Antisemitism in America, my personal view

In 1900 - 1950 Jews in America could not enter hotels or restaurant or social clubs or golf clubs, etc. without being exposed in many cases to public shaming. A Jew would not be accepted at most universities, etc. Regulations in many places prevented the sail of houses to Jews. I remember visiting Medford Lakes (NJ) some 25 years ago were I learnt that Jews were not welcomed there and I was asked to keep a low profile. 

It was of course better than the East European Jewish condition, were they had pogroms and official discrimination publicly supported policies. 

 

The Jewish Vacation Guide published beginning 1916 gave the American Jews addresses of Jewish owned or Jewish friendly places to eat, sleep, or take care of their car away from home. It was so successful that an imitation "Green Book" for Black tourists was published years later.

The antisemitism in America was not something easy to bear. In the 60` my Israeli born late wife was in NY and went with a cousin of her to a club. She was asked by her cousin to do away with her necklace that sported a star of David, because she was afraid that later she would not be invited again to that place.  

May I remind those forgetful that the Department of State was against the creation of Israel and Israel was recognize by the USA only because of President Truman stubbornness. All the 50’ the American policy had only a cold shoulder for Israel. It was only after the six-day war (1967) that things changed for the better and the American embargo ended. Till then, not even Coca Cola would sell the drink in Israel.

 

When a new president is elected in the USA, I do not care about his position in the Israel-Palestine problem, as I myself am a critic of Israeli policy, but I want to know whether he is an anti-Semite or not. This is not an easy task. Only subtleties will show. With president Carter it was easy. When speaking he used old anti-Semitic stereotypes, just as De Gaulle did. After his presidency he felt free to say horrible things about "Jews".

More difficult was with president Barack Obama. Obama did not care what was said about the Jews by the leaders of the Black community in Chicago and used to look the other way. I would not want to meet his friends there in a dark alley. When an antisemitic rampage and murder happened at a supermarket in Paris he was careful not to mention the religion of the attacker or of the victims. I remember very well his words that the murdered were “a bunch of folks in a deli”, never mentioning they were killed only because they were Jewish.  

In my opinion, if he was Harvard President during the hearings in Washington, he would have said the same words as Claudine Gay did.

In conclusion, antisemitism has a long history in the USA. I said nothing about the KKK, lynching or other classic forms of discrimination of Jews from society that are also relevant here. I just tried to refresh the memory of those who prefer to forget the social position of Jews in the USA.

Now, with the help of Arab money, a fresh antisemitic era has begun.

Antisemitism is a chronic disease that destroys the social fabric. I think it must be treated by the Americans sooner than later as it can destroy democracy itself.