Anti-Semitism
According to the Anti-Defamation League, anti-semitism is: "The belief or behavior hostile toward Jews just because they are Jewish. It may take the form of religious teachings that proclaim the inferiority of Jews, for instance, or political efforts to isolate, oppress, or otherwise injure them. It may also include prejudiced or stereotyped views about Jews." Source: Anti-Defamation League
Anti-semitism is part of the belief system and political ideology of white nationalists and neo-Nazis, who draw on the imagery and language of the Nazi Regime during WWII to incite hatred toward Jews. This includes the use of swastikas, photos of concentration camps, versions of the Nazi Heil Hilter salute, the Star of David, and long-standing anti-semitic conspiracy theories such as that Jews control Hollywood, the media, global banking, and political systems.
Timeline
| 1991.05.10 | The President of Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino publishes a book where he quotes Trump as saying he thinks laziness is a trait in the blacks and he only wants Jews counting his money. web.archive.org (See also Racism, Black Americans, Jewish Americans) |
| 2015.10.05 | During a Breitbart interview Jeff Sessions praises The 1924 National Origins Act, a law passed in order to keep Jews and Asians out of the country as “good for America.” theatlantic.com (See also Jeff Sessions, Immigration, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans) |
| 2016.08.19 | Trump's new foreign adviser accused of Holocaust denial, apparently said "Ovens were too small to kill 6 million Jews." dailykos.com (See also 2016 Campaign, Jewish Americans) |
| 2016.11.12 | Churches in Indiana and Maryland are vandalized with tags on the walls depicting a swastika, an anti-gay slur and "Heil Trump." usatoday.com (See also Hate Crimes) |
| 2016.12.05 | New York City Police Department reports a 115 percent increase in bias crimes since Trump's election, the bulk of them anti-Semitic. observer.com (See also Hate Crimes) |
| 2017.01.09 | Jewish centers and schools in at least five U.S. states evacuated due to bomb threats. businessinsider.com (See also Hate Crimes, Trump Effect) |
| 2017.02.18 | Trump seems to suggest that the recent bomb threats and vandalism at Jewish community centers and cemeteries across the country might be false flags (i.e. that Jewish people made the bomb threats to falsely create the impression that Jews are being targeted in hate crimes), according to a Democratic attorney general who met with him—and one of Trump’s top advisers suggested the culprits could be Democrats. washingtonpost.com (See also Hate Crimes, Trump Effect) |
| 2017.02.21 | Steven Goldstein, Executive Director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect issued a strong statement to Trump following his remarks that Antisemitism is "horrible" and "has to stop." facebook.com MR. PRESIDENT, YOUR TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE ACKNOWLEGMENT OF #Antisemitism TODAY IS NOT ENOUGH. |
| 2017.02.21 | The gravesites of more than 170 Jews were vandalized at a cemetery in University City, Mo., sometime over the weekend. post-gazette.com |
| 2017.02.22 | In reponse to Spicer, the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect responded with three specific actions that Trump could take to demonstrate his commitment to ending anti-Semitism, including firing Stephen Bannon. facebook.com (See also Sean Spicer) |
| 2017.02.22 | In response to comments from the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect regarding Trump's statement that anti-Semitism is "horrible" and should "stop," Sean Spicer said, "I wish the Anne Frank Center had praised Donald Trump for fighting anti-Semitism'" independent.co.uk (See also Sean Spicer) |
| 2017.02.22 | The Anti-Defamation League receives a bomb threat at its New York headquarters, marking the latest in a series of threats targeting U.S. Jewish organizations. theatlantic.com (See also Jewish Americans, Hate Crimes) |
| 2017.02.23 | Authorities in Israel arrest a suspect in the wave of bomb threats against Jewish community centers in the U.S. He is an 18-year-old Jewish man with dual Israeli and American citizenship. nytimes.com (See also Hate Crimes) |
| 2017.02.24 | Hate crimes in New York City, particularly against Jews, have spiked in the past 100 days, a trend police officials say is probably connected to ethnic bias and xenophobia that emerged during the 2016 election campaign. bloomberg.com (See also Hate Crimes) |
| 2017.02.27 | Bomb threats forced evacuations at Jewish schools and community centers in 11 states Monday, with the Jewish Community Center Association confirming threats in states ranging from Florida to Michigan. npr.org (See also Hate Crimes, Trump Effect) |
