Dear Friends,
“I am exhausted, angry and sad. Yet again, the Jews are experiencing both an antisemitism scandal and a collective failure to properly discuss what happened.”
That is how Elad Nehorai begins a recent OpEd in the Forward. At issue was Kanye West’s recent hate-filled, antisemitic tweet. But Nehorai points out that West’s tweet, as ugly as it was, is only part of the antisemitic story here. In the article he reminds us of a recently aired dog-whistle-laden interview West did with Tucker Carlson. During the interview, West said,
“I just think that’s what they’re about. I don’t think that they have the ability to make anything on their own. I think they were born into money.”
Nehorai then observes,
“With this comment, coded antisemitism was subtly introduced into the conversation, omitting the word ‘Jews’ in order to achieve plausible deniability.”
Nehorai explains that as bad as the tweet and the interview were in their own right, leaked footage that was cut from the interview is even more direct in its overt antisemitism. Nehorai suggests,
“Carlson and his team purposefully edited their footage to make Kanye’s comments into a dog whistle instead of a foghorn.
In America, coded antisemitism is often unseen or dismissed. But ideas inspired by the ‘great replacement theory’ and the Jewish puppet master conspiracy now dominate Republican politics, and antisemitic conspiracies have become standard, mainstream talking points for the right.”
And all of this took place during Sukkot, a festival that, in addition to celebrating the fall harvest, is an annual reminder that we are more vulnerable than we think.
For me, the saddest part of this episode was the fact that, once again, this story was barely covered by non-Jewish media. With few exceptions, the only organizations speaking out strongly to condemn this were Jewish organizations, and with similarly few exceptions, the only elected officials speaking out were Jewish.
If modern history has taught us anything, it is that when hatred goes unchecked it rapidly metastasizes until it takes on a life of its own. When antisemitic dog-whistles are accepted as part of “free speech,” it isn’t long before the whistle becomes a shout.
We need to speak out against this growing acceptance of antisemitism coming from both the right and the left extremes. And we need to demand that our elected officials take clear, unapologetic positions that expressly reject this kind of behavior.
For our part, it is more important than ever that we remain vigilant and speak out when we see or hear something antisemitic. I hope you will join me at ADL’s Never Is Now on November 10th. The day will be an important opportunity for us to gain a better understanding of what is happening and why the “world’s oldest hatred” has grown and is increasingly out in the open. It will also give us some of the tools we need if we are to do our part to combat this and all the other hatred that has increasingly been allowed to see the light of day.
I look forward to spending the day with you.
You can read the full OpEd here: https://forward.com/opinion/521195/the-real-kanye-west-scandal-everyone-is-missing/
You can register for Never Is Now and save a seat on the bus we have taking us there here.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Daniel M. Cohen
