Jerusalem is a city of gates. Stone thresholds worn smooth by centuries of feet. Arches that promise passage, and others that deny it.
Nowhere is this more literal—and more symbolic—than at the gates to the Temple Mount.
There are many gates along its walls. Some are sealed, some are ceremonial, and some are active. But in practice, Muslims ascend and descend freely through multiple entrances, while non-Muslims are funneled through a single ramp, tightly controlled, time-limited, and revocable at will.
Group of Muslim women come down from the Jewish Temple Mount at the Cotton Merchants’ Gate (photo: First One Through)
This is not accidental. It is policy.
Muslims enter through gates embedded naturally in the Old City’s fabric—the Cotton Merchants’ Gate among them. There, the walls are alive. Candy shops spill color onto the stones. Children’s clothing hangs in soft defiance of gravity. The scent of sweets mixes with dust and history. Life flows in and out, up and down, as it has for generations.
Jews, by contrast, are stopped.
They are turned away from nearly every gate. Not questioned. Not debated. Simply blocked.
Despite the Temple Mount being the holiest site in Judaism, Jews are told—by police, by signs, by precedent—that they may not enter as worshippers.
A solitary Jew is blocked from ascending the steps to the Jewish Temple Mount, the holiest location in Judaism, because he is a Jew. (photo: First One Through)
They are redirected instead to a single entrance ramp, detached from the Old City’s living arteries. The ramp rises from the edge of the Western Wall plaza, a vast open expanse that functions less like a neighborhood and more like a giant stone parking lot. From there, Jews may ascend only during narrow windows, under escort, forbidden to pray, forbidden to whisper, forbidden even to move their lips in devotion.
Jews are limited to prayer at the Western Wall, a supporting wall to the Temple Mount. The ramp to the Mughrabi Gate (top right) is the only gate of the ten operating gates where Jews can pass onto the Temple Mount, in limited numbers, at limited times. (photo: First One Through)
Jews are told to make do.
Make do with praying to a retaining wall of the Temple Mount. Make do with history filtered through permission. Make do with holiness at a distance.
This arrangement is often called the “status quo,” as if it were ancient, neutral, or inevitable. It is none of those things. It is modern. It is enforced. And it rests on a single premise: Islamic supremacy over the site requires Jewish silence at Judaism’s holiest place.
The irony is almost unbearable. Judaism sanctified this mountain long before Islam existed. The Temples stood here before the Qur’an was written, before the Dome of the Rock was imagined, before the word “status quo” could be used to freeze injustice in place.
And yet today, Jewish presence itself is treated as a provocation.
Not violence. Not disruption. Presence.
The gates tell the story more honestly than any diplomatic statement ever could. Gates that welcome. Gates that redirect. Gates that close.
It’s a caste system familiar to Black Americans. “For Whites Only” is now “For Muslims Only” for 90% of the gates to the Temple Mount. “Negro Entrance” read “Non-Muslim Entrance” is plastered atop a ramp in the far corner of the Temple Mount. While racial Jim Crow laws ended in the U.S. decades ago, Jews remain subject to open religious discrimination at their holiest location. At the insistence of the United Nations.
In Jerusalem, everyone speaks of coexistence. But coexistence cannot survive when one faith ascends freely and another is barred from its own summit.
Anti-Jewish attacks in the United States have escalated from words to actions over the past two years. While antisemitism has always been the most prevalent hatred in the United States, the alarming escalation has even caught the attention of media that helped promote the Jew hatred for years.
In June 2025 articles and opinions, the New York Times called out attacks on Jews, seemingly ignoring its past of ignoring the scourge, and encouraging attacks with smears that Jews are “powerful” and steal money from public schools and taxpayers.
Yet it rationalized the attacks, even as it condemned people for making excuses for it.
The Times – which has long attempted to argue that despising the Jewish State is not antisemitism – said that Israel’s treatment of Palestinian Arabs is the reason that American Jews are being attacked. In a June 2 article, the author noted that in three recent attacks, “In Colorado and Washington, authorities said, the suspects shouted “Free Palestine” on the scene. In Pennsylvania, the arsonist later said he had set the fire as a response to Israeli attacks on Palestinians.”
Rather than state the obvious, that the antisemitic chants to “globalize the intifada” have gathered supporters who are killing Jews, it placed the blame on the Jewish State. It therefore made Jews responsible for antisemitic hate crimes rather than condemn the globalization of Jew-hatred. It’s a form of blood libel, where Jews only have themselves to blame for the world hating them.
The Times would do no such acrobatics about anti-Muslim verbal attacks on Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
New York Times article on June 27, 2025
The Times did not mention the latest US battle against the Islamic Republic of Iran which refers to America as the “Great Satan.” It did not bring up possible Iranian sleeper cells attacking Americans. It did not mention Houthi Muslims in Yemen attacking American ships. It did not mention the US-designated terrorist political jihadi group Hamas launching a war on Israel, an American ally, slaughtering 1,200 people and taking 250 people hostage.
