BY JASON COHEN
As hate crimes in New York
City doubled in 2021, including
a 50% spike in antisemitic incidents,
Bronx elected offi cials
and members of Jewish organizations
gathered in a virtual
roundtable last week to discuss
the animosity toward Jewish
people.
According to a recent study,
more than 90% of American
Jews are concerned about the
state of antisemitism in the
country and more than 40% say
they’ve experienced it in the
past fi ve years. Additionally, in
2020, anti-Jewish hate crimes
were No. 1 with 179 incidents.
On Jan. 26, City Councilman
Eric Dinowitz, a Riverdale
Democrat, who is the
chair of the NYC Council Jewish
Caucus, held an antisemitism
roundtable with Progressive
U.S Rep. Ritchie Torres,
Avi Posnick from StandWithUs
(SWU), an international Israeli
education organization that
fi ghts antisemitism and misinformation,
and Josh Kramer
from American Jewish Committee
(AJC) New York, a nonprofi
t that advocate for Jewish
people and Israel. Dinowitz
moderated the event and the
panelists discussed hate crimes
against the Jewish people, Israel
and the Palestinian-led
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS) movement against
Israel.
“Antisemitism harms all
of us,” Dinowitz said. “These
types of crimes affect our entire
community.”
The councilman looked
back at just a year ago when
a man vandalized four synagogues
in Riverdale and in
2018, when 11 people died at the
Tree of Life Synagogue shooting
in Pittsburgh.
“As a Jewish man, that was
one of the most frightening
times,” he said referring to the
Tree of Life shooting. “One of
the most uplifting times was
going to Shabbat services that
weekend and receiving support
from my non-Jewish friends.”
However, after seeing the recent
hostage situation at a temple
in Texas a few weeks ago,
Dinowitz knows antisemitism
is far from over.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, F 32 FEB. 11-17, 2022 BTR
Torres, who has long been a
known supporter of Israel, was
surprised to learn that even
though Jews only make 2.5%
of the world’s population, the
FBI reported that American
Jews are the top target for hate
crimes.
“I’ve heard people say Jews
run Hollywood or Jews run
Wall Street. I think that kind
of commentary feeds into antisemitism,”
Torres said.
Having been inside the Capitol
on Jan. 6, 2021, the congressman
said many of the protestors
and those subsequently
arrested had Nazi symbols on
their clothes or fl ags.
Posnick said going back
about six or seven years ago,
AJC and SWU began to see the
rise of antisemitism. Recently,
it has begun to spread to college
campuses with some incidents
of public property being
vandalized with swastikas. According
to the Anti-Defamation
League, one-third of Jewish
students experienced antisemitism
on college campuses in
2020. But many victims are often
afraid to report the crime to
City Councilman Eric Dinowitz (top left) hosted and moderated an antisemitism
roundtable Jan. 26 with Congressman Ritchie Torres, Avi Posnick
from StandWithUs and Josh Kramer from AJC New York.
the police
According to Kramer, the
country supported the Jewish
community after the Tree of
Life shooting, but since then,
antisemitism and hatred have
resurfaced. He said a lot of it is
linked to people’s disdain for Israel.
All four participants of the
roundtable echoed the same
point that BDS is a form of antisemitism.
“BDS is an extremist movement,”
Torres said. “The purpose
is to end Israel.”
The congressman said people
often question how he can
be a progressive and support
Israel, since many progressive
politicians, such as U.S. Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, have
been linked to negative views of
the Jewish state.
“I often tell people I’m a person
with intersecting identities,
Black, Latino, gay, millennial,
pro-Israel and progressive,” he
said. “The antisemitism arises
when you question Israel’s right
to exist as a Jewish state.”
Going forward, Kramer
hopes the politicians on the left
and right come together to discuss
Israel. According to Posnick,
teaching the Holocaust in
all public schools could make
a difference in how people feel
about Jews.
“Fighting antisemitism
can’t be solved just by the Jewish
community,” he said. “It’s all
of us coming together. ... education
is defi nitely a key thing.”
Dinowitz hosts roundtable
amid rise in hate crimes