Don't Look to Pols for Backbone in Antisemitism Fight

Newsmax published a Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) article on April 16 that the Anti-Defamation League counted 8,873 antisemitic offenses in 2023 in the 50 states and Washington, D.C., which is an abominable 140% increase from the 3,698 in 2022.

But my Newsmax article on March 22 documented that the ADL had tallied 5,263 antisemitic incidents last year.

Mind-bogglingly, the organization’s count skyrocketed by 3,610, or 69%, in 25 days.

Nevertheless, a re-analysis of the latest ADL data reinforces the conclusions in my article, “Antisemitic Offenses Soared During Joe Biden’s Calamitous Presidency.”

Most importantly, during Biden’s first three cataclysmic years in the White House, antisemitic offenses in 2023 are now 15,288, up from 11,678. His annual average is 5,096, compared to 3,893 nearly one month ago.

During the last three years of Donald Trump’s successful presidency, there were 6,012 antisemitic offenses, or 2,004 annually, making Biden’s average an abhorrent 154% higher.

Secondly, the JNS-Newsmax article quoted Jonathan Greenblatt that “antisemitism is nothing short of a national emergency,” and the ADL’s CEO urged “every governor to … put in place a comprehensive strategy to fight antisemitism.”

But my Newsmax article concluded by advising conservative commentators not to characterize this antisemitic explosion as a “nationwide epidemic,” as it “has overwhelmingly occurred in one-party Democratic tyrannies.”

In late March, of the then 5,263 antisemitic incidents last year, 3,125, or a “grossly disproportionate 59%,” occurred in 10 highly populous states with a Democratic trifecta.

Conversely, 13 large, trifecta Republican states had 998 antisemitic offenses in 2023, or only 19%.

The populations of both groups are identical: Democrats, 120.9 million; and Republicans, 121.8 million

In late April, I have expanded the analysis to the 50 states, focusing on the 40 where one-party controls the governorship and both legislative branches.

(Since the ADL has identified 171 antisemitic incidents in Washington, D.C. in 2023, which is a heinous 25.2 per 100,000 residents, the total for the 50 states is 8,702.)

In the 17 Democratic trifectas, antisemitic offenses total 5,529, or 64%, for a rate of 4.0 per 100,000 residents.

The 23 Republican trifectas had 1,944 incidents, or 22%, for a rate of 1.4 per 100,000.

The Democratic trifectas’ rate is a horrendous 186% higher than the Republican’s.

The 10 states, with a divided government and 56.7 million residents, had 1,229 incidents last year, or 14% of the total. Their rate is 2.2 per 100,000 residents.

For the 50 states, the rate in 2023 rose from 1.6 in late March to 2.6 in mid-April.

Very significantly, each of the 23 states with a Republican trifecta has a rate of antisemitic incidents lower than the national average.

For the six Republican mega-trifectas with at least 6.9 million residents, the rates per 100,000 are Greg Abbott, Texas, 0.8; Eric Holcomb, Indiana, 0.9; Bill Lee, Tennessee, 1.3; Brian Kemp, Georgia, 1.6; and Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Ohio’s Mike DeWine, 2.0 each.

In stark contrast, the incidents rates of the six Democratic trifectas with at least 6.2 million residents are Phil Murphy’s New Jersey, 8.9. the highest among the states; Maura Healey’s Massachusetts, 6.3; Kathy Hochul’s New York, 6.2; Wes Moore’s Maryland, 5.5; Gavin Newsom’s California, 3.2; and Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan, 2.7.

Only two governors of the 10 divided states have rates above the national average. Vermont’s Republican Gov. Phil Scott is 6.6 per 100,000, the second-highest rate; and Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, 3.0.

The two states with the most antisemitic incidents are California, 1,266, and New York, 1,218.

Very commendably, the five Republican trifectas with the most populations add-up to 1,218 offenses. Florida had 463; Texas, 256; Ohio, 237; Georgia, 172; and Tennessee, 90.

Earlier this month, Iowa University’s women’s team, and University of Connecticut’s women’s and men’s teams played in the inspiring NCAA Basketball Final Four.

Iowa City, home to the Iowa University, had one antisemitic incident, and Storrs, home to University of Connecticut, had 7.

Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, whose population is 3,207,000, had only 17 antisemitic incidents last year, or 0.5 per 100,000.

But Connecticut Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, with 3,617,000 residents, had 184 incidents, or an egregious 5.1 per 100,000.

The four other governors of Democratic trifectas, with rates exceeding the 50-state average of 2.6 per 100,000, are Rhode Island’s Daniel McKee, 4.7; Maine’s Janet Mills, 3.8; Colorado’s Jared Polis, 3.4; and Oregon’s Tina Kotek, 2.9.

Finally, the ADL and CEO Greenblatt, who worked for Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, have launched a campaign for Americans to contact their governor and tell him or her “to take bold action against antisemitism.”

After more than six months of pusillanimous passivity, as pro-Hamas and antisemitic riots have raged in their jurisdictions, I am not holding my breath for them suddenly to develop a backbone.