Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Jew? No One, Apparently

Last week, a man approached the entrance of a West Los Angeles synagogue, spread a Muslim prayer rug on the cement, and began to pray. 

No one was hurt. No one was heckled. And security personnel asked him to leave the premises. As it turns out, it was not the first time he had laid a Muslim prayer rug at the synagogue entrance and started to pray. 

Now let’s imagine that last week, a black-hatted Orthodox Jew had stood at the entrance of a mosque in Paris and began wrapping Tefillin (phylacteries). I admit that the question is a nonstarter. It’s hard to imagine the outcome of that scenario because I suspect there isn’t a Jew in the world who would stand outside a mosque in Paris, in today’s climate of open rage and violence against Jews, and dare to wrap Tefillin. Before anyone could have laid a hand on him, his own mother would have killed him. 

Nearly 20 years ago, an Israeli diplomat shared a story with me that I will never forget: A European filmmaker had made a film that portrayed Jews quite negatively. When filming wrapped, a journalist asked him why he had portrayed the Jewish character, and not a Christian, Muslim, or any other character so negatively. The director warned the journalist that what he was about to say was off-the-record and, in a nutshell, responded that he wasn’t afraid of any Jews coming after him to break his bones. No one, he said, is really afraid of Jews, but he was certainly afraid of others. 

The film was made at roughly the same time that Theo van Gogh, a Dutch film director, was murdered in Amsterdam by a Dutch-Moroccan Islamist named Mohammed Bouyeri. Van Gogh had directed a short film written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the famous Somali writer who has written extensively on how women suffer gender apartheid in Muslim and Arab countries, and who has survived assassination plots. 

Since 1948, Jews have lived in an age of interesting optics, to say the least. Only three years after the image of the skeletal, helpless, uniform-clad Jew of the concentration camps became sadly synonymous with the modern Jewish experience, another Jewish image emerged: that of the strong, spirited, and most importantly, armed Jew of the Israel Defense Forces. He, too, was in a uniform, but those infamous uniform stripes had now been replaced by an unforgettable olive green, and a healthy, sun-kissed, olive-colored tan, to boot. 

I don’t live in Israel, home of the IDF, but I have long suspected that for many reasons, no one is afraid of Jews (unless they are IDF soldiers or, in early April, accountants with bad news). That suspicion was confirmed this week, when all hell broke loose in my Pico-Robertson neighborhood in L.A. because an out-of-control, antisemitic mob was allowed to take over the streets outside of a synagogue, threatening people with baseball bats and assaulting Jews.

Why did the rage-filled mob gather outside an L.A. synagogue on a warm, otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon? On the surface, it was there to shut down an Israeli real estate fair.

“Come and meet representatives of housing projects in all the best Anglo neighborhoods in Israel,” promised an ad publicizing the event at the synagogue. “Get the most updated info from the experts so that you can make your move!” 

Naturally, the rage-filled mobs, for whom everything is weaponized when it comes to Israel, misread the ad and pounced. In response to the event, a flier for the protest read, “Stand against settler expansion at Sunday’s real estate event selling homes to ‘build Anglo neighborhoods’ in Palestine.”

I am the first to admit that the wording on the ad was short-sighted. But let’s review what happened: Israel-hating leftists, the worst purveyors of now-inescapable race politics, immediately believed that the event was an attempt to create white neighborhoods in Israel (for them, Palestine). But anyone who is remotely familiar with Israel knows that an “Anglo neighborhood” in the country is one in which it is easier to live as an American, British, South African or anyone else whose primary language is English, and who needs a little extra help acclimating to Israeli culture. 

The most ironic part of that painfully terrifying mob was that the screaming, keffiyeh-clad throngs of Israel-and-Jew-haters was probably unaware that the event they were protesting was a response to antisemitism itself. It’s not a stretch to speculate that most of the Jews in L.A. who are planning their “move” to Israel today are doing so because they no longer feel safe in America. 

When I heard police helicopters and received many disturbing images or videos on my phone from the protest, I felt as though I was back in post-revolutionary Iran. I was home, with the doors locked, and as I heard rumors that the protesters were beginning to enter the residential areas, which house a large, local Jewish population, I stared down at the paring knife in my hand and realized that it was probably my only means of self-defense. That, and the heavy, beloved hami melon (“kharbozeh” in Persian) I was attempting to stress-eat in response to the fact that in 2024, local law enforcement allowed Jew-haters to pour into a Jewish neighborhood and wreak fear and havoc.

Earlier, I had mentioned that on the surface, this week’s Pico Boulevard balagan seemed like a protest. But there’s much more to it than that. Just as they did at Columbia or UCLA (in cities that are home to the country’s first and second-largest Jewish communities, respectively), these people were testing the waters. Could they enter one of L.A.’s most visible and populated Jewish neighborhoods and terrorize Jews? The answer was a horrifying “Yes.”  

Just as they did at Columbia or UCLA, these people were testing the waters. Could they enter one of L.A.’s most visible and populated Jewish neighborhoods and terrorize Jews? The answer was a horrifying “Yes.” 

For the sake of imagination, would hundreds of angry Jews be able to gather outside of a large mosque in Dearborn, Michigan, block the entrance, scream genocidal chants against Muslims, and return home in perfect peace and safety? The answer may be found in the response of London’s Jewish community to the 100,000+ pro-Hamas protesters that filled that city’s streets this year: Those Jews stayed home, locked the doors and let the havoc-wreaking storm pass. 

This year, most notably, there have been times in which Jews have fought back, and that includes counter-protesters in L.A. this week. But in general, we are not often feared. And perhaps, at times, that’s a good thing. 

The kind, local Jewish woman who works with inner-city youth and oversees the distribution of hundreds of meals for the poor should not be feared; the wise, open-minded rabbi who works tirelessly with interfaith groups and interfaith leaders to ensure peace and respect between people of different faiths should not be feared; the brilliant, young, Jewish musical genius who will become the youngest maestro of a generation should not be feared; and even the IDF, which warns Palestinian civilians with thousands of leaflets and announcements of impending strikes against terrorists, should only be feared if someone has collaborated with terrorists, or terrorized Israelis. 

Perhaps outside of Israel, no one fears Jews. Perhaps that is part of a predestined plan. The people who comprise a “Light unto the Nations” must elicit just that: Light. And wisdom, radiant kindness, and unshakeable, sometimes maddening, faith. 

And a few firearms and hami melons might be of some help, too.

Tabby Refael is an award-winning writer, speaker and weekly columnist for The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Follow her on X and Instagram @TabbyRefael.