Fighting Antisemitism Before It’s Too Late

The cold-blooded murders of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky in Washington, D.C. followed by the terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, and the torching of the home of the Governor of Pennsylvania are among the most recent and high-profile attacks on Jews – and that is just in this country.  

It is not just in the United States that these attacks are occurring.  Overseas in Australia, a restaurant owned by an Israeli Jew was ransacked and a historic synagogue was torched.  At a rock concert in England, a band led the crowd in chants glorifying the intifada and cursing the IDF.

These are not isolated events.  They are the tip of the iceberg, as there are countless other incidents, not all recorded, which are part of the dramatic increase in assaults on Jews.   

Enough is enough.  

It is time to get serious about addressing Jew-hatred.  No more parsing whether it’s “anti-Zionism” or “just criticism of Israel.”  No more equivocation as to whether there is a difference between attacks on Jews, Israel or Zionism.  Jew-hatred in any form must not be tolerated.

Eradicating this toxic obsessive hatred will not be easy.  It will require accountability, honesty, courage and action.  

Distorted narratives and ideological bias promulgated by the media, professors, pundits and politicians who spread harmful rhetoric about Jews, Israel and their supporters create an environment which makes Jews and Israelis legitimate targets.  When statements of sympathy or expressions of solidarity come from the very individuals who contribute to the climate that fosters hostility towards Jews, they are especially hollow and meaningless and offensive.  

When statements of sympathy or expressions of solidarity come from the very individuals who contribute to the climate that fosters hostility toward Jews, they are especially hollow and meaningless and offensive. 

No more excuses and no more sugar-coating.

Honesty demands that we recognize that much of the antisemitic rhetoric and actions emanate from radical fundamentalist Islamists intent on spreading hatred of Jews.  We need to reject the feeling that any time an antisemitic incident is condemned or the word antisemitism is mentioned we feel obligated to include the word Islamophobia.  There is no comparison between the number of assaults on the two communities.  Claiming that criticism of Islamic extremists is Islamophobia has the desired effect of shutting down legitimate criticism of their Nazi-like propaganda and avoids dealing with a problem that is real.

To quell the surge and ubiquitous hostility to Jews, Judaism and Israel I offer the following comprehensive plan of action.

The Media

Mainstream media outlets play a significant role in stoking hostility toward Jews and Israel. 

The disproportionate coverage of Gaza compared to other international stories, and how Israel is portrayed are major factors in stirring hostility toward Jews and Israel.  

False claims by Hamas, a terrorist organization that is known to manipulate facts, are accepted without verification.  Hamas’ uncorroborated and unsubstantiated accusations are reported, often followed by lame corrections days later, which do not mitigate the harm done by the initial report, or the damaging headlines.  The meek line, “Israel denies the claim.”  

Portraying Israel as solely responsible for suffering in Gaza, while omitting Hamas’ role in creating the situation, in its use of human shields, the scale of its brutality, and that its stated intention is nothing less than the genocidal goal of eradicating the Jewish state provides a distorted and incomplete picture of the conflict.  

People need to be informed and made aware that reporters in Gaza as well as “eyewitnesses” are not objective or free to report anything that portrays Hamas negatively or that conflicts with the message Hamas wants to project.  They use terror to exert control not just over Gaza, but how it is reported.  If a school or hospital is targeted by the Israeli Defense Forces, the public needs to know what was going on there that led Israel to act.  Hospitals that harbor terrorist operatives should be identified as such, and the public should be informed that in these instances, the assumption of neutrality is lost.  Tell the whole story.  

Telling the whole story entails including the deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians, and the suffering not just in Gaza, but of Israel’s people as well, tens of thousands of whom have been displaced and are dealing with the aftermath of the horror not just of what happened on Oct. 7, but the constant barrage of rockets.  Objective and balanced reporting doesn’t mean accepting information provided by a terrorist organization which is known to give false information and use lies to promote its message.  

