One of my favorite stars is Gregory Peck, because he embodied what I always believed to be the American ideal: a handsome man who spoke quietly, but whose moral center was rock solid.

Of course, he was Atticus Finch, fighting racists in the Deep South. But the role that really solidified his personification of our better angels was “Gentleman’s Agreement.” If you haven’t seen this black-and-white classic, you are missing out on one of the greatest “message” movies of the golden age.

It is about antisemitism, not the kind that comes in white sheets and with burning crosses, not the kind that metastasizes as swastikas on synagogues, but the more subtle version that manifests in sideways glances, exclusion from country clubs, the inability to buy homes in certain neighborhoods and the perpetuation of a centuries old lie that “the Jews Killed Jesus.”

Growing up, I was exposed to that sort of antisemitism.

A Catholic child who was born before Vatican II and made her sacraments when it was still a very new thing, I understood the role that my beloved church had played in the perpetuation of hatred against an entire race of people.

We have tried to make our amends, and the greatest pope in my lifetime apologized for our silence and ourcruelty, but even John Paul II could not erase the stain of antisemitism among Catholics.

We still have a lot of work to do, and believe me, we are doing it.

Other Christians are doing heavy lifting as well, although sadly, I have seen outcroppings of hatred manifested in people like Tucker Carlson, who accuses Israel of killing Christians but never raised his voice about the massacre of our people in Nigeria, in Syria, in China and in every other country not filled with Jews.

Then there is Candace Owens, who converted to Catholicism just so she could lie about Israel. There are a lot of similar folks on the right, and I condemn them, unlike certain popular podcasters who care more about their celebrity status than they do about their integrity.

I’m looking at you, “MK.”

But lately, it is not the right that is trafficking in antisemitism. It is the left, filled with intellectuals and social liberals who are marching in the streets to defend the rights of immigrants and who emptied the crafts stores of pink yarn for those insipid “MeToo” hats, but who are silent when it comes to the hanging of Jews in effigy.

Late last month, during one of the coldest weeks in recent history, a group of far-left agitators took over beautiful Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia and shouted out their support for Hamas.

They said it was about the children in Gaza, but they hoisted up a scarecrow-like figure of a Jew and swung it by the neck.

There was no attempt to collect money to feed hungry Gazan babies. There was no GoFundMe site for Doctors Without Borders, so that they could patch up the wounds.

This was blatant Jew hatred, as obvious and as vile as the KKK with their percale sheets and their threatening torches.

The thing is, you wouldn’t really know about it if you didn’t pay attention. There were no stories in the local newspapers. I didn’t see any of the TV stations do an in depth report on this hate crime.

I didn’t hear our local NPR radio station dive deep into the roots of this obscenity. The only station that seemed at all interested was Fox, and while I commend them, I am also sure that they were happy to allow liberals to show themselves as bigots.

It was good PR for the team.

I don’t belong to any teams, except the one called humanity.

Whether you are conservative or liberal, you should be screaming in anger and defiance when you see a group of racists committing a hate crime in the most beautiful park in the city.

There were a few who did come through and showed their great character. Most notable was Pennsylvania state Sen. Sharif Street, who wrote these moving words on social media: “I forcefully condemn the antisemitic rally that took place today in Rittenhouse Square. As an American Muslim, I feel compelled to say that Hamas is a terrorist organization and should be condemned — not glorified.”

Street is a Democrat. He is one of the good ones, who is able to call out bigotry when he sees it.

I am still a bit shocked that this faux Jew lynching was allowed on public property. Perhaps it was an impromptu expression of antisemitic hatred.

Perhaps not.

Either way, the one good thing about the overt kind of bigotry is that you can’t mistake it for anything else.

It’s not a wink, or a nod, or a refusal to let you into the club. It is here, as it has always been.

And those who are poisoned with it, like Carlson, Candace Owens and the pro-Hamas zealots need to be told that we see them.

And their time is up.

Copyright 2026 Christine Flowers