A chance to prosecute hate crimes
We often hear talk about hate crimes, yet seldom do we see specific cases prosecuted. As we wait for word on the approval of a new head of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, we find ourselves seeing a wave of anti-Semitism sweep across the country:
"NEW YORK
Troubling footage emerged late Thursday showing pro- Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters clashing on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk, despite Israel and Gaza having reached a ceasefire agreement earlier in the day. Police confirmed that two commercial fireworks were thrown from a car and one person suffered minor burns.
New York Jews were already on edge from a disturbing video that showed an older man being viciously beaten by a gang of pro-Palestinians for wearing a Yarmulke as he attempted to cross a street in Times Square earlier in the day. Police said their Hate Crime Task Force was investigating the gang assault and urged the public to come forward with information.
"Wearing a Kippah in NYC always felt safer than anywhere else in the world," a prominent New York attorney told Fox News. "I'll never take mine off, but I will for the first time have to teach my children to be careful if they choose to wear theirs publicly," he said.
Thursday's escalation came as little surprise to Israeli-Americans Amit Skornik and Snir Dayan, who were personally attacked by a pro-Palestinian mob on their way to grab lunch at a well-known New York City bagel shop earlier in the week.
"Someone with their back to us heard us speak Hebrew. … He immediately looked at us and then went into the crowd. I didn't put too much thought into it but around 10 seconds later, he and another 10 people were charging towards us. I got the first punch then we realized that we're being attacked," they told Fox News.
The attack occurred less than 10 days after a Jewish man was left bloodied and forced to seek refuge in a nearby store during clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro- Israel supporters outside the Israeli consulate in New York. Close to 150 demonstrators returned to the consulate on Thursday, wreaking havoc and reportedly shutting down traffic in the area before police made more than a dozen arrests, the New York Post reported.
"My eyes are swollen from crying. This is not the New York City I recognize," a longtime Big Apple resident told Fox News.
These incidents are not isolated to the Empire State. The Anti-Defamation League, a non-profit that tracks anti-Semitism across the globe, recorded a troubling uptick of both verbal and physical attacks against Jews in Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, North Africa and North America since tensions between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas militants escalated earlier this month. Synagogues in various states have reported vandalism, swastikas and pro-Palestinian propaganda found inside their places of prayer.
Within the U.S., the ADL said it has received nearly 200 reports of possible anti-Semitic incidents, up from 131 the week before the conflict began.
"Part of me wants to wear a larger Star of David necklace than I do now so people know how proud I am of my faith," Jewish model and advocate Elizabeth Pipko told Fox News." At the same time, a little part of me wants to tuck my necklace into my shirt in case the wrong person sees it. It's a very hard time to be a Jew in the United States right now and to see so many ignore the hatred we are seeing is incredibly painful – though nothing we're not accustomed to," she said.
NEW JERSEY
An Englewood family was confronted by a pro-Palestinian demonstrator on their way home from synagogue on Sunday as their children – ages 9, 8 and 7 – were left "shaking and terrified for their life."
"A black BMW sedan pulled next to them and shouted, "FREE PALESTINE, F--- THE JEWS YOU MOTHER F---ERS. GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM, GET OUT OF HERE," the mother told Fox News. "They tried to pull over to another family who started running away. My children were shaking and terrified. My children who play outside my backyard all the time now refuse to be outside alone. They are shaken up and worried."
CALIFORNIA
In Los Angeles, pro-Palestinian demonstrators hopped out of their vehicles passing a Beverly Grove restaurant on Tuesday and began singling out and attacking Jewish diners in a violent brawl that was caught on a bystander's camera. Video shows members of a car caravan flying Palestinian flags while driving by the sushi restaurant’s outdoor dining section while reportedly chanting "Death to Jews!"
Just a few blocks over, a Jewish man was chased by two cars bearing Palestinian flags near his home as they chanted "Allahu akbar" in an apparent attempt to run him over.
