In the event of a disaster, one has to wonder what the fallout is. Who is to blame? How can we prevent this tragedy from happening again? These questions have answers. But the truth is the people who are to blame, don’t want to hear the answers, and neither do those who enable them.
After the California Synagogue shooting, I saw a lot of people blaming the perpetrator, as one rightly should. What I didn’t see was anyone actively calling out antisemitism in general. Why? Because no one actually cares and when Jews present solutions to this, we’re left waiting in the desert for an oasis to appear.
One solution I saw was the idea of Jews defending themselves and exercising their 2nd amendment rights. Well nope, we can’t have that. Guns are bad, and people don’t need to own guns, and they shouldn’t be trained to use them. No, they should just hire more security and police, because you know, police and security forces are just so affordable. Think about it. What’s cheaper in the long run? A gun with bullets on your holster? Or a permanent security guard at the Synagogue. Money, children, doesn’t grow on trees.
Another solution I have seen is maybe people should take a more active role in listening to Jewish voices when we call something antisemitic. But that too was laughed out of the room with the same speed that Ilhan Omar both remembered the Holocaust and usurped it to talk about something else.
The far right and the far left really do meet at the antisemitic end of the political spectrum. But it saddens me that it seems that one side is more interested in calling out antisemitism than the other. If we want to prevent these tragedies, two things need to happen. People need to able to protect themselves, and those that aren’t directly affected need to do a better job of recognizing antisemitism, especially when it is hidden under the banner of “anti-zionism.”
Anti-Zionism a prevalent and dangerous wave of antisemitism that has been sweeping the world over the last few decades and if we don’t call it out, attacks like this against Jews in the United States and the world will only continue to happen.
Sasha Kaplan is a college graduate, conservative Zionist, and the online pro-Israel superhero, Captain Israel. You can find her at Jewishpolitics.tumblr.com, on twitter @CaptainIsraelP, or you can reach her by email at SashaCiKaplan@gmail.com
