Colleyville and the Oldest Hatred

People Love Dead Jews. Not only is this a provocative declaration–it’s one that merits enough truth to serve as the title of Dara Horn’s 2021 novel. Horn’s book examines society’s eagerness to mourn Jews who perished in past atrocities, and its paradoxical refusal to coexist with them when they are alive. She arrives at this bleak conclusion through the analysis of antisemitic hate crimes that have occurred throughout history and into the present day. Though these violent attacks against Jews manifest differently, the nature of antisemitism remains the same; no matter where they go, Jews are accused of holding too much power, and simultaneously, of being subhuman, or unworthy of their societal standing. 

The events at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas are the most recent example of this phenomenon. On January 15, 2022, a gunman entered Congregation Beth Israel during Saturday morning services. While spewing antisemitic rants, he proceeded to take four Jewish individuals hostage, including the rabbi of the congregation. FBI agents and S.W.A.T. teams surrounded the small synagogue, and 11 hours later, all of the hostages escaped safely. 

Although the sleepy town of Colleyville seemed an unlikely setting for an antisemitic terrorist attack, the gunman, Malik Faisal Akram, specifically chose this synagogue because of its proximity to a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, where Aafia Siddiqui is being held. Siddiqui is currently serving an 86-year sentence for attempting to murder U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and Akram was convinced that the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel had the connections to orchestrate her release. This conspiracy-laden belief that all Jews are powerful, connected, and driven to influence the workings of society, is ancient in its origin.

At the turn of the twentieth century, in the antisemitic climate of Czarist Russia, a pamphlet called “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” was created to incite hatred against Jews. This text detailed the “Jewish plan” to achieve world domination and enslave all of mankind. Yedida Kanfer, the Director of Programming at the JFCS Holocaust Center, explained this text and its significance.

“Antisemitic stereotypes are ancient, originating in the very early days of Christianity. A turning point was the publication of ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’. This pamphlet argued [falsely] that Jews engaged in a worldwide conspiracy to gain power and economic control,” Kanfer said.

“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” cemented the antisemitic myth of Jewish world domination, and stirred a deep hatred and fear of Jews among its readers. This text has been widely disseminated since its creation, serving as a basis for Nazi ideology and even extremist hate groups today. 

 “‘The Protocols’ was essentially a bible for the Nazis,” said John Efron, the Koret Professor of Jewish History at UC Berkeley. “They took it literally. It’s still one of the most widely distributed books in history. And essentially, it became the blueprint for the extermination of European Jewry. And so the Nazis acted on that deeply held belief and perpetrated genocide in order to combat the [nonexistent] world Jewish conspiracy.”

The way Jews are depicted in “The Protocols” laid the groundwork for modern antisemitism, which Professor Efron describes as a unique form of discrimination.

“No other form of discrimination is based on a conspiracy theory,” Professor Efron said. “At the heart of all modern antisemitism is a profound belief that Jews control the world, control the banks, control the media, control the government. So, whereas most forms of discrimination are rooted in a sense of the inferiority of the other, antisemitism is different insofar as it’s a morbid fear of Jews.”

In the past decade, instances of hate crimes against Jews have skyrocketed. According to FBI statistics, antisemitic hate crimes account for 51% of all religious hate crimes in the U.S. This statistic is especially troubling considering that Jews make up less than 2% of the U.S. population.

The Anti-Defamation League, an organization that monitors antisemitic hate crimes in the United States, and that trains institutions to combat antisemitism, has tracked this alarming increase of attacks against Jews.

“Nationally, ADL reported over 2,000 antisemitism incidents in the year 2020, and that was the third-highest tally since we began tracking in 1979. We noted a dramatic increase in reported antisemitic incidents over the last decade, with the last four years being the most volatile,” Teresa Drenick, the deputy regional director for the ADL Central Pacific Region, said.

This rise in antisemitic attacks has had a direct impact on the ways in which Jewish communities function. Many individuals do not feel safe publicly expressing that they are Jewish, whether that is wearing jewelry with the Star of David or walking to synagogue with a traditional scullcap on. 

Rabbi Mark Bloom of Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland explained how his synagogue has had to modify its practices in order to ensure the safety of congregation members.

“We had to close many entrances to get into the synagogue. During services, I often had to start by announcing where the exits were. The employees had to take active shooter drill online classes. We hired security for services, not just for the high holidays,” noted Bloom.

So what does all of this mean? It means that one gunman in Colleyville Texas, charging into a synagogue with the aim to attack Jews and use their “connections” to his advantage, is not an isolated incident. In fact, there have been many “Colleyvilles” in recent years: the Charlottesville rally in 2017 when rioters wearing Klu Klux Klan robes chanted “Jews will not replace us,” the Pittsburgh Tree Of Life synagogue shooting in October of 2018 in which 11 Jews were killed, and the San Diego Poway synagogue shooting in April of 2019 when one Jewish congregant was killed and three others injured. When ancient conspiracies about Jewish influence and inferiority bleed into modern society and catalyze violence, these disparate acts can be recognized as symptoms of the same illness. 

As many in the Jewish community grapple with this surge in antisemitism, they may find that it is time to take action and pay homage to an ancient Jewish proverb: If not now, when?