Anti-Semitism rages during coronavirus

One white supremacist, Timothy Wilson, planned to bomb a Missouri hospital where coronavirus patients were being cared for. Before being killed in a shootout with the FBI on March 24, a user with Wilson’s Telegram handle “Werewolfe 84” wrote online that “if you don’t think this whole thing was engineered by Jews as a power grab here is more proof of their plans. Jews have been playing the long game we are the only ones standing in their way [sic].”

White hate groups are simultaneously pursuing other avenues to harm Jews. According to the FBI, white supremacists and neo-Nazis are urging members who become infected with coronavirus to spread the disease to the Jewish community and law enforcement through their bodily fluids.

Anti-Israel activists have used COVID-19 to push their anti-Semitic hatred of the world’s only Jewish state. On March 8, a professor at California State University, Stanislaus, tweeted the bizarre accusation that Israel would “have different medical procedures for Jews and non-Jews” with regards to coronavirus, and that “Non-Jews will be put in mass prisons.”

Online, Palestinian social media accounts are “compar[ing] Israel to coronavirus itself,” and make factually inaccurate claims that Israel brought coronavirus into Palestinian communities. While retweeting Israel’s announcement of its first coronavirus fatality, the former leader of the New York University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine tweeted, “anyway should I paint my nails red or green [the colors of the Palestinian flag] today.”

In the northeastern U.S., their distinctive style of dress made Orthodox Jews the frequent targets of hatred in recent months. Today, they continue to be singled out for anti-Semitic prejudice as they are believed to be spreading COVID-19 due to misperceptions of poor hygiene and ignorance. A deputy fire marshal in Ocean County, New Jersey, wrote a series of posts on Facebook saying that Lakewood, where 70% of the population are Orthodox Jews, is filled with “trash and Dirty ones,” and “needs to be a hole in [the] ground.” On March 23, a Hasidic man was turned away from his scheduled service appointment at Johnstons Toyota in New Hampton, New York. Though video taken by the customer shows other vehicles being serviced, an employee informs him that he must leave because he is “spreading the virus.”

Anti-Semitism has adapted to social distancing, thanks to the booming use of web-based meeting platforms such as Zoom. On March 24, while a Jewish student group held a webinar about anti-Semitism, a white supremacist “pulled his shirt collar down to reveal a swastika tattoo on his chest.” On March 30, a speech delivered on Zoom to Yeshiva University students about the Jewish Passover holiday was disrupted by “death threats, Holocaust references,” and epithets. On March 31, during a virtual Zoom meeting of California’s Conejo Valley Unified School District, hackers bombarded attendees with “cartoon images of Hitler, photos of Nazi soldiers and swastikas.”

Faceless anti-Semitic vandalism has been unimpeded by requests that people remain at home to contain COVID-19’s spread. On March 28, just days after Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan closed all nonessential businesses and “urged Marylanders to…stay home,” an unknown man ventured out at around 1:30 a.m. to deface the Rockville, Maryland, Tikvat Israel Congregation synagogue with swastikas and other hateful graffiti. Anti-Semitic and racist graffiti was also discovered in two locations in Bedford, Massachusetts, on Saturday. Massachusetts residents were asked to “do their part … and stay home” starting March 24.

With the recent global rise in anti-Semitism, it should come as no surprise that coronavirus-related anti-Semitism has not been confined to the U.S., but is found across the world and throughout the political spectrum. The Anti-Defamation League reports specific incidents of COVID-19-linked anti-Semitism emanating from far-right groups in France and Switzerland, government-sponsored sources in Iran and Turkey, and far-left groups in Spain and Venezuela.

A reminder of the anti-Semitic tragedies that united Americans in December 2019 briefly pierced the coronavirus news cycle last week. On March 29, 72-year-old Josef Neumann died from the serious brain injuries he sustained on December 28, when anti-Semitic attacker Grafton Thomas used an 18-inch machete to attack Jews gathered for Hanukkah at the home of a rabbi in Monsey, New York.

A week after Neumann was attacked, his youngest daughter opined that his family “hope[s] he wakes to a changed world with peace, unity, and love for all.”

Though the momentum of the fight against anti-Semitism has flagged since the start of 2020, the hatred itself continues, fueled by the contortions of those whose impassioned hatred of Jews and the Jewish state of Israel knows no bounds. In honor of Neumann’s untimely passing, and in pursuit of a “changed world,” people of all backgrounds must reinvigorate their important battle against a dangerous and pervasive prejudice.

Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance writer from the Detroit area.