Anti-Semitic attacks in America: What's behind the increase in occurrences and severity?
Georgetown Law Center Distinguished Lecturer Frederick Lawrence breaks down what's happening in America and why.
Last month, the first-ever Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act report was released by the U.S. State Department. It shows America has persuaded countries around the world to return or provide compensation for property confiscated during the Holocaust or subsequently nationalized during the Communist era.
The report also describes international efforts, led by the United States, to commemorate the Holocaust’s survivors and victims, including the estimated 80,000 survivors living in the United States. Archives will be opened and Holocaust education promoted. All of these efforts are to ensure such atrocities never happen again.
Sadly, anti-Semitism is surging at home and abroad. According to the Kantor Center at Tel Aviv University, violent anti-Semitic attacks have increased 18 percent globally since 2018, the largest increase since 2014.
Within the last year alone, over 200 Jewish graves in Eastern France were desecrated with Nazi symbols. A gunman killed two people attempting to break into a synagogue on Yom Kippur in Germany. Neo-Nazis blocked the entrance to a Holocaust exhibition in southern Sweden.
In the United States, anti-Semitic incidents have been rising since 2013. FBI statistics show that Jews are victim to the largest number of hate crimes of any religious group every year for the past 20 years.
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On May 30 in the United States, a synagogue’s windows were smashed during protests in Richmond, Va. Individuals purporting to support racial justice ran through the predominately Jewish Fairfax neighborhood in Los Angeles, yelling “F**k the police and kill the Jews!” Five synagogues and three Jewish schools in the area were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti, including “Kill the Jews!”
The Trump administration has taken the fight to those espousing hateful anti-Semitic views.
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In addition to signing the JUST Act into law in May 2018, in December 2019, President Trump signed a historic executive order ensuring that Jewish-Americans enjoy protection under the anti-discrimination provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
He also appointed a strong State Department special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, Elan Carr, and signed the bipartisan “Never Again Education Act” into law. It will increase the resources available for teaching and learning about the Holocaust within the U.S.
In April 2020, President Trump, for the first time in history, designated a White supremacist group that espoused anti-Semitic violence – the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM) – as a terrorist group. This designation prevents the group from accessing money or property in the U.S. or doing business with any American citizen, thereby denying these terrorists the resources they need to commit attacks against Jews in Europe.
President Trump has also taken unprecedented action against Iran, the number one state sponsor of anti-Semitism and the greatest threat to the State of Israel.
In May 2018, President Trump pulled our nation out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a one-sided Obama-Biden administration agreement that failed to block Iranian nuclear ambitions and threw a lifeline of cash to the Iranian regime. Iran promptly used those funds to increase its investments in terrorism and proxy wars across the Middle East instead of helping its own people.
President Trump has also taken unprecedented action against Iran, the number one state sponsor of anti-Semitism and the greatest threat to the State of Israel.
President Trump implemented the largest economic pressure campaign since the Cold War in order to reduce Iran’s revenue to the lowest levels in history. This campaign includes sanctions on Iran’s metal and petrochemical exports, its transportation sector, financial institutions, construction, manufacturing, textiles and mining.
The Trump administration has led an international campaign to deny landing rights to Iran’s Mahan Air, which has shuttled arms and materiel to Hezbollah and Assad’s regime in Syria.
The United States continues to call for all countries to designate Iran’s proxy– Hezbollah – as a terrorist entity in its entirety, eliminating the false distinction between Hezbollah’s so-called “military” and “political” wings. Hezbollah has repeatedly attacked and threatened Israel and refuses to recognize the right of Jews to live safely within Israel.
President Trump applauds Germany and Lithuania’s recent actions to ban Hezbollah activities and operatives in their territories, as well as similar steps by the U.K., Kosovo, Argentina, Colombia, Honduras and Paraguay. The United States encourages other countries to follow their example.
Under the Trump administration, the United States has affirmed its commitment to Israel’s security, sovereignty and future. President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. The administration also recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
President Trump unveiled the most serious, realistic and detailed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan ever presented. His vision for peace fully addresses Israel’s security requirements, does not ask Israel to take additional security risks and enables Israel to defend itself by itself against any threats.
On Aug. 13, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayid, the president negotiated the historic Abraham Accords to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
In the wake of the horrors of the Holocaust, the Jewish people built a beautiful nation in the Holy Land in just over 70 years. Israel is an inspiration, a trusted ally and a cherished friend. The United States will always stand by its side. When the Jewish state of Israel is strong, Jewish communities worldwide are also strong.
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As President Trump has said, in honor of “the millions of Jews who suffered unthinkable persecution, we renew our pledge now and always: Never again.”
President Trump has made good on that pledge by fighting anti-Semitism at home and abroad and by standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel, the historical homeland and refuge for the Jewish people.
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