Yesterday afternoon three people along with a police officer were killed in a battle with two gunmen at a kosher deli in Jersey City, New Jersey. Two of the three civilians killed were Jewish.
The two perpetrators were also eventually killed. They were identified as David Anderson and Francine Graham. Anderson was a devotee of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement who believe they are the true descendants of the Israelites and consider Jews to be impostors.
In recent years, approximately 100 Hasidic Jewish families have moved to Jersey City from Brooklyn where rents have skyrocketed. These families have settled into a predominantly African-American neighborhood of Greenville. No doubt that this exacerbated Anderson's hatred which he and his accomplice then escalated into violence.
Because the suspects are African-American, I wonder if the significance of the act will be downplayed in comparison to attacks carried out by white supremacists most notably against synagogues in Pittsburgh and in Poway, California. As of this writing, officials in Jersey City will not characterize this attack as anti-Semitic or even as a hate crime. Had the perpetrators been white supremacists would Jersey City officials have displayed any hesitation in characterizing this act as anti-Semitic? I think we all know the answer to that question.
The Jersey City Kosher Deli attack demonstrates that anti-Semitism is a hatred that has no color. Anti-Semitism is anti-Semitism. Period.
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