The Shocking Rise of Anti-Semitism in the US

The Fellowship  |  January 23, 2017

International Holocaust Remembrance Day will be observed this Friday. Ahead of this day which marks the worst instance of anti-Semitism in history, Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry released a report on worldwide anti-Semitism. The Jerusalem Post reports that while incidents have been up across Europe (including this weekend’s attacks in Great Britain, reported in today’s Daily Dispatch), they are on the rise in the United States, as well:

In Germany, the Syrian refugee crisis and the strengthening of the extreme Right contributed to a sharp rise in incidents, from 194 between January and September 2015, to 461 during the same period in 2016. Improved reporting methods could have also skewed results.

In Britain, there was a 62% jump in antisemitic incidents in 2016, 75% of them initiated by elements affiliated with the Right. The fact that the British Right managed to outstrip the Left in expressions of antisemitism is no small feat, considering that the Labour Party is headed by Jeremy Corbyn, a man who refers to Hamas and Hezbollah as his “friends.”

However, the sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in the US was more shocking.

According to the report, the recent US presidential campaign was a major catalyst for the dissemination of hate speech and enabled the voices of marginal groups to reach far beyond their own communities.

The Israeli government report noted that the common thread among these groups was an opposition to political correctness, an affirmation of racial supremacy, and a resistance to multiculturalism and to immigration. These ideas, the ministry said, lead to antisemitic discourse and Holocaust denial.

Antisemitism is almost always a symptom of broader forms of prejudice and blind hatred…