While anti-Semitism remains the oldest and most pernicious form of racism in Western societies, there’s no overlooking the fact that anti-Semitic crimes have reached record-high levels during the three years of the Trump presidency, with 2018 recording the third-highest number of attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions since the Anti-Defamation League began collecting data in the 1970s, representing a 100 per cent increase over the number of incidences recorded in 2017, a year also marked by the mass murder of 11 Jewish worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Loading

Whereas attacks on religious minorities are typically the sole domain of right-wing extremists, violent assaults on Jews tend to occur along the length of the political spectrum, with ancient and long-standing anti-Semitic tropes and conspiracies shared freely and easily by groups and individuals belonging to all political persuasions. However, there’s no denying that groups and individuals associated with far-right ideologies are responsible for the lion share of anti-Semitism that is again ravaging the Western world thanks to the kind of racism and xenophobia that has been weaponized by Trump and other right-wing populists.

When neo-Nazis marched in the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, chanting, “Jews will not replace us,” the President responded by describing them as “very fine people”. When Trump state media, otherwise known as Fox News, isn’t peddling debunked conspiracies about Jewish-American billionaire George Soros, it’s deploying anti-Semitic dog whistle terms such as “globalists”. "media elites” and "Hollywood elites” to stoke the worst impulses of its almost exclusively white audience.

Earlier this month, Trump peppered the 4,000 member strong all-Jewish audience at the Israel-American Council’s annual gathering with anti-Semitic tropes and conspiracies by implying they were torn between their loyalty for Israel and the US, and that their primary concern and ambition in life was to acquire unlimited power and wealth.

“You’re brutal killers, not nice people at all, but you have to vote for me. You have no choice,” thundered Trump from the lectern in what can only be described as another of his many bizarre and incoherent demagogic rants. Jewish groups across the country denounced his remarks, describing them as “vile”, “deeply offensive” and tapping into “negative stereotypes that have been used historically to target Jews”.

Worse, Trump’s elevation and amplification of anti-Semitic tropes works hand-in-hand with the central theme of his presidency and case for reelection: that white Americans are locked in a do-or-die struggle with non-white immigrants. In this retelling of America, Jewish elites are conspiring with liberals to promote lax immigration laws, open national borders and turn the country a deep shade of brown. It’s the conspiracy that drove the gunman who attacked the synagogue in Pittsburgh, and the Australian-born terrorist who murdered 51 Muslims at a pair of mosques in New Zealand earlier this year. There’s a price for racist political discourse. In New York City, Jewish Americans are paying it.

CJ Werleman is a journalist and author.