Antisemitic incidents at an all-time high in U.S.
On The Warning podcast this week, I spoke with Jonathan Greenblatt, the executive director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), about the alarming rise of extremism, and antisemitism specifically, in the United States.
Last month, the ADL released a very disturbing report that showed a 36 percent increase in antisemitic incidents throughout the U.S. in 2022. It was the highest number on record since the organization began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979.
Five states combined — New York, California, New Jersey, Florida and Texas —account for 54 percent of the total number of incidents. Yesterday, the ADL issued another report — “Hate in the Golden State: Extremism and Antisemitism in California, 2021-2022” — that found that the number of antisemitic incidents in California have increased dramatically — and that they are especially dangerous events.
I asked Jonathan about the forces affecting the rise of extremism today. He believes that the ascendence of populism, combined with transformative changes related to globalism and technology, combined with hyper-partisanship, create a fertile environment for extremists to exploit a collective sense of anxiety. And, extremists have moved from the margins to the mainstream as a result of being welcomed by people like Donald Trump, as well as through social media.
I would strongly encourage you to read the ADL reports, and to watch this important conversation. You can also listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform.
Thanks for talking about the frightening rise in antiSemitism. Unfortunately, this is all too familiar and the Republican Party is complicit. Have you no decency?
Excellent podcast episode, which should be repeated in the future with an update on anti-Semitism in America with you guest, Mr. Jonathan Greenblatt.
I am for a two-state solution, which is the most dignified democratic way to recognize two peoples and their religious beliefs living once and for all in peace. Netanyahu, as Trump, went after the judicial system, what autocrats do. But the peaceful manifestations should be a model for organizers of civil protestation, which is basically a civic way of presenting problems in such a way that democratic governments will acknowledge, even if in disagreement. That is a path towards resolution, is it not? To be seen and heard. The data of such a horrible rise in anti-Semitism in America has been so thoroughly documented by the Anti-Defamation League. I do agree with Mr. Greenblatt that anti-Semitism is "the canary in the mine." I urge the President and his advisors to read the recommendations, so specific they are and documented with specific forms of hate towards Jews across the nation. Populism is what bad faith players encourage. When socio-economic failures accelerate. When systems accommodate gently certain sectors of the economy, with bailouts that should not be given because of how such monies are immediately transferred into the personal accounts of those responsible for the failures. Housing is a fundamental necessity for citizens in a thriving democratic economy, not foreclosures and the brutal dumping of belongings and humans unto the curbside. It gets out of control when fear-mongering, hate-mongering, extremist control of fundamental socio-economical issues gives rise to the belief that the Second Amendment is more important than the First as "conflict resolution." I gives way to more fear-mongering and the fiercest forms of self-preservation, given the support the NRA continues to have among incompetent politicians who can not lead. And the radio, social media and the internet, "dark" most especially, become the recruiting places that, in the end, place the most extreme politicians in power to rule over us, never to lead. That an Alex Jones and a Steve Bannon are back doing their hate-filled transmissions of political divisionism in the country should not surprise anyone, just as how Tucker Carlson has found a new platform to recruit more neo-Nazis, an international organization already connected and now even more so on Elon Musk's free platform to spew hate and fear among its followers, Twitter. The ADL has, I repeat, not only identified anti-Semite forms on the rise, but it has offered the solutions that must be read and discussed by all of those who want a nation thriving in peace, where people can move around securely without even having to question it, which is the future all our young Americans should be given. By all of us who care and who know what it means to love.