The word spread quickly Monday. Tova du Plessis got a call from a concerned customer of her tiny bakery in Philadelphia’s East Passyunk neighborhood: Essen Bakery, which
On Wednesday, du Plessis, who is Jewish, was still processing the shock of being targeted because of her religion. “I’ve been aware that antisemitism has been on the rise in America, but I’ve wanted to believe it was a really small number of people,” she said. “But to have my business targeted because you are Jewish shatters that sense of denial.
In the United States, the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, which catalogues antisemitic, anti-Muslim and other hate-driven incidents, said the number of cases of harassment, vandalism and assault against Jewsin the first 16 days after the Hamas attack, from 64 during the same period last year to 312 this year.Beyond the overt attacks, many Jews also describe a frightening shift in attitudes toward them, from friends, co-workers and strangers alike. headtopics.com
In the Washington area, “parents are worried about their kids being attacked at school, rabbis are getting calls, observant Jews are wearing baseball caps instead of yarmulkes, and I’ve had people tell me they’re hiding the Stars of David they wear around their neck,” said Ron Halber, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s Community Relations Council.
A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Corey Saylor, said that he was not familiar with the Philadelphia boycott but that “It is 100 percent on the table to criticize supporters of Israeli apartheid.” He added that too often, “people engaging in criticism of the state of Israel have been accused of bias. headtopics.com