The rise of antisemitism on the Left and in America - opinion

In the past few years, we have seen a surge of antisemitism in America. 

Antisemitic hate crimes are rising at an alarming pace, and according to the ADL, 2019 saw the highest level of antisemitic incidents since tracking began in 1979. 

Only two months ago, as protests raged across our nation, Los Angeles experienced an explosion in antisemitism as kosher stores and synagogues were vandalized, looted, and burned. 

The same has happened in cities across America as antisemitic incidents are sadly becoming more commonplace around the United States. 

The problem is, instead of the Left condemning and strongly opposing these attacks, antisemitism has found a home in the Democratic Party and has become a shameful problem that the Left must confront. 

Outright antisemitic statements from Democratic members of Congress have either been ignored or dismissed by party leaders and even if it is condemned no action is taken. The lack of action will doubtless lead to a rise in antisemitism in the party if Democrats continue to avoid the underlying problem. Politicians who spout any kind of antisemitic rhetoric must be shunned by both parties or else it slowly becomes accepted and normalized when party politics become more important than rejecting antisemitic hatred. 

Democrat representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, have both come under fire during their first term in office for prejudice towards Israel, support of the BDS movement, and outright antisemitic comments.  

Early on in her time in office, Ilhan Omar portrayed American supporters of Israel as having been bought off by Jews, the scandal that followed forced Democrat leaders to scold Ilhan Omar for her comments yet beyond that, no action was taken. 

In January, Rashida Tlaib retweeted and then removed a tweet falsely blaming Israelis for the death of a Palestinian child. This spread of an antisemitic blood libel was largely ignored by Democratic leaders and the media. 

"The Democratic Party failed to condemn antisemitism, and that failure sent a message which Omar and Tlaib heard quite clearly. They were given a free pass to traffic in and promote antisemitism." writes Bethany Mandel for the Washington Examiner. 

"The Rubicon has been crossed. One of the two major political parties in this country is openly accepting of antisemites in its midst. We have not even begun to understand what the ramifications of this new reality are."

The outright hypocrisy from the Left when it comes to antisemitism is also outright alarming. 

In June, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, during an interview with Yahoo Finance, said that he "will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country." He came under unbelievable criticism for these comments as teammates and the media alike slammed him for "insensitive remarks" causing him to retract his comments several days later. 

However, recently, openly antisemitic quotes attributed to Hitler and Louis Farrakhan posted on Instagram by Eagles wide receiver Desean Jackson, not only received far less backlash but were also defended on live television and by teammates. 

Teammate Malik Jackson not only defended Jackson, but he also defended one of the most notorious antisemitic speakers in the world, calling Louis Farrakhan "honorable" in response to Desean Jackson's post. 

Malcolm Jenkins, a former teammate of Jackson, and one of the most vocal players in ripping Drew Brees for his comments about kneeling for the flag posted a video saying that Desean Jackson's comments were wrong but downplayed the issue and went on to caption his video to say that "Jewish people aren’t our problem, and we aren’t their problem. Let’s not lose focus on what the problem truly is, and that’s that black lives still don’t matter in this country." 

Why is it okay to rip a player for respecting our flag because it's "insensitive," and then just weeks later downplay antisemitism and say that it's not important? You can’t condemn one type of hate while accepting or downplaying another. 

As Mitch Albom writes: "Silence is compliance." That’s a popular sentence today. But you can’t be selective with your noise. Not against hate. For all the bigoted garbage stirred up against Jews last week, it was disturbingly quiet out there. We should think twice about why that is."

Where is the outrage from the media over this? Where are the teammates coming out to slam these vile and disgusting comments? Where is the mass outrage from the NFL? Where is the cancel culture mob who so viciously attacked Drew Brees just weeks ago? The double standard when it comes to antisemitism versus other types of hatred is glaringly obvious and equally atrocious. 

Apparently to the Left, it is not that big of a deal to post outright antisemitic images online, but when you support our flag, our country, and the people who died for it, that is unacceptable, hateful, and insensitive. 

The BLM movement also has deep roots of antisemitism in their organization. At anti-racism protests around the country, antisemitic chants and signs were seen and heard as antisemitism was a major theme in many of their protests. 

In Washington DC, black lives matter protesters marched while chanting "Israel we know you, you murder children too" and at an anti-racism rally in Paris inspired by Black Lives Matter, protesters wore T-shirts reading “Justice for Palestine” and waved Palestinian flags while chanting “dirty Jews” as they marched. This is happening and is a common occurrence at Black Lives Matter protests across the country and around the world. 

An organization that's stated goals are to fight bigotry and hatred, has been hijacked by antisemites spewing just the kind of hate they claim to fight, and for the most part, the leaders of the BLM movement are silent. 

This applies to all those Democrat leaders who also support the BLM movement without calling out the vicious antisemitic roots embedded in the organization. 

As the Democratic Party continues to lurch to the Left, they have a growing antisemitism problem which is no longer subtle. Although some Democrats have come out and condemned the antisemitism in the party, as long as they refuse to take action to eradicate it, it will continue to fester and grow. The Democratic Party must show commitment to stand against all forms of hatred, not just the ones that benefit them politically.

Antisemitism has no place in our communities and country, and now more than ever, it is important to stand up and destroy it wherever it rears its vile head.