As antisemitism spirals out of control across the globe including on the streets of cities across the U.S., and college campuses are overrun with students and faculty shouting for the annihilation of Israel and the expulsion of Jews from the country, it is difficult not to recognize frightening parallels with Germany in the late 1920’s and 30’s and events that eventually led to the systematic murder of Europe’s Jewish population. Jews the world over memorialized the Holocaust with a Holocaust Remembrance Day this past Monday so as never to forget with a conviction of Never Again. Yet, boycotts of Jewish-owned businesses, Israeli-produced products, and Israeli academics are becoming commonplace, hate crimes against Jewish citizens are skyrocketing, and college campuses are hotbeds of the new “Brown Shirts” who are forcing Jewish students and faculty into hiding. While the horrific atrocities of October 7th and Israel’s defensive response are the most recent impetus for the antisemites to espouse their hatred of Israel and Jewish people, the vile animus directed at Israel and Jews is unfortunately not new – it’s just finally been unleashed with abandon. Jews have always been the canary in the coal mine and what we’re seeing take place across the West will not end when Israel’s war with Hamas ends. What does all of this mean for the future of Jews in the Western world and America in particular and will the civilized world wake up to stop the barbarians who have entered our gates before it’s too late? Please join us for a critically important and insightful conversation with Holocaust historian Rafael Medoff who will help us to contextualize and understand the disturbing events playing out today.
About the Speaker: Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, in Washington, D.C., and the author of more than 20 books about the Holocaust, Zionism, and American Jewish history. Dr. Medoff has taught Jewish history at Ohio State University, Purchase College of the State University of New York, Yeshiva University and elsewhere, and he is a Fellow of the Finkler Institute of Holocaust Research at Bar-Ilan University. He is also a three-time winner of the prestigious Simon Rockower Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism, from the American Jewish Press Association.
