Recently, the Chicago PD warned that some neo-Nazi groups were planning a "Day of Hate" for Saturday, February 25, Saturday being the Jewish Sabbath. CPD explained that the threat was a nationwide threat, with the goal of targeting Jewish institutions. This was no idle threat. The local channel 4 news in L.A. reported a few months ago that religious hate crimes were up 29%, with 74% of the attacks targeting Jews.
And, very recently on two consecutive days, February 15 and 16, two Jewish men were shot after leaving two different synagogues in the Pico-Robertson area of West L.A. That area has a large Jewish population. The L.A. Times reported that the alleged shooter had been a dental student, who, in 2022, sent threatening, antisemitic messages to a fellow student. One message said: "I want you dead, Jew." The Times said that the alleged shooter had been on the FBI's "radar" prior to the shootings, for all the good that did. Thankfully, the two victims survived their attacks.
On Friday, a friend who also reads the blog, sent me a link to an article by Resume Builder. The article reported that 26% of hiring managers "say they are less likely to move forward with Jewish applicants." The main reason given was that Jews have too much power and control, tied with the idea that Jews claim to be the chosen people. (This idea of being the chosen people has nothing to do with thinking that Jews, as a people, are somehow better than other people. The idea is that Jews were chosen to be G-d's ambassadors to the world. Jews often joke, "G-d, couldn't you have picked some other group for this honor?" After all, being the chosen people has not exactly protected Jews from countless efforts to annihilate them.) Anyway, the article acknowledges it is not a scientific poll that is necessarily representative of the general population.
However, an actual scientific poll done by NORC at the University of Chicago along with the One8 Foundation, was conducted on behalf of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Some of the beliefs held by much of the general population are rather disturbing. 39% said Jews were more loyal to Israel than to America. 26% said Jews have too much power in the business world. And 20% said Jews have too much power in the US. 85% believe at least one anti-Jewish trope (I would say stereotype), with that number being "only" 61% in 2019.
It is clear from at least two of the findings, how unwarranted criticisms of Israel end up affecting attitudes here. The study found that young adults have significantly greater anti-Israel attitudes than older adults. This is not surprising, given the widespread anti-Israel messaging we see on college campuses and in the mainstream media. And 40% agree at least somewhat that Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews. 40%! I must have missed the concentration camps.
Sadly, some of these anti-Israel attitudes are held by left-wing American Jews. One Jewish attorney that I often hear from, would not agree that Trump did one single thing for Israel or the Jewish people. Trump moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israel's capital city, acknowledging that every country has the right to declare their own capital. Trump acknowledged Israeli sovereignty over the strategic Golan Heights. Trump refused to continue funding of the Palestinian Authority (PA) until such time as they they stopped using those funds to support terrorism and the killing of Jews. On the other hand, Biden has reinstated funding to the PA, having given them nearly $1 billion in his two years in office. Not only would this Jewish attorney not denounce Biden for funding Jew killers, he acknowledged that he will vote for Biden again in 2024.
This same individual said he would vote for Obama a third time if he could. I said that Obama hated Israel. He said that was a bunch of crap. I then replied that I would not tell him all the ways, by his words and deeds, that Obama demonstrated his dislike of Israel. I suggested he do a little research on his own. But I did remind him of Obama refusing to veto the completely anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution of December, 2016. (See the 12/24/16 post, "The United States Abandons Israel at the United Nations.") Now, Biden, following Obama's lead, had his UN Ambassador vote for another one-sided anti-Israel resolution. "The Security Council reiterates that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-state solution based on the 1967 lines..." Of course, it's never the Palestinians repeated refusal to accept a state of their own, as long as Israel still exists, that is the problem. Nor the repeated rocket/missile attacks and terror attacks on Israeli civilians, that is the problem.
And here is a case in point of how young adults are exposed to anti-Israel ideas. Princeton University is one of the elite universities in the country. Recently, the English Department at Princeton hosted someone described as a "pro-Palestinian activist and journalist." Here are some of the things this individual has allegedly said. He has allegedly said "Zionists harvest organs of the martyred (Palestinians) and feed their warriors our own." He has allegedly compared Israelis to Nazis, and has allegedly supported "killing every m.....f...... Zionist." (As reported by Fox.) This is what passes for an intellectual exchange of ideas when it comes to Israel.
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