Gov. Mike Huckabee on Jewish community grappling with growing number of anti-Semitic attacks: 'It is such a bewildering situation'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee reacted on Tuesday to the growing number of anti-Semitic attacks in America, calling it "a bewildering situation.”
Speaking on “America’s Newsroom,” Huckabee, a Fox News contributor, added, “What makes this most irrational is, Why are Jews being targeted like this?”
“Jews represent less than 2 percent of the American population but 60 percent of religion-based hate crimes in 2018 were directed towards Jewish people. Now that is radically disproportionate to the population,” he noted.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Huckabee’s comments come three days after police said Grafton Thomas, 37, allegedly stabbed five people at a rabbi’s home during a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey, N.Y. He was charged Monday with federal hate crimes as details emerged about a series of handwritten journals found at his home that the FBI said appear to "express anti-Semitic sentiments."
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the Hanukkah attack an "act of terrorism" and challenged his state to fight the rise of anti-Semitism and hate.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was “deeply disturbed” by the Saturday night attack and that she has “zero tolerance for acts of hate of any kind.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose city has seen an uptick in such attacks, vowed to prevent this from becoming “the new normal,” saying the city will “use every tool we have to stop these attacks once and for all.”
“Something is driving anti-Semitism,” Huckabee said on Tuesday. “Is it the [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] BDS movement and all of the negative talk about Israel and Jews? Is it just something that is beyond human understanding, something utterly demonic where people are just livid at the Jewish faith?”
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“I don't understand it because Jewish people are some of the kindest, most generous, most civic-minded, most peaceful people, and for this to continually happen says something is driving anti-Semitism and I don’t think anybody yet has put their hands around it,” he continued.
Fox News’ Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.