James von Brunn

James von Brunn shot a man today, at the holocaust museum in Washington, D.C. That man, a security guard, died in hospital.

Every man must take responsibility for his own actions. James von Brunn shot a man in cold blood. James von Brunn thought his obsession, his anti-Semitic beliefs and the defence of the white race were so important he would kill people. It is by luck and the courage of a security guard who risked, and paid, his life that there was no greater loss of life.

However behind Mr von Brunn there are other people. There are specific individuals and groups that openly advocate racism against the Jews. There are people who spread myths about Jews that they have no good reason to believe. There are people who lie about Israel, and pretend that their anti-semitism is anti-Zionism. All of these groups, with various degrees of anti-Semitism bear some responsibility for this horrible death.

Crimes against Jews, individuals and symbols of Jews as a group, have increased all over Europe and the USA in the last few years. That is both an expected result of more open Islamist philosophy and an irrational response to Islamic violence. However most worry is middle-class anti-Semitism, usually not criminal but just in a disparaging opinion and suspicion. The reason this is often an over-simplified view of the conflicts of the Middle East. Far too many of the news media not only condone but encourage this, with misleading reports and a very poor understanding of what they are reporting, the BBC being not only the worst offender but the most prominent.

This is not the story of one man. It is the logical conclusion of a very nasty attitude shared by far too many.