The disproportionate focus on Israel and Gaza, while ignoring atrocities in Sudan, Syria and Yemen and human rights violations around the world contribute to the perception that Israel’s war against Hamas is the only international conflict deserving attention.

News outlets must take responsibility for their role in promoting and encouraging antisemitism and hostility towards Israel.  We need to demand that they objectively report the truth.

Social Media Platforms

Online platforms have become incubators and purveyors of hate.  Outlets such as X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram allow Holocaust denial, blood libels, glorification of terrorism and virulent anti-Israel propaganda, often under the guise of “pro-Palestinian advocacy” to spread unchecked.

Content moderation must be enforced consistently. That means following their own guidelines, which would entail banning antisemitic accounts, removing terrorist propaganda, and promoting educational content on Jewish history and identity.  We now know the deadly impact and results of unbridled rhetoric and calls to “Globalize the Intifada” or “From the River to the Sea,” which leads people to act violently against Jews.  

Platforms should actively partner with Jewish watchdog groups to identify and respond to threats.  

Social media platforms must take responsibility for their role in promoting and encouraging antisemitism and enforce their own rules.  

Colleges and Universities

American universities have become breeding grounds for antisemitism. Jewish students are doxed, threatened, harassed and ostracized, often with the passive tolerance of administrators and the active support of faculty.  Groups assembling and blocking Jewish students from traversing certain areas, surrounding them while shouting antisemitic slurs and anti-Israel chants to intimidate Jewish students, must not be allowed.   

Universities must unequivocally condemn and act forcefully to curb antisemitism, not bury it under objections to “all forms of hate.”  Nonstudents, often financed and supported by forces hostile to Jews, come on campus and promote acts against Jews.  Rules against those who participate in unauthorized encampments and violent takeovers of buildings should be enforced and outsiders should not be allowed to lead the charge against Jewish students.  

Antisemitic threats and harassment should not be tolerated under the guise of free speech.  Faculty who discriminate or intimidate Jewish students, who promote or excuse violence against Jews, who teach false narratives or manipulate their curricula and subject matter in a biased and false way to negatively reflect on Israel, Jews and the history of Jews and Israel should not be given free rein, but should face consequences for their academic malpractice. 

Discriminatory acts and slanderous comments about Jews, Israel and Israelis would not be tolerated were they made about any other minority group.  The same standard should be applied to all.  Organized mobs chanting “Globalize the Intifada” and “From the River to the Sea” are not harmless expressions of free speech.  To help provide guidance colleges should adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism and provide real protection to Jewish students, just as they do for other minority groups.  

Colleges must take responsibility for their role in promoting, tolerating and encouraging antisemitism and are obligated to protect Jewish students from anti-Jewish actions.

Elected Officials

When public officials accuse Israel of genocide and parrot Hamas’ talking points while ignoring the fact that Hamas broke the ceasefire and effectively declared war when it murdered 1,200 people and abducted over 250, they are giving succor to and encouraging the terrorists.  By contributing to this atmosphere of animosity they are enabling the rise in antisemitic rhetoric and attacks on Jews.   

Overlooking the billions of dollars given by the international community intended to better the lives of Gazans but that were stolen by Hamas to make their leaders millionaires and build their network of tunnels, as well as the sadistic nature of Hamas and its ongoing launching of rockets from Gaza into civilian areas in Israel, only emboldens and provides cover and encouragement to those who legitimize antisemitism.

Politicians who sympathize with Hamas must take responsibility for their role in promoting and encouraging antisemitism and must stop parroting Hamas propaganda.

The United Nations 

No global institution has done more to normalize and spread and promote antisemitism and to delegitimize Israel than the United Nations.  While real genocides rage in Sudan, Myanmar and Syria, and atrocities are committed by nations against minorities around the world, the U.N. repeatedly singles out the world’s only Jewish state for condemnation. There is incontrovertible proof that U.N. agencies like UNRWA have harbored terrorists and taught antisemitic content in schools, and that its employees participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre.

