Skip to main content

Trump Targets Rising Tide of Hate as Anti-Semitism Spikes

Share This article

In his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Trump wasted no time targeting a rising tide of hate in America, right from the top of his speech.

Using Black History Month as a launching point, he spoke of the struggle for civil rights and blasted recent anti-Semitic acts across the country.
 
"Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week's shooting in Kansas City, remind us," said the President, "that while we may be a nation divided in policies we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms."

In denouncing the threats and acts, the President also responded to critics who've said he was too slow and lax in condemning them.

The Anti-Defamation League reports more than 90 threats or incidents of anti-Semitism across the country in just the last two months.  

The latest threats have forced the evacuation of two Jewish community centers in California's Bay area plus the San Francisco office of the Anti-Defamation League. The ADL is an international organization that fights anti-Semitism.

"They said that they had a bomb, that they had planted a bomb and they had planned to kill us," ADL Central Pacific Regional Director Seth Brysk said of the threat in San Francisco.
 
On Monday, more than 20 other Jewish facilities across the country also received threats.

In addition, Jewish cemeteries have become targets. Vandals desecrated cemeteries in Missouri and Philadelphia in the last week, toppling scores of headstones.

Jewish leaders aren't sure if anti-Semitism or simple maliciousness motivated those behind the vandalism.  

Jim Kenney, the mayor of Philadelphia, said an investigation will take top priority.

"This country is in a bad spot and this stuff has to be called out right away," he said. "It's got to be investigated and we've got to find these people and lock them up.

President Trump also tweeted his denunciation of hate crimes, sending a clear message that his administration and this country stand united in opposing the vicious acts.

Share This article

About The Author

Heather
Sells

Heather Sells covers wide-ranging stories for CBN News that include religious liberty, ministry trends, immigration, and education. She’s known for telling personal stories that capture the issues of the day, from the border sheriff who rescues migrants in the desert to the parents struggling with a child that identifies as transgender. In the last year, she has reported on immigration at the Texas border, from Washington, D.C., in advance of the Dobbs abortion case, at crisis pregnancy centers in Massachusetts, and on sexual abuse reform at the annual Southern Baptist meeting in Anaheim