From Darkness to Hope

There are moments in life when darkness feels overwhelming and threatens to become a new and sickening reality. For the Jewish people, October 7 was one of those horrific moments.

We will never forget where we were when we heard what had happened to Israel and our people. As we absorbed the savagery of the Hamas massacre, watched Jewish families being murdered in Hamas videos, learned of hostages being taken, including the elderly and babies, and witnessed the trauma inflicted on an entire country, another shocking international assault followed. Before Israel had even begun to bury its dead, a severe wave of antisemitism erupted across the globe.

We have seen where incitement and unchecked hatred can lead. In May of 2025, in Washington, D.C., Elias Rodriguez murdered Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim and shouted, “Free Palestine” as he was being arrested. In June of 2025, in Boulder, Colorado, Mohamed Soliman threw Molotov cocktails at a peaceful “Run for Their Lives” gathering while shouting “Free Palestine.” He injured 13 people, including 82-year-old Karen Diamond who later died from her wounds.  At a Chanukah celebration at Bondi Beach in December 2025, Sajid and Naveed Akram massacred 15 people and wounded more than 40 in an attack targeting the Jewish community. They were inspired by the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group and shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the massacre.

In Manchester, England in October of 2025, on Yom Kippur, Jihad Al-Shamie drove into people outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue and stabbed victims, killing two Jewish men and seriously wounding others. During the attack, Al-Shamie called emergency services, claimed responsibility, and pledged allegiance to ISIS.

Other mass-casualty attacks have been attempted as well. In Michigan, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drove a truck through the doors of Temple Israel and nearly 200 feet down a hallway while 140 children were inside its early childhood center. The FBI later determined that he was inspired by Hezbollah, the terrorist group that occupies parts of Lebanon, attacks Israel from the north, and is funded by the Iranian regime. His truck contained commercial-grade fireworks and approximately 35 gallons of gasoline. Miraculously, no children or teachers were physically harmed.

These attacks are extreme manifestations of something Jews everywhere have been feeling: the oldest hatred has returned in a form that feels both familiar and newly emboldened. Our children and grandchildren are feeling it too. Jewish, Israeli and non-Jewish Zionist students have faced harassment and intimidation in schools and on campuses from peers, student groups and educators. Extremists tore down posters of kidnapped Israeli hostages. Demonstrations glorified or excused terrorism. Misinformation spread rapidly across social media, while important context was often missing from mainstream reporting.

That context includes the “ring of fire” surrounding Israel: Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran’s regime and other forces that have repeatedly attacked it. Too often, this broader threat against Israel is overlooked while disproportionate emphasis is placed on Israel’s military responses. Nor is sufficient concern given to Qatar’s enormous investment in the United States, a country that presents itself as neutral yet housed Hamas leaders, promotes extremism through media such as AJ+, and continues to buy influence in America.

Many Jews have felt abandoned by spaces and people they once trusted. Institutions that spoke constantly about diversity and inclusion too often seemed unable or unwilling to recognize antisemitism when Jews were its targets, while Jews were frequently left out of diversity and inclusion curricula altogether. Friendships have been tested. Jewish history has been distorted. Israel has been demonized.

Anti-Jewish hate crimes have risen dramatically since 2022, confirming what Jewish communities say they are experiencing. In 2022, the FBI recorded 1,122 anti-Jewish hate crimes. According to FBI data, anti-Jewish hate crimes jumped 63% in 2023 and rose again in 2024 to a record 1,938 incidents. Although that number declined to 1,528 in 2025, it was still the third-highest level ever recorded, with anti-Jewish incidents accounting for nearly two-thirds of all religious-based hate crimes in the United States.

Influential inflammatory voices like Hasan Piker have defended Hamas, minimized the sexual violence of October 7, and used rhetoric widely condemned as antisemitic, normalizing hostility toward Jews and Zionists among millions of young followers. The rise  of political figures amplifying similar hatred is reflected in New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (a member of the Democratic Socialists of America) and the influence of Tucker Carlson on the right.

