When Did Antisemitism Become Acceptable Again?

I grew up in Southeast Missouri over 60 years ago. America wasn’t perfect back then, but I felt people generally understood life’s basic principles. You could disagree about politics, you could disagree about religion, you could disagree about the direction of the country, but you didn’t question the right of another person to live in peace and security. Despite all that, there was a degree of courtesy and respect for differing opinions, and people generally tried to keep things factual and free of hate.

Now I wonder if those principles of mutual respect and the right to live in peace still apply to everybody in the same way. What concerns me most is that the basic expectation of safety and equal treatment, especially for minorities, no longer feels guaranteed. The principle of universal protection—once taken for granted—now seems at risk.

As a Jewish American, I’m increasingly troubled not only by the rise in antisemitism but by the apparent willingness of political leaders, universities, and other institutions to tolerate it. I feel confident they wouldn’t get away with that if it was directed at any other minority. The contrast is striking, and it raises questions about why the same urgency and protection isn’t always extended to Jewish students.

Consider the Cooper Union incident in New York in October 2023. Jewish students were in the library on campus, and the pro-Palestinian demonstrators were outside banging on the doors and windows. The students said they were frightened and in danger. That’s entirely plausible, given the protesters’ aggressive, mostly masked behavior.  Many felt the school’s response was insufficient and too slow, since it took a long time for students to feel secure enough to leave. School officials later expressed concern, but questions remain about whether they should have acted more strongly or provided clearer support for the affected students. Jewish students are just as entitled as anyone else to go to class, to study in the library, and to move around the campus without being frightened.

Peaceful protest is a right in America. Threatening or intimidating other students or indeed anyone who is just going about their day is not. That distinction has to be absolutely clear regardless of the political motivation or the individuals involved. If you allow behavior to go beyond peaceful protest you only end up with more intimidation and more violence. Allegations of criminal acts must be investigated, and those responsible should face appropriate legal consequences. To ignore such actions as has so often been the case is effectively condoning violence.

There are too many good people who have remained silent. Antisemitism has never really disappeared. It’s changed its face, its justifications and at times its political affiliations. What really irks me isn’t so much the re-emergence of open antisemitism as the way that institutions which profess to be tolerant and diverse will often go to the trouble of justifying it, minimizing it, or simply ignoring it. Jewish Americans shouldn’t have to go to the trouble of proving that threats against them are no different in the eyes of the law than threats against anyone else. A society cannot claim to oppose hatred while looking the other way when its targets are Jewish.