NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Caught in the middle!
That's how members of Nashville’s Jewish community say they feel about the political divide now tearing at the country.
In a town hall at Nashville’s Gordon Jewish Community Center, area Jews told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that they are now feeling antisemitism from both far-right extremists and the far left – much of it driven by Israel's controversial war against Hamas.
FRIDAY AT 6PM: What happened when a neo-Nazi took time to get to know a Jew? It's a story with an unexpected twist.
I came to the town hall after having spent two years investigating neo-Nazis, white supremacists and Christian nationalists.
But what I heard was more than I expected.
"So I think it's funny because I feel like you kind of came in here with this expectation, I think based on the video, that this was going to be about the far-right threat, this was going to be about the white supremacist threat, it's gonna be about the Christian nationalist threat – and it is,” said Eitan Snyder.
But some also wanted to talk about how the left has reacted to October 7, 2023.
That was the horrific day that Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, murdering some 1,200 civilians in cold blood, taking another 240 men, women and children hostage.
To be clear, when it happened, some saw the best in their communities.
“We had neighbors and friends who reached out and offered to bring us a casserole because this is Nashville, right?" said Rachel Goodrich.
At Nashville’s West End Synagogue, Sharon Paz had a similar experience.
" After October 7th, we had some, I guess they were evangelical groups, bring us flowers. For three weeks, they just brought the synagogue flowers. And I was like, oh my gosh."
But for others, the reaction was not what they expected.
“After October 7th, I felt a lot of deafening silence,” said Melissa Alvarez.
Felisha Anchor, whose parents were the only members of their families to survive the Holocaust, called October 7th “a terrible day for every Jew in the world.”
But “October 8th was an even worse day."
That day was a day when she felt incredibly lonely.
"It was the day when those of us who have worked in our communities for social justice, who have stood side by side in the face of inequality for all kinds of rights, for all kinds of groups, with a deep, deep sense of belief based in our own Jewish values – and there was silence from the majority of the community in terms of their response to what had happened in Israel," Anchor recalled.
In fact, the experience with the neo-Nazis who came to town last summer to harass people was not what surprised them.
"The thing that I hated the most was all of the stuff that they were saying, I heard from my liberal activist friends that were also sharing this stuff,” Alvarez said. “So, this extremism has now, it's seeped its way, and it's really become a lot more popular than I think."
Metro Council member Jacob Kupin noted that antisemitism from the neo-Nazis was something he expected.
“But you also have this coming from, you know, liberal activists that we march with and we work with and we fight with,” he added.
"What I didn't expect was to just be dropped, to have fought and stood and marched for causes that were not my own and were not our own and to have fought other people's fights with them – and then on October 7th to turn around and say, where is everybody?"
The people I met did not question that there is a real debate over how the government of Israel has waged its war against Hamas.
After all, it is a debate that has also divided the Jewish community.
" It's not about the debate about Netanyahu and what he's doing or how he's doing it,” Kupin continued.
“It's a debate about the facts. It's about the fact that people are willing to brush over October 7th like it never happened, or wasn't that big of a deal, and move straight into what comes next."
I noted, “It seems to me some people are using the war as an excuse to justify their hate."
“Yeah, but some people, they just do it because they don't know any better,” said former Metro Council member Fabian Bedne.
"I had arguments with friends recently where they were accusing every Jew. I'm like, what did I do? You know, I didn't kill anyone. I didn't deny food to anyone. I am actually doing the opposite. I'm trying to help people."
The anti-war protests have also, in some circles, unleashed a wave of antisemitism, including the murder of a young Jewish couple on the streets of Washington.
A recent poll from the Anti-Defamation League found that 24 percent of Americans believed that attack and a pair of other violent incidents were "understandable."
Also, 24 percent believed they were "staged" to gain sympathy for Israel, while 14 percent did not consider them to be hate crimes.
"Part of why the condemnations aren't happening is that it feels like people are not willing to condemn what's happening on their own political side,” Eitan Snyder said.
“The left is not willing to condemn the far left, the right is not going to condemn the far right. It's politically inconvenient for them to do so."
It is a dilemma that, many of these people told me, leaves them wondering who will have their backs.
"The intensity of this whole experience has manifested itself so that we don't even know who we can count on among those neighbors that we know are sophisticated and educated and dedicated to so many social causes that we thought we were partners in,” Felicia Anchor said.
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Do you have information that would help me with my investigation? Send me your tips: phil.williams@newschannel5.com
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