Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has characterized the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol as a glaring demonstration of “the danger of right-wing antisemitism”—a threat he sees as even greater than violent assaults on Jewish places of worship.
According to the New York Post, Schumer elaborates on this perspective in his newly released book, Antisemitism in America: A Warning, which hit shelves on Tuesday. In it, he contends that while American Jews have historically been targeted by far-right extremists, the events at the Capitol marked a pivotal moment in his understanding of the issue.
“For our entire lives, American Jews of my generation have known that if someone was going to walk into our homes or synagogues with a gun, it was more likely to be someone from the far right,” Schumer writes.
He references the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where eleven people were killed, and the 2019 shooting at Chabad of Poway in San Diego, which claimed one life, as heartbreaking reminders of how conspiracy-driven hate has led to lethal attacks on Jews. Nonetheless, he asserts that the insurrection at the Capitol had an even more profound impact on him.
“The event that most opened my eyes to the danger of right-wing antisemitism and shook my soul was one that I lived through myself: January 6, 2021,” Schumer recalls.
As he was preparing to officiate the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory—an event that would also cement his status as the highest-ranking elected Jewish official in the nation’s history—Schumer was suddenly whisked away by a Capitol Police officer for his safety. While being escorted to a secure location, he claims he heard a rioter shout, “There’s the big Jew. Let’s get him.”
Schumer details multiple instances of antisemitic behavior during the riot, citing reports of individuals giving Nazi salutes, brandishing swastikas, and wearing clothing adorned with antisemitic messages. He acknowledges that antisemitism wasn’t the main catalyst for the attack but argues that it remains deeply enmeshed within far-right extremism.
“I immediately thought of those twenty-two thousand American Nazis at Madison Square Garden,” Schumer writes. Spotting an individual in a sweatshirt that read “Camp Auschwitz,” he concluded, “If they were alive today, I knew they’d be the kind of people to storm the Capitol.”
Despite these concerns, Schumer does not personally label former President Donald Trump as antisemitic. However, he criticizes Trump for his reluctance to strongly denounce antisemitism and for allowing far-right factions to feel emboldened under his leadership.
Schumer urges Republicans to take a definitive stance against antisemitism within their party, just as he insists Democrats must confront the issue on the left. “It is not the isolated gunman we fear most,” he warns. “More than the man with his finger on the trigger, we fear the ideas that would drive him to pull it. Just as many on the right justifiably feel that Democrats have an obligation to shout down antisemitism on the left, Republicans have an obligation to shout down antisemitism coming from the right.”
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