Page 32 - Jewish News_May-June-2020

32 May/June 2020 COMMENTARY

SAY Crises and conspiracies Lag BaOmer – We are counting!

By David Harris, CEO, American Jewish Committee, March 30, 2020
who else, the Jews, even as the out-
t is as predictable as day follows
break began in Wuhan, China, where,
night. A crisis erupts – pandemic,
Ifinancial, security – and the con-
incidentally, no Jewish community ex-
spiracy theorists come out of the wood-
ists. Nor does it matter that Israel is bat-
“SHALOM” work. Today is no different. tling the coronavirus tooth-and-nail, or
that a number of American Jews have
With the jet propulsion provided
by social media platforms, their claims
already succumbed to the pandemic.
Anti-semitism is an irrational pathol-
circle around the globe with warp
ogy. It doesn’t bend to rational state-
speed and can find receptive, even ea-
ments and facts.
ger, audiences. After all, why grapple
Here are four immediate examples
such as COVID-19, when social huck-
TO OUR HIGHLY with the realities of menacing issues of that hopelessly irrational mindset:
sters peddle all-inclusive, readily pack-
A neo-Nazi was killed in a shoot-
‹
aged and diversionary explanations of
out with FBI agents in Kansas City
who is really behind it?
on March 24. A few days earlier,
TARGETED that, sooner or later, the Jews will be he posted: “If you don’t think this
And, alas, it is equally foreseeable
whole thing [COVID-19] was en-
among those blamed. Isn’t the heart
gineered by Jews as a power grab,
AUDIENCE of anti-Semitism, past and present, the here is more proof of their plans.
Jews have been playing the long
assignment to Jews of evil powers and
game. We are the only ones stand-
demonic aims?
From the poisoning of wells to the
ing in their way.”
Black Plague, from using the blood of ‹ The senior pastor at Flowing
murdered Christian children to bake Streams Church in Vero Beach,
Passover matzoh to seeking world Florida, who is also a radio host,
domination, from foisting capitalism asserted, on March 24, that God is
to propagating communism, and from spreading the coronavirus in syna-
FREE inventing the Holocaust to generate gogues as punishment for “those
sympathy for a Jewish state to Isra- who oppose his son, Jesus Christ.”
el’s enthusiasm for spreading AIDS in Earlier, he had asserted that the im-
neighboring countries, the anti-Semites’ peachment effort against President
outlandish libels have been many, stub- Trump was a “Jew coup,” yet an-
bornly resilient and at times deadly. other conspiracy claim.
On September 11, 2001, it took ‹ Iran’s government Press TV
mere minutes for the conspiracy theo-
claimed, on March 5, that “Zion-
New! rists to blame Jews, Israel, the Mossad, ist elements developed a deadlier
strain of coronavirus against Iran.”
Zionists – all one and the same in the
2020 Edition! twisted minds of the accusers – for the ‹ According to the Middle East Me-
terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000
dia Research Institute, Yemeni
INSIDE
people on American soil. Even as the
scholar Ibrahim Al-Ubeidi de-
Sarasota-Manatee
WELCOME!
To the Inaugural Issue trail led directly to 19 hijackers orga- livered a sermon on March 27 in
which he claimed that Jews (and
nized and led by Osama Bin Laden
DISCOVER ALL THINGS JEWISH
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FIND THE LOCATIONS suggested they were mere puppets in with the intention of closing down
On the Detailed Map Locator
the hands of fiendishly clever Jews try- the Islamic holy sites of Mecca and
ing to tarnish the name of Islam and Medina.
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turn the United States against the Arab To some, the reaction is a shrug of
A PUBLICATION OF
world. the shoulders. So what, they say. Noth-
I vividly recall urgent messages ing new here. I beg to differ.
Advertise in the ultimate guide to everything Jewish in Sara- from several European Jewish commu- In the past, such conspiracy theo-
sota and Manatee counties! SHALOMSRQ is a magazine-style nities within days of that indescribable ries have too often had real-life con-
resource guide that residents and visitors will keep on hand. tragedy. The local media reports, they sequences for Jews, from ostracism to
said, repeated the canard that 4,000 pogroms. Moreover, the power of so-
SHALOMSRQ connects your business to a powerful demo- Jews who worked at the World Trade cial media today creates a reach previ-
graphic; our readers are affluent, well-educated, established, Center deliberately stayed home, hav- ously unimaginable, which can touch
and philanthropic. Over half have said they frequently pur- ing been advised of the planned attack. both fellow believers and, no less im-
chase products or services from ads seen in our publications.* Could I send actual names of Jews who portantly, the impressionable. FUNERAL SERVICES
were among the victims in the Twin Stopping the conspiracy-mongers
WHAT’S INSIDE SHALOMSRQ? Towers, so they could disprove the al- and their hateful incitement may not

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