No less than seven Israeli government ministers were in New York last week for the "Israel Parade" that took place on the city's Fifth Avenue. The number of ministers was so excessive that Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs called some of them to ask them not to march, in order to spare the government embarrassment. What attracted so many ministers to an event meant to celebrate US-Israel relations? We will return to this question at the end.
A few blocks away, in a large Broadway theater, the play "Parade" is staged every night, depicting one of the most famous and shocking cases of anti-Semitism in American history: Leo Frank, a Jew who worked in a factory in Atlanta, was wrongfully charged in 1913 with the murder of a young woman and sentenced to hang. The popular play presents the narrative agreed upon by most historians: Frank was entitled to and fell victim to an anti-Semitic blood libel typical of the time.
It is no coincidence that the 1998 musical has now taken on a new lease of life and has emerged in a production relevant to our times. Anti-Semitism in the United States has been on a dramatic and alarming rise in recent years, which began in the run-up to the election of President Trump. The ADL's graph shows the clear trend: in 2015 there were 942 reports of antisemitic incidents, in 2017 there were 1,986 cases, and since then the numbers have risen by tens of percent every year – reaching a historic high of 3,697 incidents in 2022.
All categories of antisemitic incidents examined by the Anti-Defamation League — such as vandalism, threats, harassment, physical assaults and more — are soaring. The same is true of the number of organized white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups. These figures are not dry. Behind them stands a large and frightened Jewish community, whose image and place in the United States are changing before its eyes.
If six months ago the Jewish community was in turmoil over the anti-Semitic remarks of popular singer Kanye West, in the week preceding the Israel March, New York's Jews dealt almost exclusively with the traditional end-of-year speech by a student at Connie, the public law university, who lashed out at Israel and ended her speech with the sentence: "I wish we had fuel to fight capitalism, racism, imperialism and Zionism around the world." Kenya is not alone. Anti-Semitism is back in vogue.
Meanwhile, in the nation-state of the Jewish people, ministers are competing over who will further distance the American Jewish community and the American government and public opinion. Instead of anxiously monitoring the attacked status of American Jews and mobilizing on their behalf, the government is opening another front against them. Instead of American Jews finding support, comfort and refuge in Israel, they are between the hammer and the anvil: between their country, which is changing its face, and their homeland that does not recognize many of them.
On the one hand, the right-wing government refuses to recognize more than half of American Jews because they belong to the Reform and Conservative streams, and promotes legislation that violates their rights in Israel, such as the grandson clause and the battle for the Western Wall plaza. On the other hand, it regularly embarrasses the Jewish community by humiliating the US administration and itself with its attacks on senior White House officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden himself.
But there is also a third side: When the Israeli government is composed of senior officials like Smotrich, Ben-Gvir and Avi Maoz – whose names precede them in the United States as racists, LGBT and chauvinists – American Jewry's ability to identify with Israel diminishes, as does its motivation and ability to fight against growing hatred of Israel.
Not to mention an increase. The ideological right thinks it will change the demographic picture in Israel by increasing immigration, but is doing everything possible to keep new immigrants away from the United States.
So what do government ministers have to look for in the Israel March, you ask? Probably just a free flight to New York at the expense of the Israeli taxpayer, and maybe some PR picture on the way.
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