Riots in America: questions from Israel

(Last update: June 11, 2020)

For the last two weeks, riots have spread across America.  The initial trigger for this violence began in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where a black man by the name of George Floyd was videoed being pinned to the ground by a policeman's knee on the back of his neck—pinned down by a uniformed  officer apparently trying to arrest him or to restrain him after arrest. That police officer kept this man so pinned for almost 9 minutes, even as Floyd cried, ‘I can’t breathe’. Mr. Floyd died with the officer's knee on his neck.

Even before the police officer was arrested—and then charged with murder—riots in Minneapolis erupted. Rioting quickly (too quickly?) spread to perhaps 75 cities across the US (here), including cities far from Minneapolis. It turns out that most of the cities which erupted in rioting, including Minneapolis, were run by Democrats. So far as we can tell from Israel, the worst rioting may have been confined to such cities.

Most of these Democrat-run cities have been controlled by Democrats for decades. Some in America have noticed this reality, and have claimed that this (rioting) is what a large American city gets wherever it’s run by Democrat governments (see here a list of cities where most riots have occurred, all identified as Democrat-run).

Is this a correct assessment? 

So far, the damage from this rioting has been estimated to be greater than 500 million dollars.  But the rioting isn't over. The damage hasn't ended. 

The damage caused by rioters has been extensive. Black business owners have been hard-hit: too many of the businesses destroyed by the rioting were minority-owned, specifically black-owned.

The rioters riot because, they claim, they seek justice for George Floyd in particular (a Black man) and for Black Americans in general. So if justice for Black Americans is the true goal of these rioters, why were so many black-owned businesses looted and gutted?

For justice? Is this what justice now looks like in America?

What is justice in this case? The offending police officer has already been arrested for George Floyd’s death. He was quickly charged, not excused.  Isn’t that the beginning of the process we call, justice?

But the rioting? Where does that come from? Where is the connection between rioting and justice? 

We see mobs breaking into stores to steal food, drugs, appliances, clothes and jewelry. That’s not justice. It's anarchy.

Some in America say that certain of the groups involved in the rioting are anarchists (here). Do you believe that?

These riots are supposedly an outcry against systemic racism and the supposed police brutality against blacks which is a part of that racism. Is this true?

Most agree that there is at least some racism in America. But who is responsible for that racism? The police?  More to the point, who is responsible for violence against Blacks? The police?

Honest statistics don't appear to verify such a charge. Instead, statistics seem to suggest that violence against blacks doesn't come primarily from police (or from whites). It comes primarily from other blacks (here, p. 6).

These rioters seem to want more than justice. Why else do they want to see white leaders and police kneel before them, which many did, willingly (here, here, here, here). Why do they want white political and police leaders to bow before them—and to wash Black men’s feet? What’s that all about (here; or, is this the greater reality here?).

Protesters want Blacks to be protected from police. They want police departments defunded (here, here, here and here). Other protesters focus instead on eliminating school police especially--you know, to dismantle "White supremacy" (here) or to protect students (here).

Apparently, some of America's leaders agree: some politicians support such a move (here). Some police departments are "1,000 percent" behind such a move (here). Others disagree (here,  here, here).

How do you think defunding/taking police off the streets will impact black communities already suffering disproportionately from Black-on-Black violence? The tragic irony of all this is that, for example, In New York City alone, between June 1-7, 2020, inclusive, while police left neighborhood patrols to engage in protest crowd-control, city shooting incidents were up more than 65%, and the city's murder rate doubled--all occurring while protesters took to the streets to protest the murder of a black man some 1,000  miles away (here). 

For many of us in Israel, America has always seemed the land of the free, where justice--despite its failings--has seemed the best in the world. These riots don't suggest justice to us. They don't suggest freedom. They suggest insurrection and out-of-control violence. They are horrific. 

From Israel, we see non-Jews telling "all good people" to get out of Democrat-run cities (here). As a Jew, such a call makes me think of America's Jewish population: Will American Jews now begin in earnest to make aliyah (emigrate to Israel), to leave this chaos behind? 

Maybe not.  Most Jews in America are Democrat. Democrats support the protests. They support the calls to 'defund police'.

During this rioting in America, American Jewish leaders seem to have made their own choice-of-conscience--about standing with my Israel: after ZOA (Zionists of America) President Mort Klein recently vilified Black Lives Matter on Twitter, Jewish leaders immediately called for his expulsion from the US's Conference of Presidents, an umbrella organization of some 50+ national Jewish organizations in America (here).

Klein supports Israel. Apparently, some in the Conference of Presidents see Klein as Islamophobic and racist (ibid). Such an accusation makes a Jew in Israel wonder: in America, some already claim that Zionism supports Islamophobia--and, by extension, racism (here). By suggesting that Mort Klein is Islamophobic and racist, do American Jewish leaders suggest that anyone who supports Israel supports Islamophobia and racism? 

In Israel, we want to know: is this how American Jewish leaders see the world's only Jewish homeland--as a racist and Islam-hating entity?

If the majority of American Jews agree with such a belief, then I fear that the Jews of America are doomed.