February 2, 2023

Israel B. Bitton is dissatisfied with the way antisemitism–in particular, anti-Jewish hate crimes in New York City–is being handled by some major Jewish organizations. Bitton is the son of a Moroccan Jew who led a synagogue in New York City attended predominantly by Mizrahi and Black Jews. However, his background and friendships did not prevent him from being terrified and confused during the 1991 Crown Heights riots, when his father and brother were viciously attacked by an antisemitic mob. A near-death experience during his service in the Israel Defense Forces along the Lebanese border further shaped his mood–something new had to be done. Bitton became the executive director of Americans Against Antisemitism, an organization founded by Dov Hikind, a former member of the New York State Assembly. “The organization was founded in 2019 because antisemitic hate crimes in New York City and around the country were increasing at an alarming rate and we felt the Jewish organizational response was tardy and lethargic,” Bitton told JNS. “As an upstart startup nonprofit, our goal from the outset was first and foremost to raise awareness but also to find ways to make a real and tangible difference without duplicating efforts of others—something we’ve aimed to do by continuously studying antisemitism as a living virus.” 

After completing his service in the IDF and going to university, Bitton was inspired to write a book about Jewish history in the Middle East, from ancient times all the way through the conflict with the Palestinians. In the end, however, he decided to put this project aside in favor of a new book. 

“I had no intention of writing a book on antisemitism. That changed after Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, returned from a speaking engagement to well-educated yeshivah students surprised by how little they knew about the subject and how many faulty assumptions they were relying on,” he said. “A light went off inside my head. Education is always the answer to ignorant hate, but all the more so young Jews need to be aware of the dangers they face whether they like it or not. I realized that while there were some educational resources available, like curricula that aim to universalize antisemitism as just another form of racism, there was nothing available designed and written specifically for Jews. That is, not as a passive history, but as an active guide that can help Jews decode Jew-hatred and mitigate its dangers. Of course, it’s written with a general audience in mind, but the audience for whom this project was spurred and tailored are Jewish youth, high school and college students, because it is they, more than most other Jews, who are thrust onto the proverbial frontlines of antisemitism and forced to reckon with invective for which they ought to be better prepared to encounter. Getting the book to young Jews, therefore, has been our highest priority, though it’s no less relevant to or needed by the general public.”

With his background in visual design, Bitton was able to include attention-grabbing illustrations and an Augmented Reality feature in the textbook, which will appeal to younger audiences.

From the middle of 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, until 2022, Bitton began work on his textbook, “A Brief and Visual History of Antisemitism.” The book, which includes a forward from Israeli President Isaac Herzog, has won praise from numerous Israeli politicians and well-known Zionist activists, including former Anti-Defamation League head Abraham H. Foxman, Ambassador Gilad Erdan and writer Thane Rosenbaum. It is quickly making its way through American Jewish activist circles. With his background in visual design, Bitton was able to include attention-grabbing illustrations and an Augmented Reality feature in the textbook, which will appeal to younger audiences. This AR feature means that readers can use an app to scan barcodes in the book and gain access to short videos and talks on subjects covered throughout.

Although many books covering antisemitism are widely available and read, Bitton felt something was missing in the field.

Although many books covering antisemitism are widely available and read, Bitton felt something was missing in the field. A number of them, he told me, were not completely up to date with modern manifestations of antisemitism. Others weren’t as wide in breadth, covering the different modes of antisemitism—whether Christian ultranationalist, Islamist, or far left—in one publication. “Very simply, treating antisemitism as its own curricular subject is a relative novelty in educational circles so although scholars have been writing about modern antisemitism for more than a century, I did not come across any antisemitism textbook (not to be confused with Holocaust textbooks wherein antisemitism is treated). So there was a clear opportunity to fill in that gap which became all the more glaring as 2019 progressed into 2020 and anti-Jewish violence made the necessity for educational materials increasingly obvious,” noted Bitton. 

He is still recovering from the long and exhausting process of writing the book, and has not yet pursued writing another. However, Bitton has been busy working with Americans Against Antisemitism, including a new report on antisemitic hate crimes in New York City and the response, or lack thereof, from elected officials and the police. He presented many of his findings at Cambridge University, at a conference hosted by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism Policy (ISGAP). The findings showed what Bitton and others have long already known—that Jews make up the vast majority of hate crime victims in the Big Apple. The report, however, shows that most of the perpetrators are non-white and that many of them are never convicted, or given lenient charges. 

“Nationally, most anti-Jewish attacks tend to be committed by white persons against property,” Bitton noted. “In New York City, however, most attacks are assaults against persons committed by other minorities. Nationally, attacks on Jewish persons tend to be premeditated and target obvious Jewish landmarks like synagogues with heavy firepower. But in New York City, most anti-Jewish attacks are unplanned random outbursts of violent rage against random Jewish targets (which is why the increased visibility of Orthodox Jews makes them prime ‘last-minute’ targets). And whereas nationally, attacks target Jews of all denominations, in New York City, the likelihood that the victim of an anti-Jewish assault is Orthodox is north of 90%.” 

Because most of the focus on combating antisemitism in the U.S. has been centered on challenging far-right white supremacist groups, it is hard for public officials, scholars and Jewish organizations to figure out how to respond to this phenomenon, according to Bitton. However, he believes change is on the way. He encourages people to speak up against antisemitism and educate themselves, as well as reach out to his organization. Bitton is also regularly in contact with elected officials in New York, even meeting some of them at his house. “I met with Mayor Adams in my home before he was elected to discuss his approach in dealing with anti-Jewish violence and it was very clear that he would be responsive to the issue, which he has been. Ultimately, antisemitism is not a problem to be solved by a single individual or Jews alone, but just as it takes a village to raise a child it takes an entire city to stamp out social hatred and unwarranted violence. And that’s really where there’s work to be done, at the intercommunal level, because every day that animus between Blacks and Jews persists is a great travesty and antithetical to everything for which Blacks and Jews (and Black Jews) hope and pray.”

Dmitri Shufutinsky is an IDF veteran (lone soldier through Garin Tzabar) currently living in Israel, and a junior research fellow with the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism Policy (ISGAP). He has written for The Forward, The Times of Israel, Jewish News Syndicate, The Jerusalem Post, and Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, among others.