CNN Panel Calls Out Double Standard in Attention to Anti-Semitism

Nicholas Fondacaro | December 30, 2019
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***To read the full blog, please check out the complete post on NewsBusters***

CNN’s Jake Tapper doesn’t often shy away from calling attention to anti-Semitism, even when it comes from those on his side of the political spectrum. He called out the systemic anti-Semitism at the United Nations and broke through the media blackout when the rest refused to cover the Louis Farrakhan controversy. Monday became another one of those instances when he invited New York Times staff editor Bari Weiss and Vox senior politics reporter Jane Coaston to discuss the double standard in the attention given to anti-Semitic attacks based on the attacker.

From the get-go, Tapper hit the nail on the head with his first question to Weiss: “This is kind of a sensitive question, but do you think the reaction by the politicians and the media would be any different if these recent anti-Semitic attacks had been committed by white supremacists instead of who they were committed by?

Weiss affirmed the premise by noting “it took a man walking in with a machete the size of a broomstick for there to be public outrage during the holiday of Hanukkah.” What she was talking about was the fact that “there had already been nine hate crimes against Jews in New York City and Brooklyn that week” and there was very little outrage or attention given to them.

She explained that she was from the same community in Pittsburg that the Tree of Life synagogue was in and was touched by all the support they received. In contrast, she talked about how she visited the Jersey City kosher market that was recently shot up and didn’t see one sign of condolence. She chalked it up to the fact that the gunmen were black instead of someone who could be labeled a Trump backer.

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