Readers Write: Wrong to blame Trump on rise in anti-Semetism

The Island Now

At the end of your front page article of Nov. 23 about anti-Semitic incidents, psychology professor Azadeh Aalai seems to link the rise in “far right ideas” to growing anti-Semitism. Aalai also refers to some unspecified “more hateful aspects of the administration.”

One is left to speculate which administration he means.

At no point do Aalai or any of the other “experts” cited mention left-wing anti-Semitism, or that of such notables as Minister Louis Farakhan, the Rev. Al Sharpton or Women’s March leaders Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory.

While it is good news that there were only 37 reported hate crimes in Nassau County in 2017, you ignore the larger issue of anti-Semitic venom spewed daily in the Palestinian territories and throughout the Muslim world including Europe.

The growing movement to boycott Israel has its roots in the Arab boycott of Israel which dates back to 1948 — long before Israel “occupied” the Arab areas within historic Judea and Samaria.

The founder of the Palestinian movement, Haj Amin al-Husseini (uncle of Yasir Arafat) was an early adherent of the Muslim Brotherhood and an ardent follower of Adolph Hitler. Indeed, Husseini promised the Fuhrer he would finish off the Jewish people in the Middle East.

Companies like AirBnb that boycott Israel are following in such vile footsteps. This is the real anti-Semitism.

As for the current administration in the White House, one is hard-pressed to name a more pro-Israel president than Donald Trump.

He kept his promise to “tear up” the failed nuclear deal between the prior administration and the viciously anti-Semitic Islamic Republic of Iran. He kept his promise — which was endorsed by Congress decades ago — to move the US Embassy to Israel’s capital in Jerusalem.

After the attack on the Pittsburgh synagogue by a Trump hater, President Trump said that whoever seeks to destroy the Jewish people should themselves be destroyed. To link this president to an increase in anti-Semitism is not just mistaken — it is shameful.

The fact is that anti-Semitism cuts across party and ideological lines and is neither a left or right-wing phenomenon.

Robert Spitalnick

Kings Point

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