There has been a 2-fold jump in antisemitic incidents in the New York area, according to the World Zionist Organization's antisemitism report published Tuesday, with a 125% increase in hateful incidents against Israelis and visible Jews. The Jewish Agency as well released data showing Jew hatred on American campuses increased by almost 50%, from 160 incidents in the same period last year to 230.
Shai Cohen, who studies at the prestigious Berkeley University, was interviewed on his firsthand experience of the difficulty of being Israeli in a country that has always boasted the title of "Israel's greatest ally". Being a law student at one of the elite academic institutions in the world did not help her. "This year I experienced many cases of antisemitism and anti-Zionism," she said, in an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth. "Anywhere it's hard to be Israeli, but on my campus being Israeli is 'wrong', and yes, it's difficult."
WZO report: ‘Antisemitism is everywhere. We must not be silent'https://t.co/qfNd3MvJwj
— Ynetnews (@ynetnews) January 24, 2023
(Photo: Simon Weisenthal Center) pic.twitter.com/tSzAJ2MaL0
When asked what is harder, being Jewish or a Zionist activist, she answered: "Both. I never hide being Jewish and my connection to Israel. I have experienced antisemitism and I can testify that being a Jewish student in recent years has led to more hostile reactions. People say what they think about Jews, and feel aggravated. We need to be strong, proud of our heritage, of Judaism - And we must ‘tolerate’ it; we must be proud of where we came from. We must not give in to them."
And another statistic showing the shocking rise of #antisemitism
— Suzy Goodwin (@GoodwinSuzy) January 25, 2023
Antisemitism complaints double at London universities https://t.co/tnWj0BnXCW via @European Jewish Congress
Yaakov Hagoel, the chairman of the World Zionist Organization that released the annual report, is not impressed by the slowdown in the number of antisemitic events in the world in comparison to last year, especially in light of the harsh and contrary findings from New York in particular and the US in general. "We are talking about a decade in which every year there were more antisemitic cases than the year before," he also told Yedioth Ahronoth reporters. "So this year there is no increase, but we are after ten years of increasing growth.”
"Today it's hard to be a Jew in the Diaspora, it's hard to hang around with Jewish symbols, it's hard to be a student in the US when you have a mezuzah on your door. very hard. We see this containment as an opportunity to perhaps begin to stop this difficult scourge that is happening to the people of Israel."
In 1939 Nazis humiliated religious Jews.
— Avi Abraham Benlolo (@AviBenlolo) January 23, 2023
In 2023 an adolescent social media influencer jumps an Orthodox man in England - to humiliate him.
Speak out. Sign The Pledge Against Antisemitism: https://t.co/JBXW1k0qtT pic.twitter.com/esXquRTuAf
"We are in a very bad decade for the people of Israel," he emphasizes. "So even if we see countries that are a little greener, next to the red countries, we have to understand that everything is in relation to last year, which was very bad after the activities in Gaza, and after the pandemic that created a narrative against Israel. Also, this year, when the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in February, we saw how a narrative was created that the Jews are behind it both on the Ukrainian side and on the Russian side.”
