Amidst milestone changes in leadership and reshuffling of anchors, CNN offered in late summer a “Special Report” on Rising Hate: Antisemitism in America, which was, by and large, a fair and well-conceived effort. Given all the recent multimedia discussion of antisemitism and inappropriate use of the Holocaust, this production is a good springboard for discussion.

Rising Hate built upon an FBI caveat that Jews are the most targeted religious group for hate crimes in America. An FBI deputy director observes in it that the threat level against the Jewish community is “historic.”

Host Dana Bash covered a lot of ground in this hour, including the Texas rabbi and synagogue members held hostage by a man who believed that the Jews “control everything,” so they could arrange for the release of an Al Qaeda terrorist in an American prison. The white supremacist counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia (2017) were prominently featured, and their frightening slogan, “The Jews will not replace us,” reverberated in this production like a mantra.

Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) asserted that antisemitism is a growing “political prop” on the right and on the left.  The ADL’s Oren Segal added that antisemitism is “used as a tool to silence people” and to intimidate Jewish reporters by trolling them on social media. The reporter that CNN chose to highlight is the daughter of Jews who escaped from the Soviet Union, who was threatened and bombarded with Holocaust images of herself after revealing in 2016 that Melania Trump has an illegitimate half-brother. She denied that her article was a “hit piece,” but one does wonder why it was necessary.

But why that particular example? Was it chosen by the ADL or by CNN because the backlash it provoked was statistically significant? Or was it underscored because of its connection to former President Donald Trump, to whom CNN has attributed the upsurge in antisemitism recent years?

This production claimed to have “statistical evidence” that Trump’s comments and lack of immediate condemnations were responsible for a climate of Jew hatred. But it also provides footage of Trump condemning antisemitic rhetoric and actions, and cites Jason Greenblatt, his Orthodox Jewish friend and lawyer, to the effect that Trump did denounce antisemites and was receptive to adding particular censure of individuals like David Duke. Trump did wait too long and spoke vaguely, missing major opportunities to censure anti-Jewish hate. But the point should have been made that reluctance to alienate potential voters, no matter how extreme or hate-filled, is an ethical challenge to all political parties which enables antisemitism and other hatreds.

The program’s segment on internet radicalization as a cause of the spike in antisemitic activity was helpful and convincing. Indeed, it featured a Los Angeles skinhead who let his anger over a broken home lead him to advocate internet recruitment of others, even though his mother was Jewish! This may not have been the best example, given conspiracy theorists who would blame Jewish conspirators for anti-Semitism, too!

Still, the interviewees and pundits were, by and large, well-chosen, especially a Holocaust survivor, Ruth Steinfeld, who shared her experiences and perspectives at different schools, and who is most eloquent: “All I say is ‘Never Again,’ but, guess what, it is again and again and again.”

Professor Deborah Lipstadt, appointed in 2022 by the Biden Administration as Special Envoy to combat and monitor antisemitism, offered many insightful observations. She was particularly concerned about the comparison by anti-maskers of Covid restrictions to Holocaust era legal discrimination against Jews, not to mention the blaming of Jews for spreading Covid for mischief and profit.

The production merits commendation for pointing to antisemitic harassment of Jewish students on campus who post their support of Zionism, a crucial element in the “ethno-religion” of Judaism, which, in the words of a lawyer representing a college student, is “completely rooted in the Land of Israel.” That student was expelled from a campus sexual abuse survivors’ group. (The segment exposed effectively the convoluted “arguments” and “concerns” of the anti-Zionists.) She felt she could not remain on the campus she chose and loved because of an “environment hostile toward Jews” created by leftist students (and faculty). 

Rising Hate concluded by complaining that social media are not removing antisemitic posts. But while there are recourses to shut down offensive hateful tirades, would the wholesale blocking of them bar any opportunity to learn what the haters are thinking and saying and contemplating?

Rising Hate raised many good points and questions. But it did not deal with two phenomena that I think aid and abet the anti-Semites.

The first such phenomenon is the endless and inchoate type of street demonstrations, beginning with the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. By sheer lack of perimeters and discipline, these mob scenes attracted both angry counterdemonstrators and hateful hangers-on. True, freedom of speech and of gathering to express grievances is basic and rightly precious to American society. But as the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. wisely understood, those who organize demonstrations should make their values and rules and guidelines clear. Among Dr. King’s rules were to “observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy” and ‘to refrain from the violence of fist, tongue or heart.”

The 2020 riots, especially, were the result of interminable and meandering gatherings that precipitated confrontation and provoked disturbances, none of which helped the cause of the protestors or the efforts of municipalities to preserve the public health during a pandemic. Antisemitic and racist organizations proliferated either as part of, or in opposition to, these massive and confused events which often lost sight of ideals and goals.

The second such phenomenon is that it is easy for the news media themselves to be hijacked by the very forms of antisemitism that Rising Hate warned about. This is especially true of live interviews. Thus, for example, when Alejandra Rojas of Justice Democrats complained on CNN MSNBC about “corporate super-PAC spending,” the host Mehdi Hasan responded with a diatribe couched in a question mark: “Why has AIPAC [the pro-Israel PAC organization] gotten into this fight [the Pennsylvania Democratic race] so aggressively? And why do none of their ads mention Israel, which is the issue they actually lobby on?”  (2) Watch | Facebook

The conversation then moved to linking AIPAC with “spending” in order to defeat “progressive women of color” and to stop “this rising generation of diverse working-class progressive leadership who is willing to take a stand on human rights across the board no matter what country might be violating them.”  How was this not like the campus assault on Israel supporters cited in Rising Hate?  How ironic, by the way, that Justice Democrats is also a PAC organization with a broad base of supporters. Just because that PAC is committed to one political party, why should other PACs not try to advocate to both parties, as many have always done?

Local news broadcasts are also susceptible to infiltration by antisemitism in the form of anti-Zionism. Our Chicago NBC affiliate became the first (or one of the first?) local stations to allow the word “Zionist” to be inserted with the adjectives “racist, homophobic, transphobic, just problematic to every degree.” Was this enabled by editorial choice or laxity? It occurred in a sound bite in which a former student commented on complaints against a longtime suburban high school teacher for posting on Facebook criticisms of the 2020 protests-turned-violent. That interviewed former student, by the way, was already known as a pro-Palestinian activist who took every opportunity to bash Israel.  CNN itself has long been cited by CAMERA and other media watch groups for unbalanced reporting on Israel and the Middle East. While Rising Hate is a step in the right direction, one hopes that under new leadership CNN will offer fair reportage on Israel. This in and of itself would go a long way toward fighting antisemitism.