December 2019: a month that the Jewish community will never forget. Though knockout attacks against Hasidic Jews had been on the radar of the broader Jewish world for some time now, the frequency and severity of violent attacks targeting the most visible members of the Jewish community set off new alarm bells. With one attack seemingly begetting another, and the tools used to carry them out transitioning from fists and stones to machetes, automatic weapons, and explosive devices, the Jewish community all of a sudden was clamoring for an organized response.
As calls for protection rose, public debate turned to root causes. Some pointed to the growing power of white nationalism, which has even found a home in President Trump’s administration. Others pointed to the power of cult-like leaders like Louis Farrakhan, whose peddling of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories still has the ability to captivate small corners of the black community. Still others pointed to anti-Zionism on the left, naming activists for Palestinian liberation as fomenting the kind of hate that disproportionately targets Jews.
Read more: https://forward.com/opinion/438053/how-to-talk-about-black-anti-semitism/
