There is a certain strain of Israel haters, though, who cannot stomach the idea that traditional antisemitism exists today. Their logic is that since Israel is meant to be a haven from antisemitism, and they don't want to give Israel any excuse for existing, they must downplay and trivialize any overt murders of Jews.
Immediately after I tweeted my post, Mira Bar Hillel - who I have proven to be about as dishonest a critic of Israel as can be - tweeted back that the issue isn't Jews, but guns:
@elderofziyon EVERYBODY is being shot and killed in the US while the media is NOT talking about gun control. #NRA
— Mira Bar-Hillel (@mirabarhillel) April 13, 2014
Max Blumenthal made a similar point, minimizing the murder of three people who were killed because they were assumed to be Jews and comparing it to another shooting spree in Kansas City:
Leading up to #OverlandPark, 13 drivers were randomly shot in the past month in Kansas City: http://t.co/6A3Ej24kcJ #TheKillingOfAmerica
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) April 13, 2014
Max's tweet is most interesting when you recall some tweets he has made previously.
Even though there have been consistently far more antisemitic attacks than attacks on any other religious group in America, Blumenthal wrote in 2012:
Without any evidence or data, Napolitano claims Jewish orgs face "special risks," justifying whopping DHS grants http://t.co/3wr5VXxu
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) June 7, 2012
@kampeas 3/4 of DHS grants went to Jewish groups. It's clear what's going on here. Btw Toulouse is in France.
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) June 7, 2012
Blumenthal, supposed defender of victims worldwide, cannot allow Jews to be considered victims, ever - because that would undermine his thesis that Israel has no moral reason to exist. So facts must be disregarded and belittled. Indeed, he instead implies that Jewish power is what is causing the DHS to give some $10 million a year to Jewish institutions for security.
Yes, he is leaning on an antisemitic stereotype to downplay the existence of antisemitism!
Overland Park (not to mention the other examples I gave of Seattle, DC, Manhattan, the Bronx, Los Angeles..) shows that Jews really are a disproportionate target of hate in America. The US is nowhere near the point that France or Sweden or other countries are, of course, and most Jews are quite safe even as those DHS grants that Blumenthal decries are going towards placing concrete planters and video surveillance systems in larger synagogues and Jewish schools nationwide. (Synagogues and Jewish schools in Europe are fortresses; America's are nowhere near that yet.)
Obviously Blumenthal and Bar Hillel and their disgusting ilk cannot accept the idea that Jews are the juiciest targets for America's bigots, both right and left wing.. Their viewpoints and thought processes are completely skewed by their own hate - something they have in common with the people who plot to kill Jews.
(h/t Joshua U)
UPDATE: I didn't know this when I wrote the last sentence: The killer, now identified as Glenn Miller Jr., has quoted Blumenthal when giving his antisemitic rants on white supremacist sites! (Here's his personal site.)
UPDATE 2: The known victims as of this writing were not Jewish, updated post to reflect that.