HARRISBURG (TNS) — Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse and we couldn’t be any more divided as a nation, war breaks out in the Middle East.
Jews in the United States and around the world are feeling shocked and besieged with the increasing antisemitism. Peaceful Palestinians and Muslims are being castigated as supporters of terrorism. And college campuses in Pennsylvania have become ideological battlegrounds, with students screaming chants of “Free Palestine” on one side and “Stand with Israel” on the other.
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) is understandably concerned about the repercussions of the war in the Middle East in our own backyard. The state agency charged with monitoring and investigating hate crimes has documented a rise in such incidents since 2020, when reports doubled. It’s all detailed in the PHRC’s third annual “Building Pennsylvania’s Beloved Community: No Hate in Our State” report. It’s worth reading.
There is justified fear that the rage so evident in the Middle East between Israelis and Palestinians will make things even worse. There is valid concern that the ongoing bombing of Gaza will lead not only to a wider war in the region but to further unrest in communities inside the United States.
Just days after the Hamas atrocities in Israel, Wadea al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy, was stabbed 26 times because of his heritage and religion. His mother, Hanaan Shahin, couldn’t attend his funeral. She was in the hospital with more than a dozen stab wounds, but she survived.
The Anti-Defamation League has documented a dramatic increase in antisemitic incidents in the weeks following the start of the Israeli-Hamas war. It says 190 of the 312 incidents reported between Oct. 7-23 were linked directly to the violence in the Middle East.
PHRC Executive Director Chad Dion Lassiter has well noted we are living in volatile times where many people are afraid to even step into their houses of worship. This is true for people of every faith, chief among them Muslims, Jews, and Christians.
But members of the Sikh community have been attacked when some mistook them for Muslims because they wear turbans. They are not. And people who are ignorant of other religions and cultures even have lashed out at Hindus, Buddhists and Baha’is. Xenophobia and hatred can be as blind as love in its ignorance.
That’s why the anti-hate legislation the state House just passed is so needed. And the Senate should do the same without delay. The proposed legislation sends a strong message that acts of hatred directed against people of any faith, race, or culture will not be tolerated in Pennsylvania.
The legislation the House passed includes House Bill 1027 that strengthens the Ethnic Intimidation Statute to provide victims of hate crimes with the power to mount a civil case against repeated offenses. House Bill 1024 strengthens the power of law enforcement officials to properly investigate, identify and report hate crimes. The PHRC and the Attorney General’s office would provide annual training in how to do so effectively.
And House Bill 1025 would require schools and postsecondary institutions to create ways for students and employees to report hate anonymously and online. The bill encourages schools to train employees in identifying and addressing hate incidents. This is essential with the increasing turmoil on college campuses so that such crimes aren’t swept under the rug but treated with the seriousness they deserve.
PHRC Chair J. Joel Bolstein expressed the views of most Pennsylvanians when he said hate is unacceptable in whatever form it manifests. “No one in our commonwealth should be subjected to racism, xenophobia, religious intolerance, gender inequality, discrimination or hate,” he said. Truer words have never been spoken.
It’s time for the Senate to make these lofty words a reality in Pennsylvania. They should pass the House’s anti-hate bills now.
(Joyce M. Davis is PennLive’s outreach and opinion editor.)
