Good morning. Yesterday, Free Palestine activists set multiple Jews on fire. These were people peacefully holding a vigil for the hostages. When it comes to right-wing violence, the left quickly points to stochastic terrorism. This is the idea that relentless hate speech leads to real-world attacks. But somehow, we can’t seem to apply that standard to ourselves. A story broke yesterday blaming the IDF for an incident in Gaza. Media outlets rushed to publish it, even though the video shows no evidence to support the claim. This is part of a larger pattern. And it’s terrifying. This is exactly how antisemitism spreads in the Middle East. False, sensational claims get amplified until the public believes something monstrous about Jews and Israel. Only this time, it’s not coming from Qatar or Iran. It’s coming from the West. It’s coming from well meaning progressive kids who are unaware of their participating in the world’s oldest hate movement. This is why our Jewish friends and neighbors are afraid. They are right to be. I grew up in Mississippi in the 90s, a society still broken by the aftermath of the 1964 Civil Rights movement. I saw what organized hate does to a society. It paralyzes it, turning neighbor against neighbor. It makes it impossible to move forward because no one can agree on basic reality. What I am seeing now is more chilling than anything I witnessed in the post-Antebellum South.
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