I
do hope that I am wrong, but perhaps the Golden Age for Jews in America really
is coming to an end. The handwriting seems to be on the wall. As in other
countries, we have a strange amalgam of radically different philosophies,
religions, and politics which have merged into an alliance against Israel and
the Jewish people. The far Left, the far Right, and Radical Islam are allies
together into this satanic alliance. This threatens to end an unprecedented
period of safety and prosperity for Jewish Americans, as well as the liberal
order that they helped establish.
Antisemitism on the American continents goes back centuries. Peter Stuyvesant (c. 1610 – August 1672) was a Dutch colonial administrator who served as the director-general of New Netherland from 1647 to 1664. The “capital” of the Dutch colony in North America was New Amsterdam, which later became known as New York City. “Freedom of religion was further tested when Stuyvesant refused to allow the permanent settlement of Jewish refugees from Dutch Brazil in New Amsterdam and join the handful of existing Jewish traders” (Wikipedia). He also did not allow Lutherans, Catholics, and Quakers to settle in New Amsterdam. The Dutch Reformed Church was preeminent. The British took control of New Amsterdam with a battle in 1664, and renamed the settlement as New York. Thereafter Jews were allowed to settle there, as well as have synagogues.
We were blessed to have presidents from the earliest times of our country who were sympathetic to Jews, including George Washington, our first president. That doesn’t mean that antisemitism didn’t exist. However, antisemitism did not have much support from the government, as was the case with many other countries.
However, academia was an area of antisemitism. Many colleges and universities had quotas limiting Jewish students to about 1% to 2% of the student population. And I am sure that this tiny percentage of Jewish students suffered from antisemitism on campus. Some colleges had “gentleman’s agreements” whereby no Jews were allowed on campus.
There were also “gentleman’s agreements” whereby Jews were not allowed to live in many neighborhoods throughout this country. This perhaps had a positive effect in bringing about Jewish neighborhoods where Jews could support each other and have synagogues and Jewish stores within walking distance. Jews were also not allowed to stay at many hotels. However, after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, such discrimination became illegal.
Many Jews were allowed entrance into the USA in the early 1900s. However, such entrance became increasingly difficult in the 1920s. With the rise of Hitler in 1933, many more Jews sought entrance. However, the quota system remained in effect even after the Holocaust began in earnest in 1939.
After the Holocaust, antisemitism was no longer outwardly acceptable, although there has always been underground antisemitism. I believe that a major turning point began when the ragtag army of impoverished Jews won Israel’s war of independence against the several Arab armies arrayed against the Jews in 1948. Another major turning point was Israel’s victory over the Arab armies in the Six-Day War, in which Israel defeated the armies of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan in only 6 days. It was almost “cool” to be Jewish. Hollywood might also have been a factor in Jewish success. Many of the most popular singers, musicians, actors, actresses, and comedians happened to be Jewish. Jews were also an integral part of the struggle for Black civil rights. Martin Luther King celebrated this Black/Jewish alliance.
Things turned a little darker after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on this country by Radical Muslims. There were strange conspiracies blaming Jews for these attacks, despite the fact that Jews were not involved in any way, and in fact were also victims. However, most antisemitism remained underground.
Antisemitism reared its ugly head after the Hamas attack from Gaza on Israel in which over 1200 Israelis were murdered, and hundreds more were taken as hostages into Gaza on October 7, 2023. Antisemitism was emboldened and came out into the open. On the very next day, on October 8th, the streets were flooded with demonstrators celebrating the rapes, murders, tortures, and kidnapping by Hamas terrorists against innocent Israeli citizens. These demonstrations were often led by college and university professors. This was before the Israeli military launched its assault against the Hamas terrorists.
I am not going to defend all of Israel’s military actions against Hamas and Hezbollah. I can sympathize with the pain and destruction that these Palestinian Arabs are suffering with destruction of their homes and massive displacement. However, I might draw the line at calling them innocent victims. The polling of these Palestinian Arabs shows that the vast majority celebrated the brutality that occurred on October 7th. The damages inflicted by the Israeli military were excessive. However, the accusation that it was genocide is totally false. There is collateral damage in every war, including the wars fought by the United States. In this respect, Israel’s war is much more humane. When the United States fought against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, nobody expected the US military to supply the enemy nations with food, water, medicine, and electricity. However, Israel has been expected to supply all these things to the people of Gaza, and has been doing so since the beginning.
Europeans with their history of massive crimes against humanity in their colonies for centuries are a bit hypocritical in throwing accusations against Israel. When thousands of Hamas missiles and rockets were being fired into Israel for many years, Europe was quiet. But each time that Israel struck back by hitting military targets in Gaza, Israel was condemned. Apparently, Israel is the only country in the world that does not have the right to self-defense that every other nation has.
Jewish students are being attacked on campus with physical assaults, insults, and having to go through gauntlets of antisemitic demonstrators to get to their classes. In many cases, that was not even possible, as they were restrained from doing so. Jewish students have been forced to lock themselves into libraries and other rooms for their own physical protection. Middle East studies programs are funded by Arab governments. Instead of learning factual histories of the region, they are being taught Arab propaganda with a very distorted anti-Israel view of history.
Testimony of University Presidents
University and college presidents did virtually nothing to stop the dangers being faced by Jewish students. In a congressional hearing, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., repeatedly asked how each university’s code of conduct would handle calls for the genocide of Jews.
During the hearing, Stefanik asked university president of Penn State Liz Magill, “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct? Yes or no?”
Liz Magill repeatedly declined to give a yes or no answer. She emphasized that the university’s policies considered whether “speech turns into conduct,” in which case it would be considered harassment. Stefanik continued to demand a definitive answer.
Magill responded that if speech were “directed and severe, pervasive, it is harassment,” and that whether a student would be punished is “a context-dependent decision.”
University president of Harvard Claudine Gay was also asked by Stefanik whether similar speech would violate Harvard’s policies. She gave a similar response to Magill, emphasizing that context and whether the speech turned into conduct would factor into any disciplinary decisions.
Claudine Gay said, “Antisemitic rhetoric, when it crosses into conduct, that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation. That is actionable conduct, and we do take action.”
“So the answer is yes. That calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard’s Code of conduct. Correct?” Stefanik asked. Gay reiterated that “it depends on the context.”
Source for the above: https://apnews.com
Personally, I can’t think of any context in which it is okay to call for the genocide of Jews or others. It is apparently not okay to harass or attack any other minority group: Blacks, Hispanics, LGBTQ, etc. And it is also not okay to call for genocide against any other minorities. However, it is perfectly acceptable to attack Jews and even call for the genocide of Jews!
It is also unacceptable to discuss destroying any other nation – Spain, Nigeria, Latvia, etc. However, it is “freedom of speech” to call for the destruction of Israel. This is hate speech.
Regretfully, this insanity has also seeped into the primary and secondary schools, where children are indoctrinated against Israel. In 1967, Martin Luther King said, “Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.” Even Jewish children are being harassed and discriminated against.
Jews have contributed more to civilization than any other ethnicity – in science, medicine, technology, religion, etc. The world should be grateful. Also, God promises to bless those who bless His people, and to curse those who curse His people. (Gen. 12:3, 27:29; Jer. 2:3, 30:16-17; Num. 23:8, 24:9; Rom. 9-11; Isa. 54:15,17; etc.) I don’t believe that someone can be ‘saved’ if he is an antisemite. Also, every nation and empire that came against the Jews has suffered for it.