"I've taken this route a million times and I've never been afraid," he told Fox News. "I was waiting by the light for it to change and suddenly I saw a bunch of cars coming and I see out of the corner of my eye they were waving the Palestinian flag. They started speeding up and I heard them chanting 'Allahu akbar.' That's when I started running for my life."
"I was petrified. I just kept thinking, ‘I’m a father of six and I want to come home to them tonight.' I thought they were going to kill me. My mind was racing."
"Anti-Semitism is not a new problem for the Jewish community, unfortunately," Yossi Elifort, founder of Magen Am, a private community watch group in the L.A. area, told Fox News. "No community should have to live in fear because of a religion that they practice and the fact that people are willing to be violent because of it needs to be condemned by everyone. The Jewish community will not tolerate this. Jews around the world must know that they have the right and responsibility to protect their community in collaboration with law enforcement."
ILLINOIS
A synagogue in Skokie was vandalized Sunday in what is being investigated as a hate crime, authorities said. Congregants found a "Free Palestine" poster on the door of The Persian Hebrew Congregation, along with a broken window and an unidentified object that resembled a "weapon."
"It’s a really scary time to be outwardly Jewish," Dina Shiner, who grew up attending the synagogue, told Fox. "This is Skokie. It’s a heavily Jewish town. What’s bothering me is that everyone is saying, ‘Oh, this is just about Israeli and Palestine, it’s not about Jews.' No, they’re targeting synagogues. That’s a direct target on Jews. This has nothing to do with Israel," she said.
The community has since increased its local security presence.
There's something unsettling seeing "two armed guards and police at my son's school for drop-off and pick-up every day," Shiner said, adding that she is grateful for the heightened security during this time.
UTAH
A Chabad Community Center Synagogue in Salt Lake City was vandalized with a swastika drawn on the front door over the weekend.
"It's alarming to see how quickly misinformation and falsehoods spread online, and from a complex political issue in the Middle East, we've arrived at a place where Jews are debating whether they should walk in the streets of the United States with a visible Yarmulke on," Rabbi Avremi Zippel told Fox News.
PRO ISRAEL AND PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS CLASH IN NYC, 1 BURNED BY FIREWORKS
Zippel said his community will "persevere through this as we have all phases of our storied history."
"But," he added, "the silence surrounding the cheapening of Jewish blood is deafening and downright sad."
ARIZONA
A Tucson synagogue was vandalized just days after it reopened its doors, which had been shuttered since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. Rep. Alma Hernandez, D-Tucson, posted about the incident on Twitter, writing she was a "complete mess in tears."
"'I'm a complete mess in tears as I write this. I just got off the phone with my Rabbi our synagogue was vandalized someone through a rock at our glass door," she wrote. "This was NOT an accident! I feel numb. This is in #tucson Send prayers our way. It's just the beginning."
"We are shocked and horrified by the recent dramatic rise in antisemitic attacks by anti-Israel agitators across the country," top officials from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations said in a statement Thursday.
The statement was signed by Dianne Lob, chair; William Daroff, CEO; and Malcolm Hoenlein, vice chair of the organization.
"These reprehensible organized and spontaneous attacks are an unconscionable affront to basic American values, and must be emphatically condemned by all who stand against hate and prejudice. We call on local, state, and federal law enforcement to quickly apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators of antisemitic and all hate crimes. We also call on religious, educational, entertainment, media, and government leaders to join in a comprehensive effort to combat incitement and bigotry in our communities, campuses, and on social media."
FLORIDA
A family in the Miami area was heading home from a synagogue in Bal Harbour when a group of men driving by started yelling anti-Semitic slurs while throwing garbage at them, the relatives said. Eric Oregon told a local Florida station the men said things like, "Free Palestine!," "Die Jew!" "F-- you, Jew," and "I’m gonna rape your wife."
