Mark Halperin to Newsmax: Rise of Antisemitism in US 'Confusing'

Political analyst Mark Halperin told Newsmax on Wednesday it has been difficult to understand why there has been a spike of antisemitism in the U.S. following Israel’s military response to Iranian-backed Hamas’ terrorist attack on Oct. 7.

“This is one of the most confusing stories I've covered in my career, and it's confusing all the way up to President [Joe] Biden to see so many in America be either antisemitic or tolerant of antisemitism, insensitive to it,” Halperin told “American Agenda." “Not just on college campuses, but it's particularly dangerous, pernicious, and confusing with young people who you would think would be more modern in their outlook, would be more separate from the age-old sources of antisemitism. It's a big problem for the country.”

Halperin spoke on the same day the Anti-Defamation League’s two-day “Never is Now” summit kicked off in New York. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said there have been 3,291 reported antisemitic incidents in the U.S. in the three months after Oct. 7. The ADL said incidents of antisemitism in Brazil have climbed 960% since Oct. 7, as well as 384% in France and 320% in Germany.

“The world of Oct. 8 is one in which the perpetrators of the worst antisemitic massacre since the Holocaust are celebrated as heroes – not just in Ramallah or Beirut, but in London and New York and on campuses like Harvard and Columbia,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said Wednesday in his annual State of Hate speech.

Halperin said a positive effect in the U.S. has been that more people are now trying to combat antisemitism. Plus, it has raised awareness of the effects of woke policies in higher education.

“If you're someone who believes, as I do, in turning crises into opportunities, there's more energy now in trying to figure this out and eradicate it than I think there's ever been,” Halperin said. “This is what it took to get some of the big donors, some of the people who had been silent on campus, to get them to say, hey, woke is not just kind of an annoyance, it has actually a negative and pernicious effect. I don't know why this is what it took, but I’m glad.

“Again, if you look at this as an opportunity, campuses tend to produce a lot of extreme ideas, particularly on the left. That's a part of it. But it's now being looked at in a way that is representing, for many, not just this particular problem, but the other manifestations of woke culture on campuses that a lot of people just say is not good for our kids and [not] good for our culture.”

President Joe Biden has faced pushback from Arab Americans because of his support for Israel and not pushing harder for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s military has been waging war to eliminate Hamas and its infrastructure and rescue the more than 130 remaining hostages. It became a political problem for him in the Michigan Democrat primary Feb. 27, when more than 100,000 voted “uncommitted” in protest of Biden’s pro-Israel stance.

“I tend to give presidents of both parties a little bit of slack when they're dealing with criticism from both sides,” Halperin said. “Rather than saying they're doing nothing right, I think often they're trying to find the right balance. In this case, I don't think you could find too many decisions Joe Biden has made on how to deal with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and how to deal with Israel that he's done for political purposes.

“For the most part, he's done it based on what he thinks is right. It has caused him, though a big political problem, primarily on the left, but the more they move toward trying to accommodate the left, which has been his history as president on a range of issues, the more danger they run into, not just in terms of criticism from the right but also policy problems. This is a very treacherous thing.”

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