 years ago – and here we are, begun under the guise of political correctness.
Mom of four college-aged children. My four children were educated in four different Catholic schools. So I have spent a lot of time with teachers. And even more time with college-attending and college-educated young people.
I am wracking my brain to thing of one person in the two groups described above who has an accurate view of Israel. My dinner table has become a re-education camp of sorts.
Just thought I’d do a little amateur investigative journalism on some of the most vile Tweeters mentioned in the article that seem to be causing such a panic, inflamed as they are, purportedly by Trump’s candidacy:
Mandrake aka @vicmandrake – describes himself as a Nordic nationalist – EuropeTweets 6,172 Following 220 Followers 3,604
@AaronCSwenson Tweets 332 Following 98 Followers 46
Jack Jackson aka @nukethespooks Tweets 2,654 Following 205 Followers 186
Naughty Raspberry aka @HelloRaspberry Tweets 4,083 Following 305 Followers 57
Not to make light of how upsetting this is if you are on the receiving end because it is vile and ugly but isn’t possible that part of this phenomenon might reflect something other than Trump’s base?
Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.
Thanks for the compliment, Columbo! I don’t have a lot of time to comment because of my family situation but I try to read as much as I can. I don’t know anything about the settings but I will definitely check it out.
PS – Columbo is in my top 10 all-time favorite shows, so I’ve always had a fondness for you *blush*.
I’m going to do something totally out of character and say that this is not directly Donald Trump’s fault. Yes, his failure to speak out about it is troubling, but I don’t recall him saying anything antisemitic that might lead these people to think he’s one of them, and his endless praise for his convert daughter certainly suggests the opposite. The worst you can say about the man himself is that this is a side effect of firing up the so-called alt-right.
Trump has a lot of negatives, but I don’t believe antisemitism is one of them.
I have never been a victim of anti-Semitism in college, nor am I aware of what law and medical school admissions are presently like.
There is no way either Trump or, for that matter, Clinton are anti-Semites. Both have Jewish sons-in-law, and both have daughters who converted. Increasingly empowered Muslims are spreading it throughout the world. It’s rampant in Europe and increasingly felt here. I honestly don’t have the answer, but I have often thought that Jews, who vote overwhelmingly Democrat, vote against their own self interest as the negative Jewish rhetoric has almost always come from the left.
The appropriate level of anti Semitism discussion in this campaign should , by priority, be about our policy to a regime who has publicly stated they will eradicate the Jewish state and fund terrorism against all Jews worldwide.
That is what I look to a President to take the lead to do.
I grew up with the children of the Jews who built the A Bomb, often introduced with good natured humor as the goyim who beat their kid on test scores (occasionally). My son in law is a fine Jew and has fathered my grandchildren. Growing up in New York, you are not unfamiliar with Jews of all kinds and character.
Despite being part of the family by marriage, I do not want my President doing any more than rarely grouping anti semites with other hate groups as despicable.
I want them focused on stopping and killing the real threat to Jews and others.
Weekly denunciations of every stupid and shameful act just gives the acts media power.
The best way to fight this stuff is to shame them by sunlight on their disgusting writings and artwork.
My son in law despairs at how Jews can support any candidate who wants Iran to get a nuclear weapon and will do things to enable it.
Did you get into your first choice for college? For any you did not get into, how do your scores/grades compare to the published stats?
Is there anything about you that would possibly mark you as Jewish: name, place you grew up, high school you went to, parents’ occupations, number of siblings…?
Back in the day, you had to list your mother’s maiden name on applications just in case you were trying to pass. More recently, they have gotten more creative so they can argue they are being Maoist rather than anti-Semitic.
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Even so, sometimes what you don’t say speaks louder than what you do. He should have wasted no time in condemning those who have done this sort of thing and David Duke as well, but he wants the votes so he didn’t. In this way, he has encouraged this behavior, and that is inexcusable.
No, I did not get into my first choice for college. If I had gotten in, I would have been in the 75th percentile of the entering class based upon SAT scores and GPA.
I also went to a Jewish Day School.
I don’t know, nor do I think, that I wasn’t granted admission because I was Jewish. Plenty of Jews go to my first choice school from prominent Jewish day schools