By Over the past two months, since the terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel, America has seen a dramatic rise in antisemitism in Congress, our cities and college campuses, including some disturbing images of pro-Palestine “protesters” flashing Nazi flags, defacing public monuments associated with Jewish Americans, and attacking Jewish stores.
After they were done trying to stop the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, Hamas supporters vandalized the NY Public Library in Manhattan
Notice the part they targeted recognizing Stephen A. Schwarzman, a Jewish businessman who donated $100 million to renovate the facility in 2008 pic.twitter.com/O9lB449iRx
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) November 24, 2023
On college campuses, Jewish students have been attacked and in at least one circumstance, a mob surrounded a library, trapping Jewish students inside as librarians asked if they wanted to hide in the attic.
In Washington, Democrats in Congress have tacitly supported the violence and already one member has been censured for trying to euphemize a slogan chanted by violent protesters calling for the genocide of Israel.
As one outlet pointed out over the summer, Democrats have an antisemitism problem, but that hasn’t stopped former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie from identifying the real culprit: Donald Trump.
Politico reports he “reiterated his claim that former President Donald Trump has fueled the increase in antisemitism and hate across the country Sunday, saying Trump’s “intolerant language and conduct” has given people “permission” to act the same.
“When you show intolerance toward everyone, which is what [Trump] does, you give permission as a leader for others to have their intolerance come out,” Christie said Sunday during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Intolerance toward anyone encourages intolerance toward everyone.”
The Republican presidential hopeful previously slammed Trump, the current GOP frontrunner in the presidential race, for contributing to the surge in bigotry against Jews in an interview with the New York Times during his trip to Israel earlier this month. Antisemitism was already on the rise in the United States, but the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas has led to sharp jumps in the number of antisemitic and anti-Muslim incidents in the U.S.
Antisemitic violence has risen nearly 400 percent over the past few months, as previously noted, most predominantly in liberal enclaves and “blue” cities.
Carolyn Normandin, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in Michigan, recently discussed the situation for Jewish Americans living in the Great Lakes State, which saw Democrats win a legislative trifecta for the first time in nearly four decades.
“We typically get [reports of] two to three incidents a week. In three weeks between Oct. 7 and Oct. 21, we got 61 [reports],” Normandin told Fox News. She was hesitant to label this a more than 600% increase in reporting, noting there have been duplicate reports of identical incidents. Nationwide the ADL reported that antisemitic incidents rose to 388% over the same period last year.
In addition to a number of threats delivered over social media, Normandin said her office has vetted and responded to in-person attacks. In one incident, rocks were thrown at Michigan Jews. In another, an individual called a doctor’s office and made threats related to the conflict in Israel against a Jewish physician.
Jewish-owned businesses have been targeted by individuals issuing ‘outbursts or hate-filled messages’ like ‘shut it down’ outside their establishments. The rock, a landmark at Michigan State University, was defaced with the phrase ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ which is a call to wipe Israel off the map. Normandin said the conflict has even spread to the K-12 environment, with middle schoolers ‘misinterpreting what they are seeing’ and wearing clothing reminiscent of ISIS [fighters.]’
As is the case around the country, most of the incidents reported in Michigan involve rallies in which protesters shouted inflammatory calls for violence, ‘celebrat[ed] the killing of civilians’ or ‘question[ed] that Hamas [carried out] the attacks.'”
Chris Christie must believe that when these attacks happened, the assailants yelled, “This is MAGA Country.”
[Read More: University Suspends Professor Who Attacked Hamas]
