Editorial: Just another week of normalizing antisemitism

Dutch mobile police officers stand guard after violence broke out in central Amsterdam following the UEFA Europa League soccer match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv, Nov. 8, 2024. Photo by VLN Niews/ANP/AFP via Getty Images.

by Larry Brook, IIS editor

It used to be that most of the following incidents would have been big news — especially the attacks in Amsterdam.

In a coordinated, premeditated attack, thousands of Israeli soccer fans were attacked on the streets of Amsterdam by rampaging groups of Muslims on what they described as a “Jew hunt.” Anti-Israel groups claim the Israeli fans were chanting anti-Arab slogans and had torn down a Palestinian flag, justifying the violent response, though online records show the attacks were already planned. Of course, there’s never been any hateful, violent or genocidal chants at anti-Israel events, nor damage to Israeli flags, provoking Jews to attack Muslims.

Ahead of a similar match with an Israeli team in Paris in mid-November, social media is blowing up with promises to do a “Jew hunt” there.

Not long after the Amsterdam riot, a Jewish student was attacked in the bathroom of a pub in Dublin, Ireland. After three young men asked if he was Jewish, they attacked him, apparently giving him a concussion.

After a youth soccer match in Berlin, players from a local Jewish team were assaulted and chased by opponents and spectators. During the match, players from the opposing Under-17 team reportedly shouted “Free Palestine!” repeatedly.

In Brooklyn, on Shabbat afternoon, a masked suspect lunged at a Chassidic man and tried to grab his 10-year-old child and take off with him, the attempted abduction was thwarted.

Also in Brooklyn a few days earlier, a 13-year-old Jewish boy was assaulted while riding his bike to school.

In Bergenfield, N.J., anti-Israel demonstrators held Palestinian flags and even a picture of Hitler, harassing attendees of an event promoting real estate in Israel.

Another synagogue, in Staten Island, was surrounded by anti-Israel activists who called for an “intifada revolution” and urged “go back to Germany.”

At DePaul University, two Jewish students were attacked and slashed by two masked individuals who made antisemitic comments. The Jewish students were doing a dialogue table with a former IDF soldier to promote understanding.

Pro-Hamas demonstrators surrounded the Chicago Loop Synagogue, setting off air horns, chanting and banging on windows, as the congregation hosted an appearance by an Arab Israeli peace activist. Two who got inside and started damaging property were arrested.

Also in Chicago, outside a theater, masked individuals waving Palestinian flags harassed and assaulted people attending a Michael Rappaport show. As a Jewish artist, Rappaport has faced cancellation of shows in the past year for “safety reasons” because he is a vocal supporter of Israel.

In the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles, police are looking for a suspect who used a ski pole to shatter windows of five Jewish-owned businesses.

In Montreal, a mob of 40 or so masked individuals ignored a court ordered buffer zone and surrounded a synagogue, harassing members of the Jewish community. Police allowed it to continue for three hours and advised the Jews to use the back exits, since the police could not guarantee their safety. This, and a series of other recent incidents, led to Jewish leaders issuing a statement that it is “open season on the Jews of Montreal.”

In Britain, a Palestinian action group claimed responsibility for smashing windows and spraying red paint on Jewish community buildings.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida was informed that a former felon with a rifle and body armor had been arrested. Moskowitz apparently was the suspect’s target, and the suspect had a manifesto that included antisemitism.

A Michigan man was arrested at the U.S. Capitol building. Smelling of fuel, he had a flare gun and lighter, and a manifesto filled with antisemitic tropes about Jewish control of everything, and his views on the current Middle East war.

At Temple University, the Alpha Epsilon Pi house was vandalized twice in three days, with anti-Israel graffiti.

Several buildings at the University of Colorado Boulder were vandalized with antisemitic messages.

In Melbourne, a group of boys yelled “Heil Hitler” at a group of five Jewish girls who had just left their Jewish school.

Here’s the kicker. As mentioned, all of these stories would have been noteworthy and alarming in the past. But today, they barely cause a ripple — because each of those stories took place in the past week.

One week.

In the past month, there have also been physical attacks on Jewish students at Pitt and Michigan. Toward the end of October, an Orthodox man was shot while walking to Shabbat services in Chicago by an assailant who yelled “Allahu Akbar.” Adding insult, for days, public officials refused to speculate on it being a hate crime, and rarely acknowledged that the victim was Jewish. The suspect, from Mauritania, apparently entered the U.S. illegally at the Mexico border.

As a backdrop to the shooting, the president of Chicago’s board of education was finally forced to resign after discovery of a slew of antisemitic and pro-Hamas social media posts involving fringe conspiracy theories.

What about reports of swastikas found at schools? These days, that’s small potatoes and far too frequent to list. This list also does not include arrests made in the past week for crimes that occurred in previous weeks or months. There’s also little point in listing the petty annoyance-level attention-seeking leaflets spread by right-wing groups.

Those right-wing groups are seen as marginal cranks. Almost all of the above attacks come from Muslim groups or the left wing, and are framed as justifiable reactions to what they imagine Israel and Jews are doing, even as righteous acts of resistance. This normalization of antisemitism is highly dangerous.

If you are wondering how you can be an ally to the Jewish community these days, here’s the opportunity. Speak out. Condemn antisemitism and let your disapproval be known. Reach out to Jewish friends, many of whom are wondering why so many are being silent.

Do not be silent, for history has shown that what starts against the Jews does not end with the Jews.