When Antisemitism Finally Hits Home

By Bruce S. Ticker

PHILADELPHIA — I was as shocked!…shocked! as actor Claude Rains’ French police chief when he learned that gambling was going on at Rick’s Café in “Casablanca.” Antisemitism struck within walking distance of home in Philadelphia’s Somerton section on Wednesday morning. City police responded to reports of swastikas in white spray paint plastered on walls of a small green space bordering a Home Depot at the Leo Mall, according to Philly’s ABC affiliate known as Action News.Amnt i

I have frequently experienced antisemitism, but the Leo Mall vandalism is the first time in years that anti-Jewish harassment invaded my personal space. It was part of the massive cloud that has swirled through America in recent years, especially since the Hamas raid of southern Israel on Oct. 7. I am upset, naturally, but I am not surprised. If I am surprised at all, it would be because it did not reach my recently adopted neighborhood sooner.

The Somerton incident was accompanied by other pro-Palestinian episodes throughout the country – especially, a morning rush-hour blockade shutting down the southbound lanes of the 110 freeway, just south of a monstrous interchange in downtown L.A. often depicted on television. Pro-Arab activists showed up Wednesday morning and stopped their cars to block a half-dozen lanes, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“We have tried everything else,” said Noa Kattler Kupetz, a spokesperson for IfNotNow, a so-called progressive Jewish group. “We have called, we have marched, we have sung, we have prayed. We have written letters and visited offices. Yet politicians like President Biden continue to stonewall, and Israel continues to slaughter innocent Gazans by the thousands. Enough. We cannot wait another day.”

Yet it was fine with her to force motorists to wait 2 ½ hours before police expelled protesters from the site and arrested 75 of them. Demonstrators even apologized, but as Kupetz insisted, they needed to spread the word of the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. However, they were under no time limit to remind Angelinos that 130 Israeli hostages were stuck in Gaza. No mention of concern for releasing the hostages nor remorse for the 1,400 Israelis who were massacred on Oct. 7.

Philadelphia served as Ground Zero on Thursday for the Pity-the-Poor-Palestinians crusade. In a mini-version of the Los Angeles shutdown, demonstrators from two Jewish groups – also billing themselves as “progressives” – blocked the westbound lanes of the beloved Schuylkill Expressway for a half-hour, starting at 3:30 p.m., and a bridge seizure near the Art Museum that lasted well into rush hour, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

New Yorkers who advocate for the Palestinians already beat their pals in Philly and L.A. to making traffic congestion far worse. Among other achievements, they previously blocked traffic on both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge.

Thursday’s events dominated the front page of Friday’s Inquirer. Bomb threats were phoned into two synagogues around Philly, each 10 miles from my residence; no bombs were found. There was more fallout from the resignation of the University of Pennsylvania’s president, Swarthmore College students continued a sit-in while Haverford students ended theirs and a newly-elected school board member in Upper Dublin, Montgomery County, quit after promoting a webinar referencing “ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”

Hamas defenders were busy in Philadelphia this past week. They proved that they were targeting Jews when they attacked Israel. What did these highways and colleges have to do with Israel? Why did they pick the end of Hanukkah for these activities? If critics of Israel were behind the bomb scares and the swastikas, how is that linked to Israel?

What does that do for the Palestinians? Those traffic blockades make automatic enemies of drivers. The extensive media coverage triggers disgust among average people who pay scant attention to the Middle East. Talk about road rage.

Bruce S. Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist. He may be contacted via [email protected]. This article is republished from San Diego Jewish World which, along with The Moderate Voice, is a member of the San Diego Online News Association.