An Israeli martial artist has said the recent rise of antisemitism in America is "crazy", as he reflected on recent fight against an anti-Jewish troll.
Natan Levy, who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, told news site TMZ.c the amount of abuse he receives online has increased in recent years.
"I always got messages with pictures of Hitler, pictures of the Holocaust," he said.
"Half of them say the Holocaust didn't happen, the other says we need a second Holocaust, so which one is it? The rise [in antisemitism] is crazy."
A string of attacks against kosher restaurants in Los Angeles that took place last week demonstrate the threat faced by American Jews, Levy claimed.
Early on a Saturday morning, five establishments were robbed and had their front windows smashed.
Eran Nitka, who owns one targeted businesses, told Ynet he did not know why his restaurant was targeted, but thought thieves may have known Jews would not be at work on Shabbat.
Speaking to TMZ, Levy added: "This violence online, people allowing themselves to say anything they want because they're behind a computer screen, this actually turns into physical violence in the real world and even not [just] to restaurants but to actual human beings.
Natan Chanukah
Nice Jewish boy: cage fighter Natan Levy celebrates Chanukah (Photo: Natan Levy via Twitter/X)
"The big lesson I want to teach this guy and everyone watching is words have consequences. Actions have consequences.
"If you say something you better stand behind it because this hate turns to hate in the real world. We need to cut it off."
Earlier this year, America's Anti-Defamation League revealed that antisemitic incidents in the USA had hit their highest level in 2022 since their records began in 1979.
The number of reports, which included assault, vandalism and harassment, rose by over a third in a year, reaching a new high of almost 3,700 cases.
Oren Segal, vice president of the ADL Center on Extremism told CNN: "The findings of our latest report quantify what a lot of people in the Jewish community have been feeling – that antisemitism seems to be popping up everywhere and often."
UFC fighter @Natan_Levy beat up an anti-Semitic troll who called him out on social media asking for a fight. Natan joined us on TMZ Live to talk about why he accepted the fight: pic.twitter.com/Vx6bSf9efl
— TMZ Live (@TMZLive) August 30, 2023
Levy recently had his own brush with Jew hate when he challenged a supporter of leading white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes to a cage fight at his Las Vegas gym.
To teach the "dumb kid" a lesson, Levy told him he would knock out his "punk ass" in a sparring session.
Before the fight began, his opponent, Ben, said he did not know how many Jews had died in the Holocaust and defended Fuentes, who is a Holocaust denier, as a historical "revisionist".
During the fight, Levy swept Ben onto the ground, hit him repeatedly in the head, and wrapped his arm around his neck until he submitted.
Afterwards, Ben said he accepted that six million Jews had been killed in the Shoah.
Speaking to TMZ about the fight, Levy said: "I don't believe in solving things or changing people's minds though violence...
"I don't go around and beat every troll online, everyone who's said something stupid, that would take a lifetime and it wouldn't do much of a difference.
"The only reason why I did spar with him is he came to my gym, my house, disrespecting my people, my heritage and myself and I had to teach him a lesson."
His Christian training partners, he added, sat Ben down after the sparring session and told him he was not acting in a "Christian way".
"They're like my brothers: we train together, eat together, and they told him we're all people, we're all humans," Levy said.
"This is not the way to hate Jewish people, to hate black people or Muslim people, or anyone. This is not the right path."