There was no global backdrop of Muslim countries and groups attacking Americans and American interests in contextualizing “anti-Muslim attacks” as it did about attacks on Jews.
Instead, the Times sought to recast the discussion into an issue of racism from the “right” and “Republicans.” It repeats the narratives of the paper: only White Republicans are racist, and anti-Muslim attacks are real and recognizable.
The Gap In Storytelling in Anti-Jew and Anti-Muslim Attacks
In the Times’ accounts, Jews are a monolith. Every Jew is responsible for the action of any other Jew on the planet unless they actively and publicly shed such association. For example, for centuries, Jews were labeled as Christ killers – unless they converted to Christianity. Today, they need to declare themselves anti-Zionists to shed blood libel accusations.
Not so for Muslims. A Palestinian-American need not account for the barbaric crimes of Hamas. It is similarly understood that a Muslim in the U.S. should not be vilified for the antisemitic actions of Iran or any other Islamic country.
To suggest that all Muslims are accountable for the action of any Muslim around the world would be labeled racist. Yet it is rationalized for Jews. Jews are viewed as a single unit while distinctions are made for other religious groups.
The gap in the Times’ storytelling is itself telling.
Korach And Tzitzit
In this week’s Torah portion, Korach incites a mini rebellion against Moses (Numbers 16). He charged Moses of elevating himself above the rest of the Jews, even though “all the community are holy” (16:3). Korach argued that everyone should be viewed as equals, with no distinction or ranking.
Rabbi Jonathan Sachs pointed out that this story comes immediately after the law of tzitzit in the Torah. That commandment called for a unique single blue thread amongst others on the garment on one hand, but on the other, everyone had the same commandment to wear such garment. Korach argued that just like everyone wore tzitzit with the royal blue color thread, everyone had the same level of holiness.
Korach used tzitzit as a metaphor to undermine Moses’ leadership. Whether the tzitzit garment is all blue or all white, the attached threads still need to have a single thread of blue upon which to focus. Whether everyone or a single person wears the tzitzit, the matter is the same: the distinction of the blue thread is what drives the attention and direction towards God.
Korach turned the concept of uniqueness on its head: from a focus on the heavens to centering on earth. From a means to inspire prayer to a tool to encourage a rebellion.
The Jewish Distinction And Anti-Jewish Rebellion
No religious group in the world is obligated to account for the actions of co-religionists – except for Jews.
As the “Chosen people,” Jews are held apart – like the blue thread of tzitzit. While the other monotheistic religions are built upon the Jewish Bible, they see Jews as Korach saw the blue thread of tzitzit: a distinction without purpose. While it may have been ordained by God in the scriptures, the commandment is common to everyone. The supposed uniqueness becomes a subject of mockery. And leads to an uprising.
While each faith is unique, Jews are the subject of examination. Their small number – like the single blue thread in tzitzit – makes the focus more singularly intense. Until and unless Jews bleach themselves of their special color, they are considered a single unit separate from others.
There are times and certain groups who focus on Jews as a source of inspiration, such as Evangelical Christians. Yet there are others like secularists who despise Jewish particularism in favor of universalism. Still others like Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Hamas who simply see Jews as enemies which persecute them and therefore targets for attack.
Rationalizing Jew-hatred strips it of antisemitic intent. It morphs Jew-hatred into a “perceived antisemitism,” a problem for Jewish “Karens.” It simultaneously grants absolution to the antisemites. In contrast, anti-Muslim hatred gets no backstory, so the racism and “Islamophobia” is laid bare.
Antisemitism is so ingrained in society, that even stories meant to address the disgusting hatred are infused with the venom.
The Israeli government once again allowed tens of thousand of Muslim Arabs onto the Jewish Temple Mount / al Aqsa Compound during Friday prayers of Ramadan on April 5, 2024. The reported 65,000 Muslims who came to pray dwarfed the 50,000 Jews who visited the site OVER THE ENTIRE YEAR OF 2023, none of whom were allowed to pray at Judaism’s holiest site.
Despite Israel allowing access for tens of thousands of Muslims to pray at the site, eight people were arrested on charges of inciting terrorism to the crowd. According to sources, Arabs were shouting “In spirit and blood we will redeem you al-Aqsa.”
The Israeli police were out in force as many Muslims declared the last Friday of Ramadan to be “International Al Quds Day.”
The police noted that the Arab Muslims were all residents of Israel in a statement which said “these vile instigators and supporters of terrorism are residents of the State of Israel who take advantage of a religious occasion and use a holy place of prayer for incitement and support for terrorism and terrorists.”
Despite the problem arising from ISRAELI Arabs, the Palestinian Authority and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) weighed in.
