We are on the heals of Memorial Day, a holiday in America wherein we honor and remember the fallen military and first responder heroes from all our conflicts, wars, and events. We also had the tragic shootings of innocent lives in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. Sometimes it feels like we cannot bear remembering the death of the past, or face the death of today, without feeling crushed.
As we lift up family members who grieve in the wake of losing loved ones from any number of tragic reasons, I was sobered this week by a post from an Israeli who was offering the United States its sincerest condolences and sympathy regarding our losses. He mentioned in this post that 16 innocents that week were also lost in Israel.
It occurred to me that every loss of life by any manner, especially those resulting from crime or terrorism, is something Israelis face almost every week—in a country the size of new Jersey. I remember once in 2008 when I was in Israel, an Israeli woman told me that every single Israeli is personally touched by violence, either by his or her own self being a victim, or that of an immediate family member. She said that tragic and untimely death is part of every family.
A May 22 New York Post article caught my eye this week as well. Israelis are surrounded by all sides with factions that are interested in destroying them, not living side by side, not having a two-state solution, but to remove them from their indigenous land. Congresswoman Tlaib introduced a bill just last week noting the indigenous nature of the Arabs, the right of return, and demanding the recognition of the Nakba, when Arabs fled the region at the behest of the Arab league, as the goal was to remove the Jews and the land would be Arab only…they didn’t expect Israel to prevail, so the history was spun that somehow the Israelis expelled the Arabs.
Back to the Post article, quote:
Strikingly, anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York City were up by nearly 100% in March compared with March 2021, per NYPD data. That followed an even more disturbing 400% hike in February and a 300% hike in January.
The upsurge in anti-Semitic attacks in the city is driving a statewide crisis: Anti-Jewish violence here is at an all-time high, the Anti-Defamation League’s annual report released last month found — with the state leading the nation in such incidents.
Anti-Semitic incidents in the state rose 24% last year, with 416 recorded cases, including 51 assaults — the most physical attacks the ADL has recorded since it began collecting data more than 40 years ago. Attacks on Jewish institutions like synagogues and schools were up 41%.
The article outlines much of what I have been reporting in the last few years, including noting that BDS movements on college campuses cause problems outside of campus. But, this article focused just on NYC schools. Moreover, it directly connects the activities on these colleges to the violence in the communities at large around NYC and the entire state. The article ends,
Nationally, a similar trend involves intensifying anti-Semitic incidents and an increase in the number of prominent colleges and universities endorsing BDS or anti-Israel positions.
A day before this New Port Post article came out, The Jerusalem Post published an article about BDS in the United States
(Most Americans don’t know about or don’t support BDS – Pew – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com))
What is interesting about this article are the statistics. A pew research study shows that 84% of Americans don’t know what the BDS movement is, but once identified, 91% of Americans do not support it.
So, what is going on in American universities seems to be to be a subversive effort by the Palestinian-backed Boycott Divest and Sanction (BDS) proponents to gather up a general sentiment of anti-Zionism at the very least, and antisemitism at worst. And it seems to be working, all under the noses of most everyday Americans, many of whom send their children to these elite and expensive colleges only to be indoctrinated to hate the only Jewish state on the face of the earth.
Our mission at The Jerusalem Connection is to advocate for Israel and the Jewish people worldwide –to educate and activate our followers to do what they can within their own networks and spheres of influence to fight back against antisemitism in any form, wherever it pops up whether it is the entertainment industry, the political realm, the pulpit, or the general town square. To recognize anti-Zionism and antisemitism where it manifests and to call it out. And, under no circumstances allow for a double standard of judgment against Israel or jews, which part of the definition of antisemitism as defined by the IHRA and is being adopted by organizations, schools, governments and more, around the world
(What is antisemitism? | IHRA (holocaustremembrance.com)
Shavua Tov. Have a great week.