Anti-Defamation League Investigates Medallions Tying Israel to 9/11

While local leaders say Missouri is following a national trend in seeing diminished reports of anti-Semitic activity, that doesn't mean the problem is going away.

A new audit out this week from the Anti-Defamation League reports that nationally, "the total number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States fell by 14 percent in 2012," and according to a representative of the organization's Missouri-Southern Illinois chapter, the decline is also being seen at the local level.

But Karen Aroesty, the local chapter's Regional Director, already knows of a new incident that will be on the organization's report for the 2013 audit. More than 20 small wooden medallions, some in the shape of the Star of David, have been discovered in the area of Creve Coeur Mill Road. The cut-outs have the words "Israel Did 9/11", "Google USS Liberty" and "Google Lavon Affair"

(Editor's Note: Israeli forces attacked the USS Liberty, a Naval intelligence ship in the 1960s, killing more than 30 people. The Lavon Affair refers to an Israeli intelligence operation from the 1950s.)

Aroesty said the ADL learned of the medallions in February. While she told Patch the person who reported finding them may have reported it to local law enforcement, she added it does not constitute a "hate crime".

The 2012 Report

In Missouri, there were a total of 4 incidents during 2012, although Aroesty cautioned "the numbers are based upon what I know because somebody calls to report it." In 2011, the chapter, which also extends into Kansas, reported a total of 7 cases of anti-Semitic activity.

The only case cited in the suburban St. Louis area involved an email link forwarded by a student at a school Aroesty would not identify, to a teacher. The teacher was not Jewish, Aroesty said. While she was not aware of what, if any outcome there was in that particular situation, she said she hoped it served as a "teachable" moment for the student, who she said "crossed a line" with the content of the email. 

Two of the Missouri cases cited in the audit, Aroesty said, involved conspiracy theories about Jewish-American loyalties to Israel. Another case involved a dialogue with a rural Missouri news outlet about certain published material.

"Bias and prejudice is not something that goes away," Aroesty said. "You don't learn from something and then it goes away."