Last month, I under the headline, 鈥淭here Is No Wave of Trump-Induced Anti-Semitism or Racism.鈥� I was right. But my being right is not what matters. What matters is that the mainstream media and the 91传媒 left 鈥� which is now essentially almost all of 91传媒 life outside of Orthodoxy 鈥� were wrong. So wrong that it was morally inexcusable.
Some 91传媒 leaders need to either publicly apologize 鈥� to the 91传媒 community, to conservatives, to America and to President Donald Trump 鈥� or be fired from their positions.聽
The entire claim that America was engulfed in a rising tide of anti-Semitism was a lie 鈥� 鈥渇ake news.鈥� And the claim that Trump鈥檚 election is what aroused all this anti-Semitism was not merely a lie, it was malicious libel.
No Jew has disseminated this libel as much as Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect in New York, part of a worldwide network. The man has engaged in chillul Anne Frank 鈥� a desecration of the name of Anne Frank.
Here are a few examples of Goldstein鈥檚 public comments:
鈥淭he cancer of Antisemitism has infected his [Trump鈥檚] own Administration.鈥�
鈥淢ake no mistake: The Antisemitism coming out of this Administration is the worst we have ever seen from any Administration.鈥�
鈥淭he most vicious antisemites in America are looking at you [Trump] and your administration as a nationalistic movement granting them permission to attack Jews, 91传媒 institutions, and sacred 91传媒 sites.鈥�
The entire claim聽that America聽was engulfed in聽a rising tide of聽anti-Semitism was聽a lie 鈥� 鈥渇ake news.鈥�
If the organization doesn鈥檛 fire this man, it is complicit in his radical politicization of an institution calling itself a center for 鈥淢utual Respect,鈥� and in the misuse of Anne Frank鈥檚 name to disseminate political hate.
More important than Goldstein and his so-called Center for Mutual Respect is Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of what is supposed to be the leading American-91传媒 organization dedicated to exposing and combating anti-Semitism, the Anti-Defamation League. He has played a leading role in disseminating the narrative that since the Trump election, America has been drenched in anti-Semitism 鈥� even comparing its levels to those of Nazi Germany.
by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in December:
鈥� 鈥楢nti-Semitic rhetoric in the United States has reached levels unprecedented since 1930s Germany,鈥� Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt warned a gathering of Israeli lawmakers in Jerusalem on Monday.
鈥� 鈥楢nti-Semitism has wound its way into mainstream conversations in a manner that many Jews who lived through Nazi Germany find terrifying,鈥� he said at the Knesset meeting, which was convened to discuss the plight of American Jewry under the incoming Trump administration.鈥�
Greenblatt鈥檚 allusion to Nazi Germany cheapened the evil of Nazism and of the Holocaust; I wrote about left-wing Jews doing this very thing in another column in mid-February.
And note Haaretz鈥檚 inflammatory description 鈥� 鈥渢he plight of American Jewry under the incoming Trump administration鈥� 鈥� made six weeks before there was a Trump administration!
In December, Greenblatt told NPR:
鈥淲e found it so deeply problematic when some of the images and some of the rhetoric [from Trump] seemed to evoke longstanding anti-Semitic conspiracies.鈥�
Greenblatt repeated this charge in February in an for The Washington Post:
鈥淟ast year, we watched as the Trump campaign repeatedly tweeted and shared anti-Semitic imagery and language, allowing this poison to move from the margins into the mainstream of the public conversation.鈥�
That whole charge 鈥� made by the left within and outside of 91传媒 life 鈥� was false. But the left has always believed it is OK to falsely accuse conservatives of racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, bigotry, xenophobia, hate, etc. It鈥檚 effective, after all.
Greenblatt also wrote in that Washington Post column:
鈥淭rump could have said he condemns anti-Semitism and takes incidents, such as the dozens of threats made to 91传媒 Community Centers, seriously. But instead, he lashed out against those asking the question.鈥�
It turns out that President Trump was right: There was no eruption of anti-Semitism in America, let alone in the White House. And 鈥渢hose asking the question鈥� did indeed deserve the contempt the president showed them.
It turns out that some disturbed American-91传媒 kid in Israel was the source of nearly all these threats against 91传媒 Community Centers (JCCs). And the handful of other threats to JCCs came from a Black radical.
So, it turns out, as I wrote here four weeks ago: 鈥淸T]here is no wave of Trump-induced anti-Semitism or racism in America. This is only one more example of left-wing hysteria. … 鈥�
And, it turns out that the conclusion to my column was also valid:
鈥淛ews who think there is such a wave do so because they hate Donald Trump so much, they want to believe it. In other words, a lot of Jews want to believe that Jews are hated in America more than ever. Yet another way in which leftism has poisoned 91传媒 life.鈥�
That鈥檚 the 鈥減oison鈥� that ought to concern Jonathan Greenblatt.
In the meantime, he owes the president of the United States and the American people an apology.
Dennis Prager鈥檚 nationally syndicated radio talk show is heard in Los Angeles on KRLA (AM 870) 9 a.m. to noon. His latest project is the internet-based Prager University (prageru.com).
