Antisemitism is one of the oldest forms of hatred that there is. It can be traced back to the 12th century during the First Crusade. During that time, Jews were forced to convert to Christianity or die.
Many Jews chose to die rather than abandon their faith.
The Jewish people would live on, centuries passed and they continued to fight, survive, and thrive. Amid that prosperity, Jews were often accused of horrific and terrible things, including the origin of blood libel.
Jews were blamed for being vampiric monsters who feast on the blood of children — sounds eerily familiar to a current conspiracy theory — and other sorts of atrocities. Of course, these accusations are unfounded, false, and dangerous.
And yet, centuries later, Jews continue to face the same kind of antisemitism as they faced then. Some are better at hiding their overt hate for my people, others aren’t quite as much.
Kanye West, a notorious rapper and fashion designer, recently went on another of his tantrums. But that tantrum had reckless and potentially dangerous consequences. West decided to take to social media and claim, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” the tweet said.
“The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because Black people are actually Jew also,” his tweet also said. “You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
Let’s get one thing out of the way. This tweet is antisemitic. There’s no skipping around that. It is. That is a fact.
West’s tweet spews some of the most ancient forms of hate towards Jewish people. One in which Jewish people control everything, media, politics, businesses and finances. All blatantly hateful forms of rhetoric that do nothing except dehumanize and inspire more hate directed at Jews.
West’s latest gaffe came at an inauspicious time. The Jewish community is in the midst of one of our holiest months of the year. A little over two weeks ago, Jews celebrated Rosh Hashanah — the start of the Jewish New Year — and just last week celebrated the holiest day of the year in our religion.
Yom Kippur — the Jewish day of atonement — had just passed and Jews are feeling more vulnerable than ever.
Jamie Lee Curtis, a famous actress and staunch advocate for marginalized communities — her father is of Hungarian Jewish descent — took to Twitter upon hearing the news.
“The holiest day in Judaism was last week. Words matter. A threat to Jewish people ended once in a genocide. Your words hurt and incite violence. You are a father. Please stop.”
She’s right. Words matter. The last threat to the Jewish people was the Holocaust and it started with words. Words that rolled into something more malicious, more evil.
And it resulted in the systematic murder of six million Jews.
I’m sick and tired of the Jewish community being called out for merely existing and being accused of baseless and senseless nonsense. The unfortunate reality is people believe nonsense. They believe in conspiracy theories that have absolutely no merit whatsoever.
The Anti-Defamation League is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. Since West’s latest outbursts, they have labelled his disturbing behaviour and messages over the past week as “deeply troubling, dangerous, and antisemitic, period.”
Jewish people have often been supporters of causes all around the world. Jews stand against hatred and bigotry in all forms and yet when Jews are in need of support, the world remains silent.
Jews need allies, Jews need support.
Your silence is loud and we hear you.