Barbara Streisand Calls Antisemitism One of Most ‘Vexing, Terrifying Issues of Our Times’
by Shiryn Ghermezian

Singer, actress and filmmaker Barbara Streisand called antisemitism undeniably one of the most “vexing, terrifying issues of our times” in an interview last week.
The 77-year-old, who is Jewish, told the Chicago Tribune, “As [a] person who is proud of my Jewish heritage, it’s deeply concerning … this anger and hatred has actually been here for 3,500 years. It just reveals itself in different ways through the millennia, but it’s ever-present.”
Streisand said Jews had “always been the scapegoats, blamed for the ills of the world,” adding, “I’m not articulate enough to enumerate the many ways antisemitism manifests itself or how to end it. It’s interesting though, I have some friends with kids who are now tweens and teens. They’re barely aware of the societal differences between them — they don’t see, or at least they don’t differentiate, between Jews vs. Muslims or black skin vs. white skin or gay vs. straight … and that really gives me hope that somehow the things which have divided society for so long are going to become less divisive over time.”