The Gaza war spilled into America last week as some pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas demonstrators crossed the line separating protest from mob violence in several U.S. cities.
Past anti-Jewish violence in America has generally come in one of three forms. It has either been perpetrated by a deranged individual like in the 2018 shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, by an outgrowth of communal tensions as in the 1991 Crown Heights riots, or by an attack on a particular Jewish individual such as the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank.
Last week brought something different: Mobs visited widespread violence on random Jews, or in some cases “Jewish-looking” non-Jews. The targets have no responsibility for Israeli policy. Given the policy preferences of U.S. Jews documented in polling, many were likely anti-Trump, anti-Netanyahu, critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and pro-Black Lives Matter. None of this meant anything to the mob. All the attackers seemed to care about was that their victims were, or looked, Jewish. That was enough.
Read the full article in the Wall Street Journal