In France, 107 graves in a Jewish cemetery were defaced with Swastikas in yet another antisemitic event. In the past year alone, there have been over 15 incidents involving the desecration and destruction of Jewish graves internationally. 

In Hartford, Connecticut, last month, two dead chickens were found buried in a dug up Jewish grave. It appears that the man’s remains were removed and replaced with chicken remains. It is inferred that the hole was hand dug. Who could be so cruel and immoral as to go out their way to grossly disrespect someone’s remains? Not only is it incredibly disrespectful to the family of  the man buried there, but it is disrespectful to Jewish people all over the world. 

In November $50,000  worth of damage was caused at a Jewish cemetery in Omaha, Nebraska. About 75 graves were toppled over. Yet, when you search up the incident (and many other similar incidents) the only newspapers that report on it are Jewish newspapers and organizations. If $50 worth of damage was caused to a store or business newspapers would be sure to report on it, so why when it has something to do with Jewish people it doesn’t get the attention it deserves?

Sadly, there may always be anti-antisemitism, but if the press never reports on it how will people ever learn from it? The lack of news coverage indirectly promotes more anti-antisemitism.

One time, when I was about three years old I remember walking out of the synagogue to my mom’s car when my older sister, who was about seven at the time, stopped to show my mom something. She pointed to some words that were etched into the sidewalk that read something along the lines of “All Jews should die.” My Mom immediately called the cops. At the time, I didn’t understand the severity of the situation now that I’m older it honestly scares me. My synagogue was in Bellmore. 

Antisemitism is all around us. The only way to stop it is to shed light on it and if you aren’t helping to solve the problem, then you are part of the problem