“Anti-Semitism has one goal: to fumigate the Jewish people,’’ said Wiesel. “Hatred is a disease. It spreads from community to community, from person to person.’’
Fourteen percent of those surveyed in the ADL poll agreed with the statement that “Jews have too much power in the US today.’’ Thirty percent of respondents also said they believe Jews are more loyal to Israel than to America.
Derrek Shulman, the New England regional director of the ADL, said that a local audit showed 64 incidents of overt anti-Semitism reported by victims last year, up from 55 in 2009. Shulman said the rise correlates with the national poll numbers.
“The good news is that more people are stepping forward to share incidents with the ADL so we can help with the response, but on the other hand, that’s of little comfort to the people that have been targeted,’’ Shulman said.
During a two-person panel discussion moderated by Channel 5 reporter Kimberly Bookman, Foxman and Lawrence offered different perspectives on anti-Semitism, with Lawrence defending the First Amendment and Foxman taking a rigorous stance on what constitutes anti-Semitism.
Foxman said it was anti-Semitic to criticize the human rights record of Israel if it was the only country whose human rights record one was criticizing.
The panel focused on how anti-Semitism is expressed in the 21st century.
To Foxman, the anonymity offered by the Internet and political rhetoric, particularly from Iran’s leadership, are the two main sources of anti-Semitism today.
Beyond the Internet, Foxman said, the biggest “physical threat to Jewish survival’’ in 2011 comes from Islamic fundamentalism.
The poll also indicated that Hispanics and African-Americans are about twice as likely to hold anti-Semitic views than the average American.
According to the survey, 29 percent of African-Americans expressed anti-Semitic views. Forty-two percent of foreign-born Hispanics and 20 percent of US-born Hispanics showed anti-Semitic views.
