The Disappearing Jew

In May 2021, President Biden’s Jewish Engagement Director Aaron Keyak posted on X “It pains me to say this, but if you fear for your life or physical safety take off your kippah and hide your magen david (Jewish star),” in response to growing antisemitic attacks.

The government official did not state that governmental authorities would do whatever it can to protect Jews and prosecute those who harass, intimate and attack Jews. He told Jews to go undercover and erase their identity out of fear.

The situation for Jews has only worsened over the past three years as Jews are being forced from the public arena.

In September 2021, Hollywood opened a new museum, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. By design, the building exhibited a movie industry which was shaped by many Jews, showcasing virtually no Jews. Its desire to be “radically inclusive” of minorities’ contribution to the film industry stripped the minority-minority Jews of a place which they helped create.

Marvel Studios just announced that the introduction of the 1980s Jewish Israeli superhero Sabra in the upcoming movie Captain America: Brave New World, will be stripped of her identity and instead be recast with a Russian backstory.

Plays have been canceled because producers cannot pay the increased insurance premiums that arise out of fear that antisemitic protestors may attack the venue. It happens whether the production includes Israelis or it doesn’t. Jews have been declared the enemy, a too financially and morally expensive cohort to platform.

In April 2024, Columbia University opted to move its classes online after it concluded that it could not keep Jewish students safe on campus. After being sued, the Columbia administration said it would provide “walking escorts” and create a new position called a “Safe Passage Liaison” to help get Jewish students around the school campus, acknowledging that it could not/ would not control campus antisemitism.

Jewish fear of attacks is being met with a widespread canceling of Jews, not the perpetrators. It is reminiscent of the British response to the heinous slaughter of Jews in Hebron in 1929: rather than prosecute the Palestinian Arabs who committed the atrocities, they expelled the Palestinian Jews from their homes into other cities.

The explosion of antisemitism is not being confronted with forceful laws and actions to make Jews safe but a policy of abandonment. Few politicians and non-Jews have declared that this tsunami of antisemitism is un-American, the way Van Jones did in Washington D.C. in November 2023.

Worse, leading American Jews – Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in particular – have not defended Jews from antisemitism. As the most politically powerful Jew in America, Schumer has refused to advance the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023 for a vote. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY17) introduced H.R. 6090 back in October 2023 which was passed by a wide bipartisan margin on May 1, 2024. It has been sitting idly on Schumer’s desk for two and one-half months without action.

Even the most powerful Jew in the United States is hiding, lest his advocacy for other Jews make him vulnerable.

It has become institutionalized in the government.

The US embassy in Israel made a point of wishing Muslims and Arabs happy holidays during Ramadan, Arab American Heritage Month and hosted an Iftar dinner but didn’t say a word about Passover or Rosh Hashana in 2023. The same embassy invited only Muslims in Israel to visit the United States for a year of study but did not invite any Israeli Jews. Does the United States think there are no Jews in the Jewish State?

There’s a long list of politicians who refuse to protect Jews.

Jews are being erased in the public sphere and being told to hide. As they do, they are vilified and slandered for hiding in the shadows and conspiring to harm people. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said “they do it from Gaza to Detroit, and it’s a way to control people, to oppress people… open the curtain and look behind the curtain, it’s the same people who make money and—yes they do—off of racism.” Her comrade Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16) said “Westchester is segregated. There’s certain places where the Jews live and concentrate,” vilifying Jews – and only Jews – for not living where he has determined they should buy homes.

The alt-left and alt-right are thrilled at the disappearing Jew. They painted the small minority as too powerful, too rich and too influential for many years. They want the American Jewish footprint to be as meager as their numbers, and the Jewish State eradicated from the global map.

For many years, Jewish leadership refused to loudly advocate for Jews opting to build bridges to “allies” in other groups with the hopes that such coalitions will build trust and support, rather than focus on the Jewish community per their job descriptions. Alas, when those “allies” turned on them in the post-October 7 massacre antisemitic bilestorm, the Jewish community found out that they had few allies and li ttle infrastructure to protect them from antisemiti sm.

Jews are left with two choices: to either 1) disappear as Jews, by concealing their identity or moving away, or 2) stand and fight for their basic human rights and dignity.

Astute western democratic leaders know those options.

After the killing of Jews in a Parisian kosher supermarket in 2015, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that “if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France. The French Republic will be judged a failure.” French President Francois Hollande made a similar statement a few days later: “French people of the Jewish faith, your place is here, in your home. France is your country.” Powerful statements from governmental officials to keep its Jewish citizens.

But where are such statements in America? How can Biden officials tell Jews to hide their religion and the leading Jewish politician refuse to bring laws to fight antisemitism?

Bret Stephens, said that the best ally for American Jewry is “America at her best.” Are we there or moving in the opposite direction?

Jews who refuse to disappear are fighting first-and-foremost for fundamental American principles, such as merit, free enterprise and creativity along with respect for tradition. America at her best will see a proud Jewish community thriving, while America unmoored will see its Jews disappear.

The fight against socialist, jihadi and alt-right antisemitism is to enact laws and elect politicians who want to see America focused on creating, not destroying; developing, not redistributing; respecting, not ripping down.

The disappearing Jew is a warning sign that western values are disintegrating, a dangerous omen for everyone.

This is from France, but it could be any Jewish community, anywhere in the world.

This isn’t 1938–it’s 2024.

When fear wins, hate wins.

Don’t let it happen here. Enough is enough. pic.twitter.com/w43kdk0WUz
— Joe Roberts (@Joe_Roberts01) July 14, 2024