All the board members of an upstate synagogue received an anonymous e-mail containing a neo-Nazi symbol, a photograph of a German Nazi soldier, and the message “We are watching you, jewboy [sic].”
A North Shore Jewish institution received a telephone call, saying, “You are the reason the terrorists hate us so much.”
A North Shore Jewish high school girl received a computer message from a boy she had dated, saying, among other things, “I don’t only hate jews [sic] because of the way I was raised. I hate them because they are hook nosed [expletive deleted] who lie and only care about money.”
These were among the 19 anti-Semitic incidents reported to the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations last year and recorded in the organization’s “2006 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents.”
This report was compiled by the organization’s Anti-Semitism and Constitutional Law Task Force and approved by it on Jan. 3; examined and approved by the executive committee and board of directors on Jan. 17; and released on Jan. 25.
According to Paula Simon, MJCCR executive director, the overall number of incidents last year was “about the same” as in 2005. Moreover, as in 2005, most of the incidents involved “written or verbal expression,” and were so classified in the report.
However, Simon reported, in the past many such incidents were not really about anti-Semitism, but were disputes between neighbors or other interpersonal conflicts that really did not have prejudice at their core.
In 2006, however, most of the recorded instances were about real anti-Semitic sentiments, and so “to that extent, the number of incidents was up,” she said.
Moreover, the incidents tended to reflect the context of current events and the atmosphere of the culture generally, said Simon.
“I think we often see increased expression” of anti-Semitism “when we see heightened tensions in the Middle East,” such as Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon this past summer, she said.
In addition, such local events as the opening of Ted Junker’s Adolf Hitler shrine in Walworth county near the town of Sugar Creek, which made national news last June, can also inspire flare-ups of anti-Semitic expression, she said.
But a major contributor, Simon contended, is the “general tone” of expression in news and entertainment media, which “has been uncivil of late.”
When radio talk show hosts, for example, can say “egregious and outrageous things” and “get away with it,” that helps people have a sense that “they can say anything,” she said.
Moreover, modern technology — voice mail and e-mail — make it “easy to be anonymous” and “allow people to say things uncensored,” she said.
Modern technology can also make it easier to find targets. The upstate synagogue, which Simon did not want to identify, had listed the e-mail addresses of all its board members on its Web site.
Therefore, Jewish institutions should “be careful about putting names and e-mail addresses” where either extremists or pranksters can easily find them, she said.
Madison graffiti
In Madison, Steven H. Morrison, executive director of the Madison Jewish Community Council, said there was just one reported incident in 2006. There, ironically, some anti-Semitic graffiti was scrawled on a Catholic church.
Moreover, Morrison said, the police were soon able to identify the perpetrator, a teen who had been part of a skinhead group in a different community.
Morrison said that not even the Lebanon war of the summer sparked any incidents; in fact, he said, the MJCC received letters and some contributions from the general Madison community in response to its full-page ad in the Wisconsin State Journal that, among other things, mentioned the Israel Emergency Fund.
Both Simon and Morrison said that local law enforcement and school officials have readily and fully responded to Jewish community concerns and to any reported instances of anti-Jewish prejudice or harassment.
“One thing I have always liked about Madison is that [the community] always admits problems, and never tries to gloss over or hide when any kind of hate comes to town,” said Morrison.
“Major progress has been made in Madison public schools” toward “eliminating the kinds of language that makes Jewish kids feel unsafe and unwelcome,” he added.
In the Milwaukee area, “the police regularly communicate with us,” and even “report things to us that we have not heard about from others,” said Simon.
However, both also acknowledge that many incidents go unreported; and they encourage members of the Jewish community to contact them about any anti-Semitic incidents.
“Any incident needs to be acknowledged,” said Morrison. “We need to know what’s happening in our community.”
To report such incidents, contact: the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations, 414-390-5777, info@mjccr.org; or the Madison Jewish Community Council, 608-278-1808, mjcc@mjcc.net.
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