Kanye West really did go “Death Con 3” on the Jewish community.
The antisemitic rapper has been referenced directly in at least 30 Antisemitic incidents since October 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League:
Since October 2022, ADL has documented at least 30 antisemitic incidents that directly reference…Kanye West, whose 2022 antisemitic outbursts made headlines. These incidents, which include vandalism, banner drops, targeted harassment, and campus propaganda distributions, demonstrate the ongoing influence of Ye’s conspiratorial, bigoted rants.
Anti-Defamation League
There has been, from the beginning of this fiasco, a chorus of Jewish voices calling for calm, calling for silence, telling those of us who are more “hot-headed “to simply ignore Ye, that he was thriving off the attention. We can no longer afford to entertain such naïveté – for every Jew that ignores, another “groyper” gets inspired.
In this respect, Kanye really should have been de-platformed long ago, before this inspiration could take place. Who knows which of Kanye’s irrational bouts of verbal diarrhea set which individual idiot off? One may have been inspired by “Death Con 3”, another by antisemitic accusations of power. Getting him completely off the mic could have staved all of this off.
But, now that he’s exercised his “free speech”, Jewish communities are dealing with the aftermath. The vandalism. The harassment. The violence. These communities no longer can “ignore” the Antisemitism. Why should have any of us done so?
Why were any of us content to sweep anything under any rug, from any anti-Semite? Yes, it’s tiring and taxing to deal with — but do we have a choice?
I, for one, apologize to these affected communities for not doing more to speak up, though I don’t know what I would have done beyond the articles I already participated in. Maybe there will be more off-line clashes in the streets of Columbus. As the Antisemitism ramps up, so too the fight against Antisemitism must continue to be stepped up. The community needs to come together, across lines of denomination, orientation, race and class, to combat this as a problem that affects all of us. This is a time for unity.
Eventually we may have no choice but to bring it to the Antisemites (and the homophobes) where they stand when they come to attack us. Either that, or make mass aliyah.
Whatever the next step is, it has to come soon. Because this isn’t sustainable.
I think we all have Harley Pasternak’s back at this point.
