By Josadae Cruz

Antisemitism is the word used to describe hatred and discrimination against Jewish people. It may seem odd to many living in the modern world, especially in America, that this is even still a thing. However, there is still hatred for others based on their beliefs and other characteristics. One of the most despicable forms is hating someone because of their religion.

While the news is filled with Jews who face discrimination and persecution around the world, many would not think that this is present in America. We think that New Jersey is above these thoughts and beliefs, but they are here. Jewish people felt threatened by comments that were made evident at the Passaic City Council meeting. Supposedly written in response to the recent and ongoing Israel-Hamas War, people resorted to racial slurs against Jews on the virtual portion of the city council meeting. To hack into the virtual portion of the meeting, bigots used fake names to utter their racial slurs and antisemitic remarks.

The use of these tactics was probably to elicit a response from the council, or at least disrupt the council meeting. Three of the seven council members are openly orthodox Jews. However, they did not react unprofessionally to the verbal attacks and the meeting went on without much disruption.

New York City has also seen some of the problems of hatred of Jews as well. On November 7, a New York City woman had been arrested for assaulting a Jewish Israel supporter. The woman was tearing down posters of the kidnapped Israelis from the October 7 attack. She threatened anyone who came between her and her mission of taking down posters of the victims. She was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon after she sprayed her victim with pepper spray.

She was not alone. In a similar incident, multiple men in New York City had also been caught trying to rip down Israeli posters. Wearing a Palestinian scarf (a keffiyeh) which was black and white checkered, men ripped down posters of the Israeli victims. The Jewish storeowner was attacked as well, just for displaying these posters.

While anti-Semitic attacks have been happening forever, their numbers have been increasing in recent years. According to many articles in 2022, reports of antisemitism reached record levels in 2021, the highest number being 370 cases. So far this year, 2023 may surpass these numbers.

These incidents have an effect on a lot of the New Jersey population, that being 590,000 or more Jews in the population. New Jersey is only behind New York, California and Florida for the number of Jewish residents. However, New Jersey also has a smaller total population, which means that there is a higher concentration of Jews in New Jersey, and many are fearful of the rise in hate.

Multiple Jewish schools and synagogues now have increased security to address safety concerns. The only way to counter the racism and hate is to stand for what is good. We in the United States have the freedom of religion and the freedom of speech. There is room for all viewpoints, but not for outright hatred just because someone believes in God in a different way. It is important that we all speak up for those who are different and against hatred. If someone is getting harassed, speak up. We are all in this together.

No one should be afraid to express themselves, whether they are Jewish, Muslim or Christian. It is the season of holidays and we should all share the lights together.