When he was a child in Michigan, Rabbi Marc Israel remembers waking up on the first day of Passover to find a swastika had been scrawled on his lawn with baseball paint.
Almost 50 years later, he arrived at work to find his Maryland synagogue vandalized with large swastikas and a misspelled “Hilter was right.”
The vile antisemitism that Rabbi Israel experienced as a child is appalling. Even more alarming is the fact that the most recent attack was not an isolated incident. Far from it.
Source: Gallup
Today, 81% of Americans see antisemitism as a serious problem – and nearly half of US Jews say mistreatment has increased in the last year.
But even as the overwhelming majority of Americans are united in their concern over antisemitism, there are politicians bent on amplifying antisemitic tropes and anti-immigrant conspiracy theories to divide our communities and hoard power for themselves.
During 2016 and throughout his tenure in office, Donald Trump and his administration deployed conspiracy theories like the Great Replacement Theory to whip up anger and grievances that appealed to his far-right MAGA base.
Under the Trump administration, antisemitic attacks spiked: Jewish graveyards were desecrated, emboldened neo-Nazis marched in the street shouting antisemitic slurs, and in 2018 a far-right terrorist, specifically referencing the Great Replacement Theory, carried out the deadliest attack against a Jewish community in US history, killing 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Now, after October 7 and with the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, antisemitism is once again at the center of the political conversation. But today, its dimensions have expanded.
Some radicals on the fringe left have sought to excuse, justify or minimize the horrors of October 7. Others, outraged by the situation in Gaza, are taking it out on people who are visibly Jewish in public spaces. Pro-Palestinian protests, while overwhelmingly peaceful and often featuring large contingents of Jewish participants, have sometimes included clear antisemitic elements.
Meanwhile, extremists on the right have sought to shut down debate over Gaza by accusing all critics of Israel of antisemitism, while others like Donald Trump have slandered Jewish Americans as “disloyal” and needing to have their “heads examined” for daring to oppose him.
To understand more about how our community is feeling during this tumultuous time, we spoke with J Streeters to find out how they are reckoning with this moment.
Sara Stock Mayo, Squirrel Hill, Pennsylvania
“We do not always know where the danger is coming from.”
Sara Stock Mayo lives in Pittsburgh, just a few blocks away from the Tree of Life Synagogue. After the shooting, she joined hundreds of others in activism and protests when Donald Trump visited the synagogue, decrying his anti-immigrant and antisemitic rhetoric and his failure to fully denounce white supremacy.
Nearly six years later, Stock Mayo’s community remains deeply engaged in memorializing the victims of the attack. The Tree of Life Synagogue is being rebuilt as part of the process of honoring the 11 people who lost their lives. Andrew Stewart, the chairman of the construction working group, told the AP their goal is “to bring forth an institution that can make a dent in hatred and can help educate people about antisemitism.”
Education about antisemitism is urgently needed. Stock Mayo told J Street that recently she “has not heard enough people speaking up when antisemitic things are being said,” and many fellow Jews in her community “do not feel seen or supported.”
Since October 7, Stock Mayo says she has been concerned by rising antisemitism coming from all sides, but she is “keenly aware that White Christian Nationalism poses the biggest threat.”
Rabbi Marc Israel, Rockville Maryland
“All forms of hatred come from a place of ignorance, fear or both.”
In addition to the vandalism at his synagogue, in recent years Rabbi Marc Israel has endured multiple antisemitic incidents related to Israel.
While Rabbi Israel – who regularly wears a kippah in public spaces – and his daughter were walking home from synagogue on Yom Kippur, someone screamed “death to Israel” at them. Later that same year, anti-Israel comments were screamed at him on a college tour at Washington University in St Louis.
While Rabbi Israel readily acknowledges that it’s fair to criticize Israel and not all criticism of Israel stems from antisemitism, there’s a difference between robust debates and being shouted at in a public space just because you’re visibly Jewish.