According to the official PA news site Wafa, the OIC condemned Israel for the situation. OIC claimed that thousands of Muslims were prevented from visiting the site and decried the arrest of worshippers. Wafa added that the OIC “slammed such restrictions and assault as a flagrant violation of international laws and norms and called upon the international community to oblige Israel, the occupying power, to halt all recurrent violations of the freedom of worship and desecration of the holy sites while stressing the need to preserve the longstanding historical and legal status at the mosque.”
The statement is a farce on so many levels.
Firstly, “the need to preserve the longstanding historical and legal status quo” of banning Jewish prayer at Judaism’s holiest site while also demanding “freedom of worship” are in direct conflict. At least, as it relates to Jews.
Secondly, Israel allowed more Muslims to the site on a single morning than all Jews have been able to visit their holiest site during the entire year. Still, the OIC lambasted Israel preventing some Muslim radicals from visiting the site and inciting violence. Freedom to visit and pray must be limited to those who don’t advocate violence, and that includes banning agitators and facilitating the entry of tens of thousands of peaceful Jews onto the holy platform.
Third, the arrests were of Israeli Arabs, not Palestinians. Why did the PA issue statements about an internal matter? Is it because it not only believes that Israel has no rights in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount despite it agreeing to such in the Oslo Accords, but also believes that there are no such things as Israeli Arabs because Israel is illegitimate?
As Jews celebrate Passover, one of the three central holidays in Judaism in which Jews are called to visit the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, one cannot find a single article about Jews visiting their holiest site. The media lockdown is meant to keep tensions down as Israel continues to prosecute its defensive war against the political-terrorist group Hamas.
During Ramadan, Israel allows hundreds of thousands of Muslims onto the Temple Mount for prayers, some who shouted about killing Jews in an attempt to start a global jihad. On Passover, an unknown (but certainly very small) contingent of Jews visit the site and no one hears a single thing lest Muslims become angered.
Such is Islamic privilege: the ability for massive Muslim pilgrimage to the Temple Mount complete with antisemitic chants, while a paltry number of Jews silently visit the site, lest Muslims become upset. There is no equality or dignity for Jews, as made abundantly clear over Ramadan and Passover 2024.
Pew Research conducted a poll of Americans in February 2024 about the current Gaza War. There are number of findings worth flagging.
Americans side with Israel. Roughly 58% of Americans think that Israel is right to go after Hamas, while 49% think that Hamas has few if any valid reasons to fight Israel. An astonishing 28% had no opinion on the matter.
A wide majority of 73% of Americans think that Hamas’s approach to fighting the war is unacceptable, arguably way too few considering the savage butchery of the Palestinian army burning families alive. There is no real consensus about Israel’s handling of the war with 38%, 34% and 26% saying that they approve, disapprove or have no opinion of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Jews and Protestants versus Muslims, Secular Americans and Blacks. The poll examined people’s attitudes in the war by religion. Jews and Protestants aligned in their perspectives with 77%, 71% and 55% of Jews, White Evangelical Protestants and White Protestants, respectively, believing that Hamas had no valid reason for attacking Israel. The percentages who believe that Israel is just in fighting Palestinian Arabs is 89%, 74% and 69%, for those same groups respectively.
Muslims had polar opposite reactions, closely followed by secular Americans and Blacks. A sickening 49% of Muslims believe that Hamas had a valid reason for committing the October 7 massacre (and 21% support he way it carried out the attacks), followed by secular Americans and Blacks with 33% and 19% endorsement of the terror. Those groups also believe that Israel is not correct in fighting Hamas, with 54%, 24% and 18% of Muslims, seculars and Blacks, respectively, contesting Israel’s motivations.
Young Americans Support Hamas. The gap between Muslims and Jews is as wide as it is between the young and older Americans.
People over 65 years old think that Israel has a valid reason to pursue Hamas, by 78% to 6%. The percentages among 18 to 29 year-olds is only 38% to 27%. As alarming, the 65+ cohort believes by a 4-to-1 ratio that Hamas has no valid reason to fight Israel, while more young people think Hamas has a valid reason to fight Israel. A sickening 9% of young people believe that the way Hamas carried out the October 7 massacre was appropriate, and 14% have a positive view of Hamas. They are the only age group to have more positive feelings towards Palestinian people than Israelis.
Republicans support Israel’s military. Along with the gap in attitudes among age groups and religions are political leanings. Republicans are twice as likely to support providing military aid to Israel (50% to 25%). Democrats are almost twice as likely to support humanitarian aid for Gazans (66% to 35%).
Generally, among those who completely side with Israelis, Republicans outnumber Democrats by 7-to1. Among those who totally support Palestinians, Democrats outnumber Republicans by 8-to-1.
Jews are more divided than Muslims. Muslim Americans are much more fully supportive of Palestinian Arabs, with no positive feelings towards Jews. Almost half – 45% – of American Muslims only support Palestinians while Jews are more divided in loyalty, with only 28% totally committed towards Israel. Jews have the highest share of empathy for all parties in the conflict compared to all other religions.
