TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa's Jewish neighbors are learning about hate crimes.
Temple Israel hosted Leah White with the Anti-Defamation League as part of a lecture series. White discussed stats, trends, and misconceptions for a packed house. Rabbi Michael Weinstein said the big turnout shows the strength of the Tulsa Jewish community.
"We are blessed to be in our lovely bubble of Tulsa in the middle of the country," Weinstein said, "But the fact of the matter is there's still a lot of hate and growing hate within our world."
White represents the Texoma region of the ADL. She spoke with the audience about hate crimes, groups, and what her organization is doing to combat the trends. She pointed out one significant statistic.
"Antisemitic crimes accounted for about 9.6% of hate crimes in the country," White said.
The Jewish community makes up 2% of the population.
She said the states with the most hate crimes are Texas, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and California. Hawaii — the least. White says there is a fine line between anti-Jewish people and anti-Israel people. She says anti-Israel sentiments are growing.
"They don’t necessarily hate the Jews as a people. They hate the state of Israel .... we’re seeing a lot of [that] lately."
At the end of the event, Weinstein thanked everyone for coming. He initially thanked them for their efforts to end hate, but then he backtracked. He thanked them for combatting hate.
"Hatred comes in many forms in many in many places in many different ways," Weinstein said, "But the more we can educate, we can fight it and continue to fight it, but I don’t think it’s ever gonna go away."
Visit this link to learn more about the Anti-Defamation League.
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