This year’s deadly anti-Semitic attacks in Washington, DC, Colorado, Britain and on Australia’s Bondi Beach by Islamist-inspired perpetrators are not anomalies; they underline the ‘new normal’ observed in the Western world over the past two years.
Anti-Semitic violence across the West, particularly that carried out by Islamist or Islamist-adjacent nefarious actors, has been consistently highlighted by academic think tanks, Jewish groups, and sympathetic voices since October 7, 2023 – but not enough action has been taken to protect Jewish lives and prevent such violence. As history shows, it doesn’t take long for Jews to be targeted by extremists before others become targets as well.
On October 7, 2023, the US-designated terrorist group Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing approximately 1,200 innocent victims and taking 251 hostages. It took 738 days for the last surviving hostages to be released. One deceased Israeli hostage remains in Gaza to this day.
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FBI agents cordoned off the scene outside the Capital Jewish Museum after a shooting that left two people dead, in Washington, D.C., in the early hours of May 22, 2025. Two Israeli embassy staff members were identified as the two people killed. (Photo by ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Immediately after October 7, Islamists and their supporters worldwide, with the support of Iran, began their anti-Semitic tirades against Israel, ultimately blaming the victim for the crime. Campus protests, street protests and social media campaigns joined the cacophony of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric encouraging violence against Israelis and Jews everywhere.
Chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Globalizing the intifada” emerged again with force. The first chant has been officially declared anti-Semitic by the US House of Representatives. The second chant is a call for “open season” against Israelis and Jews everywhere.
The daily news we read testifies to the fact that these chants resonate. Anti-Semitic violence continues to rise around the world; According to two Jewish organizations that monitor such statistics, there was a 340% increase in anti-Semitic incidents worldwide between 2022 and 2024.
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Anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence are deeply harmful in themselves, but what is most alarming is the tolerance and normalization of both by Western governments and societies. Islamists are not the only anti-Semites. Left-wing extremists and right-wing extremists find themselves on opposite sides on almost every issue, but the common denominator between them is that they are both anti-Semitic. This is a recipe for disaster, as hatred of Jews unites all types of haters – and this red flag is currently lost on Western governments and societies.
What can be done to change this new normal? First, Western governments must hold social media providers accountable for the vitriol or false information spread on their platforms. If we leave them alone, social media will continue to be an echo chamber for hate affecting the hearts and minds of the young and old.
The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force in November 2022, is a good example of a positive step taken to address this issue. The DSA requires companies such as X, Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok to step up enforcement against illegal and harmful content on their platforms. This type of legislation is powerless if it cannot be enforced.
A police vehicle parked outside the Manchester Synagogue where two people were killed on Yom Kippur in what police have declared a terrorist incident, in north Manchester, Britain, October 5, 2025. (Hannah McKay/Reuters)
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Secondly, investigating threats (including via social media), protecting institutions and securing public events require significant resources and instruments for police, security and intelligence services. Western government leaders must increase financial and human resources while ensuring that the right training and technology is made available to those protecting vulnerable citizens.
Achieving this may require new legislation, and Western lawmakers should make this a priority.
Third, Western leaders must engage moderate Muslims and encourage them to condemn radical elements of their religion and actively help prevent the violence emanating from their communities. Nearly 67,000 Islamist terrorist attacks took place worldwide between 1979 and 2024. This violence will not end without the help of moderate Muslims – the Western world needs the Muslim majority to police their minority to protect not just Jews, but innocents of all faiths.
A member of the Jewish community reacts as he walks with police to the scene of a shooting on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on December 14, 2025. (David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)
The fear of anti-Semitism is real for Jews around the world, and right now it feels like history is repeating itself. Islamist-inspired anti-Semitic hatred is like the fin we see swimming in the water around us. We all know that the fin represents danger and that danger is just below the surface.
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It is time for Western leaders not only to recognize the danger swimming close to them, but to confront it head-on. Unless Western governments take swift action to address this danger, what swims just beneath the surface will come for all to see.
