U.S. Creates New Antisemitism Task Force
The German Experience
The US faces a unique challenge when it comes to antisemitism, Klein continues. “The American constitution is very generous when it comes to free speech.” Denying or trivializing the Holocaust is a crime that carries a prison sentence of up to three years in Germany. Similar laws in Austria saw author David Irving sentenced to two years in 2019 — unheard of in cases of antisemitism tried in the US.
Still — Klein points out that the US could hold the key to stopping the rampant spread of antisemitism: “All the major Internet platforms are based in the United States.”
Take the Yom Kippur attack on a synagogue in the eastern German town of Halle in October 2019. The attacker was radicalized by antisemitic content online. He was stopped from killing Jewish worshippers inside by a wooden door, not by police, who had turned down the synagogue’s request for extra security earlier that day. Frustrated, the attacker killed two people outside at random. The killer also live-streamed his violent rampage on the platform Twitch.
When Words Become Violence
In the United States, the deadliest incident to date was the 2018 attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which left 11 people dead. The attacker’s social media history was littered with posts denying the Holocaustand pushing antisemitic conspiracy theories.
“We have to acknowledge that social media companies play a role here,” says Ted Deutch, former congressman and now CEO of the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
In late 2022, the antisemitic rants of “Ye”, formerly known as Kanye West, were hotly debated, posted, and reposted by more than 16 million Instagram followers. The fact that he was subsequently invited to dinner with former President Donald Trump and white supremacist Nick Fuentesat Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, sparked heated debate in the US. But that very debate also swept antisemitism further into the mainstream. Adidas may have reacted to Ye’s Holocaust denial by pulling his name-branded fashion sports shoe line from the shelves. Yet, to this day, these very shoes sell as collectors’ items on resale platforms for between $300 to $400 (€283 to 377).
Threat to Democracy
Awareness that antisemitism is a national issue remains reassuringly high, however. The latest annual survey by the American Jewish Committee revealed that nine out of 10 Americans, whether Jewish or not, regard antisemitism as a problem for society as a whole. Deutch derives a degree of hope from this common perception. “Antisemitism never just stops with the Jews. It suggests a greater problem in democracy,” Deutch says.
Special Envoy Deborah Lipstadt told her colleagues from around the world that she sees antisemitism as the “canary in the coal mine of democracy.”
President Biden’s new inter-agency initiative is still in the process of heading down that mine. Following consultation with dozens of governmental and nongovernmental actors, it is expected to deliver America’s first action plan to combat antisemitism later this year.
This article was edited by: Lucy James, and it is published courtesy of Deutsche Welle (DW).
