ALLENTOWN, Pa. — As antisemitic incidents continue to rise in the Lehigh Valley and across the country, the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley and the Anti-Defamation League partnered to hold a summit to "combat antisemitism” at Muhlenberg College on Sunday.
- The Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley hosted a summit to combat antisemitism in lartnership with the Anti-Defamation League
- Panelists included political leaders, Jewish activists, faith leaders and security experts who offered ways to push back
- According to the Anti-Defamation League, the number of antisemitic incidents continued to rise in 2022
Bringing together activists, politicians, law enforcement officials and religious leaders for panel discussions, the summit provided an up-to-date look at the state of extremism, both locally and nationally, as well as concrete ways to push back against growing antisemitism.
“Unfortunately, in the Lehigh Valley, despite the fact that we're a community who is together, who has strong interfaith relationships, who has strong leadership who will always speak in support of the Jewish community, we continue to see incidents occurring in our community,” said Aaron Gorodzinsky, Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley’s director of campaign and security planning.
“This is the reason why we're here today.”
Rising antisemitism
As the summit got underway, Anti-Defamation League Regional Director Andrew Goretsky painted a clear picture of the worsening state of antisemitism, both locally and nationally.
Based on preliminary data, 2022 is on par with 2021 — itself an all-time high for “antisemitic incidents,” including harassment, vandalism and assault.
The number of “propaganda incidents,” where people spread antisemitic or white supremacist fliers or messages, is up roughly 45% from 2021 to 2022, he said.
“We say ‘never again,’ but that’s always been a fear of mine, that it could. And this is like how it started.”Elaine Rappaport-Bass, 86
The ADL counted at least 30 total incidents in the Lehigh Valley in 2022, most of them classified as “white supremacist propaganda.” That number — like the organization’s national hate incident data — is almost certainly an undercount, according to Goretsky.
It’s a trend the summit’s mostly Jewish audience members were already keenly aware of.
“I’m 86, so the Holocaust is very real to me. And I’m scared,” said Elaine Rappaport-Bass, who attended with her son, Eric Rappaport. “We say ‘never again,’ but that’s always been a fear of mine, that it could. And this is like how it started.”
“When I was growing up, I was subjected to antisemitism,” Eric Rappaport said. “So for my son to go off to college and be exposed to what I see in the news, what I read about… I’m worried.
“I hid my Jewish identity. I don't want him to have to hide his Jewish identity.”
The risks of extremism
The greatest threat to the Jewish community is right-wing extremists, said Ben Popp, who works at the ADL’s Center on Extremism, though he said extremism exists on the left as well.
These extremists are typically organized in loose networks, often cross-pollinating online, Popp said.
Goretsky said he saw an inflection point when Ye, previously known as Kanye West, publicly declared his love for Nazis and endorsed antisemitic conspiracy theories.
After that, he saw a rapid increase in “the number of reports from students in middle school and high school, who were receiving harassment of ‘Ye is right,’” he said.
Proposed solutions
In response to the data and examples explored in the summit, panelists endorsed state-level efforts to adopt broad hate crimes legislation, and to codify a definition of antisemitism developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Social media companies can also play a role by strengthening their content moderation around hate speech and Holocaust denial, Goretsky said.
He also voiced support for including Jewish history and culture in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in schools and businesses.
Again and again, panelists urged the audience to report anything they thought could be a hate incident to police, repeating “report, report, report” like a mantra.
