‘ The rise in hate ... isn’t going away’

Increase in anti- Semitism concerns Connecticut and federal officials

An increase in online anti- Semitism has local Jewish leaders and federal officials concerned.

“As I talk with people in Connecticut, in the Jewish and non- Jewish community, their concerns are heightened,” Steve Ginsburg, the Anti- Defamation League’s Connecticut regional coordinator said. “As I talk to leaders of synagogues, they need resources for security. That's what they're talking about.”

The increase in the visibility of online anti- Semitism in the last few years has been heightened by a politically charged environment and the emergence of smaller, more extreme social media platforms that have allowed it to flourish.

Though it has not yet translated into overt acts of violence, authorities in Connecticut and across the country say they are concerned that it’s just a matter of time.

Connecticut's entire delegation to Washington D. C., all seven senators and representatives, met last Sunday with representatives from the state’s Jewish organizations to discuss the rise in antiSemitic rhetoric.

That all seven gathered together is a sign of how important this issue is, according to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D- Conn.

“It is very rare. In fact, we remarked about that fact,” he said. “Particularly on a Sunday afternoon for about an hour and a half. It reflects the urgency that we feel.”

That urgency is being felt throughout Connecticut’s Jewish community, according to Ginsburg.

It’s not that anti- Semitism is anything new. “This phenomenon has been around a long time,” Blumenthal said. But advocates say open, unabashed anti- Semitism is more prevalent online and is creeping out of fringe groups into more mainstream communities.

It often takes the form of memes showing evil, large- nosed Jews wringing

their hands in evil glee. Or accusations of Jewish control over government and Hollywood, or suggestions that Jews should be murdered by the millions in a Holocaust- like purge.

It’s connected, according to Amy Iandiorio, in part to the spread of the “QAnon” conspiracy theory.

“QAnon is a conspiracy theory that's been around for a couple years at this point,” said Iandiorio. “But in the past couple months, we've seen a serious surge of people who are adherents, or people who are promoting it, whether knowingly or unknowingly on social media, and there's some anti- Semitic elements of that conspiracy theory and they can spread like wildfire.”

Iandiorio is an investigative researcher with ADL’s Center on Extremism, so it’s her job to monitor extremist rhetoric. But the pitch has risen in recent months to the point where it’s visible to casual observers, even as it’s been relegated to offbrand social media platforms like Telegram and Gab.

The most widely used social media platforms, Twitter and Facebook, have attempted to purge themselves of accounts that espouse conspiracy theories since the riots and attempted insurrection at the U. S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

But that, Iandiorio said, pushed users into a safe space where they could feel more free to speak their minds.

“They're blaming the censorship directly on the Jewish population, which then fits very neatly into their packaged antiSemitism that they're posting,” Iandiorio said. “So, to them, it just makes sense. If the Jews are going to kick me off, I'm going to go somewhere where I cannot be silenced. And I'm going to continue to spew my hate towards Jews.”

It’s not just people who believe the QAnon conspiracy. The thread for all types of white supremacist extremism is a sense of being victimized, Iandiorio said, and anti- Semitism provides a convenient victimizer.

“On one hand, some antiSemites and white supremacists depict Jewish people as cockroaches, very low, vile, awful. But then on the other side, you have other anti- Semites who claim that there is a Jewish cabal against everyone, that they manipulate other races, that the conflict between the Black community and white people is because Jews are manipulating Black people, or they own the media.”

This, according to Iandiorio, acts as a recruiting tool.

“There are so many different threads of anti- Semitism that for different organizations, or just people who might not be tied to an organization that are ideologically motivated, can kind of find that strain,” she said. “Which is the problem of a lot of conspiracy theories having anti- Semitic roots is that there's so many different paths that one could take.”

Then there’s Georgia U. S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Though she has since walked back her comments, a post emerged last week in which Green suggested that “space lasers” run by Jews were being used to start wildfires in California.

The fact that Greene is now an elected member of Congress suggests that anti- Semitic conspiracy theories are being normalized.

“We know that there are elements of her belief system that are rooted in extremism, conspiracy and anti- Semitism,” Iandiorio said. “When you see someone who's an elected official say such disturbing things so soon after we saw the insurrection at the capital that was motivated by the type of conspiracy and hate that certain people in the government are espousing is very concerning, because at that point you question, how deep does it go? What's the normalization of it? What's the further potential for danger when we already know that this is a conspiracy or an ideology that is dangerous, that has caused violence that does motivate people?”

Blumenthal echoed that sentiment. It was particularly egregious, he said, when then- President Donald Trump said there were “good people on both sides” after a woman died during bigotry- fueled protests in Charlottesville, Va.

“It’s normalized by political leaders who fail to denounce it as they should, and regard it as free speech,” he said. “There’s no wishing these hate crimes away.”

Blumenthal noted that on Jan. 6, as violent extremists stormed

the U. S. Capitol and resulted in five deaths, anti- Semitism was on full display, including shirts emblazoned with “Camp Auschwitz” or the phrase “6 million was not enough.”

“I am hearing from the Department of Justice as well as state and local law enforcement about this rising monster that seems to be creeping into the dark crevasses of the internet but also right out in the open,” he said. “It is really, deeply horrifying to see this kind of spread in a country that rightly views itself as a bastion of religious freedom.”

Horrifying, yes, but perhaps not surprising. Blumethal’s father came to the United States from Germany in 1935. He managed to bring some of his family members from Europe, but lost many of them in Nazi death camps.

“I would sometimes say to him, ‘ It would never happen here,’ ” Blumenthal said of his father. “He would always say, ‘ It can happen anywhere. This is the human condition.’ ”

There are some legislative solutions. Blumenthal has proposed the Jabara- Heyer NO HATE Act, which would establish grants within the Department of Justice for states to better address hate crimes.

There is a movement to reform section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to make it easier to sue social media platforms.

“The rise in hate over the last several years isn’t going away,” said Jewish Federation Associates of Connecticut Executive Director Michael Bloom, who set up last week’s meeting with Connecticut’s delegation. “The Jewish community needs our elected leaders to address this head on.”

But Blumenthal said that if anti- Semitism and other forms of bigotry are more in the open, in both “increased prevalence” and “over- expression,” it means it is more difficult to ignore.

“The military has awoken to the widespread presence of white supremacy and anti- Semitism and other hate speech and misconduct in its ranks,” he said. “Law enforcement has to retrain and continually train its officers to be sensitive to these issues.”

That being said, Blumenthal was clear that there are no easy answers.

“This stuff has been around for centuries,” he said. “We’re not going to turn this around overnight.”