The U.N. Human Rights Council has passed more resolutions against Israel than against all other countries combined. Its obsession with demonizing Israel while ignoring Hamas’ crimes not only distorts reality, but fuels hatred toward the Jewish state. When international bodies obsess about Israel alone as guilty of violating human rights, they send a message to the world that Israel and Jews are the only people deserving of such approbation, thereby signaling that Jew-hatred is justified.

Appointing officials who have a track record of antisemitic statements to monitor and report on Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and alleged human rights infractions must not be allowed.  It is like having Dracula guard the blood bank.   

The United Nations must take responsibility for its role in promoting and encouraging antisemitism and change the way it focuses on Israel.

Local Public Schools and School Boards

In some districts, antisemitic and anti-Israel content has infiltrated curricula — especially in ethnic studies and DEI programs.  Jews are portrayed as privileged, as oppressors or colonizers despite millennia of persecution, and despite being an indigenous people with ancient roots in the land of Israel.  This is propaganda being used as indoctrination in the guise of education.  

School boards must rigorously review educational materials, prohibit antisemitic content and ensure Holocaust education includes discussion of modern-day Jew-hatred. Jewish parents must be included in conversations about inclusion and diversity.

Schools and administrators must take responsibility for their role in promoting and encouraging antisemitism and must keep antisemitism out of classrooms.

Rabbis

In times of crisis, Jewish spiritual leaders have a responsibility to educate, not to spread misinformation or virtue signal moral superiority by condemning Israel.  

Criticism has its place.  But when rabbis recite false claims of genocide or apartheid, they mislead their communities, lend credibility and fuel efforts to delegitimize Israel.  Their anti-Israel rhetoric causes lasting damage.  We need rabbis to help their communities understand Israel’s security dilemmas, the morality of its actions, and the security challenges and hatred it faces — not express hostility and sow doubts about its legitimacy.

As I have said to my colleagues – criticism of Israel dare not be louder than expressions of love.  

The current climate demands solidarity and clarity, not virtue signaling.  When Israel is criticized on the pulpit, rabbis should realize that it will not change the policy of the government of Israel, but it will affect how the people hearing that message feel about Israel.  And it will lead to discomfort which can often lead to alienation from the Jewish state, and not just from Israel, but ultimately cause listeners to sour on Judaism and the Jewish people.   

Jewish clergy must take responsibility for their role in promoting and encouraging antisemitism by their public critiques. Instead they should strive to foster positive feelings about Israel among Jews and others.  

How Should Jews Respond?

Jewish organizations and leaders must prioritize defending the Jewish people.  They should stand up for Jews and support actions taken to defend Jews that are not unconstitutional.  They should have a zero-tolerance policy towards antisemitism and anti-Zionism regardless of its source.

Individual Jews should lean into being Jewish.  Show up at synagogue and community events. Support Jewish organizations. Talk to your neighbors. Challenge antisemitism when you see it — whether it comes from the right-wing conspiracy theorist or the progressive activist group that won’t acknowledge Israel’s right to exist. If we don’t speak up for ourselves, no one else will.  Be open though to building coalitions with those who stand with us and accept the love and support of those allies who are willing to partner with us.  

Antisemitism is not just a Jewish problem.  The kind of widespread and intense hatred of Jews we are currently experiencing has historically signaled a deeper societal sickness, one that can ultimately destroy the society itself.  

Finally, the strongest response and antidote to efforts to intimidate Jews is to deny those who wish to eliminate Jews a victory.  The answer is Jewish pride, which entails being proud of who we are, of what Jews have given the world, and proudly living as Jews.  

In Conclusion

Fighting the “world’s oldest hatred” requires more than words.  It demands that each sector of society that fuels harmful impressions about Israel and Jews examine how they have contributed to the toxic environment that has led to hateful words and violent acts against Jews.  All segments of society need to take a good hard look at their statements and actions and commit to real change.  

All of us must all take responsibility for our role in promoting and encouraging antisemitism.

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt is Chairman, Zionist Rabbinic Coalition