Is this anti-semitism?

its deliberately rude and insensitive but lots of ppl who know more about it than anyone on ilx wld say similar things so calling it "ignorance" is just supercilious hot air

it's been very... clarifying to witness the israeli government more or less abandon the diaspora and work overtime to minimize right-wing anti-semitism in pursuit of geopolitical advantage.

punchline: my right-wing congressman, whenever asked a question by or about a jewish constituent, will respond, and i paraphrase, "israel israel israel israel."

living out here is the boonies has been interesting. there are a lot of right-wingers who no doubt share the usual casually anti-semitic views (honestly, i haven't asked, but looking at the comments on the local paper's website is enough for me). and then there are my left-leaning colleagues who will condemn anti-semitism but make statements that shade into stereotypes and worse. because i'm opposed to netanyahu and the occupation they seem to think it's ok to say things like, "israel should be wiped off the face of the earth" to my face.

the closest thing to this i can recall is when i lived in eastern europe, frankly.

starting to feel like we don't have any real friends. a feeling no doubt familiar to my ancestors.

I am heartened to say that at least here in New York City I feel like I have real friends. The outpouring of solidarity has been heartening. And I do feel like some of the usual suspect Jewish right wingers in my facebook feed have been a little bit chastened or sheepish in the last couple of days.

you have colleagues who say that to you? wow. who do you work for, hezbollah?

xpost

no!

i don't want to exaggerate. only a few of them are like this, and only one person said made the remark i quoted. but the rest of them seem to countenance what seems to be some questionable opinions, to differing degrees.

sometimes i see posts by my colleagues' friends on social media and /their/ friends write the sort of screeds against "zionists" that are basically classic anti-semitic libels with the word "jew" removed. "netanyahu drinks the blood of palestinian children" is an example that made my jaw drop.

i'm not a zionist but whenever someone uses that word disparagingly i tense up, expecting the worst... in some cases i get a little too defensive.

yeah, I do generally understand that sort of rock-and-hard-place that you're describing and have been in it. Somehow it's not much part of my life today, much moreso when I was younger and maybe more hung out with people adjacent to my college friends instead of people whose kids go to the same school as mine. There's really not a huge amount of anti-Israel sentiment among mainstream American liberals, and certainly not much of the vitriol you're describing (and that tbf I have come across before).

There was a special service at our synagogue this morning. I didn't go, but my wife tells me there was significant support from local places of worship. Christians, Muslims and so on. There was apparently a police presence, too, for what that's worth, and the police, who many thanked for being there, were very sympathetic and sorry that they had to be there at all.

i went to a special service last night. TBH the rabbi didn't have much to say but it was good to be in the company of other jews. there were a few pastors & priests from other (non-jewish) congregations.

no police presence whatsoever which surprised me. they have an armed guard on high holidays. maybe it was too short notice.

one of the things you sometimes hear from folks around here, both left and right and whatever else, is that Jews are "fine" or "OK." as in, "Israel is a real problem, but Jews are fine." "you guys are OK, it's really the...." this sense that we are "fine" as in "tolerated, for now" connects for me with the overwhelmingly christian religiosity of the folks around here. they know that anti-semitism is bad, and/or tacky, but deep down they believe we're going to hell and would be better off converting to christianity. it's just their main priority right now.

i'm trying hard not to be paranoid.

*it's just NOT their main priority right now.

Nice story from our temple:

Following the last few dark days, there was a bit of light in the office yesterday: a woman came into the office carrying a bunch of yellow carnations. They symbolize hope, she said.
She is from Peru, is not Jewish, but felt she had to express both her horror at what happened and support for American Jews. She went on to explain, as her tears fell, that she has lived in the US for 18 years, finally has her green card, and is hoping for citizenship in another five. After many hugs and wishes for an easy path to citizenship, she left, and I felt incredibly grateful for that brief, touching encounter.

Not anti-semitism.

yesterday in north wales, pa a friend of friends' car was spraypainted with a swastika. today during his lunch break someone wrote 'Jew' on a coworker's car. this was today in: wtf is happening this is all too close to home.

definitely anti semitism

Ugh. I thought, that doesn't sound like North Wales? Then I realized it was Pennslyvania. In the US, where Jews feel safe.

goddammit

https://pitchfork.com/news/ilana-glazer-event-canceled-due-to-anti-semitic-graffiti/

my synagogue has announced that doors will now be locked during shabbat service, i get why they're doing it and i would guess some members of my shul want it, but i don't like it. it feels like giving in to the idea that we should accept this as OUR problem which requires US to change what we do.

when they fuck with ilana glazer that is too fucking far

kinda w eephus, my instinct is not to be defensive but to carry on unbowed

our synagogue (and the other one we sometimes attend) has had an armed guard stationed at the entrance for a few years now

that's different

are they locking the door in addition to having a guard or as a replacement? how are people going to get in who come late?

