Many see renewed scapegoating in the wake of the terrorist attacks
By Todd C. Frankel
Herald Writer
In the weeks since Sept. 11, the Jewish synagogue in Everett has been vandalized with anti-Semitic messages. Someone also vandalized a synagogue in Tacoma, scrawling in large letters on the parking lot "Zionism plus U.S. equals 5,000 dead." Someone then tried to burn the temple down.
A handful of prominent U.S. Muslim leaders, along with several mainstream Arabic newspapers, have blamed Jews and Israel for inciting the terrorist attacks, even accusing them of coordinating the suicide hijackings. Others have asserted it was the result of a "Zionist plot."
Right-wing hate groups offered similar views. In a Spokane neighborhood earlier this month, a white supremacy group distributed leaflets that explicitly blamed Jews for the attacks.
All of this makes Harley Karz-Wagman, the rabbi at Everett’s synagogue, uneasy. And he says he’s not alone. He has heard others in the Jewish community both locally and nationwide express the same concerns.
"We have a renewed level of fear of anti-Semitism," Karz-Wagman says.
While attention has been focused on threats and attacks directed at Muslims and people of Arab descent, Jewish leaders say a building wave of anti-Semitism has gone unnoticed. They worry about the recent upsurge continuing unchecked after 30 years of declining anti-Semitic attitudes in America.
Jewish leaders were hopeful in the days immediately after the attacks. They supported the widespread and rigid condemnations of Arab and Muslim mistreatment. They joined in the outpouring of public support.
And they hoped those concerns would be extended to all forms of hate rhetoric. But that hasn’t happened, they say.
"Those hopes were dashed," said Brian Goldberg, regional director of the Pacific Northwest office of the Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-Semitism and intolerance.
"I guess the Jews, we feel once again that we’ve been marginalized," Goldberg said.
The larger worry, they said, is that there seems to be a discomforting public permissiveness to some of the anti-Semitic messages. There have been no widespread calls from public officials for intolerance of hatred aimed at Jews.
The result, said Goldberg, has been that radical religious groups are seizing the opportunity to criticize Jews and Israel.
"Somehow, this has turned into a Jewish problem and American Jews’ fault," Goldberg said.
Most terrorism experts believe the attacks were aimed at Western society, not Jews in particular. Suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden’s stated goal has been to get American military people out of Saudi Arabia, but to that he added peace for Palestinians in a taped message released Oct. 7. It was a move, some believe, meant to broaden his base of support.
The vandalism at Everett’s Temple Beth Or has not been previously disclosed, even though it occurred several weeks ago. Rabbi Karz-Wagman declined to offer any details of the incident except to say that it was relatively minor and that the temple has increased security. Everett police are investigating.
Tacoma’s Temple Beth El was first hit with vandalism on Sept. 16, and a week later, arson. Two fire-starting logs, one under a main gas line, were found burning outside the temple. Firefighters extinguished the fire before it caused significant damage. A night later, people of all faiths gathered at the temple for a supportive candlelight vigil.
Temple Beth Or is housed in a small blue and white building that blends in with its residential setting near the Snohomish County Courthouse. The temple, attended by 125 families, is the only one in the county.
Sitting in his office lined with books on Judaism and Jewish history, Karz-Wagman said he doesn’t believe the existence of Israel had anything to do with the terrorist attacks — a fact that only makes him angrier at those who suggest the attacks could have been avoided if the United States had pulled its support of Israel.
"I have a one-word answer to that theory, or at least one I can say publicly — hogwash," he said.
But he feels the attacks have generated a greater understanding of the Israeli experience. Israel has dealt with a recent wave of suicide terrorist attacks, like one that killed 21 at a Tel Aviv disco in June and another that killed 15 at a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem in August.
The fear and heightened security that Americans are now experiencing are staples of Israeli life.
"I see Americans doing today what Israel has been doing for the past year," he said.
Chuck Broches of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle has seen it, too. He was talking on the phone recently with a congressional staffer in Washington, D.C., who told him she felt like an Israeli because anthrax fears had led to being shut out of the office.
"I take that as a statement of empathy," Broches said.
But Goldberg said despite his initial hopes, he has found that empathy does not extend to all corners. He said some Muslim clerics have taken the opportunity to blame Jews for the attacks on America.
In one noteworthy incident, a leader of a prominent mosque in Manhattan was quoted in an Arabic-language newspaper as saying Jewish doctors were poisoning Muslim children in hospitals and that "Zionists" aided in the hijackings. The cleric has since resigned from the mosque and left the country.
The scapegoating by some has "kind of deflated us a little bit," Goldberg said.
"Now, we get blamed for it, for Sept. 11."
Goldberg is also upset at public officials for failing to mention attacks on Jewish institutions during recent calls for tolerance of Muslims and Islamic mosques.
On Oct. 1, Gov. Gary Locke gathered with other officials at the Idriss Mosque near Northgate to call for unity and to say that attacks on Muslims would not be tolerated. The mosque had been threatened two days after the terrorist attacks.
According to a governor’s office transcript of the speech, Locke mentioned only Arabs and Muslims in his brief talk.
Goldberg said he was upset the governor made no mention of the arson at the Tacoma synagogue.
"The governor said nothing," he said. "I’m very frustrated."
Karz-Wagman said Jews have a special ability to understand how Muslims feel being targeted by hatred. Most Jews reacted with "deep revulsion" at attacks made on mosques or Muslims, he said. When the mosque in Lynnwood was vandalized, Jews felt it very strongly.
And there’s a simple reason why.
"We’ve been those victims," he said.
You can call Herald Writer Todd C. Frankel at 425-339-3429
or send e-mail to frankel@heraldnet.com.
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