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You are here: Home / 2017 / Archives for February 2017

Archives for February 2017

February 21, 2017 By Olivier Melnick 2 Comments

Mr. Trump doesn’t need to be less antisemitic, he needs to be more presidential!

Since January 2017, nearly 60 Jewish community centers have received bomb threats over the phone. This happened over many states, and in some cases more than once at the same location. As it turned out, none of the threats led to the discovery of any bombs. This is now the fourth wave of such bomb threats against Jewish institutions in America. Each time such a phone call is received, the targeted center is obligated to stop all activities and evacuate their premises in an emergency, waiting for the police and or bomb squad to clear them back in.

Depending on the activities taking place at the time the bomb threats were received, children , young adults and/or elderly people had to be evacuated. In all cases it was absolutely necessary yet extremely inconvenient. There is no way that any of these threats could be ignored or blindly assumed to simply be phone pranks. The one time that a telephone bomb threat is ignored could be the one time that it is a real one and the ramifications would be disastrous. Are these threats against various Jewish community centers considered terrorism? Are they considered hate crimes? Are they even considered acts of an antisemitic nature?

Police consider these threats to be hate crimes and take them very seriously. From the standpoint of the disruptive factor and the fear of the unknown, they are very similar to acts of terrorism. Just like terrorism, these bomb threats have materialized in unexpected locations at unpredictable times over an incalculable period of time. But even all these factors compounded do not constitute acts of antisemitism, although the frequency and high number of occurrences could prove otherwise.

To remove all doubt, we have to start looking at the content of the messages left on the phone when some of the threats were made. One such recording received on January 18, 2017 was made available. It’s transcription is a follows: “It’s a C-4 bomb with a lot of shrapnel, surrounded by a bag (inaudible). In a short time, a large number of Jews are going to be slaughtered. Their heads are going to [sic] blown off from the shrapnel. There’s a lot of shrapnel. There’s going to be a bloodbath that’s going to take place in a short time. I think I told you enough. I must go.

When a threat is made over the phone, it is always to be taken seriously, even if it targets people in general. But when the person giving the threat claims that “In a short time, a large number of Jews are going to be slaughtered,” there is no longer any doubts as to the antisemitic nature of the call. During the same period of time, nobody reported bomb threats to any Christian organization, Mosque, Buddhist temple, Mormon ward, Jehovah’s witness kingdom hall, etc. You get my drift! The threats were made ONLY to Jewish community centers. There should be no question in our mind that these were antisemitic actions.

This wave of bomb threats prompted some really concerned Jewish leaders to look for answers. Recently, at a White House press conference, orthodox Jewish reporter Jake Turx asked President Trump what the government intended to do to fight the new wave of antisemitic bomb threats. He asked the President “What we haven’t really heard being addressed is an uptick in anti-Semitism and how the government is planning to take care of it,” The response was unexpectedly rude and rather disconnected from the question. I don’t believe for a moment that President Trump avoided the topic on purpose, but I believe that he completely missed the point made by the reporter.

Mr. Trump could have simply answered–even if he was unaware of anything being done– that his government was working on a solution and that he clearly opposed antisemitism. Instead he very rudely interrupted the question and turned it around to sound like an accusation of antisemitism on his part. This was an embarrassing moment. But even Jake Turx understood it when he later stated that he still supported President Trump and that he firmly believed that his question had been misunderstood.

I don’t believe that we can accuse President Trump of being an antisemite. Even Benjamin Netanyahu said that the question “could be put to rest,” during his first visit at the White House. Nevertheless, Mr. Trump needs to be more presidential and less reactive. He needs to listen better to questions and not be so defensive, leading him to give short, rude and disconnected answers. He had a great opportunity to solidify his ties and reaffirm his true appreciation for the Jewish community and he really missed it. In the end, I still believe that his actions will speak louder than his words in a positive way–something many previous US presidents from both parties cannot claim.

I truly believe that having a president who never was in politics before is a breath of fresh air from many standpoints. It has many advantages. His awkward, disconnected and arrogant rhetoric definitely isn’t one of them!

Filed Under: Antisemitism, Featured-Post-1, Jewish, United States Tagged With: Bomb Threats, Trump, White House

February 8, 2017 By Olivier Melnick 10 Comments

Will Donald Trump Make America Great or Unsafe for Jews?

