Horrific events, whether vandalization or murder, are on the rise in America.
By SHERIDAN A. BAHAREmergency personnel and investigators work at the scene the day after an hours-long gun battle with two men around a kosher market in Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S., December 11, 2019.(photo credit: REUTERS/LLOYD MITCHELL)
Jewish Americans are alarmed by the increase of antisemitism in their communities. The fear is felt by many in communities who would have never imagined this level of hatred before. Last week, terrorists associated with the Black Hebrew Israelites targeted a Jewish supermarket in Jersey City, New Jersey, leaving five people dead. While on Saturday, a criminal broke into the Nessah Synagogue in Beverly Hills, California, destroying Torah scrolls and vandalizing the property. New York City, home to 1.9 million American Jews, has witnessed a 162% increase in antisemitic incidents on its subway cars and stations. Just last month, witnesses saw “Kill all Jews,” graffiti at the 103rd St. subway stop.Horrific events, whether vandalization or murder, are on the rise in America. They are on the rise coast to coast, targeting liberal cities. American Jews have seen the rise and fall of antisemitism in Europe, including England, but nobody could have imagined the same level of hatred against Jewish people on American soil.The hatred isn’t just from the Right or just from the Left; the hatred comes from every direction and place on the political spectrum. There has been a significant rise of neo-Nazi groups in America, but for example, the incident in New Jersey wasn’t linked to neo-Nazism. The issue is more challenging than ever because there isn’t one group against Jewish communities. It would be easy to say the sudden escalation of racist and nativist extremist groups like the so-called “alt-right,” the KKK, and neo-Nazis are the results for the tragedies, but these are not the only perpetrators targeting Jewish communities.After Charlottesville, we comprehended that the alt-right and white supremacy movements were on the escalation. In 2015, researchers affiliated with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), surveyed law enforcement officers across the country, asking whether officers viewed different types of extremists as a “serious terrorist threat.” Their results revealed a belief that the sovereign citizens movement poses a more significant threat than any other groups. Sovereign citizens, Caucasian or African American, carry deep-rooted antisemitic beliefs.The problem has only gotten worse in 2019 because we don’t know who could target Jewish communities next. It isn’t a neo-Nazi thing anymore; it isn’t just a sovereign citizen hatred; it doesn’t only apply to radical jihadists.THERE ARE currently over 25 active groups of white nationalists and neo-Nazis on Twitter. The American Freedom Party, American Nazi Party, Aryan Brotherhood, David Irving, Texas Nationalist Movement, and the Traditionalist Worker Party are just a few names within the white supremacist groups, and the list continues growing more prominent and more radical.The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently issued its annual report on hate crimes in the United States, and Jews remain, by far, the most targeted religious group in the country. Jews are victims of 58.1% of all religious hate crimes despite comprising less than 2% of the US population. Just last year, a white supremacist stabbed his Jewish gay friend to death and left him in a grave, while in the same year we witnessed the horrific massacre on a Shabbat in Pittsburgh.The examples are endless. Incidents targeting Jews are on the rise. They are happening in New York and Los Angeles, New Jersey, and Georgia. These cowardly acts are being perpetrated all over the country, without any one type of perpetrator to target.In the past, American Jews felt safe at home and felt sorry for Jewish people in European countries such as France. We witnessed the rapid migration of many French Jews to Israel for safety. We were saddened to discover that many Jewish communities in Europe were hiding their identity to feel safer out in public. We never imagined a day that we, American Jews, might have to exercise the same precautions in America to stay safe. The right solution is not to live in fear or hide. We must stand up, united, and fight back the hatred. We must push our members of Congress to take actions that make our communities safer.We must push the FBI and local and state law enforcement agencies to do a better job of identifying and arresting criminals. Words aren’t enough. We need our lawmakers and authorities to take the right steps toward keeping our communities safer. Together, we can make a difference and be safe at a time when we are once again the target of hatred and bigotry. American Jewry, as strong as it has always stood, will again stand up, united, and defeat hatred with love. We will not be scared, nor will we be quiet because if we don’t stand up against such hateful groups today, things would get worse tomorrow.The writer is a security policy and transnational security studies MA candidate at George Washington University.