Jews have found themselves defending not only Israel, but their own Jewish identity and their right to grieve over what happened on and since October 7. Many are asking questions they never imagined they would have to ask: Is it safe to wear a Star of David? Should I tell people I am Jewish or Israeli? Can I openly say that I support Israel? Should I raise my hand when Jewish or Israeli perspectives are missing during lectures on campus? And some are asking an even more painful, yet predictable question: Is it time to leave the country I have loved and called home for generations?

History teaches us that hatred rarely stops with one group. Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, while the Nazis and their collaborators also persecuted and murdered millions of others, including Roma, people with disabilities, Poles and other Slavs, Soviet prisoners of war, political opponents, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and gay men. Antisemitism also contributed to the Nazi decision to launch WWII, causing mass destruction around the world, including in Germany itself. When Jews are targeted and society looks away, everyone should begin to worry. As Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks said, “The hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews.” Yet far too many are looking away.

That is the darkness we are confronting in our generation: antisemitism coming from multiple directions, including far-left, far-right, and Islamist extremism, conspiracy theories, the demonization of Israel, and institutions and individuals willing to excuse or normalize hatred against Jews and Zionists.

But darkness is not the entire story. Across Israel and in Jewish communities worldwide, people of all ages are meeting this moment with courage and leadership. I know this because I see it every day through our international work at StandWithUs. Students and community members who never imagined themselves as activists have become speakers and leaders. Teenagers and college students are learning history, correcting misinformation, organizing programs, meeting with administrators, speaking to journalists, representing Israel and the Jewish people at city council meetings, and standing proudly in the face of hatred.

In August 2026, I spoke to 500 very talented high school and college student leaders from across the United States and Canada—our incoming North American StandWithUs Emerson Campus Fellows and Kenneth Leventhal High School Interns. After five days of intensive training by experts in law, strategy, marketing, Israeli history, Middle East current events, and so much more, I told them that if they remembered only one lesson that came from me personally, it should be this: Build your base.

Find your community. Find the people who share your commitment to truth, fairness, Israel and the Jewish people. Build relationships before you need them. There is strength and safety in numbers. None of us can do this alone, and the good news is that we do not have to.

That lesson extends far beyond students. Jewish physicians, faculty, psychologists, parents, attorneys, educators, and community leaders are finding one another, sharing resources, and building networks capable of responding when institutions fail. There is tremendous power in refusing to be bullied and in deliberately strengthening community.

Another important source of hope is the law. Hundreds of attorneys and major law firms have heard the stories of Jewish students facing discrimination, employees being marginalized, and families struggling to get institutions to enforce their own rules, and they are stepping forward. Through the StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department and other civil-rights organizations, people facing antisemitic discrimination can access attorneys willing to fight for them at no cost. Our legal experts are challenging institutions, changing policies, securing settlements, and establishing important precedents.

Antisemitism is intended to make Jews afraid. To make us quieter, less visible, and less connected to who we are. Yet for many, the opposite has happened. We have found our communities and are working together against hate, discrimination, and intimidation. Jewish identity is growing stronger.

And we are not alone. Courageous allies, including Christians, Hindus, Iranians, Muslim Zionists, educators, attorneys, civic leaders, students, and people from many other backgrounds, are standing beside the Jewish community because they understand that antisemitism will not remain only a Jewish problem.

October 7 changed the way Jews see the world. It confronted us with a darkness we never expected to see. But instead of retreating, so many of us have found our communities, discovered our voices, and stepped forward proudly to bring hope and light into that darkness.

I am proud and grateful to say this: While we cannot choose when darkness comes, each one of us can choose how we respond to it. While there is no shortage of bad actors and anti-Israel campaigns challenging us relentlessly, so many of us have chosen to stand tall. That is the light. And even a small light can shatter darkness, let alone the light we create when Jews and non-Jews speak and act with courage and resolve. Never forget that hope and resilience have always been at the core of our story, and now all of us now have an opportunity to write the next chapter together. Am Yisrael Chai.

Roz Rothstein is the CEO and co-founder of StandWithUs.