{Originally posted to the author’s website}
Analysts have been attempting to place anti-Semites and anti-Semitic attacks into neat buckets for a long time. Recently, people have described the hatred as stemming from three main sources: the alt-right and the alt-left, and in Europe, Muslim antisemitism while in the United States the third category is Black antisemitism. Some argue that groups like the Black Israelites are essentially alt-right Black supremacists, while others consider they are alt-left members of the Black community who “punch up” against the perceived wealthy Jewish landlords and bankers and established white society. Perhaps followers of the Nation of Islam are a mixture of all the groups.
There is merit to this approach but I would suggest that there’s an advantage at looking at the global antisemitism in coming in two main forms without getting into particulars of the attackers’ skin color or religion as it clarifies how to deal with the hatred: organized and disorganized antisemitism, which should be fought directly and swarmed aggressively, respectively.
Organized Antisemitism
Organized antisemitism is easy to recognize because its actions and words are consistent. There is no surprise when a member of the group takes action against a Jewish person or property, as the language of hatred and disdain are in plain sight.
Consider one of the most anti-Semitic groups in the world today, Hamas. It drafted its foundational charter in 1988 based in large part on the Russian forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the worst possible reading of the Koran.
When Hamas launched wars against Israel in 2008, 2012 and 2014, there was no surprise. When it fired rockets against civilians in Israel, no one was shocked. This is a group that does not simply want to have an Arab Palestinian state, they want to rid the land of Jews whom they view as “sons of apes and pigs” and nefarious Nazis, not simply “colonial invaders.”
Fatah, the competing Palestinian political party is only slightly less organized in its Jew hatred. It does not have a charter which demonizes Jews; they prefer to do that on a daily basis with specific actions. These include naming schools and parks after terrorists, paying salaries to terrorists who kill Jews, and having a law which calls for capital punishment for any Arab selling land to Jews. Their party leader and president Mahmoud Abbas wrote his doctoral dissertation on Holocaust denial and he routinely denies that Jews have any history or ties to Jerusalem and bemoans the “Judaization” of Judaism’s holiest city.
It is no surprise that the Palestinian Arabs are the most anti-Semitic according to polls by the ADL, as their two principle political parties function as organized anti-Semitic organizations.
In the United States, organized antisemitism can be found as well.
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is the most infamous hate group in the country. It hates Blacks, Jews and others who are not White Christian. It was birthed at the end of the Civil War and was effectively reestablished after World War I in the 1920’s. Some claim that it was the rise of the KKK and its anti-immigrant policies that led the United States to curtail immigration years before the stock market crash of 1929.
Black anti-Semites exist alongside White anti-Semites. The leader of the Nation of Islam is a proud anti-Semite who calls the Jews “vermin” and “Satanic” to a standing ovation of thousands of people.
The largest organization that promotes Jew hatred is the United Nations. While it does not state that it is against Jews in its literature, its actions clearly treat the sole Jewish State as a pariah entity, condemning it more frequently than any of the other 192 nations combined. It holds Israel to a double standard and doesn’t bat an eyelash when member states talk of destroying the country.
Many media organizations are also overcome with antisemitism, such as Al Jazeera and The New York Times. They routinely call Israel racist and exaggerate real or perceived crimes committed by Jews and under-report when Jews are victims. They claim to be balanced and even-handed but their words make clear their systemic culture of Jew-hatred.
The commonality of the organized anti-Semitic groups are their consistency. They do not waiver in their attitudes towards Jews. They trade in tropes and peddle the vile. They call out the Jew consistently, day by day, page by page. They use their podiums to encourage others to join the jihad, the riot, the pogrom, and the genocide of the Jews and the Jewish State.
Hamas’s 2014 war against Israel, the 2016 United Nations Security Council resolution declaring that Jews living in their holiest city of Jerusalem is illegal and the 2018 alt-Right shooting of a Pittsburgh synagogue are recent examples of organized antisemitism.
Disorganized Antisemitism
Disorganized antisemitism is not carried out by established organizations but by individuals and newly formed groups. They are inspired by the organizations which spout Jew-hatred, but don’t necessarily belong to them.
Consider the European riots against Jews in 2014 while Hamas waged its war against Israel. Many people in cities throughout the continent attacked local Jews, incited by local imams, an antisemitic press and a United Nations which routinely vilifies Jews.
The 2015 attacks by West Bank Palestinians against Jews was called a “stabbing intifada” carried out by “lone wolves.” These people watched Palestinian TV and heard the words of their leaders to kill the Jews. They may or may not have been active politically, but they had been brain-washed Jew-hatred for years.
Black Americans have been told by their leaders that they have suffered from rich Jewish landlords and bankers. Was it a surprise when they shot up a kosher supermarket in Jersey City or axed Jews in Monsey, NY?
People have tried to downplay disorganized antisemitism as a non-issue; one-off attacks committed by desperate people which can be ignored. The liberal approach portrayed the attackers as as much the victims as the actual victims, whether the perpetrator was a disenfranchised Black man or beleaguered Palestinian. They refused to recognize the individuals’ inherent guilt or call out the organized antisemitic infrastructure as being culpable for inciting the antisemitic voices in their heads.
So newer organizations have begun to take shape which adopt the models of the prior organized antisemitic groups. BlackLivesMatter produced a manifesto calling Israel an apartheid state and the Woman’s March snuggled up to Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Zionists were labeled as monsters and a new crop of antisemites were born.
The Appropriate Response
It is easy to address organized antisemites: block them at every turn. Cancel the subscription to the New York Times and don’t watch any videos produced by Al Jazeera. Push the United States to block anti-Israel UN resolutions, defund anti-Israel UN organizations like UNRWA and run foreign policy directly between nations and not via the corrupt UN regime.
Shout down antisemites who want to march or speak in your town, whether they be the KKK or the Nation of Islam. Call members of Congress to not accept endorsements from people associated with these groups.
And in regards to the blossoming anti-Semitic organizations like BLM and the Woman’s March, demand that they change their platforms or be treated in the same manner as the established antisemitic organizations.
As for the “lone wolves,” surround them, do not empower them. Bombard them with actual facts about Jews and the Jewish State to counter the antisemitic propaganda they have been taught. Surround them with a robust Jewish presence, letting them know that Jews will not disappear the way they did in Hebron in 1929, and that they should get used to seeing them as neighbors.
A peaceful world of coexistence must be built on some plain truths, and those include honest assessments of relationships. It is time to aggressively COMBAT organized antisemitism and SWARM disorganized antisemitism. The future security of Jews depends on it.