Eventually, a driver who witnessed the attack decided to intervene, Orgen said. Armed with a gun, the stranger defended the family and chased the group away.
Bal Harbour Mayor Gabriel Groisman said police were actively investigating the incident and he was confident "they will track down the perpetrators." Groisman also relayed a strong warning to anyone commiting anti-Semitic attacks in his city. "The purpose of these attacks is clear," he told WPEC-TV. "It’s to put fear into the Jewish community’s hearts, and to the perpetrators of this attack, they must know that they will fail. We’re a strong community and a proud community and we stand strong with Israel and no amount of attacks or intimidation is going to work."
Biden urged to take action
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museums of Tolerance, called on President Biden to address the uptick in anti-Semitic attacks. Cooper said he supports the bill signed into legislation by Biden on Thursday that addresses hate crimes particularly targeting Asian Americans, but called for additional emphasis on the recent rise in violence against Jews.
"When you have political leaders like ‘The Squad’ and those who agree with them including influencers and entertainers and the media that are giving a moral equivalency and parroting talking points of Hamas, a terrorist organization … it means that the usual people we would hope to bring down the level of the rhetoric and the hatred, it's not going to be automatic," he said.
The incidents fly in the face of those trying to distinguish between anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic bromides, Cooper argued.
"That's nonsense. That train left the station a long time ago. There is no difference between them. To our enemies it doesn't make a difference if you're a Zionist or not – unless you have a Jew who is ready to condemn Israel, then they give him a pass," he said.
Cooper encouraged Jews to wear their prayer shawls and yarmulkes proudly in the street to signal that they are unafraid and unwilling to cower to violent aggressors.
"I will never in my life hide my Jewish identity," one victim of a violent New York attack told Fox News. "We take a lot of pride in our country and our language. … In fact, the opposite is true. We only just feel stronger and even prouder of our religion and our way of life because our way is peace – and unlike them, we've proven that over and over."
https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-seeing-wave-of-textbook-anti-semitism-amid-israel-gaza-tensions
This is not the norm for America. So, at the risk of taking a page out of the left's playbook, I have to ask who are the perpetrators?
I see a lot of reference to people waving Palestinian flags. How do we have so many Palestinians?
How about statements made by certain members of congress?
How about Bernie Sanders and other democrats looking to kill military weapons sales to Israel?
What about anti-Semitism on the American campus?
When do we start prosecuting those we see committing obvious hate crimes against American Jews?
I think these are legitimate questions. Yesterday Joe Biden signed a hate crime law protecting Asian Americans. On hand he had the families of two non-Asian victims of hate crime. Why would that be, you ask? Because he needed hate crimes in which the perpetrator was white. You see for the left it's not about the victims, only about the perpetrators.
Who are the perpetrators of all this anti-Semitism?
Tags
Who is online
66 visitors
We can live without gaslighting and trolling. Let's keep it short and sweet.
Too bad the author finished up by "gaslighting and trolling" with a series of rhetorical questions.
Vic,
While I agree about the uptick in attacks on Jews and that this needs to be addressed, the attacks on Asians have been multi-racial and not just white. And remember this was a bi-partisan bill.
The people that voted against the hate crime bill, all republicans.
It is good that my Congress person is on this list!
Hate isn’t the issue with the no vote. Its partisan nature is the issue.
It's no surprise to me that there isn't one Asian name on that list.
The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act is really nothing more than political pandering. The Act doesn't address prosecution of hate crimes; the Act addresses reporting and review of hate crimes. Nevertheless this type of legislation does pose a danger.
Since the article is directed toward anti-Semitism then discussing the potential danger will be confined to that context.
There were highly visible and widely reported incidents of some Orthodox Jews refusing to comply with imposed restrictions on gatherings, social distancing, and other required mitigation efforts. Are the increased attacks on Jews a result of that political activity? Would the increased attacks on Jews be a crimes motivated by bigotry or motivated by political activity?