Rabbi Israel says public officials and politicians need greater education on how to recognize and combat antisemitism, and the best ways to increase security and push back against harmful stereotypes and prejudice. At the same time, he says, we must make sure to teach people the difference between antisemitism and legitimate political speech.
“If we want our students to be able to proudly display an Israeli flag in their dorm room, we cannot complain when Palestinians and their supporters do likewise,” he says. “On the other hand, people chanting ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Jew Free’ and ‘Zionist-free zones’ are pure antisemitism in effect, even if not by intent.”
Since October 7, college campuses have been at the center of conversations about Israel-Palestine and antisemitism. Rabbi Israel told J Street that his own children, and many students from his synagogue, are currently studying at college campuses, and he is “concerned about the very real issues Jewish students face.”
Daniel Wittenberg, Incoming President of J Street U
“They just didn’t have the tools or language to articulate their critique properly and defaulted to stereotypes as a result.”
Daniel says that many people don’t recognize when they are fueling antisemitism.
“Many people seem to see [Israel’s government] and the Jewish people as the same and use these terms interchangeably, which heavily contributes to antisemitism,” he says.
When he hears someone make a remark blaming Jews for the actions of the Israeli government, he tells them to refer to the ‘Israeli government’ instead of ‘Jews,’ when they want to critique the government’s conduct in the war.
He has found that many people “are receptive to this and are deeply apologetic.”
It doesn’t help, of course, when those seeking to defend the Israeli government’s actions accuse even fair-minded critics or supporters of Palestinian rights of antisemitism.
Elaine Landes: the Daughter of Holocaust Survivors.
“The level of political weaponization [of antisemitism] and hypocrisy is outrageous.”
In recent years there has been a spate of legislation, such as the Antisemitism Awareness Act, seeking to define antisemitism with an excessive focus on criticism of Israel.
“Rather than trying to combat antisemitism, some of those pushing this type of legislation are trying to use accusations of antisemitism as a weapon to shut down criticism of the Israeli government,” says Hannah Morris, J Street’s Director of Government Affairs. “At J Street, we’ve been trying to rally support for more constructive approaches focused on support, security, education and vigilance – such as the Countering Antisemitism Act and the approach laid out by President Biden’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.”
J Street U’s Daniel Wittenberg agrees with this approach: “People trying to stifle political debate around Israel worsens antisemitism.”
If open debate around these issues are suppressed, misinformation can fester, and individuals who want to engage with these issues may turn to extreme sources of information.
The solution, Wittenberg told J Street, is to be accurate in how we discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the actors involved without playing into antisemitism or buying into efforts to use accusations of antisemitism as a cudgel to silence political opponents.
Rabbi Israel urges national Jewish organizations to let local communities and individuals affected by antisemitism take the lead in how they respond. Attempts to confront antisemitism without proper consultation of local communities can hamper efforts to “build a better Jewish life by scaring people away,” he says, citing a much criticized effort by the ADL to grade college campuses without input from students.
At a time when so many politicians are trying to divide us, and many members of the public are wittingly or unwittingly fueling antisemitism, it is more important than ever that our community stays united, working across our differences to eliminate antisemitic hate in all of its forms.
Rabbi Daniel Weiner, Seattle
“[Our community] must organize concerted and proactive responses to new challenges.”
It is within our power to dispel ignorance: identifying language and actions that fuel antisemitism – including from our progressive allies – and stand up to the politicians who seek to spread and exploit fear to silence debate and gain power for themselves.
“J Street can play (and does) play an essential role in both holding the Israeli government accountable, speaking out against the occupation and the settler aggression, while also addressing antisemitism” and identifying “when anti-Zionism crosses into antisemitism,” Sara Stock Mayo said.
After speaking with our valued J Streeters across the country it is clearer than ever that by coming together – within the Jewish community and beyond – it is possible to find solutions. Together, we can collectively find a way to protect each other, model ways to talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that are grounded in a recognition of everyone’s humanity, and once again, counter the ignorance and fear driving antisemitic hate.
We are grateful for the J Street community members who took the time to share their perspectives, and we look forward to continued dialogue on this pressing issue.