Founded in 1998, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance adopted the following non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism:
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
Many groups are chiming in to quelch the rising chorus of hate against Jews, Asians and Sikhs, including the Anti-Defamation League, the Orthodox Union, Agudath Israel of America, and now two other groups – the Foxborough, Massachusetts-based Foundation to Combat Antisemitism and the Albany-based New York State Bar Association.
Foxborough is best known for being the home of the New England Patriots football team. Patriots owner Robert Kraft, through his foundation, has reached into his deep pockets to spend $25 million to fight and bring more awareness to the rising number of antisemitic incidents in America, a situation that is only getting worse.
Kraft tapped Matt Berger, executive director of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, to spend the $25 million. Berger said it took ten weeks to spend the money – mainly on research and marketing. Last week Berger addressed an audience of about 100 people at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, New York; the awareness campaign included a series of ads shown during NFL games and was titled “Stand Up to Jewish Hate.” The event was hosted by the Albany-based Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York.
Another phase of the campaign was to create a blue square logo representing the American Jewish community, which makes up 2.4 percent of the U.S. population. Yet Jews are victims of 55 percent of all religious hate crimes in the United States, according to Berger.
The “Stand Up to Jewish Hate” campaign was developed in response to antisemitic comments made by entertainers Kanye West, known as Ye, and NBA star Kyrie Irving, a point guard for the Dallas Mavericks. After a little arm-twisting, Irving apologized for his antisemitic remarks.
The Big Blue Square
In March of this year, the “Stand Up to Jewish Hate” campaign kicked off another phase to raise awareness concerning antisemitism online. Ads featuring a big blue square were shown during the NFL draft, NBA and NHL playoffs, and by social media influencers. In 2022, Ye was widely condemned and lost many sponsors, including his collaborations with Adidas, after making a series of antisemitic statements that included denying the Holocaust.
“We recently partnered with Adidas, which had a million-plus shoes that they needed to do something with. They have restarted selling the shoes,” Berger said. “One million of those shoes are going to have a blue square pin inside the box of shoes with a message about standing up against antisemitism. Adidas is giving some of the proceeds from the sales to organizations working to combat hate and intolerance.”
The blue square pin has been distributed to every synagogue across the country. “We want everyone to share this blue square to let them [victims of hate crimes] know they’re not fighting alone anymore. We want to use the blue square as the way the community can rally together,” Berger said. “Awareness of the blue square is growing and will continue to grow. The blue square is a conversation starter. If you are in a conversation about racism, you’re in a conversation about gender and equality. If you’re in a conversation about any of the other injustices and intolerance that is happening in our country, antisemitism is the same conversation.”
Then Berger got realistic and said this is the initial campaign and not the end all to be all.
“We are not saying that antisemitism is the biggest problem in this country. We do not believe that a blue square or a television campaign is going to solve antisemitism,” Berger said. “It has to be matched with education and engagement because we really can’t solve the problem through advertising alone.
“We have to recognize that and it is important for our allies in many of these communities that are also facing an existential threat to not try to make antisemitism be a bigger issue than others.”
Anti-Asian hate is also growing in many communities across the country, especially in portions of Queens, New York. However, it was left out of the litany of groups Kraft, 82, and Berger,45, listed as coalition partners and threatened groups.
“We also were in coalition with Black groups, Hispanic groups, LGBTQ groups, women’s organizations, the National Association of Parent Teachers’ Associations, the unions and AARP,” Berger told The Jewish Press.
The Jewish Press caught up with Berger after his speech. Asked why not include Asians along with Black and Jewish communities, Berger responded, “We’re building a strong coalition that includes Black groups, Asian groups, LGBTQ groups. We’ve been working with churches, unions, and a wide range of organizations.”
During the one-hour presentation, Berger made it clear: “We want to build bridges between Black and Jewish communities because we recognize that antisemitism and racism, while very different, also have more in common than they have differences.
“If we can work together toward fighting shared enemies, we will have better results. That’s a real conscience change that needs to happen in our community. Too often we are in what we call the “hate Olympics” where we’re trying to talk about what’s worse and who has had more oppression. It’s a waste of time.”
Yet Berger’s presentation also included a slide show in which the pertinent slide listed only “Black and Jewish hate.”
Berger came clean when pressed again by The Jewish Press regarding why only Black and Jewish hate. “That’s an area we are making a specific focus because that’s a community Mr. Kraft has a long-standing relationship with and we think we are uniquely positioned to have an impact,” Berger said.
Kraft’s father was a lay leader at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline, Massachusetts, and wanted his son to become a rabbi. The Krafts were a Modern Orthodox Jewish family. During high school, he was unable to participate in most sports because it interfered with his afterschool Hebrew studies and the observance of Shabbat. The Kraft family now belongs to Temple Emanuel in Newton, Mass., an egalitarian Conservative synagogue.
The Lawyers Get Involved
The New York State Bar Association has launched an 18-member task force comprised of six Jewish members, six Asian members and six non-Jewish or non-Asian members. The co-chairs of the task force are Vincent Chang, partner at Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch in New York City and Brian Cohen, partner at Lachtman Cohen in White Plains.
“Hate does not belong in our communities,” said Bar Association President Richard Lewis, who launched the task force. “It is upsetting and disturbing that hate crimes and violence against Asian people and Jewish people have increased by so much over the past few years. This task force will look for strategies to stop the hate and find justice for those affected by such heinous acts.”
As Berger noted, this will not put an end to antisemitism. Lewis agreed and told The Jewish Press these incidents of hate must be confronted and dealt with harshly.
“We can’t ignore this issue. We can’t pretend that this type of hatred is not out there and that these issues are not happening. These crimes are not getting the attention that they should in the media,” Lewis said. “It is a problem that is underreported and the reports get diluted and pushed to the background. I think a lot of people think it’s not a problem. I understand you can’t necessarily arrest somebody because they said something. But when they start to act out in a fashion that is aggressive or violent, now we’re talking about something entirely different. With the growth of the number of incidents it’s becoming a crisis.”
One of the areas where hate crimes are being swept under the rug is at colleges and universities. The institutes of higher learning tend to keep rape and violent crimes hidden because administrators don’t want their schools to be known as crime-ridden, as has been the case when women were assaulted on many campuses.
“College administrators suppress acts of hate on campus because everyone wants to look like they are open [and not hiding anything]. We know that is not the case. The contrary is true as well. It is sort of like the campuses do not want to report antisemitic incidents, but by the same token it frequently [happens], like in a rape situation, the victims do not want to report the crime either,” Lewis, 75, said. “The reason is they don’t want to put emphasis on it because they are afraid it will grow as a result. All of these things are incredible factors.”
The task force will “try to confront the present origins such as in the issues in the schools and other areas,” Lewis said.
Lewis said the task force plans to eventually write legislation and submit it to the key legislative committees to give law enforcement and the courts more weight to put the offenders behind bars.
“I hope we will get to the power sources in the legislature, etc., to review hate crime laws and to review the way things are handled in schools,” Lewis said. “Is the Holocaust being taught and if so, is it a quick run through or are they really talking about the horrors of the Holocaust?”
Lewis serves as special counsel at the Binghamton-based law firm, Hinman, Howard and Kattell. He said his family is generally affiliated with two synagogues in the Carousel City; Beth David (Orthodox) and Beth Israel (Conservative).
