Chilling news from the AP

The Associated Press reported on Dec. 3 that a “surge of anti-Jewish vitriol” spread by social influencers “is stoking fears that public figures are normalizing hate and ramping up the risk of violence in a country already experiencing a sharp increase in antisemitism.”

“Leaders of the Jewish community in the US and extremism experts have been alarmed to see celebrities with massive followings spew antisemitic tropes in a way that has been taboo for decades,” AP reported. “Some said it harkens back to a darker time in America when powerful people routinely spread conspiracy theories about Jews with impunity.”

“These are not fringe outliers sending emails from their parents garage or idiots no one has ever heard of,” said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, a leader in South Florida’s Jewish community. “When influential mainstream cultural, political and even sports icons normalize hate speech, everyone needs to be very concerned.”

“What’s even more dangerous than Nazis with torches chanting, ‘Jews will not replace us,’ is when we have political leaders and others espousing those same conspiracy theories in increasingly normalized ways,” said Amy Spitalnick, executive director of Integrity First for America.

Spitalnick said the virulent hatred that Ye has been spewing can make diluted expressions of antisemitism seem more normal in contrast.