The New U.S. National Strategy To Counter Antisemitism Reveals Ignorance About The Reality Of Antisemitism In America

On May 25, 2023, the Biden administration published the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism,[1] a 60-page document full of calls to Congress and "Whole-of-Society" calls to action. Notably, the strategy includes several instances of placing Islamophobia on par with antisemitism.[2]

Source: The White House

Hatred of Muslims is indeed a real phenomenon in the United States. However, antisemitism cannot be put together with other phenomena, such as Islamophobia. Antisemitism is not only an ideology – rather, it is manifested in action, and there are more antisemitic hate crimes than there are for any other hateful ideology in America. In November 2022, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that 63% of religious hate crimes are motivated by antisemitism, despite the fact that Jews only comprise less than 3% of the U.S. population.[3] In addition, the FBI, the ADL, and even police departments have recorded a significant increase in antisemitic attacks in recent years.[4]

Moreover, many Muslim clerics in America themselves preach antisemitism and call for violence against Jews. The MEMRI archives contain dozens of videos of American imams calling for the annihilation of the Jews, predicting that the Muslims will slaughter the Jews on Judgment Day, referring to Jews as the descendants of apes and pigs, and referring to the corruption, mischief, and "filth" of the Jews.

It would have been valuable for those who authored the new strategy to familiarize themselves with this reality. Had they done so, they would not have made the mistake of putting the victim and the victimizer together in a document dedicated to countering antisemitism.

Indeed, the strategy does touch briefly on reality – on page 37, it states: "The President has long called for fundamental reforms to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and Congress should remove special immunity for online platforms." Unfortunately, this too reveals the ignorance behind the strategy – instead of taking swift and decisive action as the executive branch to reform Section 230, the administration appears to be satisfied with issuing just another "call to action" among dozens of other empty calls. Section 230 is the root cause of the online spread of hateful ideologies (including jihad and antisemitism), and the administration has failed to reform the legislation and make social media companies and their owners accountable for the content on their platforms – even though all other forms of media are accountable. Social media can be compared to nuclear energy: It carries a great amount of potential and benefit, but nobody in their right mind would allow it to remain unregulated.

Below are examples of American Muslim clerics preaching hate of Jews and calling to violence against them:

Imam Moustafa Kamel Of Anaheim, California Quotes Hadith About Muslims Killing Jews On Judgment Day, Adds: All Creatures Are Opposed To Those Bigoted And Arrogant Breed Of People; They Will Be Annihilated

Hawthorne, California Imam Hamdy Sadek In Friday Sermon: The Jews Gave The Prophets A Hard Time, Then Killed Them; Oh Allah, Purify Al-Aqsa Mosque From The Malevolence Of The Jews!

Friday Sermon By New Jersey Imam Mohammad Abbasi: The Jews Are Mentioned So Many Times In The Quran Because Of The Extent Of The Corruption, Mischief, Tumult They Cause In The World; The Muslims Will Erase This Filth Called Israel

Shaheen Nassar Of CAIR LA: The "European Jewish Colonizers" In Palestine Converted To Judaism In The Middle Ages, Have No Connection To Ancient Israelites; Antisemitism Is A Way Of Persecuting A Group For Falsely Claiming To Descend From Historic Palestine

Syracuse, NY Imam Khadar Bin Muhammad: COVID-19 Is a Reminder That We Are "Just Chilling" While Surrounded by Evil in a Land of Infidels; Women Who Expose Their Ankles, Wrists, Ears, Necks Are Playing Games with Allah Like Jews

Imam Mohamad Joban of Redmond, WA: Allah Transformed Jews into Despicable Apes and Pigs for Disobeying Him; A Baby Born in Malaysia with a Tail Is Their Descendant

Philadelphia Imam Abdelmohsen Abouhatab in a Series of Antisemitic Sermons: The Jews Are the Vilest People, Control Propaganda and Media; Israeli PM Begin Slit Open Belly of Pregnant Woman

Detroit Shiite Imam Bassem Al-Sheraa: The Jews Prostituted Their Women, Killed Prophets, Employed Usury to Gain Power

Antisemitic Addresses by Pittsburgh Imam Na'eem Abdullah: Ashkenazi Jews Aren't Real Jews; Jews Run Everything Behind the Scenes; Some Jews Were Transformed into Monkeys and Pigs; White Supremacy Has Co-Opted Judaism

NY Cleric Ibn Muneer: Islam without Jihad Is Like Honey without the Sweetness; Don't Apologize For Speaking the Truth about Jihad, Jews, and Christians

NY Muslim Cleric Ibn Muneer: Muslims Should Not Apologize for Prophet Muhammad Marrying a Minor, the Jews and Christians Will Never Be Pleased with You Anyway

Friday Sermon in the Raleigh Area, NC, by Syrian Imam Abdullah Khadra: Haifa, Acre, Jaffa Are Muslim Land; Jews Distorted Facts about Western Wall; At the End of Time, We Will Fight the Jews

Houston Imam Raed Saleh Al-Rousan: 'Good Tidings' – Muslims Will Kill Jews On Judgment Day; 'Do Not Tell Me That Palestine Is The Country Of The Jewish [People]'

California Sermon: Imam Ammar Shahin Prays To Allah To Turn Jerusalem And Palestine Into A Graveyard For The Jews And Liberate The Al-Aqsa Mosque From 'Their Filth'

California Imam Mahmoud Harmoush Prays for Allah to Destroy the Jews: They Are After Mecca and Medina

California Friday Sermon: Imam Ammar Shahin Cites Antisemitic Hadith, Prays for Annihilation of Jews, and Calls to Liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque from Their 'Filth'

Virginia Imam Shaker Elsayed against Peace Process with the Jews: It's in Their Genes and Blood

*Yigal Carmon is President of MEMRI.