The death of Paul Kessler in an alleged clash with pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Westlake, California the first week of November ignited anger, fear and anxiety among many Jews in Southern California, And with good reason. "When violent conflicts occur in the Middle East, there are those in the U.S. that exploit these horrifying events to inflame antisemitism," observed Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, "Now, we are seeing such a dizzying array of antisemitism online, on campuses and on the streets that it is testing the ability of researchers like me to keep track of it."
This is not hyperbole. Beyond the anecdotal reports of threats, harassment, and actual attacks and even beyond the numbers compiled by the ADL and FBI that showed the surge in anti-Semitism in the country, Gaza was the spark that ignited the surge. This is far different than the endemic anti-Semitism which was a well-documented disgraceful part of America's past and present. Antisemitism, it was evident, has always been part of American history.
"The latest outbreak of this plague of hatred is different from earlier outbreaks," noted American University History Professor Pamela Nadell, "Alas, what is unique is the extent of the antisemitic vitriol magnified horrifically on social media." This is the lethal tag team of hate that is a by-product of Gaza and inflames social media.
The legion of Nazi and white nationalist hate groups are the near absolute masters of the malicious use of social media sites to pump their anti-Semitic messages with minimal to no prohibitions. They are also masters in ways to skirt the checks that were there. Their messages are effective.
The proof is in the steady stream of postings always anonymously that called for "Gas the Jews" or an online threat to "shoot all you pig Jews." The hideous irony is that there is no evidence in any of these hate sites that the avowed Jewish haters show any sympathy or concern about the plight of the Palestinians much less knew anything of consequence about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians are just another convenient ploy to verbally, and in some cases worse, attack Jews.
Typical of this ignorance and indifference toward Palestinians but using them as an excuse to assail Jews is this classic example. The Los Angeles Police Department launched a hate crime investigation against one man who shouted, "free Palestine," "kill Jews," and "Israel kill people."
FBI officials after a week of war essentially confirmed that much of the verbal and even physical threats and violence were made by unreconstructed anti-Semites playing off the Palestinians to spread their hate. "The volume and frequency of threats to Americans, especially those in the Jewish, Arab American, and Muslim communities in the United
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