| 2017.02.27 | FBI joins the investigation of vandalism at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia, where an estimated 75 to 100 headstones were toppled, to determine whether a hate crime occurred. cnn.com (See also Hate Crimes) |
| 2017.02.28 | In a conversation with Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Trump decries bomb threats at Jewish Community Centers and the desecration of two Jewish cemeteries, but he also suggests the incidents could be false flags (committed by Jews to raise sympathy for themselves). washingtonpost.com (See also Hate Crimes, #Reviewed) |
| 2017.02.28 | Trump begins his address to a joint session of Congress by condemning the recent wave of bomb threats at Jewish community centers and the vandalism of Jewish cemeteries. npr.org (See also Racism, Islamophobia, Hate Crimes) |
| 2017.03.02 | Propublica provides a map and timeline of 89 bomb threats to Jewish Community Centers, schools, and organizations in the U.S. Between January 1 and March 2. projects.propublica.org (See also Hate Crimes, Trump Effect) |
| 2017.03.08 | ProPublica’s Documenting Hate project announces it has recorded more than 330 reports of anti-Semitic incidents during a three-month span, from early November to early February. propublica.org (See also Jewish Americans) |
| 2017.08.15 | In a long, combative exchange with reporters at Trump Tower in Manhattan, the president repeatedly rejected a torrent of bipartisan criticism for waiting two days before naming the right-wing groups and placing blame on “many sides” for the violence in Charlottesville that ended with the death of a young woman after a car crashed into a crowd. nytimes.com (See also Racism, Nationalism, Unpresidential Behavior) |
| 2017.08.15 | The New England Holocaust Memorial in downtown Boston was vandalized Monday night as a rock was hurled through a glass panel etched with numbers, representing those tattooed on the arms of the Jews and others in the concentration camps operated by Nazi Germany. washingtonpost.com (See also Trump Effect) Boston's Holocaust memorial was vandalized for the second time this summer and just days after the Charlottesville protests. |
| 2017.08.15 | Weeks before a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to three deaths and 19 injuries, the Trump administration revoked a grant to Life After Hate, a group that works to de-radicalize neo-Nazis. huffingtonpost.com (See also Racism, Department of Homeland Security, Muslims) |
| 2017.08.16 | Two of Donald Trump’s councils of top business leaders are disbanding following Tuesday’s controversial remarks by the president about the weekend’s violence in Virginia. wsj.com (See also Racism, Nationalism) Mr. Trump tweeted Wednesday that he was ending the councils, only *after* one of the councils had planned to disband after a conference call of its executives. |
| 2017.08.16 | White nationalist leader David Duke on Tuesday thanked Trump for blaming violence in Charlottesville, Va., on the "alt-left." thehill.com (See also Racism, Nationalism) |
Analysis
Trump has close ties to white supremacist (also called alt-right) groups, who are enthusiastically supporting his presidency. He uses specific language in campaign ads, speeches, and on Twitter, which are intended to garner the support of white nationalists and to embolden both hate speech and action. (See more here: Hate Crimes.)
Assessments
The presence of orthodox Jews like Ivanka and Jared Trump in the administration has led some to propose that Trump can not possibly be anti-Semitic. On the other hand, his senior advisor, Stephen Bannon, is a white nationalist, who said that he didn't want his children going to school with Jews. In an opinion piece, historian Suzanne Schneider clarifies the uneasy partnership between anti-Semitism and Zionism, both represent a form of nationalism:
The alliance of right-wing Zionists and the “alt-right” should not be viewed as an abnormality, but as the meeting of quite compatible outlooks that assert — each in its own way - that the world will be secure only once we all retreat to our various plots of ancestral land.
In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, Five Myths about Anti-Semitism, Yair Rosenberg addresses several important misconceptions about modern anti-Semitism:
Five Myths:
Anti-Semitism largely subsided after the Holocaust.
Anti-Semitism comes predominantly from the right.
Criticism of Israel is generally anti-Semitic.
Criticism of Israel cannot be anti-Semitic.
Anti-Semitism mostly threatens Jews.