‘When a Florida synagogue canceled its “Beach Shabbat” services amid threats against one of its board members, the judge who signed the warrant authorizing an FBI search of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, it felt to some like a pivotal moment in the history of American antisemitism.
“The combination of a synagogue in Florida having to cancel Shabbat due to antisemitic threats against the Jewish judge who signed the Trump warrant, combined with right-wing media figures pointing out that Merrick Garland is Jewish, is making me very uneasy as an American Jew,” a doctoral student in American Jewish history named Joel Swanson wrote on Twitter.
Many of the attacks on Judge Bruce Reinhardt have referenced his Jewish identity, from a viral tweet by retired baseball player Lenny Dykstra to chatter on pro-Trump message boards. So, too, has criticism of Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general who authorized the search as part of an ongoing investigation into whether Trump may have violated the Espionage Act.
The torrent of antisemitic vitriol against them have raised concerns that Trump’s base, which has already shown potential for violence, could channel that rhetoric into action.
“We know that U.S. extremists are willing to act on their beliefs. And we know, for some of these extremists, antisemitism is adjacent to their other ideologies,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the Center on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League.’
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“The combination of a synagogue in Florida having to cancel Shabbat due to antisemitic threats against the Jewish judge who signed the Trump warrant, combined with right-wing media figures pointing out that Merrick Garland is Jewish, is making me very uneasy as an American Jew,” a doctoral student in American Jewish history named Joel Swanson wrote on Twitter.
Many of the attacks on Judge Bruce Reinhardt have referenced his Jewish identity, from a viral tweet by retired baseball player Lenny Dykstra to chatter on pro-Trump message boards. So, too, has criticism of Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general who authorized the search as part of an ongoing investigation into whether Trump may have violated the Espionage Act.
The torrent of antisemitic vitriol against them have raised concerns that Trump’s base, which has already shown potential for violence, could channel that rhetoric into action.
“We know that U.S. extremists are willing to act on their beliefs. And we know, for some of these extremists, antisemitism is adjacent to their other ideologies,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the Center on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League.’
On Gab, Truth Social and beyond, antisemitic threats continue in the wake of the FBI's Mar-a-Lago search - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Online threats against figures such as Merrick Garland and Bruce Reinhart, the Jewish judge who approved the Mar-a-Lago search, has resulted in warnings to local law enforcement and increased vigilance.
www.jta.org
More at the link.