Limited knowledge amongst Blacks and young people. Not surprisingly, American Jews and Muslims are the most knowledgeable about the war, with Jews by far the most knowledgeable, as 45% of global Jewry lives in Israel, and most Jews are directly connected to the region. Blacks, those 18-to-29 and without a college degree were very ignorant about the regional players and current situation.
CONCLUSION
There is a divide in America regarding Israel and Palestinian Arabs. On one side are Jews, older Americans, Protestants and college educated people who support Israel. On the other, are Muslims, atheists, Blacks, young people and the uneducated who favor Palestinians.
Zionists must do a much better job in educating the world on social media and in high schools, as today’s youth and secular society is frighteningly siding with radical jihadists.
The first Friday or Ramadan came to Jerusalem amidst the 2023-4 Hamas War from Gaza. The jihadi-political party which leads the Palestinian army called upon Palestinians to confront Israel and come to the al Aqsa Mosque by the thousands.
Wafa, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority took the other side of the jihadi extremist coin, and blamed Israel for blocking Muslims from visiting their holy site:
“Israeli occupation forces barred thousands of Palestinian Muslim worshippers from reaching the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem this morning to perform the first Friday prayer of the holy month of Ramadan.
“Eyewitnesses reported a significant deployment of Israeli troops around the Qalandiya checkpoint to the north of Jerusalem, the Zeitoun checkpoint to its east, and Bethlehem to its south. Thousands of worshippers were turned back and denied access to the city under the pretext of not having the necessary permits.
“The occupation forces also deployed thousands of police officers in the alleys of the Old City of Jerusalem, around the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and at its gates to restrict the entry of worshipers.
“This action follows the installation yesterday of iron barriers at the gates of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, specifically at the gates of King Faisal, Al-Ghawanmeh, and Al-Hadid, in an attempt to exert more control over the entry of worshippers and to restrict access and freedom of worship in the holy site.
“Of note, the occupation authorities have already been imposing strict restrictions on entry of worshipers to the Old City of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque since the outbreak of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people in early October of last year.
“Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest place of worship for Muslims around the world after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. It has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967.”
This is a miseducation and misdirection of the public in the extreme. It is Jews who suffer from restricted access to their holiest site in Judaism.
In the entirety of 2023, only 50,000 Jews got to visit the Jewish Temple Mount. That compares to over 1 million Muslims who came to the site over the single month of Ramadan.
The United Nations supports this discrimination against Jews at the Temple Mount. Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, this week called “for the status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem to be upheld and respected,” meaning barring Jews from praying at their holiest site.
Jews are being banned from visiting their holiest site per the demands of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority which consider any Jew visiting Judaism’s most sacred location to be a form of “provocation.” More Muslims get to visit the al Aqsa/ Temple Mount Compound on a single day of Ramadan than Jews over an entire year.
Yet the press inverts the story that it is Muslims who are “enduring” restrictions when in fact it is the Jews who face UN-endorsed discrimination.
Tor Wennesland is the Norwegian-born United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. His obvious inability to coordinate peace among the warring parties or even to separate them has certainly frustrated him since he took the position in 2021.
Wennesland has seemingly resorted to converting simultaneously to both Judaism and Islam, declaring himself both a rabbi and imam, and issued religious rulings and fatwas against both the Palestinian Muslims and Israeli Jews.
On March 12, 2024, Wennesland produced a curious declaration that flies in the face of facts, reality and dignity.
His opening salvo was against Jews around the world saying “I call for the status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem to be upheld and respected.” That ‘status quo’ is the current ban on Jews praying at their holiest site of the Temple Mount, a complete trampling on the basic rights of Jews around the world. His language of “I call” was an interesting phrase, seemingly not offering his personal preference but taking the role of a rabbi to inform Jews that praying on the Temple Mount is forbidden.
He then turned to the Palestinian Islamists and said “Any attempt by extremists to turn the conflict into a religious one must be staunchly rejected.”
But that is the very core of the conflict and current Hamas war. Hamas’ foundational charter is a religious war against the Jews and the Jewish State with phrases such as:
“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it.” (Opening)
“Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious.” (Preamble)
“Moslems fight the Jews(killing the Jews)… there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him” (Article 7)
“Nothing in nationalism is more significant or deeper than in the case when an enemy should tread Moslem land” (Article 12)
“In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised…. the Palestinian problem is a religious problem, and should be dealt with on this basis.” (Article 15)
“Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people.” (Article 28)
“fight with the warmongering Jews.” (Article 32)
“everywhere in the Islamic world will come forward in response to the call of duty while loudly proclaiming: Hail to Jihad.” (Article 33)
“Moslems were able to retrieve the land only when they stood under the wing of their religious banner… This is the only way to liberate Palestine… confront the Zionist invasion and defeat it… rid themselves of the effects of ideological invasion.” (Article 34)
Wennesland is obviously familiar with Hamas, its charter and philosophy. He knows that Palestinian Arabs support the group and the savage attack on Israelis on October 7. He therefore opted to don an Islamic tunic, promote himself and declare a fatwa that “The sanctity of Ramadan cannot and should not be used for political gains and calculations.” A curious declaration from a Christian to tell Muslims what to do with their holy month of Ramadan.
