Anti-Semitism This Week: Vile Chelsea Fans And Hatred On The Stump
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The Forward regularly monitors the surge of anti-Semitism across the country and around the world. The mission of this column is not to unduly alarm, but rather to raise awareness of a disturbing trend that, from some vantage points, can prove difficult to spot.
Tabulating Hatred
More than 382,000 anti-Semitic messages were posted on social media platforms in 2016, according to a new survey by the World Jewish Congress. To put the numbers in perspective, that amounts to one anti-Semitic post every 83 seconds.
Boom Times
The Anti-Defamation League found an 86% increase in attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions this year so far, according to a report released April 24. The ADL reports 369, or nearly a third of the attacks, occurring in the last two months of 2016 alone. 34 incidents were linked directly to the 2016 election, including graffiti that read “Kill the Jews, Vote for Trump,” and a proclamation by a Florida man who said, “Trump is going to finish what Hitler started.” While there has been a decrease in physical attacks, online harassment has particularly spiked.
Out Of Bounds
Chelsea fans were caught on video singing anti-Semitic chants before the club’s match with Tottenham, the most popular English soccer club among the London Jewish community. The video shows approximately 20 Chelsea fans shouting, “We’ll be running around Tottenham with our willies hanging out, singing I’ve got a foreskin, haven’t you?.”
He Just Lost My Vote
NYC city council candidate Thomas Lopez-Pierre posted a Youtube video targeting “ethnic cleansing” by “greedy Jewish landlords.”
“Mark Levine is controlled by Jewish landlords,” Lopez-Pierre said of his opponent in the video. “Jewish landlords own more than 80% of the real estate in upper Manhattan, and they are at the forefront of pushing black and Latino people out of upper Manhattan. Together, if we organize, we can defeat Mark Levine, we can defeat Donald Trump, and we can defeat the Jewish landlords that are pushing black and Latino people out of Washington Heights and the Upper West Side.”
Lopez-Pierre stood by his comments, denying they were anti-Semitic and were instead displaying his commitment “to the political and economic empowerment of the black community.” This is only the latest in a history of Lopez-Pierre utilizing race-baiting while campaigning in 2013
Derailing Decency
Anti-Semitic graffiti is the top hate crime found in New York City subways, according to a report by the MTA. The vast majority of hate crimes this year — 22 of 31 — in New York City subways targeted Jews.
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