STEPHEN SPIELBERG ON ANTISEMITISM
For the latest edition of Humanistic Judaism magazine, published by the Society for Humanistic Judaism, the editors shared remarks Steven Spielberg made about antisemitism during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert some time ago. They invited me to respond. Below is what he said, followed by my response as published in the magazine's Fall 2024 issue:
I find it very, very surprising because antisemitism has always been there. It’s either been just around the corner and slightly out of sight, but always lurking . . . or it has been much more overt like in Germany in the 30s, but not since Germany in the 30s have I witnessed antisemitism no longer lurking, but standing proud, with hands on hips like Hitler and Mussolini, kind of daring us to defy it. I’ve never experienced this in my entire life, especially in this country.
FALICK ON SPIELBERG
At the recent General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, writer Bari Weiss asked leaders, “When did you know? When did you realize that things had changed?” Like Steven Spielberg, who warned in March 2023 that antisemitism is no longer lurking but “standing proud like 1930s Germany,” many of us saw the signs. But did we truly grasp the full scope?
For years, liberal Jews like me focused almost exclusively on right-wing antisemitism—Charlottesville, Pittsburgh, Poway. It was easier to see the danger in tiki torches and neo-Nazi chants. But October 7, 2023, shattered illusions about tolerance on the left. On the very day of Hamas’s atrocities, anti-Zionists celebrated on social media and at rallies, invoking age-old antisemitic tropes. Acts of vandalism, harassment, and violence soon followed—some of which ended in serious bodily harm and death—on campuses and elsewhere throughout our nation and the world.
As New York Times columnist Bret Stephens observed, “… when the … consequences of anti-Zionism fall directly on the heads of millions of Jews and when the people [they] seek to silence, exclude and shame are almost all Jewish and when the charges they make … invariably echo the hoariest antisemitic stereotypes—greed, deceit, limitless bloodlust—then the distinctions between anti-Zionist and antisemite blur to the point of invisibility.”
What we are witnessing is no “mere” anti-Zionism. It is full-fledged Jew-hatred.
On Yom Kippur, I pointed out that this moment reveals something called horseshoe theory, the idea that political extremists from the left and the right often come to resemble one another. Today we are seeing it in action. United in hatred of Jews, extremists on both sides sound eerily alike. This blunt reality calls upon Jews of every political persuasion to unite against it without excuses or blinders.
Spielberg’s words are no longer a warning. The situation is already worse than many of us ever imagined it could become. Antisemitism is growing on both extremes in our country, and we have a responsibility to recognize this reality and stand against it. I’ve made my stance clear. I hope others in our movement will join me.
