|
Bill De Blasio Claims Anti-Semitism Is Just A ‘Right-Wing Movement’
"I think the ideological movement that is anti-Semitic is the right-wing movement," de Blasio said at a presser Tuesday, according to the New York Post. Attacks on Jews have increased by roughly 90% in the past year, and the New York Police Department (NYPD) has tossed in the clink Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! 75 people in connection with the crimes, according to the report. De Blasio’s comments were consistent with his past statements on the rise of anti-Semitism in his city. After a group of Hasidic Jews were attacked in Crown Heights, Brooklyn earlier this year, de Blasio blamed white supremacy, despite the fact that the alleged attackers were identified as black. "It’s really clear that forces of white supremacy have been unleashed," de Blasio said. "A lot of folks used to be told it was unacceptable to be anti-Semitic, it was unacceptable to be racist and now they’re getting more permission."
De Blasio’s comments drew criticism, including from City Councilman Chaim Deutsch. “I have not seen any white supremacists coming in here committing these hate crimes,” the Jewish Democrat said, according to the New York Post
[Jpost] On a recent speaking tour in North America, I was asked repeatedly about antisemitism in the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn’s Labour has become an existential threat to British Jews, and audiences smartly inquired what could be done to stop growing antisemitism in UK politics from endangering Britain’s Jews. At Campaign Against antisemitism, the volunteer-run charity that I am proud to lead, we have been at the forefront of calling out Labour in the media. This media campaign has borne fruit: According to a May 17 YouGov survey, 80 percent of British voters are now aware of Labour’s antisemitism crisis, and just 19 percent are still convinced by Labour and Corbyn’s arguments that they are not antisemitic.
For years, British Jews watched and failed to do enough as the far-left allied with Islamists, and as their warped hatred took hold on university campuses and in sections of the media. Then, in 2015, hundreds of thousands of new activists joined Labour, many of them from the far-left, following a change in membership rules which reduced membership fees to only £3 per year. They wasted no time in electing the little-known Jeremy Corbyn to lead them. Soon after Corbyn’s improbable ascent to the Labour leadership, we saw two changes: Anti-Semites in the Party, who saw Corbyn as a kindred spirit, became bolder, and those anti-Semites ceased to be firmly punished, thereby emboldening others. One of the first, Sir Gerald Kaufman, claimed at an event in Parliament that British Jews donated to the Conservative Party so that Israeli Jews could kill what he referred to as “Arab-looking people.” Corbyn took no action. Over the following months and years, more and more cases began to pile up, but in most cases, Labour dithered over how to treat Holocaust deniers and anti-Jewish conspiracy theorists, often excusing them and welcoming them back into the fold. As this cycle developed, the sound of antisemitism grew, and it now roars from Labour’s grassroots with the support or acquiescence of its leadership. Under Corbyn, the machinery of the party has been corrupted to excuse antisemitism whilst punishing those who stand up against it. Meanwhile, prominent Party figures deny antisemitism by claiming that it is just a “smear” campaign by Jews. There are lessons to be learned in North America from our experiences in Britain, particularly with a similar dynamic starting to play out on the far left. Communities elsewhere should learn from the mistakes made in Britain. Do not dismiss anti-Semites as fringe lunatics: They breed on the extremes of society and eventually seep into the mainstream. Posted by: Fred 2019-06-06 |
||||
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=542658 |