Democracy Now!
Why More Policing Can’t Be the Only Answer to Anti-Semitic Attacks
“Prosecutors have filed federal hate crime charges against a man accused of stabbing five Jewish worshipers during a Hanukkah gathering at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York, on Saturday evening. Officials say they discovered anti-Semitic writing, references to Hitler and swastikas in the journal of the suspect. The attack follows other acts of anti-Semitic violence in 2019 and comes just one year after the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue that killed 11 people — the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. Audrey Sasson, executive director of Jews For Racial & Economic Justice, says rising anti-Jewish hate is part of a rise in white supremacy throughout the country, fueled by the “white nationalist administration” of Donald Trump. She says the response to such acts of hate cannot just focus on policing, noting that in mixed communities, an increased police presence negatively impacts people of color. “Our focus is to build solidarity,” she says. “We don’t want to increase the punishment.”
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