There's an article from the French news agency AFP today about how Israelis are looking past the "surge" of anti-Semitism in the USA tied to Donald Trump to remain hopeful that Trump will bring better ties between America and the Jewish state. I have to wonder if the reporter bothered to do any research for the piece; it certainly seems not.
First, the reporter speaks of a surge of anti-Semitism in the USA. There certainly has been more of that in American society in the last few years. It has nothing to do with Trump, however. The rise of anti-Semitism has come from the left, particularly on college campuses. Israelis and those who support Israel have been shouted down on college campuses. Constant verbal attacks on Jewish campus organizations (and sometimes more than verbal) have been ongoing for the last few years. Oh, there are still the far right crazies who hate Jews just like they always did. The change has been that the left has moved from simmering underground anti-Semitism to blatant and outspoken acts of that sort.
Second, the idea of anti-Semitic acts across the USA is nothing new. We constantly hear from the media about all those anti-Muslim acts by xenophobic or racist thugs, even though such acts are extremely rare. We rarely hear much about the anti-Semitic acts though. For the media, they just don't really exist. The reality, however, is that in each of the last ten year, the majority of hate inspired acts in the USA have been directed at Jews according to the FBI statistics. Acts against Muslims, for example, were only about 15% as many as those directed against Jews last year, and there are less than two times the number of Jews in the USA as there are Muslims.
Third, the supposed tie to Trump for the anti-Semitic acts just does not exist. The AFP article says that the Ku Klux Klan supported Trump, so he must be to blame. Really? By that logic, Hillary Clinton is to blame. Al Sharpton supported Clinton, and he helped incite a riots in New York by targeting Jews. Trump, at least, denounced the KKK; Hillary accepted Sharpton's support. The point is that neither Hillary or Trump are anti-Semitic because of the nature of a few supporters. But the AFP says Trump appointed Steve Bannon to his staff, and he ran Breitbart. Again, that's a silly point. Breitbart is not anti-Semitic. In fact, the site's founder, Andrew Breitbart was Jewish.
There's more to say here, but the point is clear. The AFP article, and much of the media for that matter, just parrots a BS lie when they tie Trump to anti-Semitism. It's offensive, but even worse, it's dangerous. It needs to stop.
First, the reporter speaks of a surge of anti-Semitism in the USA. There certainly has been more of that in American society in the last few years. It has nothing to do with Trump, however. The rise of anti-Semitism has come from the left, particularly on college campuses. Israelis and those who support Israel have been shouted down on college campuses. Constant verbal attacks on Jewish campus organizations (and sometimes more than verbal) have been ongoing for the last few years. Oh, there are still the far right crazies who hate Jews just like they always did. The change has been that the left has moved from simmering underground anti-Semitism to blatant and outspoken acts of that sort.
Second, the idea of anti-Semitic acts across the USA is nothing new. We constantly hear from the media about all those anti-Muslim acts by xenophobic or racist thugs, even though such acts are extremely rare. We rarely hear much about the anti-Semitic acts though. For the media, they just don't really exist. The reality, however, is that in each of the last ten year, the majority of hate inspired acts in the USA have been directed at Jews according to the FBI statistics. Acts against Muslims, for example, were only about 15% as many as those directed against Jews last year, and there are less than two times the number of Jews in the USA as there are Muslims.
Third, the supposed tie to Trump for the anti-Semitic acts just does not exist. The AFP article says that the Ku Klux Klan supported Trump, so he must be to blame. Really? By that logic, Hillary Clinton is to blame. Al Sharpton supported Clinton, and he helped incite a riots in New York by targeting Jews. Trump, at least, denounced the KKK; Hillary accepted Sharpton's support. The point is that neither Hillary or Trump are anti-Semitic because of the nature of a few supporters. But the AFP says Trump appointed Steve Bannon to his staff, and he ran Breitbart. Again, that's a silly point. Breitbart is not anti-Semitic. In fact, the site's founder, Andrew Breitbart was Jewish.
There's more to say here, but the point is clear. The AFP article, and much of the media for that matter, just parrots a BS lie when they tie Trump to anti-Semitism. It's offensive, but even worse, it's dangerous. It needs to stop.
No comments:
Post a Comment