The Forward: “Antisemitism rose across the U.S. during the Trump administration. But the insular nature of Miami’s Hispanic community, particularly among a conservative Cuban faction that has reversed a years-long moderating trend to become politically dominant again, appears to be magnifying that tilt here, while making it more acceptable for leaders to ignore or even encourage the slide towards prejudice. No politician condemned the antisemitic graffiti. The signatories on the Catholic school letter, which was covered by the Miami Herald and the Miami New Times, defended their calls to abandon teaching about racism. ‘The idea that equality and racial equity are rooted in a socialist Jewish group – that’s ridiculous,’ said Billy Corben, the Jewish filmmaker lambasted by the Miami commissioner, who first exposed the letter on Twitter. ‘You cannot minimize the impact of these very powerful and influential policy makers who have signed this letter.'”

“Jessica Landsberg, a young political operative who has worked on several local campaigns, and whose father is Jewish and mother is Cuban, was disturbed by the ‘communism is judiasm’ and other anti-Semitic graffiti – and frustrated no one denounced it. ‘That there’s no conversation that long after the Holocaust antisemitism is alive in a city with one of the largest Jewish populations is disappointing,’ said Landsberg, 23. ‘The graffiti is just the latest thing. I’ve been repeating for the last few years that antisemitism is not just alive but on the rise.’ A resurgent Hispanic right-wing has ignited long buried feelings, said Fernand Amandi, Cuban-American president of Bendixen Amandi International, which specializes in Hispanic and minority polling. ‘It’s the weaponization of antisemitism,’ said Amandi, whose firm has studied Florida Hispanics’ attitudes towards Jews. ‘Sublimated feelings of discrimination and prejudice that by and large were more dormant have now risen to the surface.’ He said he has seen an increase in the labeling of Jews as socialists, and in the old tropes that Jews are a powerful behind-the-scenes cabal. ‘There’s this saying ‘esta en la sopa tambien’ – they’re in the soup too,’ Amandi said. ‘The Jews are always in the soup of every negative thing – socialists, pedophiles, Wall Street, Hollywood, landlords. Things people would not have said 20 years ago they’re saying openly now.'”