Anti-Semitism Doesn't Belong in Civil Rights Act

This summer, Nazi symbols and the slogan "Jews will not replace us" at a rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, generated a rare clarifying moment in an otherwise politically scrambled time. Since the United States led the Allies to victory in the Second World War and the Nuremburg Trials condemned the perpetrators of genocide, Nazism has been the most powerful symbol of evil in our culture and Jews its most identifiable victims. Though it may be said in some sense that "both sides" at Charlottesvilleâ??—â??the demonstrators and counter-demonstratorsâ??—â??bore some responsibility for the event, President Trump's failure to single out the Nazi element in his condemnation of the two was perceived by many Americans as a moral offense against his country, let alone against its Jewish citizens. Those who enlist Nazism for the advancement of their political goals deserve harsh, unequivocal censure. The president ought to have led, not followed, in singling them out.