The FBI has found the person responsible for the “broad threat” to New Jersey synagogues that the Bureau’s Newark office warned about via tweet. Thank God. After Kanye West’s psychosis-induced philippics against members of the tribe, this threat, albeit different in kind from Kanye’s ravings, was the last thing Jews in America needed.
Unfortunately, the broader problem of antisemitism isn’t going anywhere. Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets continues to show insufficient remorse for the antisemitic bile he propagated when he posted Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, an antisemitic Black Hebrew Israelite documentary, on his Twitter and Instagram accounts. The Southern Poverty Law Center, though compromised in other ways, was not wrong to deem 144 Black Hebrew Israelite organizations black-separatist hate groups “because of their antisemitic and anti-white beliefs.” Black Hebrew Israelite sympathizers were responsible for the 2019 Jersey City shooting at a kosher grocery store. White-supremacist leader Tom Metzger once said, “They’re the black counterparts of us,” when referencing the group.
Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America itself promotes the conspiracy theory that African Americans are the true descendants of the biblical Israelites and that the Jews of today are impostors who culturally appropriated the religious heritage of black people to dominate and oppress people of color. In doing so, the film engages in Holocaust denialism, includes falsely attributed Hitler quotes, and declares that Jews were responsible for slavery in America. When asked this week for a yes-or-no answer to whether he held antisemitic beliefs, Irving responded, “I cannot be antisemitic if I know where I come from,” an evasive answer (is he referring to lessons from his own life story and ancestry, or does he believe he is one of the “real Jews”?). His apology on Instagram only came after being suspended from the Nets without pay late Thursday night.
For some progressive groups like the ADL, an apology will never be enough. Genuine contrition should be welcome. But that first requires Kyrie, Kanye, and others — as well as the rest of us — to admit forthrightly that what they have said is beyond the pale. Their hateful prejudice cannot be condoned in a society dedicated to genuine tolerance. And as long as some people refuse to condemn such prejudice because of what the bigot looks like, this sort of hateful, jaundiced smut will continue circulating the public square.