No major antisemitic incidents were reported on Saturday after a planned far-right “national day of hate” against Jews in the United States mostly failed to materialise amid heightened security measures.
On Saturday evening US anti-discrimination watchdog the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) tweeted that, "Increased law enforcement presence, as well as heightened community awareness, helped to ensure this was a Shabbat of peace, not hate.”
The civil rights group said that while white supremacist demonstrations had taken place in Georgia and Florida, along with online events and the distribution of antisemitic propaganda in Texas, California, Florida, and Arizona — that this had been: “a pretty typical Saturday in America.”
Despite concerns over increased antisemitic activity, 2/25 has so far been a pretty typical Saturday in America, w/ white supremacist protests in Florida & Georgia, antisemitic propaganda in TX, CA, FL & AZ — & white supremacists monetizing their hate-filled online livestreams.🧵
— ADL (@ADL) February 26, 2023
“In the face of threats and rising antisemitism, the American Jewish community was not cowed. We were defiant. We lit Shabbat candles, attended services, and proudly celebrated our faith. Meanwhile, extremists panicked and shared paranoid conspiracy theories.
“We know that the threat does not magically disappear as the sun sets on this so-called ‘day of hate.’ We know that vigilance is part of being Jewish in America in 2023. And we take great comfort in knowing we do not face this darkness alone.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul attended Shabbat services at the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah synagogue in Manhattan, saying she thought extremists had “misjudged the situation” if they imagined Jewish people would remain home.
“There are 20 million New Yorkers who are with you today and every day as we stand up and call out antisemitism and racism and homophobia and all the other isms, because there’s still far more of us than there are of them, and I want them to know that," she went on.
The New York Post said shul members and guests gathered outside the Temple Emanu-El reform synagogue on the city's Upper East Side to hear from Jewish and non-Jewish faith leaders.
"For me, today was a symbol of resistance, of being in solidarity with the Jewish people. With all of the threats and bad things, it’s a symbol of strength and solidarity,” one non-Jewish attendee told the paper, which reported that a dozen New York Police Department (NYPD) officers provided security for the event.
The NYPD said ahead of Saturday that it would step up patrols outside more at-risk locations such as places of worship in “an abundance of caution” and said New Yorkers ought to “remain vigilant”, while no specific targets had been identified.
Chicago police had also told local media they were "actively monitoring the situation" ahead of the weekend.
The prominent white supremacist antisemitic hate group Goyim Defense League had promoted the "day of hate" on various social media channels.
Experts say white supremacist groups who previously operated largely underground and only online, have in recent months become emboldened, staging rallies and demonstrations in public spaces.
A small far-right rally took place this week in New York while neo-Nazis harassed several Jews in Florida.
Jews have been murdered in antisemitic attacks in New York, California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in recent years.
Last week, two Jewish people were shot as they left a Los Angeles synagogue. The victims survived the attack, and the perpetrators were arrested.
Earlier this month, a petrol bomb was thrown at a New Jersey synagogue, and a man stormed into a Russian-speaking synagogue in San Francisco and shot blanks from his handgun.
Last year, following Kanye West’s much-documented fall from grace after making a string of public antisemitic outbursts and tirades, many hate groups came to the troubled hip-hop artist’s defence.
The ADL recorded 2,717 antisemitic incidents across the US in 2021, a 34 per cent increase from the previous year, and the highest on record since tracking began in 1979. The NYPD said 263 antisemitic hate crimes had occurred in New York in 2022 alone, a steep increase from the previous year.
