To Any Human Rights Organization This May Concern–
I’m Leora Eisenberg. I’m 17. I’m fairly liberal. And I’m Jewish. I’ve been to all kinds of civil rights protests and have written so many letters to members of Congress about saving giant sequoias that I wonder if the paper I’ve used cancels out my efforts. I’ve signed petitions and am active in social justice. But among all of these fights for black rights and women’s rights and trees’ rights, I haven’t once seen a protest against anti-Semitism.
Not once have I seen a human rights or social justice organization speak out against anti-Semitism. (In fact, Amnesty International recently refused to pass a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, the only resolution that didn’t pass.)
And I get it. We Jews seem white. The Ashkenazim among us hail from Eastern Europe, and the Sephardim among us are not always deemed to be “people of color.” We are, as a group, successful against all odds in fields like economics, medicine and business, but are regularly blamed for controlling the media, using babies’ blood in matzoh, and causing, more or less, ALL societal ills.
Let me shock you a bit: 40% of Jews in France are considering leaving France for Israel. I remember when my best friend told me that he needed to make aliyah because he was afraid of wearing a kippah in public. But anecdotes do not a point prove. Immigration to Israel from France is hitting record numbers. 60% of Frenchmen believe that Jews are at least partially at fault for anti-Semitism…. but the anti-Semitism itself has reached a point where a staggeringly high number of hate crimes– about 51%– are targeted at less than 1% of the French population-JEWS.
But what hits closer to home is that, according to the FBI, 62.4% of all religiously motivated hate crimes in the US are against Jews, who comprise barely 2% of the population. And I remember when I first experienced anti-Semitism — all my friends, many of whom are very active in social justice and human rights, just told me that “it would pass.”
The last Jews were kicked out of Aleppo. The last Jews are being forced to convert or to leave in Yemen. I could go on, but you catch my drift.
But I don’t see human rights/social justice groups doing anything about it. And I get it– anti-Semitism has existed for centuries (millennia actually)– so why change anything now? Why take on a campaign that has failed for so long.
But I challenge you to change that. This will be something new. This will be a campaign the world has never seen. I’ll design the anti-Semitism campaign, if you let me. Just give me a chance. Stand against anti-Semitism like I hope you will.
But I haven’t seen you try yet.
Looking forward to hearing from you sooner rather than later. Anti-Semitism must stop TODAY.
Warm regards,
Leora Eisenberg