Beyond my obvious mocking and teasing of the absurdity of Wennesland’s dual conversions to both Judaism and Islam, perhaps there is a kernel of an idea in what he said.
For all these years, the global community specifically tried to frame the conflict as one solely about land and pretended that religion played no part. The foundation for that approach was that religion operates in absolutes and offers no compromises, and therefore no solutions to two people fighting over the same holy sites.
Unless, as Wennesland attempted to do, a single person – or perhaps a committee – represents both Muslims and Jews. A new council which would meet and find a way to respect the other’s faiths and traditions and map a pathway towards coexistence.
People have argued that there is no military solution to the middle east but history has shown that there is no political solution either. Now may be the time to find a religious path to peace in the holy land.
The world is full of ignoramuses, and Hollywood has more than its fair share. Idiots like Susan Sarandon not only make horrible personal comments about Jews but suggest false information.
The simple facts are that Jews are much more persecuted than Muslims in the United States by a large margin.
Hate crimes against Jews have always been much higher than for Muslims or Arabs in every year for the past twenty years according to the FBI. The two groups started to converge around 2014 to 2016 as crimes against Jews started to decline and those against Muslims began to increase, but those trendlines reversed.
According to the raw FBI data, there were 6.3 times more hate crimes committed against Jews than Muslims in 2020. In 2008, the ratio was an astounding 8.6 times and got as low as 2.2 times in 2016.
When adjusting for the relative population of Jews and Muslims, assuming 5.7 million American Jews and 3.3 million American Muslims, the conclusion remains the same that Jews are targeted for hate crimes much more than Muslims or any other group, including Blacks.
Even before the terrible spike in American antisemitism in the wake of the most heinous slaughtering of Jews since the Holocaust on October 7, Jews were the most persecuted people in the country. Attacked by the alt-right, jihadists and the alt-left, and vilified by professors and politicians like Rep. Rashida Tlaib who claims that Jews in the United States and Israel are greedy conniving creatures who steal land and make money off of racism, Jews have become the global pinata.
American Jews are finding few allies and an array of enemies. It is well past time to prepare.
We often hear that the al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is the third holiest site for Muslims, behind Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. What remains unspoken is that the gap between numbers one and two to the distant number three is the size of the Grand Canyon.
Mecca is THE holy city of Muslims. It is there where Muslims perform the hajj, their pilgrimage to the Kaaba stone. During the week of the hajj, over 2 million people come to the city, of which roughly two-thirds are from outside Saudi Arabia.
During the hajj, many Muslims also visit Medina, where Muhammed is buried, about 280 miles away. Visitors come from Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia and Egypt, among other Muslim-majority countries.
The same cannot be said for Muslim visitors to Jerusalem, which only draws local Arabs.
In 2019, before the pandemic dramatically impacted travel, Israel had over 4.5 million tourists visit the country. The two neighboring Arab countries with peace treaties with Israel barely came: Jordan had a mere 19,200 people visit Israel and Egypt had 8,000. Combined, the two countries accounted for 0.6% of tourists to the holy land. Amman, the capital of Jordan is less than a two hour drive from Jerusalem, an easy day trip.
Yet no one comes.
Turkey, which has long had relations with Israel, barely sends any tourists or pilgrims to Israel. The four Muslim majority countries, which recently struck normalization agreements with the Jewish State similarly have almost no visitors.
If al Aqsa is so holy, why don’t any Muslims from around the world come visit?
Some holy sites in the Jerusalem skyline, open to all under Israel
Christians make the pilgrimage to Israel all of the time. Italy alone had nearly 191,000 people come to see the various holy sites. Greece, with a population 1/10th the size of Egypt, had nearly 42,000 visitors to the Jewish State, or more than five times as many as Egypt. While Greece, Turkey and Israel were all once part of the Ottoman Empire, the Muslim interest in Jerusalem is vastly different. While roughly 417 Greeks per 100,000 go to Israel each year, only 37 per 100,000 Turks visit.
Israel allows access for Muslims to ascend the Temple Mount to visit al Aqsa every day, and even bars non-Muslims during Islamic holy days to facilitate Muslim prayers. Over one million Muslims went to Jerusalem during Ramadan in 2023, almost every one a local Arab, many who came repeatedly.
The al Aqsa Mosque is a holy shrine for local religious Muslims, while the entire Temple Mount is the holiest location for world Jewry and central focus of Judaism.
