An Appeal to Politicians, Journalists, and Scholars Stop Excusing Jew Haters

Key Findings:

Gunther Jikeli, professor at Indiana University’s Borns Jewish Studies Program, provides an analysis of the state of antisemitism in 2021.

Antisemitism is spreading to a wider spectrum of the population, even outside of extreme fringe groups such as the far right, far left, or radical Islam. It is a growing issue that increasingly plagues our society today, whether its display is overt or masked. 

The spectrum of antisemitism widening has been proven to be consistent with reported antisemitic harassment incidents, as well as the general sense of fear Jews experience in relation to disclosing their identity in public. FBI statistics and other surveys from both 2019 and 2021 show an overwhelming increase of hate crimes against Jews. In addition, the underreporting of antisemitic hate crimes prevents an understanding of an even more accurate picture. 

Jikeli criticizes journalism as a factor in the current spread of antisemitism. He explains that the defamation of Israel in newspapers and articles regularly circulating the web is complicit in the spread of defamation against Jews, and is not a far cry from explicit antisemitism. 

The author proposes that antisemitism is currently a more prevalent issue than it has been previously, and poses an explicit threat to the Jewish community. As stated in the title of this article, the author is appealing to politicians, journalists, and scholars to prevent the spread of antisemitism by condemning it in all its forms, and regardless of its origin.