ANTI-SEMITISM IN SEATTLE

LAST WEEK THE PORT OF SEATTLE COMMISSIONERS DECIDED TO PULL A CHRISTMAS TREE FROM SEATTLE'S AIRPORT. SOME OF THOSE OBJECTING TO THE COMMISSIONERS' ACTION BLAMED .... THE JOOOOOZZZZZZZZZ!!!

Tree flap unleashes anti-Semitism (Seattle Times)
Many residents of this community would like to put the Sea-Tac Airport Christmas-tree episode behind us. Unfortunately, for the Jewish community, a bad taste lingers. It is disconcerting — even a bit frightening — to see how much anti-Semitism lurked just below the surface in our community. Consider how quickly it came bubbling up, even though the Jewish community never asked for the Christmas trees to be removed from the airport.

As the controversy erupted, a stream of hate flowed into the Jewish institutions of Seattle. Hundreds — thousands — of e-mails, rife with raw anti-Semitism, came pouring into many of our synagogues and to many rabbis. What does this say about our society?

Can we find a silver lining in this controversy? Hopefully, it will become an important opportunity to work together to ensure that Sea-Tac — and all of Seattle — reflects the diversity that gives this city its reputation as a haven of tolerance and good will.

I say "hopefully, it will become" because we cannot talk about the positives until our broader community has addressed the emergence of such hate, bigotry and virulent anti-Semitism. We cannot wash this stain under the rug; we need to confront it. We need to question it, and we need to come up with some answers.

The Port of Seattle commissioners who agreed to pull the trees from the airport were misguided. The darker elements in our community who blamed this action on "the Jews" were more than misguided. They saw this action as yet another manifestation of a "war on Christmas," which is a figment of their own imagination.

As a result, for the past few days, our diverse and pluralistic city — which we proudly think of as a bastion of tolerance — has been anything but. Far from being a center of acceptance of many cultures and faiths, this week Seattle has been ground zero for hate in America.