MIAMI — On Aug. 4 Shlomo Danzinger, the Orthodox Jewish mayor of Surfside, received an email from someone who identified himself as representing the “Fourth Reich” and threatened to come to Danzinger’s house to “teach his family a lesson.”
Having read about the threat in the Jewish Press, Rachele Fruit, chairperson of the Socialist Workers Party here, wrote and delivered a letter of solidarity to Danzinger.
“Today we see acts of Jew-hatred both from rightists and middle-class liberals and radicals,” Fruit wrote. “On the left there are actions raising the Hamas slogan, ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ — free of Jews, they mean.”
“At times of rising economic and social crisis, the capitalist rulers resort to antisemitism to scapegoat Jews and divert ruined middle-class layers and demoralized workers away from the class struggle,” Fruit wrote. “We see the contradictory reality that while antisemitism among working people is at a low ebb, individual assaults on Jews are on the rise. Every act of Jew-hatred must be answered and combated, no matter where it comes from.” Unions and organizations of the oppressed should “join actions to protest” antisemitic violence.
The threat against Danziger is not an isolated incident. The July 28 Pensacola News Journal reported a string of antisemitic acts since mid-July, including perpetrators breaking windows of synagogues with bricks covered with swastikas and the slogan “No Jews.”
The Sun Sentinel reported March 27 that hundreds of plastic bags were tossed on lawns and driveways in Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach and Surfside, containing an antisemitic message that blamed Jews for “the Covid agenda.”
According to a report by the Anti-Defamation League, the number of antisemitic incidents increased 41.5% in Florida to 269 last year compared to the year before.
“I was heartened to receive your letter of support today in response to the recent threat my family faced from an individual claiming affiliation with the Fourth Reich,” Danzinger replied to Fruit. “Your support is genuinely appreciated.”
Copies of Fruit’s letter were sent to the press as well as Jewish and Islamic organizations in the area. Radio Miami Today posted it on its website.