On normalizing black and Muslim antisemitism - author Gil Troy in Hollywood

If you haven't watched Dave Chappelle's controversial, monologue regarding Jews on Saturday Night Live, 12 Nov 2022, watch it here for yourself on JooTube. He begins joking about Kanye West's Jew-hateful remarks causing him brand-contract cancellations - inferring that Jews in showbiz (and business) have a coordinated influence over American culture. Mr. Chappelle allegedly hid this script in advance from Lorne Michaels the show's Jewish executive producer, supposedly switching it when on-air without Mr. Michael's knowledge. 

 

Jewish people in entertainment jobs benefits everyone - except perhaps bigots (and ironically, Israel)

American-Israeli author and historian Gil Troy

asserts Prof. Gil Troy & CNN-featured, cultural historian.

On the day that the holiday Christmas Tree and Hanukah menorah are being erected in Beverly Gardens Park, visiting Israeli lecturer and author, Prof. Gil Troy contextualizes the brouhaha over Muslim, Dave Chappelle's antisemitic remarks on SNL Saturday Night Live.

Question: Here we have had for the past month an issue of anti-Semitism - particularly Black anti-Semitism - through the mainstream press and you've written an article which appeared a terrific three four page article in the Jewish Journal this week. How is this recent incident now affecting  people's attitudes and concerns?

Gil Troy: There's been a disturbing surge of anti-Semitism. I call it Jew-hatred because anti-Semitism makes it sound too scientific makes it sound too clinical and it's very interesting. Over the last three four five years I've started hearing from my students more and more both the ones who come from Jewish Day schools and come to Israel - but also those who just come from public schools more examples of of anti-Semitism more examples of feeling outed and othered as Jews. And it's so shocking because it's a point in time in history when people are supposed to be more tolerant and what we're seeing on American campuses is that you're supposed to not have microaggressions against anybody but somehow macroaggressions are acceptable against Jews.

And these last couple of weeks people have been completely upset about the YE - I call him the bigot formerly known as Kanye West - controversy. And I'm a little bit wary because if we just focus on the celebrities we miss the what Zev Jabotinsky, the great Zionist thinker called "the anti-Semitism of things." If we just focus so much on what's happening in celebrity culture and Twitterville, we miss what's really going day to day.

With too many of my students and too many of my fellow Jews in the United States of America are experiencing us all of a sudden a certain sense that we're on trial all of a certain sense that the golden age in America is over.  . . .

(Dialogue continues in the video)