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New York Times
The United States faces anti-Semitic threats and outbreaks of violence
A brick that shatters Kosher pizzeria windows on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Jewish meals outside a sushi restaurant in Los Angeles were attacked by a man screaming anti-Semitic intimidation. In Salt Lake City, early in the morning of May 16, a man stabbed a into the front door of an orthodox synagogue. “This never happened in Salt Lake City,” said Rabbi Avremi Zippel. My parents founded Chabad Lubavitch in Utah about 30 years ago. “But that’s increasing nationwide.” The synagogue has already taken sufficient security measures in response. “It’s ridiculous. It’s insane to have to look at a US place of worship this way in 2021,” said Zippel, a fortified access point, visible guards, lighting and security camera system. I explained about. “But we do that.” Sign up for the New York Times Morning Newsletter Over the past few weeks, anti-Semitic threats and violence have broke out across the United States among Jews living in small towns and big cities. The fear is rising. During this month’s two-week clash between Israel and Gaza, the Anti-Defamation League collected 222 reports of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism and violence in the United States. In the last two weeks, there were 127 cases. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said the incident “literally goes from coast to coast and spreads like wildfire.” “The total boldness of these attacks is Until the recent surge, anti-Semitic violence in recent years was considered a right-wing phenomenon, which was often reinforced by the rhetoric of former President Jonathan Greenblatt, who bought and sold stereotypes. It was driven by the White Supreme Movement. In contrast, many of the recent incidents were by perpetrators who upheld the Palestinian cause and criticized Israel’s right-wing government. “This is why Jews are so scared at this moment,” Greenblatt said, seeing anti-Semitic trends flowing from both the left and the right. “For four years, it seemed to be stimulated by political rights and had devastating consequences,” he said at the scene of the recent attack, “no one is wearing a MAGA hat.” President Joe Biden accused the recent assault of being “sneaky” and said it “must be stopped.” “It’s all our responsibility to give hate a safe harbor,” he wrote in a statement posted on Twitter. The epidemic is especially pronounced in the New York region, which has the largest Jewish population in the world outside Israel. A brawl broke out on Friday between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters at Times Square, which soon spread to the Diamond District, part of Midtown, home to many Jewish-owned businesses. At least one mobile group waving was swearing and imposing on Jewish pedestrians and bystanders. The video of the scene was widely disseminated online, causing anger from elected officials and a deep premonition among many Jewish New Yorkers. The New York City Police arrested 27 people and gathered on the sidewalk. Fireworks were launched from the car and two people were hospitalized, including one who was injured by a woman. Police have launched a hate crime investigation into the assault on a Jewish man, and a Brooklyn man, Washim Awaude, 23, was charged in connection with the attack. The next day, federal prosecutors charged another man, Ali Alaheli, 29, with arson in a building containing synagogues and Yeshiva in the Rose Park in the Brooklyn district of the city’s Hasidic Jewish center. .. According to prosecutors, Alaheli also assaulted a Hasidian man in the same neighborhood. Police hate crime headquarters were also investigating anti-Semitic incidents last Thursday and Saturday, including assaults in Manhattan and harassment in Brooklyn. The Orthodox Jewish writer of the Upper East Side, Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, said he encountered obvious anxiety among the followers of the Park East Synagogue, where his husband is a rabbi. A “significant number” of synagogue members have sought help planning a move to Israel in recent months, and after seeing a presidential debate in October, she has a Swiss passport for her children. “Because there was always a feeling that the upper east side was less secure than here,” she said. But her fears are not groundless. When she went out to the neighborhood with her little son last year, her husband shouted obscene words, “Jewish! Jewish!” She said. Her son is still “talking about it all the time,” she said. Recently, he made a synagogue with Lego blocks and added a Lego security patrol outdoors, she said. He 5 I’m old. “No one cares about this because it’s just a word,” she added. “But what if this person was armed? What if the next person was armed?” The surge is in addition to the long-term trend of anti-Semitic high-profile incidents in the United States. Activists at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 shouted, “Jews will not replace us!” They protested the removal of the statue of Robert E. Lee. The following year, 11 people gathered for a Sabbath morning service at the L’Simcha synagogue or Tree of Life in Pittsburgh were killed by shooters, six. Was injured. In 2019, a gunman fired for worship on the final day of the Passover festival at a synagogue on the outskirts of San Diego. ADL has been tracking anti-Semitic cases in the country since 1979, and the last three annual reports include two of its best records. The group recorded more than 1,200 cases of anti-Semitic harassment last year, an increase of 10% over the previous year. Police said the number of anti-Semitic cases confirmed in New York City increased significantly from nine in the previous month, three in January, to 15 in March. Sgt. As of Sunday, there were 80 anti-Semitic hate crime complaints this year, compared to 62 during the same period last year, according to the ministry spokeswoman Jessica Mallory. The 2018 Tree of Life attack, apparently in the Jewish quarter of Squalel Hill, has inspired many Jewish leaders. “Since the attack in Pittsburgh, the security of all synagogues across the country has been strengthened,” said Oh Hatra Synagogue, one of several synagogues along the road in the Jewish quarter of Toco Hills in the Atlanta region. Leader Rabbi Adam Star said: “If you look across the street from our synagogue, you’ll find a big church,” he said. “And the big difference between the church and the synagogue is that the church has no gates.” Starr re-enhanced security within the last two weeks and of off-duty police officers working on the scene during Sabbath morning service. I increased the number. For some Jews, the last few weeks have accelerated the anxiety that has permeated over the years. Danny Groner, a member of the Orthodox Synagogue in Bronx, said, “Everyone has read what Jewish life was like in Europe before the Holocaust.” I always have the following question: Why didn’t they leave? The conversation in my circle is that we are at that point now? “Groner doesn’t think so, he said immediately. But he wonders, “What do I have to do tomorrow, next week, or next month to say’it’s enough’?” Jews and others were particularly impressed by the comments of Georgia’s Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has been obliged to mask and vaccine for the past week to treat Jews by Nazi Germany. In Salt Lake City, Habadorbabich hosted a Jewish holiday, Shabuot, less than 12 hours after the discovery of sw sw at the front door. Zippel told the congregation: He was proud of how the congregation responded to the reform of the chapel worship. For example, recalling emails and conversations in which the congregation vowed to continue wearing Kipa in public, he said, “We are not afraid of this kind of behavior.” “Publicly proud. The apparent desire to be Jewish is very inspiring. “This article was originally published in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company
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