On the night of Wednesday, Could 21, a younger couple was shot to demise outdoors the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
Practically everybody rapidly and rightly condemned this tragedy. But it’s crucial to grasp the character of the assault and what it says about anti-Jewish racism.
Too typically, assaults on Jews are contextualized in a method that inadvertently blames them for their very own deaths. Some preliminary information stories famous that the homicide of the couple got here at a time of elevated pressure in Gaza, as if the continuing struggle ought to present a useful backdrop. Tales that led with the truth that they labored for the Israeli Embassy steered that they might have had it coming.
This phenomenon happens after each assault on a Jewish group when the attacker doesn’t match the profile of a traditional racist, and when Jews don’t match the mildew of helpless sufferer. After a white man murdered 11 aged Jews of their synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, the response was unequivocal: Racism and antisemitism are an insupportable stain on our nation.
Elias Rodriguez, charged with first-degree homicide within the taking pictures of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, is as vile and racist because the Pittsburgh shooter. As Rodriguez was being apprehended by police, he shouted the now acquainted chant, “free, free Palestine.” This phrase, in addition to “globalize the intifada” and “from the river to the ocean” are usually not mere pleas for freedom, however slightly requires violence. We’ve been culturally conditioned to interpret these chants as political speech, however the truth is they name for the destruction of Israel, which — regardless of how the chanters might justify it — outcomes in the end within the destruction of Jewish life.
But Rodriguez will probably go down as a deranged actor of political violence who, in some unspecified time in the future, merely misplaced his method. An activist group he related to, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which celebrated the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist assault on Israel and has melded ideologically with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has quietly backed away and disavowed him. Self-described socialist teams which have adopted PFLP rhetoric are widespread in Washington state. They had been concerned within the campus encampments and behind the assaults on College of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce’s residence. These teams extol violence towards Israel however by no means take accountability when their supporters kill Jews.
My first thought once I heard concerning the homicide of this younger, vibrant couple was, “That might have been me.” After what number of Jewish group occasions in downtown Seattle have I stepped out onto the sidewalk and into the night time?
Then it hit me: It has occurred right here. It occurred in 2006 when Naveed Haq was “indignant about Israel” and managed to enter the Jewish Federation constructing and shoot six women, killing one. “It may have been me” will not be an expression concerning the randomness of the universe. When Jews are attacked, it’s not normally as a result of we’re within the incorrect place on the incorrect time. It really may very well be us. We’re totally conscious of this all over the place we go, and whereas we’re devastated over these deaths, we’re not stunned.
That is why Jewish establishments the world over have locked doorways, gate codes, guards, safety screenings, metallic detectors, bag checks, panic buttons, emergency telephones, “cease the bleed” workshops, safety plans, bulletproof glass, two-way mirrors and the police and FBI on speed-dial.
These protections might mitigate the results of hate. However to counter the results of hate, we have to perceive what hate is.
Rodriguez got down to assault Jews. It doesn’t matter if he was motivated by the Klan or Hamas. It doesn’t matter if he misplaced his method. The impact is similar. The one distinction is how the story is framed — and the way we reply.
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