Claiming that any attack on a Jew is a hate crime would serve to protect political activities (including violent political activities) by some Jews. Hate crime laws can be used as a shield to protect political activities, including violent political activities. That is potentially dangerous.
We've seen a growing use of violence to make political statements. IMO that's the real problem that needs to be addressed. The conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis is political, at its core. Applying hate crime laws to that political conflict would only allow one or both sides to use those laws as a shield to protect their political activities, including violent political activities. That's potentially dangerous.
Nerm,
While the Hardi (a specific sect of Orthodox Jews), did try to not follow COVID rules, what they were doing was not political. They were having weddings and in prayer. The only ones who should be involved in that are the authorities.
When you talk about Israel and Palestine that is different and fairly recent. Yes, that is political and yes if there is an attack at a protest that doesn't mean it's a hate crime. But a person should be able to walk down the street without fear of being attacked and that is what went on this morning in NYC.
The fact that just about everyone has a movie studio in their pockets means that the REPORTING of these crimes becomes much easier..as it should be.
But that refusal to comply was a political activity. The motivation for the group of Orthodox Jews engaging in the activities may have been cultural but the objection to the politically imposed requirements was political. And the resistance to complying with the politically imposed requirements was not peaceful.
Agreed people should not be accosted while going about their business in a peaceful manner. But the violent attacks are being used to make a political statement.
The use of violence to make a political statement is terrorism. Period.
Palestinians attacking Jews or Jews attacking Palestinians to make political statements is terrorism. There is a real danger that hate crime laws can be used to shield terrorist activities.
Everyone is applauding hate crime laws because they are emotionally and morally satisfying. Hate crimes laws give the appearance of doing something to address bigotry. But the danger is that what we are doing isn't accomplishing what we think.
What do you think hate crime laws do?
They make for a harsher sentence.
Hate crime laws are supposed to punish bigotry. The purpose of hate crime laws is not to pad sentences. Hate crimes are prosecuted as a separate crime.
There are charges where hate crime can be added.
Hate crimes are separate crimes. Hate laws only used to lengthen sentences doesn't make justice more just.
As I've pointed out, hate crimes can potentially be used to shield and protect political activities. The other side of that coin is that hate crimes can also be used to justify political persecution and punish political opposition.
Hate crimes can be an addition and yes they make for a harsher sentence.
I think you are really grasping at straws with this political crap.
Only sounds like you are trying to find an angle to dismiss hate crimes.
They do not get involved in politics and the Jews who have been attacked were not members of this removed small group.
Nerm, this is not what is up for debate. The incidents of antisemitic attacks have been up across the nation even before this latest conflict.
Hate crime laws no matter who they are for, are supposed to make people think twice before making their hate into a physical act since there is an added sentence to the crime.
I don't think of the regulations concerning attendance numbers is political at all. I think they're quasi-legal directives based in medical reality.
But that is no protection from politics as the reporting on the incidents demonstrated. People, like me, don't understand the distinctions between sects, either. Distance, unfamiliarity, and ignorance (if you wish) doesn't support a nuanced understanding or response.
Yes, I have been vaguely aware of increases. But those attacks (as with hate crimes) have not all been physical violence. Vandalism and verbal abuse can also be hate crimes. Political speech has been characterized as an anti-Semitic attack (and there are attempts to include such speech in hate crimes).
Do you think Hamas in the US would use hate crime laws to protect its anti-Semitic political activities? Palestinians are accusing Israel and Jews of anti-Palestinian racism. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar have been accused of anti-Semitism because of their anti-Israel political activities.
I'm a WASP so it's not possible for me to be a victim of a hate crime. As a WASP, I am only allowed to participate in the discussion as a racist. And from that perspective, perhaps I know a little more about how hate laws can be used as a shield to protect political activities.
It is more like an excuse.