As the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States approaches, various news outlets are discussing the animosity towards Muslims that became a reality in America after the terrorist attacks by nineteen Muslim men, directly killed nearly 3,000 people and many times that number indirectly in the years that followed. Other than giving a platform for American Muslims to talk about their experiences with prejudice, little analysis into the hate crime statistics has been shared.
So here it is.
Before the September 11th attacks, almost every religious-based hate crime reported by the FBI was against Jews. From 1998 to 2000, a total of 89 anti-Muslim hate crimes were reported, or about 30 per year. In comparison, over that time period, over 3,500 anti-Jewish attacks were reported by the FBI, or 39 times as many. That dynamic changed with the jihadist terrorism against the USA in 2001.
The spike was immediate and significant.
In 2001, a total of 546 anti-Muslim hate crimes were reported, a 16.5 times jump from the prior year. White people committed 200 of those offenses, a high number relative to the 29 attacks committed by Black people. The numbers declined rapidly in 2002, but the number of anti-Muslim attacks has remained significantly above the pre-9/11 days.
Anti-Muslim attacks increased again with the influx of Muslim refugees from Syria and elsewhere in 2015 and 2016, reaching a high of 381 in 2016. The number of incidents declined significantly since then, with 219 attacks reported in 2019, a 43 percent decline in three years.
In regards to the perpetrators of the offenses, from 2000 to 2009, Whites committed an average of 69.9 attacks per year, compared to 16.8 for Blacks. The numbers increased for both groups in the 2010-2019 decade, with Whites and Blacks committing an average of 97.3 and 25.2 attacks, respectively, representing a jump of 39% for Whites and 50% for Blacks.
By way of comparison, Jews suffer many more hate crimes than Muslims but the trend line is quite different.
Attacks against Jews was consistently above 1,100 attacks per year through the year 2001. It was only in 2002 that anti-Semitic attacks began to decline, reaching a low of 635 attacks in 2014. This was a period marked by the War on Terror around the world, and in Israel, it included the Second Intifada/Two Percent War (2000-2005), the election of a Holocaust denier to the Palestinian presidency and a jihadist terrorist group to a majority of the Palestinian parliament (2005 and 2006) and wars from Gaza after the Hamas takeover of the Strip (2008, 2012 and 2014). Perhaps Americans sympathized with Jews and the Jewish State in the global war on Islamic extremism, as attacks on Jews declined significantly over those thirteen years.
But the trend reversed as anti-Semitism began to spike at the same time as anti-Muslim attacks picked up in 2015. Most recently, crimes against Muslims have been declining while anti-Semitism has been rising.
A review of the offenders perhaps reveals some clues.
From 2000 to 2009, Whites committed an average of 181.0 attacks against Jews while Blacks committed an average of 17.8 attacks per year. But from 2010 to 2019, Whites committed an annual average of 137.3 attacks while Blacks committed 28.5. So while anti-Semitic attacks among Whites declined by 24% over the past decade, it increased 60% among Blacks.
The past decade witnessed a spike in religious-based hate crimes committed by Black people at a greater rate than White people, and against Jews in particular, as the average anti-Semitic hate crimes committed by Whites has declined by 24%. (source: FBI Hate Crime Statistics)
The sharp increase in Black anti-Semitism came most recently in 2018 and 2019, with all-time record levels of attacks by Blacks on Jews. This coincides with the election of the “Squad” to Congress – and two Muslim women, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, in particular – who pushed anti-Semitic tropes that Jews control the military, the press, the government and do it all as a means to profit from the poor. The ridiculous shouts of “from Ferguson to Palestine” shouted by the likes of CNN’s Marc Lamont Hill and “from Detroit to Gaza” shirts sold on Rashida Tlaib’s website, were malicious attempts to portray Jews as militant exploiters of Blacks and Muslims all around the world. Shockingly, Democratic leaders protected their anti-Semitic minority members and advanced anti-Islamophobia measures rather than protecting Jews.
Not surprisingly, attacks against Jews increased and those against Muslims decreased.
In 2019, an average American Jew was roughly three times more likely to suffer a hate crime than an average Muslim (1,032 Jewish victims in a population of 5.7 million versus 227 Muslim victims in a population of 3.3 million). Jews always suffered more than Muslims and the gap is growing.
In summary, there were almost no anti-Muslim attacks in the United States until the Islamic extremist attacks of September 11, 2001. The spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes went on for a year, and the situation then dramatically improved. That turnaround enabled American Muslims to assume positions of power in the United States, which they have used to further protect Muslims and fuel minority attacks against Jews.
Twenty years ago, foreign jihadists hijacked a small part of the U.S. transportation system to viciously attack America’s financial, military and political centers. Today’s jihadists are aggressively weaponizing the U.S. educational system, the government and the media, to attack Jews around the world.