Donald Trump’s landslide victory turned out to be more of an earthquake victory. Few expected him to win and even fewer expected him to flip so many states. The morning after, the world was in shock and anti-Trump protests started to get organized all over the United States and across the globe. Then came his inauguration with “pomp and circumstance,” protest and violence. The 45th US President is without a doubt the most criticized, denigrated and even hated in US history, and he hasn’t even been in office for a full month.

Over the last decade, America has become an extremely polarized country racially and politically. But after the shock of Mr. Trump’s victory, what upset his opponents even more, was the fact that he started to implement policies and sign executive orders to fulfill many of his campaign promises. What a novel idea! A politician who makes campaign promises to gain votes, gets elected, and then keeps his promises, how dare you Mr. Trump? But then again, he is NOT a politician, he is a business man, and maybe, just maybe, this is what America needs right now!

Along with Donald Trump’s victory came support from a variety of groups that carry a very negative reputation such as Neo-Nazi and Alt-Right groups. Mr. Trump never endorsed any of these fringe elements but his opponents made the connection for him, and before you knew it…Trump was the new Hitler. If I have to explain to anyone why Trump IS NOT even close to be like Hitler, they probably don’t deserve to be told. Trump isn’t a violent dictator, he isn’t a sociopath, he has no intention of disarming America and he isn’t obsessed with destroying all those who do not fit his ideal racial profile like homosexuals, handicapped people, Jehovah’s Witnesses and of course 6,000,000 Jews. Hitler was all that. Hitler was pure evil. Comparing Trump to Hitler isn’t demonizing Trump as much as it is exonerating Hitler for his actions.

In the meantime, many Jewish people in America are starting to feel uneasy. 57 Jewish Community Centers in more than twenty states have received bomb threats in the last month. Then there was the man who plastered a Chicago synagogue with swastikas and broke its window, and those who wrote antisemitic remarks such as “Jews belong in the oven” on NY subway windows.  Is Trump encouraging Jew haters to come out of their caves and spew their venom across America? Some really believe that, but I don’t believe that antisemites need to be prompted by a new president to come out and harass the Jewish community. They have done it long before him and will do it long after him.

As much as some would like to paint Trump as a Neo-Nazi, Fascist or Hitler like ruler, he will turn out to be the exact opposite of that. The fact that some people attracted to those extreme views are aligning themselves with Donald Trump doesn’t put him in that camp. Trump is the friend of Israel that America hasn’t seen in many presidents.

But American Jews might be finding themselves at a crossroads. Their own support of Israel has been dwindling down in favor of an “anti-racist” agenda of social justice dangerously leaning to the left. That very agenda is what promotes the Palestinian narrative through pseudo “pro-Jewish”  organizations like J-Street. It is also what sustains movements like BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) and Campus Intifadas. That political and racial polarization of America is what makes our country unsafe for Jews and for other minorities as well. American Jews are blinded by their attraction to liberalism, to the point of endangering their own communities. So when they see Donald Trump praising Netanyahu and vowing strong support for Israel, instead of appreciating the camaraderie and alliance between the two countries, they complain about hurtful Right-Wing policies.

Trump is changing America faster than anybody expected he would. In some cases, probably too fast. Recently, some Democrats focused on the fact that the White House made a faux-pas by not mentioning the Jewish people in their official statement recognizing International Holocaust Remembrance Day Jan. 27. That was a faux-pas indeed! But where were they when Mr. Obama called ISIS a Junior Varsity team? Where were they when Mr. Obama commented on the Paris Kosher Market attack by saying “It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you’ve got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris?” These weren’t “random” attacks at a deli, they were planned to happen when Jewish shoppers are the busiest right before Shabbat. Where was the liberal outrage then? The hypocrisy is unbearable!

Trump is not making America unsafe for Jews. I believe that his desire is to restore America, so it is safe for all Americans AND legal immigrants alike, Jews and non-Jews. I am Jewish and a legal immigrant who came to America in 1985, and I feel safe here. When I arrived under Ronald Reagan, America was great. Trump might end-up being the best president this country has had since Reagan. God knows we need one!

I don’t care if you voted for him or not. He is in office and for the next four years he is our president. He is my president. Can we PLEASE give the man a chance?

Filed Under: Antisemitism, BDS, Featured-Post-1, Holocaust, Israel, Jewish, Terrorism, United States Tagged With: Trump

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