The uproar over the venomous emanations of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is certainly warranted, but a broader look at history shows that it is neither a sudden nor unprecedented development.

Anti-Israel, anti-Semitic behavior has actually been brewing for a while now. Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, and Al Sharpton became influential advisors in the Obama White House, and Bernie Sanders and Keith Ellison have become dominant figures in the Democratic Party. To be sure though, anti-Semitism in America is not the exclusive domain of the Democrats, but also of the Republicans.

America has been an exceptional haven for Jews who fled persecution and violence in foreign lands. Especially in the last 70 years, Jews in America have been the beneficiaries of the most glorious existence in many centuries, since the Golden Age in Spain in the Middle Ages. Not coincidentally, 70 years is the memory span of the average adult. In other words, the great majority of Jews in America today only remember the glorious times and have no personal memory or knowledge of anything before that.

However, those of us who are older do remember the times that weren’t so pleasant. I have personally lived through times when Jews were subject to quotas in universities and medical schools and faced signs in housing developments saying ‘Restricted- No Jews Allowed.’ Social and golf clubs barred Jews and major corporations hired few if any Jews. There were Jews who wouldn’t dare wear a yarmulke in most public places and never in some areas, and rampant discrimination and violence in the military and on city streets. Anti-Semitism was sometimes not so overt, but often more subtle and still prevalent, as depicted in the famous movie ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’, starring Gregory Peck.

Then, of course were the years of the Holocaust, when all Jewish life was wiped out in Europe. President Roosevelt refused to stop or even slow it down, and in fact imposed severe quotas on immigration affecting Jews. And after that, the complete cleansing of Jews from all Arab lands took place without protest by American governments.

My aim here is not to disparage America which has truly been an exceptional haven for Jews, but rather to warn Jews not to become too complacent and to stay alert. They have to be confident that this golden age in America represents a true change in attitude towards Jews, and isn’t just masking a temporary cessation and resurfacing of anti-Semitism with all its ugliness, like that occurring in Europe today. It is well to remember that even the Golden Age in Spain ended with the Inquisition and expulsion. In the words of Santayana – “Those Who Forget History Are Doomed To Repeat it”.