Blame victim: latest excuse for racism

We live in a strange new world after the recent Nov. 8 elections, as Jews are experiencing a resurgence in anti-Semitism.
Yet, there’s a new twist, with Jews being blamed for the very hate speech of which they were victims. 
Sadly, the “alt-right” uses bigotry as part of their strategy to win elections.
The Anti-Defamation League conducted a first of its kind study and found that: “2.6 million tweets containing language frequently found in anti-Semitic speech were posted across Twitter between August 2015 and July 2016.” 
The Huffington Post reported, in a Feb. 26, 2016 article, that Jews are the target of 57 percent of hate crimes in America. 
The Observer, in a July 26, 2016 article about anti-Semitism on college campuses, stated “287 anti-Semitic incidents occurred at 64 schools, compared to 198 occurrences that took place during the same time last year, reflecting a 45 percent increase.” 
These facts make it clear, anti-Semitism is trending in the wrong direction.
During my recent run for New York State Senate bigotry played a role. 
There was a paid Facebook ad with a gross caricature of me as Tevye, and a caption that read, “Adam Haber Tax Cap Fiddler,” implying I would “fiddle” with taxes. 
In other words, the Jew fiddling with your money, paid for by the New York State Republican Party. 
What made it even more offensive was the common response by some local Republicans, both in person and online: “Haber posted it himself, as a way to make his opponent look bad.” Really?
Sadly, while campaign season is over, local anti-Semitism continues, with the recent drawing of a swastika in a Port Washington High School bathroom. 
My son, a high school student, showed me the online comments about it, and I shook my head in disbelief: “It’s a plot by the rich liberals to make the Republicans and Trump look bad.” 
So the victims get blamed twice, and the victimizers go unpunished.
In October, the Greenwich Connecticut High School football team, on Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish holidays, used a play code named “Hitler.”  
The diagrammed play called for an index finger across their teammates upper lip so the Greenwich offense knew what to do. 
When a Jewish parent complained she was initially rebuffed as the coach saw nothing wrong with it. 
It wasn’t until others spoke up that an apology was issued.
President-elect Donald Trump, like him or not, has changed the discussion as to what is politically correct. 
Anti-Semitism is now acceptable and the victims of it are being blamed for it. 
This is not a phenomenon just in the United States. 
An article this past February in the Jerusalem Post states: “fully 60 percent of Frenchmen believe that Jews bear at least some responsibility for recent rises in anti-Semitism.”
The ADL reported that right after the election, they have seen a 50-fold rise in online daily donations, 75 percent of which are first-time donors. 
Where this all leads nobody knows. 
The frightening thing is that we have seen this happen throughout history and it doesn’t bode well for the Jewish community.