The administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt has received criticism from some historians for not doing enough to stop the Holocaust of Europe’s Jews or at least to rescue a larger number of them. Restrictions on immigration from southern and eastern Europe were still in place during the war, preventing many Jews from seeking shelter in America. The SS St. Louis left Hamburg, Germany and sailed to Cuba in 1939 with 936 Jewish refugees. FDR refused to allow the ship to disembark on US shores, citing immigration restrictions and Secretary of State Cordell Hull’s opposition to allowing the refugees to leave the ship. There was some action by the Administration to rescue Jews, but it was little and late. In 1944, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. and Randolph Paul brought the “Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of This Government in the Murder of Jews” to FDR. In response, FDR started the War Refugee Board in 1944, but it was close to the end of the war, and while it was effective, had it been started earlier FDR’s Administration could have rescued 200,000 Jews from the Holocaust if not for the restrictions on US immigration.
Anti-Semitism, which was seen to have been in a general decline since the 1960s, has been on the increase in America and Europe, particularly in relation to attitudes towards the State of Israel, but also related to the rise of White Supremicist and Neo Nazi sentiment. The ADL reported in a press release that 2014 was a very bad year in terms of anti-Semitism, with crimes and vandalism targeting Jews up 21%. This included a shooting that targeted Jewish buildings in Kansas and incidents perpetrated by those angry over Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza. In fact, the ADL declared 2014 a “particularly violent year for Jews.” Abraham Foxman, then still head of the ADL, said, “While the overall number of anti-Semitic incidents remains lower than we have seen historically, the fact remains that 2014 was a particularly violent year for Jews, both overseas and in the United States.” During the Gaza operation, flyers were handed out in Chicago threatening violence against Jews if Israel did not pull out of Gaza. Synagogues and Jewish centers were spray painted with slogans like “Jews=Killers” and “Hamas,” while anti-war protesters in Milwaukee chanted, “Jews and Nazis are the same, the only difference is their name.”
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement on college campuses often seems to blur the lines between anti-Semitism and opposition to what is called the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. While many liberal Jews and non-Jews insist that objecting to Israel’s control of the West Bank is not tantamount to questioning the state of Israel’s existence or meant to demonize Jews and Israelis, some BDS activities have been extended to boycott Israeli artists and academics, regardless of their position on the territories. On campuses, many student-led demonstrations contain explicit comparisons between Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank and Apartheid in South Africa or even Nazi Germany. Students at the University of California voted to divest from Israel, and while the college administration is not required to follow suit, many Israeli and Jewish students are harassed for the ties to Israel.
Even a year after the war in Gaza, the amount of anti-Semitic graffiti just in the past month has been staggering. In less than a week, two San Antonio Texas synagogues were spray painted with swastikas and Nazi slogans. In addition, cars in San Antonio have been painted with offensive graffiti. In Montreal, mailboxes belonging to Jews have been targeted.
The rising number of anti-Semitic incidents arrives amid significant tensions between the Obama administration in the US and the Netanyahu government in Israel and between the White House and high profile Democrats, particularly Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who oppose the president’s nuclear deal with Iran. Michael Bloomberg criticized a White House official for implying that Schumer will face consequences for going against the President, and may be passed over for opportunities in the Senate. The Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized in the strongest terms the treatment of Jewish Democrats for disagreeing with the Iran nuclear deal, compared those tactics to “McCarthyism” and referred to them as “gutter politics.”