Anti-Semitism in America
By ROBERT HORENSTEIN, JPOST–
IT WASN'T that long ago that Jews in America felt more comfortable and secure than ever before. Jew hatred finally seemed to be a thing of the past. Polls conducted by the Anti-Defamation League showed a marked decline in the number of Americans holding anti-Semitic views, from 29 percent of the population in 1964 to 12 percent in 1998.
Some Jewish leaders even predicted at the time that Jewish defense organizations such as the ADL had served their purpose and would soon go out of business.
They were wrong. Not only has there been an uptick in anti-Jewish attitudes among Americans over the past 15 years, but even more disturbing, anti-Semitism has been gradually creeping out of the shadows into the mainstream.
The tragic murder of three (ironically, non-Jewish) people at two Jewish facilities in Kansas City in mid-April served as a stark reminder that anti-Semitism is alive and well on the far fringes of American society. As if that weren't cause enough for alarm, Daniel Clevenger, the recently elected mayor of the suspected killer's hometown of Marionville, Missouri, acknowledged that he "kind of agreed" with the killer's white supremacist views.
Clevenger's views were made public during the mayoral election campaign, when it emerged that he had written a letter to a local newspaper a decade ago denouncing the "Jew-run medical industry" and "Jew-run government-backed banking industry." Although he has since resigned, one has to wonder how he could have been elected in the first place.
And lest you think that Jewish conspiracy theories germinate only in small-town America, think again. Hardly a month goes by without at least one media interview with John Mearsheimer or Stephen Walt, professors at the University of Chicago and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, whose 2007 best-selling polemic "The Israel Lobby" claimed that the "lobby" manipulated and threatened successive US governments into blind and unwholesome support for Israel to the detriment of American national interests.
Writing in The Washington Post after the book's release, Michael Gerson, a former senior adviser to former president George W. Bush, observed, "Every generation has seen accusations that Jews have dual loyalties, promote war, and secretly control political structures.
might not follow their claims all the way to anti-Semitism. But this is how it always begins."
Indeed it does. It took only a few years for Mearsheimer to go from merely bashing Israel to actively endorsing the book, "The Wandering Who?" written by Gilad Atzmon, an obscene anti-Semite.
Atzmon, a UK-based ex-Israeli jazz musician, traffics in Holocaust denial and classic anti-Jewish canards, including the belief that Jews in medieval times may have used the blood of Christian children to make matza. Yet, incredibly, Mearsheimer called "The Wandering Who?" a "fascinating" book that "should be widely read by Jews and non-Jews alike."
Granted, a distinguished professor endorsing a blatantly anti- Semitic worldview is rather exceptional. The same can't be said for the occurrence of anti-Jewish harassment and intimidation on several college campuses. Pro-Israel Jewish students at Rutgers, NYU, Michigan, Cal Berkeley and other prestigious schools have been verbally taunted, confronted with overt anti-Semitic imagery under the guise of pro-Palestinian activism, and forcibly removed from anti-Israel events which they were simply attending as peaceful observers.
Sadly, in too many instances, university administrators have failed to take action against such intolerance, in effect ignoring entreaties from Jewish students for support.
While the anti-Semitism on the campuses is crude and overt, in the liberal churches it's more insidious. The Jerusalem-based Palestinian Christian group Sabeel, which is embraced by a sizable segment of the American mainline Protestant community, professes to support peace but, in fact, is a driving force behind the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that seeks to delegitimize the Jewish state.
Sabeel gatherings, often hosted by a local church and couched in innocuous-sounding titles such as ""Seeds of Justice and Hope for Palestinians and Israelis" typically provide a platform for anti-Israel extremists and Jewish self-haters, who disparage Judaism and Zionism using theologically loaded language. Sabeel missions to the West Bank have brought thousands of Christians to "witness" the alleged oppression of Palestinians by the "Israeli crucifixion machine."
Thus, anti-Semitic views, once reserved for the racist fringes of politics, academia, and the church, have moved closer to the mainstream.
We cannot afford to be complacent. The purveyors of Jew hatred – or, for that matter, any hatred – must be called out and responded to as strongly as possible. We must work to ensure that their reprehensible messages never become acceptable to people of conscience.  Robert Horenstein is Community Relations Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, Oregon.
Category: AntisemitismBy The Jerusalem Connection May 15, 2014 3 Comments
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Asheville Bill says:
It's a sad fact of historical record that the vast majority of Antisemitism and Jewish persecution over the past 2000 years has come from the Christian community, when it should have been that we gentile Believers ought to have been closer to our Jewish brethren than to anyone else. We are largely to blame for the "misstep" mentioned by Rabbi Sha'ul (the Apostle Paul) in his letter to the Believers in Rome. [Romans 11:11]. The debt we owe to Israel is both profound and immeasurable. Israel has given us the Prophets, the Bible, the Apostles, and our Messiah. And through Messiah we are now also members of the "commonwealth of Israel" and "heirs to the promises". [Ephesians 2:12-13 & 3:6]
The fact that many mainline Christian denominations are aligning themselves against Israel and promoting such hideous programs such as BDS is a discouraging sign that the Church is holding to its ancient ways. The good news is that in these Last Days God is also raising up and calling out a Body of Believers (most of them gentiles) who are willing to stand with Israel and say to the world, enough is enough. Christian Zionism, as expressed by such groups as the ICEJ, CUFI, CFI, Bridges for Peace, Love For His People, Highway to Zion, the Jerusalem Connection and many others, is a global and growing move of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, it's heartwarming to know that many Jewish people — both in Israel and those still in the Diaspora — recognize this "new kind of Christian" who is willing to stand alongside his Jewish brother. This is, after all, what Yeshua (Jesus) called us to do: "For as often as you did it to the least of these My brothers, you have done it unto Me." [Matt.25:40]
P H says:
It always makes me sad to hear of antisemitism in this country. We always hear about having tolerance for everyone, but, it seems that where the Jews are concerned, and I might also add, that where Christian's are concerned this does not apply. I love all these groups that you have mentioned above in their stand for the Jewish people. When people don't believe the Bible and have never read it how can they ever understand what is in it. May God have mercy on our country if we continue down this road. I trust that the number of Americans who are a blessing to Jerusalem outnumber those who aren't a blessing to God's people. Otherwise how can God bless this country? We Christians need to remember that God's promise to us is that "He who blesses the Jew I will bless and he who curses the Jew I will curse". We need to stand up and be counted. I love Jerusalem and pray for peace and prosperity for her all the time. GOD IS GOING TO BE GLORIFIED IN ALL THE WORLD THROUGH ISRAEL! MARANATHA!
Mary Dobranski says:
A true follower of Yeshua (Jesus) could not or would not hate the people who brought the Light of the World to us. Those who hate God's people and call themselves Christians need to open their eyes and realize that this ancient hatred comes against our elder brother, Israel, because the enemy of God, called Satan, knows that through Israel our Messiah has come and will once more return for us and His people Israel. They would know this if they ever cracked a Bible. Perhaps the time of the old line churches who swallow this deception is coming to an end as they follow this path. It is the time for true Christians to come out from among them and stand up for the truth of Romans for if we stay silent at this time how can we face the Author and Finisher of our faith who just happens to have been born in Bethlehem of Judea of a Jewish mother, Miryam, and gave up His precious Life for us & who also said through the Apostle Paul aka Saul of Tarsus, "To the Jew first and then to the Greek". We can only hope and pray that the eyes of these foolish ones be opened before it is too late, for the promise is that they, the Jews would returned to their ancestral land, never to be removed again and His Word is always Yes and Amen!!!