^^^srsly

wouldn't join any shul whose services started on time

Ugh. I thought, that doesn't sound like North Wales?

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/man-golliwog-hanging-noose-window-14596570

No, they're just racists.

the welsh are amongst the most racist races

it might be worth noting in M MacMillan's Versailles treaty book that the Welsh "grand wizard" DLG is repeatedly on the transcript as casually dropping the n bomb and comes across as much more racist than Clemenceau or Wilson.

Fatherland of My Fathers

are they locking the door in addition to having a guard or as a replacement? how are people going to get in who come late?

No guard (though we've always had one at high holidays), a congregant will be assigned to man the door and let latecomers in (like me)

Jewish Republicans are fucking delusional

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/06/republicans-attack-jewish-candidates-across-us-with-an-age-old-caricature-fistfuls-cash/?utm_term=.afc15148e0a8

otm, they gross me out

as do these gross ads obviously

well I guess I have to talk w my kid about the Pittsburgh shooting, since it looks like they are going to bring it up at hebrew school tomorrow

Unless they can start showing a lot of non-Jewish dems attacked with the same imagery, I'll draw my conclusions. Also, GOP tends to go after other ethnicities with, um, other kinds of ads https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/12/nrcc-faces-backlash-over-attack-ad-against-democratic-candidate-former-rapper-antonio-delgado/?utm_term=.4cc0a7fbd5b4

Sounds like the policy at our temple, at least for the immediate time being, is to lock the doors pretty much at all times, with someone stationed by them to let people in and out. But I think they're looking into finding some sort of balanced security policy going forward, devised in conjunction with JUF, Homeland Security, ADL, and local police.

Apparently a couple of instances of hate crime graffiti at our local high school. N-word, backwards swastika, etc.

OK, would love our opinion on this. My daughter just came home from high school, where they had an emergency assembly on a second incident of racist and anti-Semitic graffiti, probably the same asshole. N-word stuff, a swastika, gas the Jews. But she said the assembly was all about the racism and didn't mention the anti-semitism, which really bothered her. As she said, a lot of the student speakers were black and they thanked the white kids that stood with them in solidarity, but she thought to herself, wait a minute, I'm white but I'm also Jewish, and no one is speaking sympathetically to me or forcefully for me. She had also observed last week to me that when there is a mass shooting everyone at school talks about it, but when there was a mass shooting that targeted Jews no one said anything. Jews are such a small percentage of the student body that they're practically invisible and apparently not taken into consideration as a persecuted minority. I told her to put down her thoughts into a letter to send to the school, and also to bring these issues up at the next meeting of her Jewish student union (aka Jew Club).

white supremacists/Nazis do not consider Jews "white" and sometimes other non-white people need to be reminded of this.

I think your course of action is the correct one

My first thought was that I'd probably write a letter as a concerned parent, but I think it's even more powerful coming from her.

Principal and cc school board imo

i was pretty shocked to see the numbers here particularly re millennials https://www.newsweek.com/one-third-americans-dont-believe-6-million-jews-were-murdered-during-holocaust-883513

(not asking if it's anti-semitic)

"Almost half (45 percent) of Americans were unable to name a single concentration camp, and the number was even worse for millennials (49 percent). Two-thirds (66 percent) of millennials were unable to explain what Auschwitz was."

Isn’t Newsweek basically a newsletter for some Dominionist psycho at this point?

According to a study from last year, 20% of French people aged 18-34 have never heard of the holocaust. That said, wording might be a factor (were they asked about the holocaust or the Shoah? the latter term is generally preferred in France).

i probably shouldn't be so surprised i've watched those those late night host makes fun of dumb americans by asking them questions clips

i saw this one where they asked ppl to name and point to a country on a map of the world and they couldn't even name the united states

That happens everywhere tbh.

12% of Austrians aged 18-34 are also apparently unaware that it ever happened... I'm not trying to exonerate Americans but it seems like a generational trend.

yeah, so maybe it should be glass half full - 1/3rd of millennials know what auschwitz was

I find that profoundly depressing.

The Diary of Anne Frank should be a set text in every grade school in America (it was in mine).