The dynamics of hate crimes are changing. The hate crime laws were originally intended to protect minorities from the white population. The hate crime laws were put in place to address the KKK, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists. The hate crime laws weren't put in place to protect minorities from minorities. We are seeing an increase in hate crimes committed by minorities.
The COVID-19 Hate Crime Act is political pandering attempting to freshen the white washing of hate crime. The Act doesn't do anything other than address reporting and DOJ review of hate crimes. There hasn't been anything presented to suggest that the mechanism to report hate crimes and DOJ review of hate crimes were inadequate before the Act was passed. The Act was a political response to the mass shooting in Atlanta perpetrated by a white guy. But are the increases in hate crimes really a result of increased bigotry among the white population? Or are the increases the result of increased bigotry among the minority populations?
I'm a WASP. I'm not allowed to pick a side. The hate crime laws weren't intended to protect me. As a WASP it isn't possible for me to be a victim of hate crimes. So, I have a perspective on hate crimes that minorities do not have. Now that we are seeing an uptick in hate crimes committed by minorities, from my perspective, the minorities will be using hate crime laws as protection from each other. Minorities are protected by hate crime laws; that was the intent of the laws. There is a real danger that hate crime laws will be used by minorities as a shield to protect political activities, including violent political activities, against other minorities.
The Pandora's Box of diversity has been opened. As the proportion of the white population in the United States declines and the proportion of minority populations increase it shouldn't be surprising that conflict between minorities will increase. All the laws put in place to protect minorities from the white population will be used to protect minorities from minorities. But unlike the white population, the laws were intended to protect all the minorities who will be in conflict with each other. Minorities in conflict will be using these laws against each other to protect themselves and their political activities.
Palestinians can claim the same protections against hate crimes as can the Jews. It's going to become a political game of racist, racist, who's the racist. And the white population won't be allowed to intervene because the white population are the designated racists. White washing hate crimes won't accomplish much.
So the reporting of crimes never leads to prosecution?
So basically an Asian hate crimes bill passed the house and the whole seed is, look over there...
Yep, anti-semitism rose during the last four years.
I seem to remember some tiki torch carrying people chanting 'Jews will not replace us'...
Yep, then they turn around and blame Dems for it.
Of course. Amazing isn't it that while anti-semitism was rising the last several years, those on the right were silent.
Of course they were, they aren't going to call out their own.
Let me close this one by reminding our readers that the word "equity" as is being used by progressives is the antithesis of equality.
When you hear someone using that word, you are in the presence of a racist.
Thank you all for contributing.
That has NOTHING to do with your seed so WTF is your point Vic?
[Deleted]
[removed]
There is a reason he called it a dream.
Modern day right wingers try to use MLK as an argument for their own positions, but it is a failure.
First of all King never said that his dream had been achieved. Quite the opposite. In the five years of his life that remained after his famous dream speech, he continued to work constantly for civil rights and understood quite clearly that the dream had not been achieved.
The night before King died he gave a speech in Memphis where he was going to protest on behalf of striking , mostly black, sanitation workers.
===================================================
Excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King's speech [ edit ]
Regarding the strike, King stated that
Regarding economic boycotts, King advocated boycotting white goods as a means of nonviolent protest. He said that the individual Negro is poor but together they are an economic powerhouse, and they should use this power to stop support for racist groups and instead empower black businesses. Although the industries might not listen to protests, they would be forced to listen to boycotts lest they be driven out of business. King named several businesses as targets for the boycott:
Toward the end of the speech, King refers to threats against his life and uses language that prophetically foreshadowed his impending death, but reaffirming that he was not afraid to die:
And modern day progressives disagree with what he said. To them individuals must be judged on the color of their skin rather than the content of their character.
They have no use for MLK.
"content of their character" would be a useful code of conduct once the great majority of racial prejudice had come to an end. We have never reached that point yet so King's words remain only a dream.
The secular progressive woke blm left openly rejects his methods at his dream.
[deleted]
Says the guy who is the first to use that word in this entire seed.