opinion
We Must Speak Out to Overcome
the Antisemitism in Our Backyard
BY RABBI DR. SHMULY YANKLOWITZ
W e all know that antisemitism is on the rise in
this country, and the politicians in Arizona
are among the worst offenders and instigators.

Last month, Arizona U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar
tweeted a “Dark Maga” meme commonly associ-
ated with neo-Nazi online culture. Attached to the
picture were the following terrifying words:
“Remember when our government sent planes
to Afghanistan and brought more than 100,000
Afghans in less than a week? We have in the
range of up to 40 million illegal aliens in our
country. They can be deported by planes, trains
and buses. We could easily deport 6 million each
year.” Six million, of course, is the number of Jews who
were killed in the Holocaust.

This is, sadly, nothing new in this state, where
Arizona Sen. Wendy Rogers routinely spreads
antisemitic statements, and she posted a pho-
toshopped image of herself on her Gab and
Telegram accounts with a dead rhino branded
with the letters CPAC, where the letter “a” con-
tained a Star of David. Tammy Gillies, Anti-
Defamation League regional director, told NBC
affiliate 12 News, “We’ve just released an analysis
of extremist rhetoric in the elections this year, and
Wendy Rogers is at the top of that list.” Of course,
online hate is something we must take extremely
seriously. As a community, though, our response
cannot be one of fear.

Such offenses in Arizona and across the U.S.

are too numerous to list in full and are on the
rise. And dangerous conspiracy theories have
real effects in the real world. The ADL found that,
in 2020, there were 327 antisemitic incidents at
Jewish institutions. In 2021, that number went up
to 525, a 61% increase.

But my point is not the antisemitic messages
but the response it should bring forth from us.

As Jews, we should be alarmed by the rhetoric.

Whatever Jewish denomination we are, whatever
political party we are, we should condemn hate
wherever we see it and never tolerate antisemi-
tism. Many Jews live in fear of being targeted by
the far right and the far left and make this out to
be a source of Jewish unity, not of blindly only
pointing in one direction.

Keeping people educated about Jewish issues
is not an easy task. We make up only about
2% of the American population and just 1.5% of
Arizonans. Compare that with the number of con-
spiracy theorists out there — and those willing to
use anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to score polit-
ical points — and it is easy to see why dangerous
information about Jews gets spread faster than
we can correct it.

The shooter who killed 10 in Buffalo, New
York, on May 14, was motivated by antisemitic
conspiracy theories. Antisemitism is a danger
both to ourselves and to our neighbors. For white
supremacists, as we saw here and in many other
cases, hatred of people of color is deeply con-
nected with hatred of Jews. The Jews are viewed
by such antisemites as the worst of all. To them,
we deceptively often hide in white skin and white
social circles while we are actually more aligned
with minority groups and not with the white
supremacists. Despite this, we cannot be placed in paralyzing
fear. We must call out this hateful rhetoric loudly.

However, that is not enough. Identifying the prob-
lem won’t eliminate it. We need to drown it out
by educating the public on who Jews are. We do
this by deepening allyship and bridge-building
that promote mutual understanding. We also do
this by living our lives and living out our cherished
Jewish values open and proudly.

When the public comes across hateful speech
about Jews, saying Jews are making the country
and the world worse, everyone should know,
despite our small numbers that we are a com-
passionate people. They should see this by the
example we set in the moral clarity we have and
the good we do in the community. That way, when
someone comes across a crazy conspiracy theory
about Jews, they’ll know from experience who we
really are. JE
Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the president and
dean of Valley Beit Midrash in Scottsdale, Arizona.

letters Tobin Overlooked the Real Enemy
The opinion piece by Jonathan Tobin (“Should Everyone Be Afraid of Elon
Musk Buying Twitter?”, May 4) is a remarkable piece of sophistry.

He eludes to the notion of online hate speech being of concern, but that’s
not what troubles him the most. He describes the censoring of Nazis (which
is not the decision to refuse to publish their poison) as a slippery slope to
something worse. That is, the censoring of speech of anyone we disagree
with. He accuses the Anti-Defamation League and others with threatening
democracy. And yes, for sure, there are real, serious, concerns about “cancel
culture” as practiced by the far left. I will acknowledge that antisemitic
attacks, particularly it seems in New York City, do not appear to be coming
from the right. The liberal left needs to address it.

However, anyone with their eyes open, anyone who is honest, knows
that the main political threat to our democracy and peace is emanating
from another source.

Online purveyors of racist, antisemitic hate speech consisting of the
ideology of “replacement ideology” and other choice philosophies, fellow
travelers in the Republican Party, et cetera, are the threat in our faces
right now. There have been, in recent years, examples of the violent con-
sequences of this online poison, most recently, the massacre in Buffalo.

Edward Moses, Philadelphia
BDS a Definite Campus Threat
Thank you for publishing Richard L. Cravatts’ opinion piece (“An Open Letter
to the Editorial Board of The Harvard Crimson,” May 5). Finally, a journalist
willing to confront and combat the lies spread on our college campuses.

I’d love a list of those schools, colleges and corporations that have caved
in to supporting BDS. We need to rethink where our financial contributions
are going and eliminate our support from those that further these lies. JE
Ronna Newman Rutstein, Delray Beach, Florida
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