Jewish leaders compare rising antisemitism in NYC to 1930s: ‘Nazi playbook come to life in 2024’
Jewish leaders made clear that escalating antisemitism in New York is reaching a breaking point – with some comparing the city to the 1930s and the rise of Nazism.
On Wednesday morning, hateful vandals splattered red paint on the home of the Brooklyn Museum director and Jewish board members.
At least two homes were also daubed with a red triangle symbol that Hamas uses to denote targets marked for death.
“You let people spray paint the homes of residents because they sit on the board of the Brooklyn Museum. What does it lead to? This is what the Nazis did in the 1930s,” said Michael Nussbaum, former president of the Queens Jewish Community Council.
Mark Treyger, the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council, called the antisemitism in New York a “crisis” and “emergency.”
“We are experiencing and seeing the Nazi playbook come to life in 2024,” Treyger told The Post.
“There is a concerted effort underway to disassociate Jews and Jewish identity from schools, curriculum, universities, museums, hospitals, organizations, and everyday life — which was a tactic employed by the Nazis in the 1930’s,” he added.
Matthew Schweber, a lawyer with the Columbia University Jewish Alumni Association, said actions by the pro-Palestinian movement in the city is the “modern manifestation of the Ku Klux Klan.”
“These protests are not protected under the First Amendment because they are engaged in targeted harassment and incitement of violence,” Schweber said.
Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a Republican who is Jewish, said the city hit a “crisis point for antisemitism a long time ago.”
“It’s a scary time for the Jews,” she said.
While protesting is one thing, she said marchers have felt emboldened to resort to more brazen behavior.
“What’s next? We’re going to see Jews killed in the streets?” she said.
Other disturbing conduct on display this week included a pair of anti-Israel protesters unfurling a “Long live October 7” in Union Square, masked anti-Israel protesters demanding any Zionist get off a subway car, and an agitator telling Jews he wished “Hitler was still here” because the Nazi leader would have “wiped all you out.”
“Protesters are chanting `No Zionists.’ That means no Jews,” Vernikov said. “Jews are going to leave New York.”
“They’ll go to Israel,” she continued. “That’s why we need to support Israel. The antisemitism is now in our face and out in the open because of weak leadership.”
