A leader in the local Jewish community says he is concerned anti-Semitic rhetoric spouted on social media by Kanye West, Kyrie Irving and others could have a ripple effect in the Sault. “Antisemitism is not new. It didn’t begin with the Holocaust, it didn’t begin with Kanye, it’s been around for centuries — if not longer,” said Jeff Arbus, a leader in the local Jewish community. “What we are seeing currently is a steady increase and increasing violence, not just to property, but to people as well.” An annual audit by Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith released earlier this year found there were 2,799 anti-Jewish hate crimes, including beatings, vandalism of synagogues and swastikas in schools. Antisemitic incidents increased overall by seven per cent, but the number of violent incidents rose by over 700 per cent from nine in 2020 to 75 in 2021. “In spite of that rise and that Jews remain to be the most targeted group, there has been a slow response from the broader community, from major corporations, governments and political organizations,” said Arbus. The small Jewish community in the Sault has been targeted with symbols of hate before and Arbus is concerned it can happen again. ”We had swastikas painted on the doors, but it’s been many years. We don’t want that. We see what is going on around us, the time to act is now, not waiting until something happens,” said Arbus. “Being an ally and reaching out and being weary of what you see on Facebook and Twitter and asking questions is really important.” Arbus said education and training are key to preventing hateful messages from having their full effect. “Political parties and governments and major corporations have rightly responded to anti-Black racism and anti-Indigenous racism and anti-LGBT prejudices by instituting policy change and training for their staff,” said Arbus. ‘The same has not been done with anti-semitism and for the past couple of years, has had the highest number of reported incidents of racism has been anti-Semitic.” ”If our leading organizations and politicians respond robustly to instituting training in antisemitism, we have a real opportunity to prevent what is under the surface from becoming a full-blown issue,” he added. Most recently, public figures like former NBA player Kyrie Irving and superstar Kanye West have been saying and amplifying anti-Semitic remarks in interviews and directly to fans via social media. “This is really disturbing when you think, in Kanye’s example, that he has more followers than there are Jewish people on the entire planet,” said Arbus. “That’s a disturbing reach when he comes out with statements that he makes and if you read the comments on his Twitter or his Facebook page, you see the kind of supportive response he gets.” Last month, Irving posted supportive remarks on Twitter for a film titled ’Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.’ A synopsis for the movie says it ’uncovers the true identity of the Children of Israel.’ When Irving was recently suspended from playing for the New Jersey Nets and lost an endorsement deal with Nike, West Tweeted a photo of the NBA player in support of him. West has himself been blaming Jewish executives in Hollywood for mistreating Black entertainers and criticized JP Morgan after the banking giant cut ties with the artist. Arbus said those kinds of mythologies — that Jews control the media and the world’s banking system — go back hundreds of years, if not longer. “The notion that Jews are part of a conspiracy to take over the world is ancient, it’s a thousand years old. It was used in the Crusades to justify mass killings of Jews and was used by Stalin and Hitler and neo-Nazis today. But what they didn’t have in the past is social media,” he said. Now sports figures and music icons use social media as a direct line to their fans, many of whom are young and impressionable. Arbus said calling out racism when it is heard or seen is important. “I say that it’s important but I know how difficult it is to take those kinds of steps. That’s when you have to look for allies,” he said.
