Last Tuesday’s killing spree in Jersey City, New Jersey has proven to be a pre-planned anti-Semitic hate crime. David Anderson and Francine Graham targeted JC Kosher Market in their attack, and they killed three civilians: Leah Mindel Ferencz, 33, Chassidic co-owner of the kosher market, Moshe Hersch Deutsch, 24, and Miguel Douglas, 49, an employee at the market, according to JNS.org. Jersey City Police Detective Joseph Seals, a 39-year-old father of five, was also killed. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said the attack was “fueled both by anti-Semitism and anti-law enforcement beliefs,” The Times of Israel reported. He also considered the attack an act of domestic terrorism. Anderson and Graham were also killed in their nearly four-hour-long shootout with the police.
Let’s recap: Two people’s hatred for the Jewish people was so intense that they planned an attack that they probably knew would be their last act on Earth. Armed with high-powered rifles, they chose a Jewish market, the most surefire way to make sure they could kill Jewish people for no other reason than their heritage. To summarize: These two people were willing to give their lives just to take as many others as they could—as long as they were Jewish or in law enforcement.
As we mourn the victims and pray for the traumatized witnesses, we can’t sweep the cause for the killing under the rug. This was a gut punch that should make America wake up to the reality of anti-Semitism. Sure, we hear about violence against Jewish people in the Middle East. We often report on instances of Jewish people in America being hit or taunted racially or suffering property damage. But it resonates much deeper when anti-Semites resort to murder closer to home. If anyone didn’t believe that anti-Semitism is a problem in America before, they should now.
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