Antisemitism has been on the rise since 2014 – meaning before Trump became or even announced that he was running for president – but spiked by nearly 70% in 2017.

“This is a case where if they had an armed guard inside they might have been able to stop [the shooter] immediately,” US President Donald Trump said on Saturday, after the Sabbath massacre at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Later he tweeted, “This evil antisemitic attack is an assault on humanity. It will take all of us working together to extract the poison of antisemitism from our world. We must unite to conquer hate.”

As often happens with Trump, his comments reflect two divergent paths that would lead to very different policies.

Should US Jews be barricading themselves inside their synagogues, the way many European Jews do, because antisemitism is a foregone conclusion? Or should there be an active effort to eradicate antisemitism? Continue reading