'American Jews, Get Out Now': Israeli Journalist Warns It's No Longer Safe for Jews in the US

Jews may be in more danger in America right now than ever before. While they make up less than three percent of the population, the FBI reports 63 percent of religious hate crimes in the U.S. target Jews.

Hillel Fuld is a journalist who usually follows and advises Israel's hi-tech industry. Recently, though, he waded into heavier matters with a column entitled, "American Jews, Get Out Now." He wrote it because of the rising tide of anti-Semitism and his desire for his Jewish friends in the U.S. to "read the writing on the wall."

"Since I'm a little kid, having grandparents who survived Auschwitz, I've always struggled with the question: why didn't they get out? Right? I mean, Nuremberg laws. Full-blown anti-Semitism in mainstream society in Europe. The Jews just stuck around. And I ask myself, 'why didn't they read the writing on the wall? What had to happen?' And I never understood it," Fuld told CBN News. 

"I always struggled with that. Then I look at America right now. You've got full-blown pop artists – Kanye West – going full-blown anti-Semite. You've got Saturday Night Live normalizing anti-Semitism. You've got NBA players, full-blown anti-Semites. What has to happen? Jews being beaten up in the streets? Done. It's done. But what has to happen for the Jews to say, 'alright, enough is enough. This is not our home,'" Fuld said.

"We always grew up saying, 'never again,'" he continued. "The truth is, it could never happen again becasue we have Israel. But American Jews – I think they're not looking at history. I think maybe they're ignoring what went on throughout Jewish history from the Spanish Inquisition to the pogroms to the Holocaust."
 
And Fuld's frustration is that this attitude remains even though Jews are being physically assaulted in a number of American cities.

"It's common," Fuld said. "I see it pretty much every day on my Facebook feeds. Every day. Literally last night a friend of mine, on Twitter, said she was walking with her family in the street and some African-American came over and said, 'We're going to kill all you Jews.' And everyone stood around watching this thing – yelling in her face, cursing her, her kids, everything – people stood around watching. Nobody said a word. Nobody did a thing. The whole thing doesn't make any sense. Because the Jews are like, statistically, non-existent. We're so small, right? I mean, 20 percent of all Nobel Prizes were given to Jews. You know that? 20 percent. There's something remarkable about the Jewish people. I don't think anyone would debate that. We survived and the Romans didn't. And the Greeks didn't. And the Nazis didn't. We're here, right? But there is this – I don't know. I can tell you my theory of why anti-Semitism exists. But there is this historic thing that just keeps showing its ugly face every generation. And again, it's unfortunate that Jews forget history. I mean, look – you don't have to think about 300 years. I'm talking Germany 80 years ago. They were comfortable until they weren't." 

Fuld believes the solution is for Jews to leave and head to Israel. Those outside Israel, however, might be under the impression its Jewish population constantly lives in fear of terror attacks.

"First of all, I don't know if you know, but my older brother was murdered in a terrorist attack. So I know it first hand. Every life that's lost is an entire world. Having said that, we have to look at the grand scheme of things. Take a step back. There has never been a 75-year period – listen to this statistic. It's phenomenal. It's just fascinating. There has never been a 75-year period since the destruction of the Temple that there were so few Jews killed in the world. So again, every life that's lost to terrorism is a horrible tragedy. But in the grand scheme of things, this country's defending us. Where as [in America] we're at the mercy of everyone else. And we know how that turns out. So, yeah. I think it is significantly safer here. I'm not belittling. There is terrorism. But in the grand scheme of things, it is in our hands. This is our home. I heard someone say, 'In America, you can succeed despite being a Jew. In Israel, you succeed because you're a Jew.' For me, that's what it comes down to. And by the way, someone recently said to me they moved to Israel, he said, 'Not because I'm a Zionist, but because I'm a capitalist.' Which is amazing. Because this is where it's all going on in terms of technology and innovation. So you know, we're living the dream. It's never been this good for the Jewish people. And I'm proud to live here. I'm a big talker. My parents brought me here. I didn't make a decision. I want to believe that had they not brought me here, I would have come myself. But in America, it's scary. Scary times."