RantCrush Top 5: February 21, 2017

Last week, someone vandalized a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis, knocking over and damaging tombstones in an older section where many Holocaust survivors are buried. Police say more than 100 headstones were defaced. And yesterday, Jewish Community Centers in 10 states were forced to evacuate due to bomb threats. According to law enforcement, no bombs were found as of last night. But it points to an unsettling pattern of a rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes that began during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Trump reacted more swiftly and aggressively toward Nordstrom’s than he did to bomb threats against Jewish centers over the past month. https://t.co/vq3IZ3MNW3

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) February 21, 2017

Trump went a long time without addressing the issue, and last week he cut off a Jewish reporter who asked about the recent threats and instead referred to himself as the “least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life.” Finally, this morning, Trump said: “Anti-Semitism is horrible, and it’s gonna stop and it has to stop.” But that comment was immediately deemed too little and too late by Steven Goldstein from the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect.

The Anne Frank center’s director issued a fiercely critical statement of @POTUS today denouncing anti-Semitismhttps://t.co/Z7jwLWybvq pic.twitter.com/R34pRLrBe1

— Tom Namako (@TomNamako) February 21, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.