The two recent tragedies in Boulder Colorado and Washington DC have placed violent antisemitism once again at the center of our community conversation. Sadly, this drives us to talk both about the need to better protect ourselves as a community – and ask why someone would ever want to shoot two young Israeli embassy staffers and throw Molotov cocktails at community members participating in a weekly walk for hostages.
For those of us in the community relations world, we have had front row seats to what we know has been the problem for quite some time.
A toxic combination of growing antisemitism – and wide misunderstanding about what antisemitism is – has made it increasingly difficult to create effective strategies to combat it. These latest incidents, even as we are shaken by them, provide real-world examples of what we have been trying to address with community partners, school systems, and campuses for some time now.
The only reason one could possibly give for lashing out against innocent civilians in this way would be if you thought they were guilty of something or if they could be considered evil in some way. Right now, only the most extreme voices in American society are claiming that either Sarah or Yaron were evil or deserving of their fate. Only the most despicable human beings believe that an 88 year old Holocaust survivor deserved to have gasoline poured on her. And that is what we need to keep front and center from this point forward. The most people of good conscience agree that these actions were wrong.
When we speak to our allies and community partners, they need to hear that if they did not think that these people deserved to be harmed – then they also need to work with us to condemn the dehumanizing rhetoric and accusations that they may not have even realized would lead to this violence and bloodshed.
Prior to the emergence of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, the ADL had the very convenient 3 Ds. Delegitimization of Israel’s right to exist, the Demonization of Jews or Israelis, and Double Standards applied to Israel or Jews that you would not apply to any other country or group. In working within and outside of the Jewish community – I have always found that “Demonization” was the most all-encompassing and clearest way to describe antisemitism in public discourse.
For example, if you are saying that ISRAEL does x, y or z or that ISRAEL is this or that kind of state - what are you really saying? You are lumping a diverse and multi-ethnic country together, stripping individuals of their humanity, and attributing evil intent to every individual who either resides there or who doesn’t share your belief about their inhumanity. That is how antisemitism works. Frankly, that is how any form or bias and bigotry works.
We might want to say that any minority group should understand that. And many do. But to make the direct connection between attitudes about someone else’s culture when compared to your own is not easy. We know this because the Jewish community has this challenge as well. Many want to only focus on the particularism of hatred against Jews rather than the universal exploration of hate aimed at any minority group. Just as there is a season for all things, there is a time for particularism and there is a time for universalism. We must engage in and support both – or else we will not be able to expect support and understanding at times when a bloody tragedy isn’t on the front pages.
Here I think is the best example of why.
I received a question recently from a parent. They asked why their child’s school did not “do anything” for Jewish American History Month. I thought it was an incredibly valuable question and one that truly needed to be unpacked. If someone demanded a quick answer – sadly – I think the answers are clear. They either don’t know about it, don’t think it is needed, or have already decided that in comparison to other minority groups who “really” face hate we simply don’t stack up. For some people, all they ever see when it comes to antisemitism is the occasional swastika or the story on the news about the swastika.
What these recent tragedies have given us, is two case studies to say to schools, community leaders, and universities – when you do not highlight antisemitism alongside all the other forms of hate – the demonization of Jews and Israel is allowed to fester and grow. When you aren’t taking advantage of opportunities like Jewish American Heritage Month, you are sending the message that 1) false perceptions of Jews don’t matter 2) we only have a responsibility to educate our community about the demonization of some groups and not others, and 3) that demonization of Jews and Israelis does not have dire and often tragic consequences.
As I say to colleagues, there should be no such thing as a “suffering Olympics”. Meaning, we should not be comparing one group to another and making choices about who has suffered more and should therefore get our attention when it comes to hate. And as I also often say – sadly - there is enough hatred to go around.
As rocked as our community is right now – this is the time to be bringing these examples to our community partners and say loudly and clearly – this is what happens when hate targeting any community is not taken seriously. Even if you disagree with policies of the government of Israel, this is what happens when you allow a normalized demonization of an entire county or of American Jews to persist. This is our history from Nazi Germany, going back to Russian Pogroms, the Spanish Inquisition, and the story of Esther. We know what it means to be made out to be a monster – whether we have means and power or not.
For the JCRC, these are the conversations we are taking into our partnerships. After attending a number of events this past month with the Asian American Community (AANHPI) I can tell you we have shared these concerns, and their leaders have similar concerns around recent hate aimed at their community. They also don’t fully grasp the Israel piece – but they get hate, they watch the news, and this is the time for those conversations to hit home. You can feel horribly about what is happening in Gaza and still speak out against targeting young Israelis and American Jews.
As JCRC moves forward in conversations with the Clayton schools on curricular approaches they are taking on antisemitism, they now get that this is a priority because they now see how antisemitism left unchecked can lead to horrific consequences – beyond the recent spray-painting of a swastika on the walls of a school.
And as we move into PRIDE Month, we take very seriously the past years when Jewish groups have been targeted nationally and demonized in this very same way. And yet – we will move forward with the more numerous partners in our communities who do understand what dehumanizing any group is really about, how wrong it is, and what it can lead to.
For JCRC, sharing these enduring understandings about hate, bias, and bigotry of all kinds, is exactly what connects us to other groups and allows us the common language to speak effectively about the particular needs of the Jewish community in 2025.
