Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told Newsmax on Thursday that the levels of antisemitism he's seeing is "almost unbelievable."
Unbelievable that "we would face the antisemitism from the left, from the right, from minorities, from Muslim groups, some state-sponsored, but most particularly the frontline on our campuses where we see the most horrendous ideologies being imparted to our youth," he said during an appearance on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
Jewish schools have stepped up security as concerns grow about a possible rise in antisemitism directed at children following the outbreak of war in Israel.
In Montgomery County, Maryland, antisemitic incidents have increased dramatically over the years. In late September, Montgomery Blair High School's principal said a group of students allegedly performed an "antisemitic salute" together during a lunch period.
Hoenlein said the behavior at schools is the "indoctrination, inculcation of hateful ideas in the next generation of leaders of our country.
"It is extremely disturbing and especially when we see the reaction to the events in the Middle East where the most barbaric, inhumane, atrocious assault which I witnessed personally two days ago."
Hoenlein said he was in a town "where more than 10% — perhaps a lot more than 10% — of the people were murdered. But I saw the body bags, ... the people taken out of homes and just massacred in front of their children and then the children killed; the rape, the torture that took place there. And yet students are saying they support Hamas, they support the barbarity, they support the indecency that it represents, which is an assault on Western values, on the United States, and on Israel and all that we hold dear."
Compromising with Hamas is out of the question, he said.
"You can't compromise with uncompromising evil and what we saw this week starting Saturday morning ... I can't even describe to you because it was so horrific. It was so blasphemous what they did. What is the value? What is the thrill they get from desecrating the bodies of pregnant women and children and to defile the bodies of their victims?"
Host Greta Van Susteren pointed out, "And the thing is even if they say we have them wrong, we're misinterpreting it, all you've got to do is go to their own charter. And their own charter says 'kill Jews.' Their own charter says ... 'no peaceful solutions.' ... Their own words. ... They're saying it. ... You know, they want to kill Jews."
Hoenlein responded, "There's no interests of the Palestinian people on their agenda either. Because if there were, if that were the case, Israel withdrew completely from the Gaza strip. Many commentators and others don't even acknowledge it. There are no Israeli troops, no Israeli civilians in the Gaza at all. They withdrew voluntarily, turning over greenhouses, infrastructure – all of which was destroyed.
"And now people complain, 'Well, there are no shelters for the people in Gaza.' You know why there are no shelters? Because they used the cement to build tunnels for terror. There's no electricity because they didn't use the money to build electricity. They used it for missiles against Israel, firing thousands and thousands of missiles guided by Iranian technology, assisted and prompted by Iran," he said.
Hamas' attack and ongoing rocket fire has killed more than 1,300 people in Israel as of Friday, according to the Israeli military. In Gaza, the Health Ministry said at least 1,799 people, including 583 children, had been killed by Israel's retaliatory strikes as of Friday.
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