In the aftermath of what is now called the ’12-Days War ‘, with Israel, the US and Iran, anti-Semitic rhetoric and incidents have reached new and disturbing heights. This is even the devastating turnout that we have seen since October 7.
The recent report of the Anti-Defamation League should put any decent person in their spurs. For many of us in the Jewish community it was no surprise. Painful, yes. Alarming, absolutely. But shocking? Tragic enough, no.
We didn’t need the data. We live it.
Mamdani is an existential threat to Jewish New Yorkers
For the Jew today, especially high school and university students, this is not just a sociological trend. This is the air that they breathe in. Young Jews grow up in a world that bombs them with slogans who are not about political policy, but about their identity. From graffiti and crushed windows in cities throughout the country to violent songs on campuses and real threats of damage, the current climate does not reflect a fair debate about international politics. Instead, it reveals a barely hidden and often flagrant hatred against Jews, normalized in places where people have to feel safe.
I wear a dome. I wear it (traditional Jewish fringes). I walk in the world as a very visible member of the tribe. Before a single blemish is thrown on my way, nobody asks me my thoughts about the last Israeli election. Nobody stops to inquire about my position on a two -state solution. Like so many others who wear their Judaism proudly and publicly, I am not focused on everything I have done, thought or said, but just for who I am. They see a kippah, a mezuza, a Jewish name or symbol and they remove it. That hatred is not academic or theoretical. It is real, it is visceral and it makes no distinction.
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I have experienced my reasonable part of aggressive and dangerous anti -Semitism, but what is the most chills is not my own experience. It is fear in the eyes of the next generation. Students who think they should hide their identity. High students who run their Jewish student Union (JSU) clubs and wonder if they should remove their David chains for their next class with a certain teacher. College -children who are afraid that just be Jewish can make them social pariahs, or worse. They are expected, sometimes required, to celebrate the identity of everyone, but always hide their own. The double standard is striking.
Let me be crystal clear: a thoughtful and critical discourse about Israeli policy is not anti -Semitic. It is even necessary. Israel is a democratic country with its share of errors and difficult decisions to make. But when I hear people scream: “Burn Tel Aviv to the ground” or “Globalize the Intifada”, this is not a policy criticism. This is not an intellectual opposition. This is a genocidal threat. We can’t let ourselves do ourselves.
Anti -Semitism no longer hides in the shade and appears earlier in the polite society. The ADL report is horrifying: regular votes distribute conspiracy theories that control Jews the policy, while Slogans call for the destruction of Israel and “Death to America” ​​social media. What is worse, white supremacists, radical Islamists, extreme left-wing activists and university professors now unite in their hatred against Jews. We have heard this before. We know where it leads. If you are not Jewish, contact your Jewish friends. Learn. Speak. Challenging hatred. When only one people are asked to justify their existence, something has been broken deep. Call it.
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People have an Israeli and American flag for a large group of anti-Israeli demonstrators in Los Angeles, November 24, 2023. (David Swanson/AFP via Getty images)
Especially understand this: anti -Semitism is not a Jewish problem. It is a human problem. Everywhere where Jewish hatred could grow, the targeting of all other minorities also grows. Societies that focus on Jews never stop there for the first time.
We Jews will not disappear or confuse. We will not apologize for existing ones. But we easily ask to stand your hand together. Will you be with us? Not only because we are your neighbors, colleagues, classmates and friends. But because all our children earn a world where hatred is called up, justice is pursued and no one has to hide who they are.
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I still hold on to that dream. A world with more light, more courage and more compassion is possible. Let’s build it together.
