Jesse Jackson, a prominent figure in the civil rights movement whose decades of public life were frequently marred by the embrace of openly antisemitic figures and inflammatory rhetoric against the Jewish community, has died at the age of 84.

While Jackson was widely recognized as a force in American politics – mounting two failed presidential campaigns and registering millions of voters – his legacy within the Jewish community remains deeply troubled, defined by a series of incidents that created a rift that never fully healed.

For many American Jews, Jackson’s name became synonymous with the breaking of the historic civil rights alliance between Blacks and Jews. This fracture was most vividly exposed during his 1984 presidential run, when Jackson was forced to admit to using the antisemitic slur “Hymietown” to describe New York City in a conversation with a reporter.

The derogatory reference to “Hyman,” a common English name used by Jews at the time, which bears resemblance to the name “Chaim,” shocked the Jewish community.

Jackson initially denied making the comments, including during a televised national debate. It was only later, facing mounting pressure, that he offered an apology at a synagogue in New Hampshire, stating, “It is human to err, divine to forgive.”

However, for many communal leaders, the “Hymietown” affair was not an isolated incident, but part of a disturbing pattern of hostility.

During that same 1984 campaign, Jackson refused to distance himself from Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, who had introduced Jackson at a rally. Even after Farrakhan notoriously referred to Judaism as a “gutter religion,” Jews as “termites,” among other hateful remarks, Jackson’s campaign issued a statement denouncing the specific comments but notably failed to denounce Farrakhan himself. Farrakhan has also praised Adolf Hitler.

Jackson’s record on Israel further exacerbated tensions. Long before it was common in American politics, Jackson met with PLO leader Yasser Arafat in Lebanon in 1979. At the time, the United States refused to engage with the PLO until it acknowledged Israel’s right to exist.

Jackson’s embrace of Arafat, who had ordered many terror attacks on Jews, was viewed by many as a legitimization of terrorism.

In the summer of 1984, Jackson further alienated Jewish leadership by claiming that Israeli weapons were being used to maintain apartheid in South Africa and questioning U.S. military aid to the Jewish state.

Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jackson made various attempts to rehabilitate his image with Jewish leadership. In July 1992, he addressed the World Jewish Congress in Brussels, where he condemned antisemitism and called Zionism a “liberation movement.”

Yet, Jewish leaders remained skeptical of his sincerity, often viewing his overtures as political pragmatism rather than genuine repentance.

Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League at the time, was blunt regarding Jackson’s attempts to pivot. “It is a record that has been marred by an insensitive view of Jewish history, the Holocaust, Zionism and the modern Jewish state,” Foxman said. “One speech to the Jewish community… will not repair it.”

Even in later years, when Jackson was invited to speak at Yeshiva University and other Jewish venues, he often minimized the threat of antisemitism within his own community. In a speech at YU, he denied that “Black antisemitism” was a structural phenomenon, despite the Black community’s statistically disproportionate representation among antisemitic hate crimes and assaults, insisting instead that hatred was confined to “misguided individuals” and arguing that the greater threat to Jews came from the far right.