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Israeli Ambassador Dermer: Democrats and Republicans Have Come Together to Condemn the Heinous Attack Against the Jewish Community in Pittsburgh
(MSNBC) Ayman Mohyeldin - Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer told MSNBC on Monday: Q: How do you, as an Israeli government official, explain this explosion of anti-Semitism in the U.S.? Dermer: This is not a new problem, it did not start in 2016. Anti-Semitism has been going on for many, many centuries. In fact, in 2014 and 2015, according to FBI statistics, attacks against Jews accounted for over 50% of hate crimes in America. This is a growing problem around the world. It's a huge problem in Europe - for Jewish communities in France, Britain, Belgium. For half a century after the Holocaust, people thought anti-Semitism was a thing of the past. Unfortunately, it has been growing for about two decades and it hasn't stopped. With the advent of social media, it has allowed these purveyors of hate to spread their message far and wide, and to connect with other purveyors of hate in a way that they couldn't do before. We were pleased to hear very strong statements from the president and from leaders of both parties condemning anti-Semitism. President Trump said: To those who seek to destroy the Jewish people, we will destroy them. I've never heard a non-Israeli leader say that, and so we appreciate that very much. And we know it wasn't just on one side of the partisan divide in America. I've met with congressmen, both Democrats and Republicans, who have come together to condemn this heinous attack against the Jewish community in Pittsburgh and I think it sends a very strong message. When people attribute anti-Semitism to one side of the political debate, they make a very big mistake. Jews have been accused of being capitalists. Jews have been accused of being communists. Jews have been accused of being the biggest doves. Jews have been accused of being the biggest hawks. There have been people on all sides of the debate who have been accusing Jews for centuries. The people who we should blame for anti-Semitism are the anti-Semites. This guy who came in and killed eleven people at prayer - he is the one to blame. I hope that people from both sides of the political aisle will put the politics aside and will work together to confront anti-Semitism. The president of the United States is not the reason why you have Jeremy Corbyn in Europe, a leader of the Labour party in Britain who is an anti-Semite, or why you have attacks against Jews in European countries. To simply say that this is because of one person or only comes from one side is not to understand the history of anti-Semitism or the reality of anti-Semitism. One of the big forces on college campuses today is anti-Semitism and those anti-Semites are usually coming from the radical left. So we have to stand against anti-Semitism whether it comes from the right or the left.