The media has been enchanted by the “Occupy Wall Street” Movement. The movement began as an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City based in Zuccotti Park, formerly "Liberty Plaza Park". The participants at the event claimed to be mainly protesting against social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government, among other concerns.
But videos of anti-Semite sentiments by two individuals raise the issue of hatred against Jews. Why such a reaction to apparently isolated events by possibly two unbalanced individuals? Because it is expected that any attack on Wall Street would eventually raise the issue of Jews controlling Wall Street.
Yeshiva World News, an Orthodox Jewish news outlet, explained in an editorial that “many Jews” are feeling a bit uncomfortable with the growing protests because of hateful video footage claiming the U.S. economy is organized for the benefit of Jews.
“The reasons for these ‘uncomfortable feelings’ don’t need to be elaborated on this page,” the editorial reads. “Suffice to say that Jews have been blamed for the world’s troubles for thousands of years, and many are nervous that this finger-pointing will soon start — or , maybe it already has.”
On his way to a meeting this week, Zionist Organization of America president Morton Klein walked past a protester carrying a “Hitler’s Bankers” sign but decided not to dignify him with a confrontation.
“During bad times it not uncommon that Jews are scapegoated, and these are bad times. There is no question these are bad times,” Klein told The Daily Caller.
While no Jewish organizations have formally set up camp at the New York gathering, Jews are clearly involved. Daniel Sieradski, who joined the demonstration about five times, said: “I’ve seen folks I know from the young New York Jewish social innovation scene and from the Israeli activist scene” pointing out that the Shabbat potluck dinner he organized at the protest last Friday night drew some 25-30 participants. “Our thing was the first and only Jewish event,” he said.
Sieradski said there was “no negativity” directed to the group as Jews. He said that for the vast number of participants, anti-Semitism is not “on their radar.” As in all demonstrations, however, some groups want to publicize their own cause. This includes radical anti-Zionists, who conflate economic injustice with U.S. support for Israel, and neo-Nazis, who blame economic unrest on the Jews.
Abraham H. Foxman, National Director, Anti-Defamation League, in November 13, 2008, at the time of the financial crisis that hit Wall Street, reminded his fellow Jews that when the markets quake, the ground shakes underneath us as well.
Jews and Money: the dirty little secret of anti-Semitism is no secret. It has been a major factor fueling Jew hatred for hundreds of years, certainly since the Middle Ages. It is the perception of non-Jews that we who are Jews have extraordinary claims on money.
I say all of this because in a moment of financial crisis such as we are living through today, the old canard rises like a Phoenix. Remarks and rumors about the pernicious influence of Jews on Wall Street are being broadcast on Internet comment boards and blogs and the usual anti-Semitic Web sites that thrive on conspiratorial Jew-hate.
Based on a survey in October 2007, we find a persistent 15% of Americans believe that Jews have "too much power in the U.S." and 20% believe that we have "too much power in the business world." Even before the current crisis, a year ago, 18% believed that Jews have "too much control/influence on Wall Street" – so we can easily imagine that from these overlapping percentages emerge the kinds of Internet slanders that today tar the entire Jewish community.
It seems practically impossible to disabuse the 15%-20% of Americans and nearly 40% of Europeans of their entrenched ideas that associate Jews – and Jews only -- with financial savvy and success, so-called sharp dealing, and financial conspiracies from which Jews – and Jews only – emerge victorious.
No one group or person can be given credit for creating the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. However, one instigator is clear: the initial idea came from Adbusters magazine, the Vancouver-based magazine, which calls itself the "Journal of the Mental Environment." The magazine put out the call via its listserv in mid-July and fomented the #OccupyWallStreet hashtag on Twitter.
Adbusters's initial appeal for Occupy Wall Street featured a really beautiful graphic, a ballerina perched atop Wall Street's "Charging Bull" sculpture, with riot police in the background. Across it is the text, "What Is Our One Demand?"
Adbusters, however, has a history of hatred against Jews. The magazine was accused of anti-Semitism in March 2004 after running an article that alleged many supporters of the Iraq War within the Bush Administration were Jewish. The article questioned why the political implications of this Jewish influence on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East were not a subject of debate.
In October 2010, a photo montage comparing the Gaza Strip to the Warsaw ghetto was featured in an article critiquing Israel's embargo of Gaza. Two frequently pro-Israel Canadian organizations, the Canadian Jewish Congress and Honest Reporting Canada, rallied to have the magazine blacklisted from bookstores, accusing Adbusters of trivializing the Holocaust and of anti-Semitism.
It might be of particular interest to read the transcript of the video by National Review correspondent Charles Cooke that highlighted the possibility of anti-Semitism among the demonstrators.
Moments after I arrived, I saw a Jewish gentleman being berated when he criticized a protester. (Shortly after my video camera was switched off, he (inexplicably) shouted the N-word at the same man.)
Here is the transcript between a Wall Street protesters and a Jew with a yarmulke (Kippah) on his head:
Anti-Semite: I am against corporations because they don’t pay me money…. Seven dollars an hour…
Jew: Get a job.
Anti-Semite: I have got a job, Mo.
Jew: No you don’t.
Anti-Semite: I do have a job.
Jew: You are standing here… Bum.
Anti-Semite: You are a Bum, Jew!
Jew: What?
Anti-Semite: I am a Jew. Why are you fighting with us. O… YOU HAVE GOT THE MONEY THAT’S WHY YOU ARE Fighting, you Jewish man…
Jew: I have got the money because I have worked before.
Snip…
Anti-Semite: My mother died from a heart attack.
Jew: What?
Anti-Semite: What? Due? Du du du… you can’t even speak English. Are you Israeli? Go Back to Israel.
Jew: Why would I go back?
Anti-Semite: Go back to Sholom Israel.
