It seems that everywhere one turns, it is open season on things Jewish. Certainly, there is little bashfulness about singling out Jews. Reports of Jews being targeted by Muslim thugs in Europe, particularly in England, France, and Germany, come in on a regular basis. Indeed, it is commonplace to hear that police authorities even caution Jews to stay out of certain areas because they cannot protect them.
There are also accounts of individuals and groups mounting challenges to religious circumcisions and ritual slaughter. One also reads of an ominous wave of anti-Semitism in Poland following the furor over that nation’s new Holocaust law which criminalizes statements about Polish complicity in the Holocaust. The sensitivity of Poles to any such complicity – which is a historical fact – appears to have pushed them over the edge and fostered an “us versus them” mentality. Polish television commentators, government officials, and a prominent Catholic priest have since been recorded making anti-Semitic comments.
The other day, Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked by an American journalist about alleged meddling by Russians in the 2016 American presidential election. He responded: “Maybe they’re not even Russians. Maybe they’re Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews, just with Russian citizenship.” Of course, Jews as a separate entity from “real Russians” can be construed as an anti-Semitic sentiment.
Closest to home is the unfolding scandal of the close relationship members of Congress – in particular Keith Ellison, who is also the vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee – have had with the notorious anti-Semite, Nation of Islam leader Rev. Louis Farrakhan. Not only has Rev. Farrakhan in the past referred to Judaism as “that gutter religion” and ranted incessantly about Jewish “control” over the government and media, more recently he said, “Farrakhan, by God’s race, has pulled the cover off that Satanic Jew, and I’m here to say your time is up-your world is through.”
Meanwhile Women’s March leader Tamika Mallory apparently attended a particularly rabid anti-Semitic speech by Rev. Farrakhan but failed to condemn his remarks either at the event or afterwards. And other officials of the Women’s March are apparently close to Farrakhan as well.
These sort of open and notorious outrages do not bode well for the future.