Justice David Wecht: The Fight Against Jew Hatred is Everyone’s Fight
(This article first appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Five years ago, 11 Jews were murdered during worship at Tree of Life Congregation, right here in Pittsburgh. It was — and it remains, for now — the worst massacre of Jews in the history of the United States of America.
Three weeks ago, some 1,400 Jews were murdered inside Israel by Hamas terrorists. It was — and it is — the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. In 2018, the response to the Tree of Life massacre was universal revulsion, and universal solidarity with the Jewish People.
Or so it appeared.
You see, it turns out that many were not heard from. These many kept their peace, bided their time. They harbored different views. They quietly exalted at the slaughter. Secretly, they prayed for more. But we are hearing from them now. We are seeing them in all their ugliness.
The reaction today, in 2023, to Hamas’ mass murder of Jews — as well as rapes, beheadings, and burnings, and the ongoing abduction of over 200 men, women, children, infants, and elderly — is quite different from the 2018 response. College campuses and city streets witness mass protests and rallies.
But these gatherings support the Hamas perpetrators, not the Jewish victims. With barely a moment even to reflect on the innocent Jewish dead, maimed, and abducted, thousands of Americans (and numerous foreign students and visitors) immediately demanded an end to the Jewish State — and, hence, to its Jewish citizens.
These pro-Hamas rallies erupted even before the Israel Defense Forces began to enter Gaza to defend Israel’s people, destroy Hamas’ terror army and attempt to liberate the hostages.
In 2018, the Tree of Life murderer was a right-wing extremist, and his cheering section was confined mostly to the darker corners of the internet and social media. Now, in 2023, the Jew-killers are Hamas’ terror army, and its cheering section is far larger, and far more consequential.
It includes thousands of American college students, some of whom will soon lead our nation. It includes university administrators and professors, who at best have cowered and equivocated and issued wishy-washy “a pox on both your houses” statements and who at worst have expressed thrill and “exhilaration” (in the words of one tenured Ivy league academic) at the slaughter of Israeli civilians.
Had terrorists raided across our Canadian or Mexican borders, murdered over 50,000 Americans (the American equivalent of Israel’s losses), raped women, beheaded and burned babies, and then seized hundreds of hostages ranging in age from infancy to the elderly, all Americans would have united in outrage, and would have demanded a powerful military response. Indeed, we did so, after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
What is different now? What is different is that the victims are Jews. Whether violence against Jews comes from right or from left, from Nazi or jihadist, it is Jew-hatred. Whether the cheering section for the murderer is right or left, black or white, Christian or Muslim, the cheerleaders and their fellow travelers and useful idiots are Jew-haters. This is an age-old evil. And we know where this evil leads.
If good people do not speak out, and speak out now, and if Americans don’t teach their children, their students, and their young listeners to steer clear of this virus, it will continue to attack the Jews. And it will spread beyond the Jews.
The rule of law will disappear. Hatred and chaos will reign. And this great republic will suffer the fate of empires and kingdoms that have been swallowed up by their ugly resentments, consumed by the fervor of their Jew-hatred.
The choice is ours. Never again has to mean something. Stand up. Speak out. Stand up and speak out now. History is calling you.
David Wecht is a Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. His views are expressed on his own behalf, and are not offered on behalf of the court.
First Published November 2, 2023, 5:30am
