As virtually everyone knows by now, an anti-Semitic gunman entered a Jewish
synagogue on Oct. 27, in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Jewish neighbourhood of
Squirrel Hill. He was armed to the teeth with a rifle and several handguns.
Many worshippers were in the building on the Jewish Sabbath, and he killed 11 people, also injuring many others, including police officers.
I’ll not reiterate what many others have already written. Suffice it to say it appears to be the largest loss of life among American Jews.
I’d rather concentrate on the television coverage, because it speaks to the fractures in both the American Jewish community and the United States as a whole in the Trump era.
I am the son of Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors, with a master’s degree in Contemporary Jewish Studies from Brandeis University near Boston. I have been involved in Jewish life for decades and have written numerous books and articles on Jewish life. So I know something about anti-Semitism.
Many worshippers were in the building on the Jewish Sabbath, and he killed 11 people, also injuring many others, including police officers.
I’ll not reiterate what many others have already written. Suffice it to say it appears to be the largest loss of life among American Jews.
I’d rather concentrate on the television coverage, because it speaks to the fractures in both the American Jewish community and the United States as a whole in the Trump era.
I am the son of Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors, with a master’s degree in Contemporary Jewish Studies from Brandeis University near Boston. I have been involved in Jewish life for decades and have written numerous books and articles on Jewish life. So I know something about anti-Semitism.
But as I watched the American cable networks CNN and MSNBC
because of the shootings, I was amazed at how blatantly partisan they were in
their coverage, even in a time of tragedy. This is deeply unfortunate. Bigotry and violence affect people on both sides of America's divide. And contrary to the common view of many, these resentments are not stoked by only one party.
Interviews on these news channels were mostly with people, Jewish and non-Jewish, on the Democratic Party left -- the Anti-Defamation League, now headed by a former aide to Barack Obama; the American Civil Liberties Union; the Nation magazine; and the Southern Poverty Law Center, among others.
As always, the narrative minimized – in fact ignored -- the existence of left-wing anti-Semitism, a force that has grown considerably in the last couple of decades.
Interviews on these news channels were mostly with people, Jewish and non-Jewish, on the Democratic Party left -- the Anti-Defamation League, now headed by a former aide to Barack Obama; the American Civil Liberties Union; the Nation magazine; and the Southern Poverty Law Center, among others.
As always, the narrative minimized – in fact ignored -- the existence of left-wing anti-Semitism, a force that has grown considerably in the last couple of decades.
They downplay these forces because it doesn't tend to erupt
in lunatic violence like the Pittsburgh synagogue murders. But that doesn’t
mean it’s not a real problem.
These analysts subsume anti-Semitism within the framework of racism, so as to tie it in with hatred of minorities, refugees, and immigrants -- though in fact many individuals in these groups themselves harbour hatred of Jews.
Their views perfectly encapsulate the left-Jewish approach to the problem of anti-Semitism, defining it as a subset of right-wing evil, exemplified mainly by Republicans.
Yet I’ve heard nary a word about the anti-Semitism (euphemistically termed “anti-Zionism”) from the left, which has been indoctrinating students across many college campuses about the wicked Jewish state of Israel and cowing those Jewish students who protest their behaviour.
No one has mentioned the anti-Semitic religious leader Louis Farrakhan or Linda Sarsour, the Palestinian-American who advocates the destruction of Israel.
While lunatic anti-Semites like the Pittsburgh monster are, of course, a physical danger to Jews, the far left’s approach to Jews is, ideologically and politically, systematically undermining the very basis of Jewish peoplehood.
These analysts subsume anti-Semitism within the framework of racism, so as to tie it in with hatred of minorities, refugees, and immigrants -- though in fact many individuals in these groups themselves harbour hatred of Jews.
Their views perfectly encapsulate the left-Jewish approach to the problem of anti-Semitism, defining it as a subset of right-wing evil, exemplified mainly by Republicans.
Yet I’ve heard nary a word about the anti-Semitism (euphemistically termed “anti-Zionism”) from the left, which has been indoctrinating students across many college campuses about the wicked Jewish state of Israel and cowing those Jewish students who protest their behaviour.
No one has mentioned the anti-Semitic religious leader Louis Farrakhan or Linda Sarsour, the Palestinian-American who advocates the destruction of Israel.
While lunatic anti-Semites like the Pittsburgh monster are, of course, a physical danger to Jews, the far left’s approach to Jews is, ideologically and politically, systematically undermining the very basis of Jewish peoplehood.
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