Photo: John Lamparski/Nur Photo/Picture Alliance/Deustche Welle / Courtesy
Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the US special entrustee to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, is a living legend. It was she who put writer David Irving behind bars in Austria for spreading anti-Semitic lies. She is known for taking on anti-Semitism whenever and wherever she wants it to start eroding the foundations of society. In 2023, this means taking a hard look at the problems in Washington itself.
In 2021, the United States recorded its highest level of anti-Semitic attacks in recent years: an average of seven a day. The Anti-Defamation League, an NGO that fights against all forms of antisemitism, fears even worse figures for 2022. For this reason, President Joe Biden created, in late 2022, an interagency group tasked with developing the country’s first national strategy to counter antisemitism.
Allies in the task against antisemitism
Along with the White House, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) has summoned anti-Semitism envoys from the very countries that used to take US advice on how to deal with the problem. The European Union, Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain already have strategies against antisemitism. Furthermore, the United States and Germany have similar federal systems with broad powers.
The United States faces a unique challenge, Felix Klein, Germany’s federal anti-Semitism commissioner, tells DW. “The American Constitution is very generous when it comes to free speech.” But in Germany, denying or trivializing the Holocaust is a crime that carries prison terms of up to three years. Similar laws in Austria sentenced writer David Irving to two years in prison in 2019, unheard of in anti-Semitism cases tried in the United States.
Still, Klein points out that the United States could hold the key to stopping the rampant spread of anti-Semitism: “All the major internet platforms are based in the United States.”
When words turn into violence
In the United States, the deadliest anti-Semitic incident to date was the 2018 attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which left 11 people dead. The attacker’s social media history was littered with Holocaust-denying posts, pushing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. “We have to recognize that social media companies play a role here,” says Ted Deutch, a former congressman and now CEO of the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
In late 2022, the anti-Semitic rants of “Ye,” formerly known as Kanye West, were hotly debated, posted, and reposted by more than 16 million Instagram followers. The fact that he was subsequently invited to dine with former President Donald Trump and white supremacist Nick Fuentes at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort sparked heated debate in the United States. But that same debate also brought anti-Semitism into mainstream culture.
Adidas may have reacted to Ye’s Holocaust denial by removing his line of trendy athletic shoes bearing his name from shelves. However, to this day, these same sneakers are being sold as collectibles on resale platforms for around $300-$400.
According to special envoy Deborah Lipstadt, anti-Semitism is like the “canary in the coal mine of democracy.” In other times, the miners, before starting their work, verified the presence of deadly gases in a mine by sending a canary into the depths as a guinea pig.