I am a German Jewish refugee who landed in N.Y.C. the day after WWII broke out in Europe. I still remember Kristallnacht and the arrest of my father by the Gestapo some time later. We lost several family members in the German death camps.
Anti-Semitism is at its greatest level in the USA since 1945, and it only gets worse. I have said for decades that this rise is strongly related to the way that Israel treats its Arab citizens, Arabs of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel has done some of the same things to the Palestinians that Hitler Germany did to Jews: collective punishment, stolen property, prison without trial, summary execution, and more.
The Gaza Strip is nothing more than a huge concentration camp. It is a hell of 140 square miles with over two million men, women, and children crammed in and little opportunity to function as free people. It is blockaded on all sides, including the right to leave and the right to fish and right to earn a living. How would you like your homes and civilian infrastructure bombed and shelled, and your family members killed. The Palestinians fight back anyway that they can. They have no military force of any consequence.
The West Bank Arabs continue to have their land and water stolen and are tightly restricted in their movements, sometimes having to travel a long time to their farms. For them it is an existence, not a life.
Meisel and the entire ADL leadership in N.Y.C. are silent about the underlying cause of the increase of antisemitic acts that have increased by record numbers. Many American Jews are afraid to speak out They become labeled as self-hating Jews.
In my opinion, General George C. Marshall was the greatest American of the 20th century. He broke with Truman while he was Secretary of State. He said that the State of Israel being foisted on the Arabs would have them fighting each other forever! Seventy-five years later, he is still right!
Let me quote Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion: “Sure, God promised the land to us, but what does that matter to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only know one thing. We have come here and have stolen their country. No one can deny the victimhood (sic) of the Jews through the ages, but that doesn’t entitle them to take it out on the Palestinians. If I had been a Palestinian, I would wage perpetual war with Israel forever.””
As long as the Palestinians don’t have land and a life for their families, this will only get worse. Wait until Iran goes nuclear.
Israel cannot win a war of attrition with the Arabs. The Arab population is growing at a much higher number each year than Israel’s Jews can ever hope to get near.
Antisemitism will continue to be fueled and grow even more violent by the Arab-Israeli conflict, whether Meisel and ADL keep it in the basement or not!
If Meisel dares to, I will be happy to debate the subject with him any place and anytime.