Nadene Goldfoot
Today, just as observant Jews were about to celebrate Shavuot, the Biden-Harris Administration is releasing the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. This strategy includes over 100 new actions the Administration will take to raise awareness of antisemitism and its threat to American democracy, protect Jewish communities, reverse the normalization of antisemitism, and build cross-community solidarity. We've been saying that it's almost as bad as it was in Germany in the 30s. and just getting worse.
The ADL, the Anti-Defamation League, helped the White House National Strategy to fight anti-Semitism. AJC (American Jewish Committee) also has been working to fight anti-Semitism, In recent years, they have witnessed violent attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions, proposals in some countries to ban central Jewish religious practices, and anti-Jewish sentiments expressed by the leaders of far right- and left-wing political parties. American Jewish Committee (AJC) counters antisemitism in all its guises by calling on governments to act and by organizing coalitions with other faith and ethnic groups to forge a united front against hate. There are other groups as well.
Religiously, some Christian churches have been teaching a replacement theory in they they have replaced Jews and so we Jews are no longer needed in the world.
Then again, another replacement is going on. The "Great Replacement" theme was stressed by people who highlighted the supposed threat of Jews and other immigrants replacing Americans who were born in the country. In the 1920s and 1930s, antisemitic activists were led by Henry Ford and other figures like Charles Lindbergh, William Dudley Pelley, Charles Coughlin and Gerald L. K. Smith, and some of them were also members of organizations like the America First Committee, the Christian Nationalist Crusade, the German American Bund, the Ku Klux Klan and the Silver Legion of America. They promulgated canards and various interrelated conspiracy theories that widely spread the fear that, through an evil transnational network, Jews were working for the destruction or replacement of white Americans along with the fear that Jews were working for the destruction or replacement of Christianity in the United States.
Biden's running for president now and was reminded of Charlottesville in 2017, when Neo-Nazis marched from the shadows spewing the same antisemitic bile that was heard in Europe in the 1930s. That was 6 years ago and anti-Semitism has only grown worse since then here in the USA. That is why he has prioritized action to counter antisemitism and hate of all kinds. That happened in Obama's era as he was President from 2009 to 2017. It seems like when people show hatred for Blacks, they always include Jews.
Back in 2020, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen presented remarks highlighting the Department of Justice’s work combating anti-Semitic acts at a virtual conference hosted by Secretary of State Michael Pompeo entitled “Ancient Hatred, Modern Medium”—the first ever government-sponsored event focused on online anti-Semitism. Deputy Attorney General Rosen described just a few of the Department of Justice’s many recent accomplishments in combating anti-Semitism, focusing on social media and the internet. His remarks as prepared for delivery are available here, and the full State Department conference may be viewed here.
Attorney General William Barr has emphasized that anti-Semitic acts, like other acts of violence motivated by hatred or bias, “violate the personal security of individuals, threaten the freedom of communities to pursue their faith and way of life, and disregard the common ties that bind our Nation together.” The Department is committed to combating anti-Jewish hatred on multiple fronts and in a multi-faceted approach, using both criminal and civil statutes. In this effort, federal law enforcement agencies work in conjunction with state law enforcement, local officials, and religious communities. In the last three years, the Department of Justice has worked to protect the rights of the Jewish community, and of all faith communities, through a variety of initiatives and engagements. But anti-Semitism has been growing worse in the USA.
"President Joe Biden released this national strategy to combat antisemitism touting commitments from organizations that have attacked Jewish groups, but failed to unequivocally condemn attacks on Israel as antisemitic, just hours before religiously observant Jews had to unplug for a 48-hour festival, Shavuot. I suppose it's enough of a problem to stop here in the USA. Perhaps he doesn't want to get into the role of Big Brother to Israel, which the USA actually is seen to be. There's really much the USA could do to help de-power anti-Israel groups they now favor.
“It came out a few hours before Shavuos (Weeks) at the time of the wheat harvest, a holiday celebrated the night before on the 25th of May with first day on the 26th of May, one of the truly holy days in the Jewish calendar,” Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, said of the president’s antisemitism strategy in an interview Tuesday with The Daily Signal. “You’re not supposed to do anything except eat, sleep, and pray, and not use the phone.
”The holiday is a 2-day affair. It commemorates the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai on Sivan 6 on the Jewish Calendar, and this permeates prayers chosen for this festival. From the 16th century on, Jews have observed the eve of Shavuot in study and will stay up all night doing so. I experienced do this in Israel and had as a study partner, a 10 year old boy who I'm sure has grown up to be a rabbi. It was an amazing experience. The Book of Ruth, which mentions the barley and wheat harvests, is read in the synagogue on Shavuot. Shavuot is one of the 3 pilgrim festivals where in the bible days, Jews everywhere in Israel made the trip to Jerusalem for this festival. (Deut.16:16).
“I think this made it more difficult for groups in Israel to respond immediately, and more difficult for people like me to act appropriately because I was preparing for the holy day,” Klein said. “I question whether this was intentional.”
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The problem Israel has with their neighbors, who are Muslim, is that they also have anti-Semitic feelings towards Israelis. When Jews responded to the terrible anti-Semitism in the West and immigrated to Muslim countries to live, the Muslims accepted them but also treated them as 2nd class citizens as well. Jews of eastern Europe living in the Pale of Settlement, a Russian land, were suffering badly from pogroms being one of the issues. England had kept Jews out of their country for 365 years and had just let them back in by 1655, still giving them the cold shoulder of anti-Semitism. Jews before 1948 in the USA couldn't belong to social clubs because they all kept out Jews, just like they wouldn't hire them for their businesses. That's one reason why so many were small businessmen with their own shops. So it's a situation where they have political issues, stating that no Jews can live in Palestine as well as hatred for Jews because they are not Muslims. How the politically and religiously important countries treated Jews, so did the rest of the world.
Resource:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/nazis-racism-charlottesville/536928/
https://www.ajc.org/issues/antisemitism
https://israelandantisemitism.com/the-nexus-document/ update
https://jerusalemdeclaration.org/ update
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
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