I am troubled by JTA editor Andrew Silow-Carroll’s explanation (“Questions Over Narrative On U.S. Anti-Semitism, March 31) for the claims made against Trump concerning the rise of anti-Semitism.
First, he points to how the Jewish community was “traumatized by the string of some 150 bomb threats” which sent “hundreds of families reeling.” Really, I wonder how Jewish families in Israel are coping? … Are American Jews snowflakes hyperventilating over what was clearly nuisance spamming, whether or not it was a disgruntled Jew?
My grandchildren go to a JCC and the last thing that I would want is to indulge this coddling of hypersensitivity, which has become acceptable on many college campuses. Here I think Silow-Carroll is just using these claims of psychological distress as a justification for the outlandish anti-Trump claims that were being made.
Second, there is this overriding theme that Trump has acted too slowly on issues of anti-Semitism. We have just experienced the previous president, who had no qualms immediately voicing his disapproval of events he perceived as racist. Recall his immediate condemnation of the arrest of [Harvard Professor Henry Louis] “Skip” Gates in Cambridge, Mass., his embrace of Trayvon Martin before any of the facts were known and his calling to task the police in Ferguson simply because we were told falsely that Michael Brown had his hands in the air. Maybe a more temperate approach would have been warranted.
Third, and most importantly, Silow-Carroll papers over lack of response to the anti-Semitic threats from the left. In general, progressive organizations like Bend the Arc have little interest in combating the BDS movement or the silencing of pro-Israeli voices on campuses. Unfortunately, these progressive organizations can only be energized to combat anti-Semitism if they believe it emanates from right wing sources.
Brooklyn
