The Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum is alarmed by an increase in antisemitism across the U.S. and in our DFW community.
At the Museum, we strive every day to educate our community on how acts of violence, genocide, and hatred have negatively and horrifically impacted communities around the world. Though we are a Museum dedicated in part to teaching history, we must stand up and call out antisemitism, hatred, and bigotry when it happens in our present day. That is why it is important to condemn antisemitic acts, statements, and references when they occur.
This past week, in our own hometown of Dallas, several Jewish congregations were in a Tisha B’Av* service on Zoom when the call was hijacked by ‘Zoom bombers’ who displayed antisemitic language and symbols. There were more than 100 people on the call, some children.
In addition, antisemitic references have been made by athletes and celebrities such as Desean Jackson, Ice Cube, Nick Cannon, Chelsea Handler, Madonna, and Larry Johnson, to mention only a few. Even more recently, Philadelphia’s NAACP president, Rodney Muhammed, posted an offensive antisemitic meme on social media. While there have been apologies, the harm has been done.
There have also been numerous references to Hitler and Nazi Germany in reference to the Coronavirus pandemic by government officials and protesters from across the political spectrum demonstrating either antisemitism, or an utter disregard and understanding of historical fact.
As we know all too well, antisemitism led to the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust. These acts of hate outlined above prove that not only has antisemitism not been forgotten or left in the past, but that our mission – to teach the history of the Holocaust and advance human rights to combat prejudice, hatred, and indifference – is as relevant and necessary as ever.
This rise in antisemitism cannot and will not be tolerated.
To learn more about the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum and its mission, please visit DHHRM.org.
* Tisha B’Av is the annual Jewish day of fasting that marks the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem in 586 BCE and 70 CE.
– Mary Pat Higgins, Museum President and CEO
– Frank Risch, Board Chair