NY’s Nazi Rats

Just like New York’s four-legged rat population is exploding, so too is New York’s two-legged, Jew-hating rat population.

It used to be that like rats, New York’s antisemites lived underground and we only saw them once in a while and could just ignore them.  Not anymore.

Like rats, antisemites are now out in the open.  They’re not living solely in sewers.  They’re brazen, defiant, daring us to do something about them. And we must.

In New York City last month, antisemitic hate crimes surged 125 percent.  What that means is that there were 45 hate crimes against Jews in November, compared to 20 last year.  That’s more than one antisemitic crime each day of the month.  And that’s just the reported crimes.

There was a lot of the “usual” stuff.  An outwardly identifiable Jewish father and son were shot at by a BB gun-toting punk on Staten Island.  A man threw rocks at two synagogues.  You know, that kinda stuff.  

But there was also one whopper.  It was a foiled attack on a synagogue. Two skels were arrested for plotting to shoot up a Manhattan shul.  The cops won’t tell us which one, but the two thugs were locked and loaded.  They had a gun, plenty of ammo, a bullet proof vest and a long military style knife, according to the Manhattan D.A.

Rats, antisemites, they’ve been around forever.  They adapt, they shape-shift.  Sometimes they’re degenerates that wear makeshift Nazi armbands, other times they’re billionaires with rich sneaker contracts.  Sometimes they’re elected officials that couch their antisemitism in policy rhetoric.  Sometimes they’re corporate leaders that coddle anti-Jewish behavior in the workplace.  Sometime they’re college deans and presidents that countenance antisemitism under the rubric of academic freedom.  

They’ve become so bold and empowered, they no longer skulk in the shadows, live in the sewers.  No, they spew their hatred on national TV or on smart phones to the tens of millions of their fans fixated on them.

The normalization of their lies and hatred is chilling. 

Eradicating them completely?  Maybe not.  Probably not.  Has never been done.  But if we don’t fight like hell against them, we will be overrun, like the rats that are taking over New York.

This past week, history was made in Washington DC.  The first-ever White House summit on antisemitism was hosted by the second gentleman,  Doug Emhoff, himself a Jew who is married to Vice President Kamala Harris.  Senior Biden Administration officials were also present. The Jewish community, across all the spectrums of observance were invited and it seems they spoke with one voice.  That’s a rarity but that’s good.

So on the one hand, it is encouraging that attention to this scourge of antisemitism is no longer confined to the streets of Williamsburg, or Crown Heights or to the halls of One Police Plaza.  

On the other hand, it is sad that in the United States of America, in the 21st century, that antisemitism is so blatant, there had to be a summit meeting to start to deal with it.  As Doug Emhoff said, “There is an epidemic of hate facing our country.”

Sad, scary, true.

Solita Marcelli is a high-ranking executive at UBS, the global financial firm. This past week she spoke at the annual UJA Wall Street dinner.  And what she said should be a wake up call to all of us.

Growing up in Istanbul, Turkey, Ms. Marcelli saw how Jew hatred was manifested.  Her synagogue was attacked repeatedly and had to surround itself with heavy security.  She told the high-powered audience, with some of the most influential people in New York City in attendance, that she “never expected to see this in America.” 

New York is now Istanbul.  The United States is now Europe. 

The traps that contained antisemitism here for so long have been flung wide open. The vermin are loose.   

Rat experts agree the first step in controlling an explosion of rats is to get the garbage off the streets because if we don’t, the rats will rule.  Jews and non-Jews need to shout at the rats at the tops of their lungs to chase them off the streets, back into their hidey-holes.  Their evil must not become mainstreamed.

Let’s see what comes out of the so-called antisemitism summit.  There most certainly is an urgent need for a national, comprehensive strategy on how to shut down the normalization of Jew hatred.  But, it cannot be partisan.  It’s not a Democrat or a Republican issue.  It’s an American issue.  It’s an issue of being able to live in this nation in peace and free of fear. 

It’s an issue of life or death.