IfNotNow Calls for Bold Action to Address Rising Anti-Semitism in this Moment of Crisis
IfNotNow recognizes the rise of anti-Semitism in America that has accompanied the ascent of President Donald Trump as a crisis for our community and is deeply concerned with the general silence coming from the Jewish establishment. Since Trump’s inauguration, anti-Semitic incidents have become a weekly, even daily, occurrence. 70 bomb threats have been called in to Jewish Community Centers across the country. Most recently, over the weekend, the St. Louis Jewish community was shaken by the destruction of 130 tombstones at an historic cemetery.
The concern expressed by President Trump yesterday followed multiple instances where he declined to speak forcefully against anti-Semitism. His incoherent statements on the subject come as little consolation to American Jews, who are experiencing firsthand the wave of bigoted hate he rode to the White House.
And yet, the most powerful political institutions in our community — the Jewish Federations of North America and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) — have not bothered to take action to address the root of these actions: Trump’s violent rhetoric.
Amidst this silence we are humbled and profoundly thankful for the solidarity that the American Muslim community has shown for Jews in this difficult time. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a $5,000 reward for information on the bomb threats and Muslim American leaders Linda Sarsour and Tarek El-Messidi raised $20,000 in 2 hours to repair the vandalized cemetery.
The mechanisms through which anti-Semitism operate are pernicious, even if they aren’t always as visible as they have been in recent weeks. Our community’s history of struggle continues even in the present-day and it compels us to stand with other communities, particularly those that are targets of state violence under the Trump administration: Muslims, refugees, and immigrants.
IfNotNow condemns all acts of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and racism. We have and will continue to be the moral leaders that our community is lacking by resisting together with all communities targeted directly by the Trump administration.
These communities include the Palestinian people, who have suffered 50 years of occupation and, if David Friedman is confirmed as Ambassador to Israel, will be subject to more violence as the occupation is more deeply entrenched. Following the protests by two Muslim Americans, three IfNotNow leaders were arrested after interrupting Friedman’s hearing on Thursday, speaking out for the mainstream Jewish community who opposes the policies he would promote in Israel/Palestine. This week we have continued taking direct action against Friedman; in NYC at David Friedman’s New York law office, and in Boston at Senator Markey’s office.
Friedman and his allies in the institutional Jewish community purposefully conflate opposition to Israeli occupation with anti-Semitism in order to silence dissent and slow the movement for freedom and dignity for all. These people have repeatedly shown us that they prioritize the security of Israel through endless occupation over the safety and wellbeing of the Jewish community in this country.
It would be a mistake to ignore the connection between the Jewish establishment’s silence on the rise of anti-Semitism and their desire for the Trump Administration to give unconditional political support for Israel and the occupation. We are consistently surprised with the cognitive dissonance needed to justify their claim that the occupation increases the safety of Jews while they ignore the root causes of explicit anti-Semitism here in the United States.
We demand that the leadership of American Jewish communal institutions take bold action to meet this moment of crisis and hold President Trump and the white-nationalists he’s put into the White House accountable for their political agenda that flies in the face of Jewish values.
In their absence, we will continue to lead the community through clear, moral action.
