Ten thousand antisemitic incidents have occurred in America since October 2023. I commenced writing this article on Holocaust Remembrance Day. My mind keeps revolving around four separate and disparate truths that confirm to me that another holocaust may be likely:
- 46% of French youth(somewhat less in other European countries) have either never heard of the holocaust or were not sure what it is. 48% of Americans could not name a single concentration camp. Conclusion: knowledge of the holocaust is weak and declining.
- Americans have not been a unified people since WWII.Truth is no longer a shared attribute.
- A staggering 34% of Americanscheck a box saying, “They do not feel a strong sense of connection or love for their country.” The majority of that particular cohort comprises younger Americans. Americans that either are or will shortly be in positions of power and authority.
- For Jews, a recent survey by Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs found that 7% of American-Jewish teensbetween the ages of 14 and 18 either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with the statement, “I sympathize with Hamas.” Overall, 22% of all Americans support Hamas.
Do some (all) of these statements shock you? Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats have called for a more even-handed U.S. foreign policy, even calling for ending or reducing U.S. support for Israel. This is another example of false equivalencies that equates American ideals as no better, no worse than other countries. Antisemitism and all the other worst ‘isms’ thrive on emotion and ritualistic chanting vs. quiet reasoned truth, where their arguments die for lack of veracity.
The Shadows of History: Is America at Risk of Dark Chapter?
Blue states’ abdication of law and order is implemented public policy today. It would be easy to see another Holocaust or Kristallnacht occur today in an American city; hot embers smolder everywhere:
- In 2024, there were 56 physical assaults, 554 incidents of vandalism, 1,347 incidents of verbal or written harassment, and 1,307 rallies, including antisemitic rhetoric, expressions of support for terrorism against the state of Israel, and/or anti-Zionism.
- In April 2023, a Jewish man was assaulted in New York City by individuals who shouted antisemitic slurs; he later died from his injuries.
- In May 2022, a Jewish synagogue in Boston was targeted with a bomb threat.In November, a Jewish community center in Chicago received multiple threats.
- In May 2021, Jewish individuals were violently attacked in the streets of New York and Los Angeles.In December, a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti.
- In 2020, a Jewish-owned bakery in Atlanta was vandalized with antisemitic symbols and messages.In October, a Jewish man was assaulted in Brooklyn, New York, by a group of individuals who shouted antisemitic slurs.
All of this is not happening in a vacuum, and there is no single factor that can account for the growing rise in antisemitism, not even October 7th, which some people saw as the switch that unleashed unhinged hatred and vitriol against Jews everywhere.
IQ scores in the U.S. average only 98 today. Research from two Universities found that IQ scores in the U.S. declined slightly between 2006 and 2018, particularly in areas like logic, vocabulary, and problem-solving. Could this be the root cause of why so many of our young are so easily persuaded to support untruths? Is one picture, or even a thousand photos of a dead Gazan child, proof of causation? No. Yet, too many want to believe lies because it assuages their guilt and requires little effort.
The admonishment ‘Never Again‘ used to be the most powerful rallying cry a Jew could utter. Virtually all that went to the gas chambers or lined up to be shot did so with little or no resistance, a truth that Jews state will never happen again. Yet, I witness Jews, Christians, and others today willingly allow people to burn down and vandalize our places of worship, tell us menacingly that they intend to exterminate us once again, and freely intimidate our young at colleges and universities with impunity. Too many Jews privately apologize for the sin of surviving and prospering, somehow harboring societal guilt! Keeping our heads down seems to be an almost genetic trait. How’s that working?
The normalization of deviancy that plays out with messaging and visuals splashed across our screens has altered our reality, making it difficult to see things for what they are and undercutting the message of ‘Never Again.’ Israel is free and pluralistic; Hamas and the other Iranian proxies are not. Why can’t millions of Gazan cheerleaders see that? It’s simple; if you see things through the lens of feelings, your default position is to have empathy for those being killed or wounded. Irrespective of the fact that Hamas broke the peace, killed or captured more than 1,500 people, and lobbed missiles indiscriminately at civilians, if you are empathy-driven, facts don’t matter nearly as much as your emotional makeup.
Antisemitism Through the Ages: A Warning to Remember, ‘Never Again’:-
Antisemitism has been with us for thousands of years. Hatred and blame are something societies do all too easily. Jews, Israel (separate from the Jewish people), Rwandan Genocide, Bosian ethnic cleansing, Armenia, Myanmar, India, South Sudan, the list of places where senseless violence exists is endless. The takeaway is that hatred is not exclusive to Israel or Jews alone.
We are intellectually lazy, led by leaders whose primary focus is staying in power and making the fewest waves. How else to explain American college presidents hiding their heads in the sand while their students and, even more outrageous, paid outside agitators harass, intimidate, and even attack anyone who opposes them?
Not for the Jews alone do I call out to today; I call on everyone who believes in freedom, truth, responsibility, and essential America to recognize the power of the forces that are rewriting history. We must acknowledge who we used to be, who we must be again, and what we stand to lose if we don’t rise to the challenge.
Hillel the Elder, a first-century Jewish scholar, is famously quoted saying:
“If not you, then who? If not now, when?”
Donald Trump, a non-Jew, just answered that question for himself with his pronouncement stating he was not going to repeat history doing the same failed strategies regarding Gaza. It may take the world a moment to digest his genius. For the rest of us, each of us must decide where they stand.
God bless America.
Allan J. Feifer—Patriot
Author, Businessman, Thinker, and Strategist. Read more about Allan, his background, and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com
