I’m accustomed to seeing charges of anti-Semitism levied
against supporters of Palestinian rights, critics of Israel and AIPAC, and even
against those who protested the Iraq War. The reason behind those accusations
seemed simple enough to me – since its inception, political Zionism has sought
to speak for Judaism as a whole, thereby rendering any criticism of Israeli
actions a criticism of the Jewish people as a whole.
But charges of anti-Semitism at Occupy Wall Street?
While there’s a lot to criticize about the protests going on
in Zuccotti Park (and God knows, I love to do it), discrimination on a racial
or religious basis seems totally out of sync with the protesters’ still
nebulous goals.
Yet Abraham Foxman of the Anti Defamation League (ADL), a group
whose myriad accusations of anti-Semitism resemble a game of pin the tail on
the donkey, has found “individuals holding anti-Semitic
signs at the 'Occupy Wall Street' rallies, and some videos posted on YouTube
from the rallies [that] have shown individuals expressing classic anti-Semitic
beliefs such as 'Jews control the banks' and 'Jews control Wall Street.'”
I’ve been to Zuccotti Park a few times so far, and had no
clue what Foxman was talking about. So I decided to go down to the protests again.
I wanted to do a story on religion there anyway, which I figured would be a
natural segue into a discussion of Judaism.
And I found an honest-to-God anti-Semite.
Now, before we go ahead and say that the ADL was in the
right, let me tell you about this anti-Semite. (And yes, I only found one.)
His name is David Smith. He looks pretty crazy, and given
that the company he keeps has been living in a public square for the better
part of six weeks, that’s saying something. He was calling for the imprisonment
of all bankers and investors and, somewhat inexplicably given his merciless rhetoric,
holding a sign that said “Jesus Loves You” when I approached him.
I asked him to explain what he thought religion had to do
with the protests and with financial inequality in the country, and he launched
into a diatribe about Jewish bankers.
“The role of Wall Street is primarily Jewish. The hedge fund
managers are Jewish, the bankers are Jewish. If you Google Jewish billionaires,
you’ll see that Jews make up 50% of all the billionaires in this country, which
is astounding because Jews only represent 2% of the population. If you
prosecute more than one Jew at a time it’s called anti-Semitic. The fact of the
matter is that America is a Christian nation, the Jews on Wall Street are
robbing us hand over fist, I don’t know if they call it getting back for the
Holocaust or whatnot…”
At this point, I stopped David Smith.
I didn’t stop him because what he said was offensive, even
though it was. I didn’t stop him because his data lacked the social, political,
and historical context that would make it completely understandable, though it
did. I didn’t even stop him because I’m a Jew, which I am, or because I wanted
to head-butt him in the nose, which I was tempted to do.
I stopped him because I felt like I was about to start
laughing.
This is the face of the anti-Semitism we have to fear at
Occupy Wall Street? This sad, lonely, old man, spouting the stalest of all
stale anti-Semitic rhetoric, constitutes an existential threat to our 5772-year-old people?
If that’s the case, I think we’re in pretty good shape.
Abraham Foxman did acknowledge that "there
is no evidence that these anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are representative
of the larger movement or that they are gaining traction with other
participants,” but that trying economic times historically facilitate
anti-Semitic rhetoric and behavior. In a sense, Foxman is right. In a Russian,
Ukrainian, Polish, or German sense. In the USA, people like David Smith remain,
thankfully, laughed at, ignored, or repudiated. And that is indeed what
happened at Zuccotti Park – one protester burst out laughing during Smith’s
diatribe, another shook his head, and one woman became incensed at Smith and
scolded him.
The ADL’s self stated goal is to “stop the defamation of the Jewish
people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” If that’s really the case, then Foxman’s words on Occupy Wall Street
are redundant.
It seems the protesters have what little anti-Semitism
there is at Zuccotti Park pretty well handled.
