Henry Gamble, News Editor—
In 2021, the Anti-Defamation League recorded the highest amount of anti-semitic vandalism, harassment and assault since the organization began keeping track in 1979.
Anti-semitism is no way a recent concoction. Jewish people have experienced discrimination for hundreds if not thousands of years. I believe that there is a common misconception when addressing anti-semitism. This form of discrimination is not necessarily religious in nature, but takes attributes of racism as well. A brief history of anti-semitic developments demonstrates as much.
Prior to the 19th century and mass immigration to the United States, this racial conception was not widespread. It was only when large populations of Ashkenazi Jews, stemming from central and eastern Europe, arrived in the U.S. that targeted campaigns against Jewish peoples as a race began.
European anti-semitism saw a similar rise in the late 19th century, culminating in the rise of Germany’s Nazi Party in the early 20th century. The Nazis categorized Jews by blood, and began accusing the Jewish people of Germany of racial, social, and economic conspiracies.
These rumors were perpetuated across the world, especially in the United States where prominent figures such as Henry Ford perpetuated these dangerous lies.
Alt-right parties in the U.S. have never stopped spreading conspiracies about Jewish peoples, yet they have often been dismissed as fringe. However important their influence had been in the past, these groups have garnered large followings on social media platforms such as 4Chan, and most recently Twitter.
Since 2016, conspiracy theories have been touted more and more by political movements and figures. These conspiracies frequently associate Jewish peoples with mass manipulation or control of some sort.
I retell these histories for a multitude of reasons: because they are so frequently forgotten, because anti-semitism is not some distant horror of the past, because the President of the United States had to personally remind the country that the Holocaust happened, because racists and antisemites such as Kanye West are given platforms to share their hate, and beacause silence and inaction continue to contribute to the problem.
Considering the current circumstances, and as someone with deep personal and familial connections to Judaism, I am disappointed to read articles published by students of this campus that are at best irresponsible in their representation of antisemitism and at worst apologist.
It is not time to lament about claims of suppression of criticism of the Israeli state, which are political in nature, which should and rightfully are separate from hate speech and anti-semitism
It is not time to attempt to connect the rightful silencing of harmful anti-semitic narratives and the unjust silencing and censoring of Black and minority individuals.
And it is certainly never time to make erroneous claims which allege unjust “limitation” against figures advancing antisemitic narratives such as Kyrie Irving.
Events such as the 2021 insurrection at the U.S capitol demonstrate to what extent conspiracy theories may embolden fringe and radical groups, and the toleration or defense, of any form, of anti-semitism contributes to this very real and very dangerous situation we find ourselves a part of.