Nathan Nayor/ Staff writer
There’s been a concerning rise in antisemitic incidents in Florida in the past few months, including FIU. After a flyer was distributed at MMC on April 15 spreading misinformation, it’s time we reeducate people on why Nazis are a glaring evil that cannot be tolerated.
On the antisemitic flyer found on campus, the creator proposed that the COVID-19 pandemic was an agenda set by Jewish people. It listed the names and positions of several Jews in major positions: the CDC, Moderna, some shareholders for the companies that made the American vaccines, such as Blackrock and Vanguard, HHS, Pfizer, and the Gamaleya Institute.
More vaguely, towards the bottom, it implies they “control the media” along with the aforementioned organizations and companies.
This is clearly meant to misinform people into believing that somehow, there’s some secret Jewish conspiracy around the pandemic, which is absurd. Developing a vaccine for a deadly disease is the natural course of action by any world government regardless of religious beliefs.
Jews didn’t fabricate this disease for money. If anything it would prove to be a loss of money, as it’s proven for many impoverished citizens around the world.
Regardless, COVID-19 was not something started by Jews, and to imply such a thing is libel. While the flyer claims that it was “distributed randomly without malicious intent,” defamation is illegal yet it is not protected by the First Amendment.
To acknowledge this flyer as anything but libel would be to give a pass to the world’s more notorious villains to have a platform to spread their lies. The reason we don’t give that brand of bigotry a platform is because when they did have one, it resulted in 11 million people being killed.
The belief in an international Jewish conspiracy traces back to the 1903 text “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”– a fabricated antisemitic document that describes a plan for world domination.
Aside from heavily plagiarizing earlier texts, much of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion has been popularly debunked several times throughout its existence. However, it was still used in German classrooms when the Nazis came to power.
“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” still circulates in antisemitic communities as if it were a factual text and is the basis for most antisemitic propaganda. This is most likely to be the case for the aforementioned flyer.
In response to the flyer found at MMC, Jon Warech, the executive director of Hillel at FIU released a statement on their Instagram account.
“There is no place for this level of hate in our community or on our campus. We stand united in the ongoing fight against antisemitism and will continue to work together to ensure FIU is a safe and welcome place for all students,” stated Warech.
In 2020, a record number of 127 antisemitic incidents occurred in Florida, despite recent bills created to reduce them.
Florida currently ranks #4 in the number of antisemitic incidents nationwide when compared to other states, with Miami-Dade County having the highest number of incidents within the state.
In response, JewBelong, a nonprofit organization that teaches about Judaism, placed billboards around Miami starting in February to draw attention to the matter. “Does your church need armed guards? ‘Cause our synagogue does,” reads one billboard.
Jewish history and Nazi crimes such as assault, vandalism, intimidation, and terrorism have persistently been swept under the rug despite accounting for 57% of religiously motivated hate crimes in the United States, especially when books such as Maus are unanimously banned by school boards.
It’s concerning when people openly and freely distribute offensive pamphlets and hold rallies that support the Nazi ideals.
Instead of denouncing antisemitism, Florida’s Governor Ron Desantis made a questionable choice when addressing a neo-Nazi campaign that happened in Orlando in late January. He implied that it was all a gimmick created by Democrats to have a reason to smear him.
Desantis’s Press Secretary even denied that the protestors, holding Nazi flags and yelling antisemitic nonsense very openly, were Nazis at all. Instead, she insinuated they were Democrats in disguise.
Screenshot of the now-deleted tweet. Source: @billprady on Twitter
Nazis were the villains in every other action-genre media: Indiana Jones, Captain America, Casablanca. They were considered irrefutably evil and un-American for their massive crimes against humanity.
Nowadays, it is common to find people complaining about the antagonistic portrayal of Nazis in forums for video games or movies, and thus it becomes slowly less likely that media creators will continue to use Nazis as antagonists in favor of more viewership. This would risk more people falling for bigoted talking points and failing to recognize the history of this group. No ground can be given to evil without risking its spread.
It is crucial to ensure the safety and free expression of persecuted demographics on campus, especially since this university is so diverse in its student population, hence the “international” in “FIU”.
While I am not Jewish myself, I am familiar with the silencing and harassment that comes from being in a minority group that is often slandered for no other reason than blind hatred.
It is frustrating that tolerance needs to be vigorously fought for in a society full of such prejudice, equality should be the unspoken standard. Perhaps it is for the best that we bring back tradition and make it acceptable to punch your local Nazi.
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The opinions presented on this page do not represent the views of the PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.