Rep. Ilhan Omar made several comments which were widely viewed as antisemitic in her first weeks in office. As part of her defense, she offered the following:
“what I am fearful of is that because [Rep.] Rashida [Tlaib] and I are Muslim, that a lot of Jewish colleagues, a lot of our Jewish constituents, a lot of our allies, go to thinking that everything we say about Israel, to be anti-Semitic, because we are Muslim.”
Omar claimed that people – Jews in particular – think that she is more inclined to be anti-Semitic because she is Muslim. Why would she make that accusation? Are Jews particularly paranoid about Muslims?
The New York Times decided to write a large article about AIPAC because of Omar’s comments attacking the pro-Israel lobby in an article called “Ilhan Omar’s Criticism Raises the Question: Is AIPAC Too Powerful?” on March 4, 2019. Perhaps the Times will soon do a follow up article asking whether Jews really know how to ‘hypnotize‘ the world the way that Omar also claimed.
As The New York Times goes through great lengths to not label Muslims or Palestinian Arabs as anti-Semites (only Israelis are racists), the paper will likely never examine this other charge made by Omar. So it is worth doing such analysis here to see if either of Omar’s assumption are correct: that Muslims are particularly anti-Semitic or that Jews unfairly think that Muslims are anti-Semitic.
Muslim Anti-Zionism
Before investigating Muslim antisemitism, let’s consider whether there is a poisonous Muslim anti-Zionism that is more acute than Christian, Hindu or other religions approach to the Jewish State, since Omar claimed that the essence of her attacks were really against Israel, not Jews.
Attacking Israel in many wars. From the very beginning of the modern state of Israel, EVERY WAR Israel has fought has been against Muslim countries which have attacked it, including Egypt; Jordan; Syria; Lebanon; and Iraq
Not recognizing Israel.Ever. There are 30 Muslim countries that still do not recognize the basic existence of Israel. This has been a consistent theme from before the 1967 war, going all of the way back to 1948.
Labeling “Zionism is Racism.” The Organization of Islamic Corporation (OIC) is a bloc of 57 Muslim-majority countries. These countries routinely press for resolutions at the United Nations against Israel. They were behind the infamous “Zionism is Racism” resolution passed at the UN in 1973.
Promoting BDS, including for athletes and academia. Muslim countries routinely bar Israelis from attending international sporting events and academic symposiums. When Israelis do compete, the Muslim host countries often do not display the Israeli flag or play the Israeli national anthem when Israelis win. Oftentimes, athletes from Muslim countries refuse to compete against Israelis.
Muslim nations have attacked Israel physically and economically since the re-establishment of the Jewish State in 1948. The Muslim-majority countries also attempt to dismantle Israel diplomatically at the United Nations and lobby Israel’s major sponsor, the United States, to abandon the cause of the Jewish State. The Muslim country assaults are in sharp contrast to non-Muslim nations which almost all have diplomatic relations and are active trading partners with Israel.
CHECK. Muslims are much more anti-Zionist than non-Muslims.
Muslim Antisemitism
Beyond the Muslim attacks against the Jewish State, how have Muslims treated Jews over the past century?
Muslim and Arab countries routed their Jewish populations after 1948. After the founding of the modern Jewish State, Muslim countries actively persecuted their Jewish – not Israeli – but Jewish citizens. One million Jews were forced to leave Muslim countries from Morocco to Iran from 1948 to the 1970’s.
Muslim-majority countries most anti-Semitic (2014 ADL poll). The Anti-Defamation League conducted a global poll of antisemitism in 2014 and 2015. People in Muslim majority countries held much more anti-Jewish views than other countries. The worst were Palestinian Arabs at 93% hating Jews, followed by Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia with scores of 92%, 88%, 87%, 87% and 86%, respectively. By way of comparison, Christian majority countries like Ireland (which has many anti-Israel laws) scored 20%, Denmark 9% and Australia 14%.
Muslims more antisemitic where they are minority (2015 ADL poll). The ADL refined their study the following year and broke down the people by their religion inside Christian-majority countries. In every instance, whether for France, Italy or Germany, Muslims were two to five times more likely to harbor anti-Jewish attitudes than non-Muslims.
Imams in Europe calling for death to Jews. Islamic religious leaders in Europe have called for attacks against Jews
Islamic radicals target Jews in Europe. While Muslim terrorists had a terrible reason for killing people working at the Charlie Hebdo magazine in France, they had only one reason – antisemitism – to go out of their way to kill people at a small kosher supermarket. Other targeted actions include a Muslim terrorist shooting up a Jewish museum in Belgium, and the murder of elderly Jews by Muslims in France.
Jews joining alt-right parties in Europe to stem Muslim tide. The persistent Muslim antisemitism has caused Jews to begin joining alt-Right parties – in Germany of all places. The immediate danger for Jews is clearly believed to be from Muslims, not racist Christians.
