Hate Crimes Against Jews in the U.S. on the Rise Amid a Tense Ceasefire Overseas
As Israel and Palestine enter into their second week of what has been a fragile ceasefire, tensions in the U.S. are boiling over as attacks on Jewish Americans continue their uptick. The latest data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Hate Crime Statistic Report indicates that Jews are likely to experience a hate crime at an alarming rate, three times higher than other ethnic groups. The hate crime report also highlights that since 2015, hate crimes against Jews rose roughly 41%. This recent wave of attacks plastered across social media shows brazen attacks and violent altercations against Jews with incidents happening from coast to coast.
In New York’s Diamond District where there's a heavy concentration of Jews and Jewish-owned businesses, one man was brutally beaten. Joseph Borgen shared with a local news outlet, “They were macing me for like a minute straight.” He added that they kicked, punched, and beat him. At one point his assailants used crutches and flags in their assault.
In California, two Los Angeles men were arrested after they allegedly assaulted a group of Jewish men who were dining outside at a restaurant. The assault, which was captured on cell phone video, was widely circulated online and shows the attackers, who are believed to be part of a pro-Palestinian group, getting out of a car that was waving a Palestinian flag. After viciously hurling insults at the Jewish men, the Palestinian men approach the diners and a physical brawl ensues.
The nation's leading anti-hate group, the Anti-Defamation League, quickly stepped in to denounce the wave of violence. The ADL explained that after the tumultuous violence between Israelis and Palestinians, there were 193 reports of anti-Semitic hate crimes in the U.S. The number of hate crimes rose in the first week of the fighting by 131 violent crimes compared to the previous week. This latest deadly flare-up of conflict has left 230 Palestinians dead, many of whom were children, and at least 12 Israelis dead.
In response to the increased anti-semitic violence, the ADL released a statement that read in part, “To those who choose to indulge in age-old antisemitic tropes, exaggerated claims, and inflammatory rhetoric, it has consequences: attacks in real life on real people targeted for no other reason than they are Jewish. This is antisemitism, plain and simple. And it’s indisputably inexcusable in any context.”
The ADL also wrote a letter to President Biden that was signed along with other Jewish advocacy groups including the American Jewish Committee, the Orthodox Union, the Jewish women's group Hadassah, and the Jewish Federation of North America. In their letter, they appeal to President Biden, explaining in part, "We fear that the way the conflict has been used to amplify antisemitic rhetoric, embolden dangerous actors and attack Jews and Jewish communities will have ramifications far beyond these past two weeks." They urge Biden "to speak out forcefully against this dangerous trend and stand alongside the Jewish community in the face of this wave of hate before it gets any worse."
President Biden quickly responded along with Vice President Kamala Harris, and the two denounced the attacks against the Jewish community. In a Tweet by Biden, he expressed, “The recent attacks on the Jewish Community are despicable and they must stop.” Biden adds, “I condemn this hateful behavior at home and abroad — it’s up to all of us to give hate no safe harbor.”
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, one of the nation's most prominent Jewish politicians, also denounced the violence against the Jewish community. In an interview with CBS’ Face the Nation, Sanders shared, "Anti Semitism is rising in America. It's rising all over the world. That is an outrage. And we have got to combat antisemitism." Sanders added, "We have to combat the increase in hate crimes in this country, against Asians, against African Americans, against Latinos. So we got a serious problem of a nation which is being increasingly divided, being led by right-wing extremists in that direction."
