Although Akram’s brother claimed the 11-hour incident wasn’t driven by hate for Jewish people, the FBI did consider it to be a terrorist act and a hate crime. The episode at Congregation Beth Israel is cited by city officials as a major reason that Dallas is in the process of adopting a resolution that provides a new working definition of “antisemitism.”
Lindsey Wilson, director for the city’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, says that specifically outlining what antisemitism means through the resolution for the city is much more than a symbolic statement.
“What this will really do is work itself into policy,” she says. “Working definitions are critical to system changes so that people understand what we are talking about and the intentional efforts we’re aiming to address. This makes the definition formal and gives us a backbone to continue to push the work forward.”
The resolution calls for the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which states “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
In terms of the policy that Wilson mentions, there are concrete examples of how local authorities can determine whether antisemitism is involved in a crime. Examples of antisemitism in the IHRA working definition include: “Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust,” and “Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.”
Wilson says this effort is the result of the work done by the Mayor’s Anti-Hate Advisory Council. Established in 2021 and consisting of religious and civic leaders, the council was formed by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson to provide proactive recommendations on curbing intolerance and hate crimes in the city.
“While these crimes are still relatively few in number,” Johnson said in 2021 when introducing the council, “they are disproportionately impactful to our city’s psyche and on the quality of life of our residents.”
Sherry Goldberg co-chairs the Mayor's Anti-Hate Advisory Council and serves as vice chair of the board of directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas. She gives Johnson credit for tackling the issue of hate in the city, something she thinks has gotten worse in recent years.
"We live in a world where people are just lashing out against so many, not just those who are Jewish," Goldberg says. "I worry about the transgender and LGBTQ community, too. I have a theory and I don't know if it is true, but I think COVID really turned the world upside down. We all became depressed and I think things have been brought to a head. People are struggling more and people are angrier than they used to be.""This makes the definition formal and gives us a backbone to continue to push the work forward." – Lindsey Wilson, Dallas Office of Equity & Inclusion
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Perhaps, as Johnson said in 2021, hate crimes are still "relatively few," but hateful acts seem to be on the rise. The Anti-Defamation League logged nearly 3,700 antisemitic incidents throughout the United States in 2022, a number, the organization says, that was a 36% increase over 2021's total. In the study, Texas accounted for 211 of those incidents, the fourth-highest state total and a sharp increase from 121 incidents in 2021.
Goldberg says that although the Jewish population is only around 2% of the overall population in the U.S, Jews are targeted in more than half of hate crimes. The ADL also reports that its latest research suggests 20% of Americans "believe six or more antisemitic tropes, which is significantly more than the 11% that ADL found in 2019."
Goldberg is quick to point out that the ADL numbers represent the incidents that they knew about, the ones that were reported. She says that people "not reporting incidents or knowing how to report incidents the right way" is a serious obstacle to getting a handle on what is really happening. She adds "a lot of people are so afraid to report things out of fear of backlash."
Wilson says that one of the objectives of the task force is to “create a safe way for people to report possible hate crimes in their community.” The attack on the Congregation Beth Israel last year made headlines across the country, but Wilson says the city keeps an eye on things that might not always grab such a large amount of attention.
“Our office, in collaboration with other city departments, really looks at information on what happens in the community on a daily basis,” she says. “If something happens in Dallas, like it did in Colleyville in 2022, we will use that information to find ways to educate the city on our anti-hate message and also support the community.”
Formalizing a definition in this way is a great way to bring attention to a cause, Wilson says. City residents and those working for the city need a better understanding of what antisemitism really means.
“Resolutions are typically action-oriented and they allow for greater awareness,” she says. “The city of Dallas is a pretty large organization with around 13,000 employees, so this is really about creating awareness for our anti-hate efforts both internally and also externally.”