Pakistan-India terrorists went out of way to attack Chabad (2008). The Muslim antisemitism is not confined to MENA or Europe. When Muslim terrorists launched an enormous attack in Mumbai India in 2008, they went out of their way to a small Jewish Chabad house just to torture and kill the few Jews who lived in the city.
“Sons of Apes and Pigs” in the Koran. Unfortunately, many of these Islamic radicals who harbor deep antisemitism look to the Koran to defend their screed. They point to passages in their holy scriptures that call Jews names and demand that they be killed.
Antisemitism is prevalent in both Muslim majority countries and among Muslims who live in Christians countries.
CHECK. Muslims are much more antisemitic than non-Muslims around the world.
Palestinian Antisemitism
Some people who attack Israel do so because they feel that Israel mistreats Palestinians. They have argued that the Israel-Palestinian Conflict is simply one about land and has nothing to do with a clash of religions. Or to be more clear, they believe Palestinian Arabs don’t hate Jews, just the group of foreigners who took over their land.
Below is a review whether Palestinians hate the Jewish State, hate Jews and Judaism, or simply want to have independence and sovereignty, with no hatred at all (perhaps just frustration).
Ottoman, British, Egyptian and Jordanian versus Israeli control. If one chooses to adopt the Palestinian narrative, that the Arabs of Palestine have always been a distinct people and nation which were just “occupied” throughout their history by Ottomans for 500 years (Muslims, not Arabs), then British for a few decades, then by Egypt in Gaza (1949-67) and by Jordan in the “West Bank” (1949-67), why did the Palestinians NEVER revolt and attack any of those Muslim occupiers? Why did they suddenly take up arms against Jews?
Palestinian Law forbids the sale of land to Jews. Palestinian law – still on the books – calls for a death sentence for any Palestinian who sells land to a Jew. Not an Israeli Arab- just Jews, Israeli or otherwise.
The founding Hamas Charter is the most anti-Semitic political document ever written. The Islamic terrorist group Hamas combined the most vile parts of the infamous forgery Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the worst possible reading of the Koran to establish its mantra to kill the Jews of the world who foment global anarchy. With that antisemitic platform, Palestinians elected Hamas to 58% of their parliament. The head of Hamas would win an election for president if held today according to polls.
The president of the Palestinian authority is a Holocaust Denier. The current head of the PA, Mahmoud Abbas, wrote his doctoral thesis on a particularly noxious form of Holocaust denial which says that Zionists conspired with the Nazis to make things horrible for the Jews in Europe so they would move to Palestine. (The Jewish Zionists instigated the Holocaust of their fellow Jews – just imagine how inhumane they would treat non-Jews!)
Abbas denies many elements of Jewish history in the holy land. Abbas enjoys making speeches before journalists and the United Nations General Assembly denying the connection of Jews to their holy land:
He denies that Jews have lived in Israel for thousands of years
He denies that the two Jewish Temples sat on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem
He denies that Jews have been the majority of the population of Jerusalem since the 1860’s
He claims that Jesus was a Palestinian, rather than a Jew
He claims that Palestinians are descendants of Canaanites in an attempt to pre-date Jewish claims to the land, even though the descendants of the Canaanites are Lebanese (the historic holy land included southern Lebanon and Syria)
Abbas said that Great Britain promoted the Balfour Declaration to get rid of its Jews. Adding yet more insult to injury, Abbas said that not only do the Jews lack any history and rights to Israel, the only reason that the Balfour Declaration was made was that the English hated their Jews and were looking to get rid of them. (it’s not just us, they’re bad people!)
Palestinians deny Jewish rights to worship. Muslims – including Ottomans, Jordanians and Palestinians – have routinely tried to obliterate Jewish history and deny Jewish rights to pray:
For centuries, the Ottomans (then Jordanians) denied Jews the right to pray at Judaism’s second holiest location, the Cave of the Jewish Patriarchs in Hebron
Similarly, Jews continue to be forbidden to pray at their holiest location, the Jewish Temple Mount
Palestinians demand a country free of Jews. What could possibly be more antisemitic than demanding a country completely free of Jews? Even Iran doesn’t go that far.
These are not competing claims over land, This is an evil, raging rant of antisemitism that has never been defeated or kept in check. Unlike American racism including the horrible lynchings and attacks on blacks in the American South which were finally countered with marches and changes in law, and the evil of Nazi Germany’s antisemitism which was vanquished in a war defeating their army and wicked worldview, Muslim antisemitism has metastasized. It has been ignored, excused, encouraged and empowered for the past 100 years.
Ilhan Omar asked a question about why Jews think that Muslims are anti-Semitic, and the alt-left has run to her side with fig leaves. While the left-wing media has sought to examine her charges of the powerful Jew, it refuses to report on the rampant Muslim antisemitism in Muslim countries, around the world, in the United States and Israel itself.
Ilhan Omar – and much more importantly, everybody else – here is the answer to your question about whether Jews unfairly criticize Muslims or whether Muslims really are anti-Semitic.
First One Through 