SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — The war in Gaza has taken an emotional toll on members of the Jewish and Muslim communities here in the United States. Leaders from both communities say there has been a troubling increase in instances of bias and intimidation.
There were numerous anti-Muslim incidents over the last week, according to Dina Sayedahmed of CAIR New Jersey, a media watchdog nonprofit that promotes fair and accurate coverage of Islam and Muslims.
Sayedahmed says she has a long list of incidents that recently ended with Muslims being physically assaulted or fired from their jobs for speaking up on behalf of Palestinian civilians.
“When you can only speak in support of Israel or risk losing your job or being blacklisted in the legal field, risk being harassed or physically assaulted by your peers at school, that’s what’s happening right now on the ground,” she said.
This has a silencing effect, Sayedahmed said.
“This is very worrying because, essentially, what it does is that it forces people to only rely on the Israeli narrative.”
Sayedahmed says it’s important also to talk about helping Palestinian civilians who cannot escape the war zone.
South Philadelphia resident Larry Levin said he was woken up when someone smashed the glass in his front door, where an Israel flag was displayed. The incident was caught on video, but the suspect’s face is not visible.
“People that behave this way and commit crimes of this nature should be held responsible,” Levin said.
He says nobody will scare him into silence: “I’m gonna stand up and make sure people know where I stand on the matter.”
Andrew Goretzsky with the Anti-Defamation League of Philadelphia, a group that monitors and discourages acts of anti-Semitism, says there has been an increase in anti-Semitic incidents throughout the Philadelphia region and South Jersey.
“You know, one incident is one too many, but there is already a significant increase in anti-Semitic incidents. We don’t need to put false ones out there.”
That’s why, he says, ADL has a team of experts looking at social media and working on “debunking when there is false information.”
Goretsky says the temperature has to come down on conversations relating to the war between Israel and Hamas.
One way to do that is for people to work harder at verifying stories they see online and to be careful before reacting.
“It is important, regardless of what comes across your feed, that you do pause for a moment and verify that information because you could unintentionally be sending false information,” Goretzsky said.