‘Why Are You Silent About Us?”: i24 News Anchor Calls Out Hypocrisy Amid Global Antisemitism Surge

“Why are you silent about us?” This was the resounding question asked by i24News anchor Natasha Kirtchuk in a moving soliloquy on Monday as the surge of global antisemitism continued.

Jew-hatred incidents involving physical assault, vandalism, and hate speech have skyrocketed in the past two weeks since the outbreak of violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip, which ended in a tense ceasefire on Friday. (A Combat Antisemitism Movement database of these incidents can be found here.)

Kirtchuk noted there were only around 15 million Jews in the world today, still less than the amount before the Nazi Holocaust during World War II, while American supermodel sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid — who recently promoted antisemitic messages on Instagram under the guise of anti-Israel activism — together have more than 100 million social media followers.

“Many of you will say now, but what about the Palestinians?” Kirtchuk noted. “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has nothing to do with Jews around the world getting beat up, most of whom are Jews who don’t even live in Israel, most of whom are Jews who can’t vote in Israeli elections.”

“If you chose to share a story on social media standing with our Asian brothers and sisters, our Black brothers and sisters, our LGBT brothers and sisters, against all forms of discrimination, then why are you silent about your Jewish brothers and sisters?” she asked.

Watch Kirtchuk’s full remarks below:

 

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A post shared by Natasha Raquel Kirtchuk (@natasharaquel)