Israelis worried by anti-Semitic flavor of 'Occupy Wall St.' protests

Sunday, October 16, 2011 | Ryan Jones

A growing number of Israelis and foreign Jewish groups are expressing concern over the anti-Semitic flavor of some of the "Occupy Wall St." economic protests in the US. From the 13th century expulsion of England’s Jews to the 19th century Russian pogroms to the Nazi Holocaust, sour economic conditions have historically formed the backdrop of rising anti-Semitism.

Last week, we reported on a lone protestor at the Wall Street sit-in who insisted that America's economic woes could all be traced back to "the Jews." Since then that message has been picked up by others at "Occupy Wall St." demontrations around the country.

In Los Angeles, California, protestor Patricia McAllister, who identified herself as an employee of the Los Angeles Unified School District (we can only hope she is not an educator), had this to say: "I think that the Zionist Jews, who are running these big banks and our Federal Reserve, which is not run by the federal government… they need to be run out of this country."

On the American Nazi Party website, leader Rocky Suhayda voiced support for "Occupy Wall St." and asked, "Who hold the wealth and power in this country? The Judeo-Capitalists. Who is therefore the #1 enemy who makes this filth happen? The Judeo-Capitalists."

One of people reportedly responsible for organizing the "Occupy Wall St." protests, Adbusters editor Kalle Lasn, has a history of perpetuating conspiracy theories that say the Jews control America's foreign policies.

Back in New York, another protestor insisted that "a small ethnic group constitutes almost all of the hedge fund managers and bankers on Wall St. They are all Jewish. There is a conspiracy in this country where Jews control the media, finances… They have pooled their money together in order to take control of America." He was kind enough to warn Russia to avoid similarly being destroyed by what in America has become a "conspiracy everyone is afraid to talk about."

The Emergency Committee for Israel, a Jewish-run Republican organization, released a video highlighting these and other anti-Semitic incidents at the "Occupy wall St." events, and urging President Barack Obama to take a firm stand against such hateful rhetoric.

Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper called the anti-Semitic outbursts "hard to watch," and an Israeli commenter said, "It's just like pre-World War II Nazi Germany. You think blood libels can't happen in America?"

It has been pointed out by many media commentators that the openly anti-Semitic remain but a small portion of those participating in the Occupy Wall St. movement. However, others have noted that Nazi anti-Semitism started out as a fringe phenomenon in Germany before eventually defining that nation's domestic agenda in the 1940s.

More than the few Occupy Wall St. anti-Semites themselves, it is the lack of a clear and firm repudiation of their hateful rhetoric by the mainstream American media and political leaders that has a growing number of Israelis and Jews on edge.