The rise in anti-Semitism since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, has reached a critical point in the United States, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday, warning that it threatens both security of Jews throughout the world. the world and the future of Israel.
“For us Jews, the rise of anti-Semitism is a crisis. “This is a fire that must be put out,” Schumer said during an emotional 40-minute speech on the Senate floor. He stressed that he does not accuse most critics of the Israeli government’s policies of anti-Semitism and does not ignore the difficulties faced by Palestinians. Schumer made his comments as the Senate prepares to consider next week a bill that would provide aid to Israel and Ukraine, which are currently fighting. Protests following the bombing of Gaza by the Israeli air force following the October 7 attack on southern Israel took place in the United States and abroad.
Schumer, a Democrat and the highest-ranking Jewish government official in the United States, emphasized that he does not consider most critics of the Israeli government’s actions to be anti-Semitic.
“What this means is that to hate one group of Americans is to hate them all,” he said.
Immediately after the speech, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who speaks frequently with Schumer during joint sessions, praised her comments, saying, “I share your condemnation of this hate.”
The number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States increased about 400% in the two weeks after October 7, the Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance, reported in October.
Israel’s military operation in Gaza has left 14,800 people dead, a quarter of them children, according to local health authorities. After reaching a truce last week, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire to mitigate widespread destruction.
Schumer noted that Jews make up only 2% of the American population, but are the target of 55% of all religiously motivated crimes recorded by the FBI. Schumer said the NYPD has seen an increase in incidents since Oct. 7.
“American Jews…are under attack. “We feel alone,” he stated.
Recalling long-standing attacks on Jews around the world, Schumer spoke of his relatives, many of whom were murdered by the Nazis in 1941. In an op-ed published in The New York Times on Wednesday, the senator called for Do not blame American Jews for the actions of the Israeli army in Gaza. The compassion and sympathy that many Americans felt for Jews after the attacks, which largely targeted civilian communities and cities, have given way to “other, more troubling voices,” Schumer wrote in the Times.
“Today, too many Americans use anti-Israel arguments and veer into virulent anti-Semitism. The normalization and intensification of this rise in hatred is the danger that Jews fear most,” she wrote.
Schumer mentioned boycotts and vandalism against Jewish businesses “that have nothing to do with Israel” and harassment and attacks on Jewish students on college campuses.
Schumer warned against escalating criticism of Israel “towards something else: the denial of the Jewish state in any form, open calls for the complete destruction of Israel, while exalting the self-determination of other peoples.”
He also addressed how Arabs living in the United States experience similar fears when they see the rise of Islamophobia and “horrible crimes like the murder of a six-year-old child.”
The crisis between Israel and Hamas has divided Congress. About three dozen Democrats have backed calls for a full truce, which Israel has rejected, saying it would only help Hamas militants regroup for another attack.
