The entire Jewish community is in mourning. Gunmen opened fire on Jewish families at a public menorah lighting at Bondi Beach. It was the deadliest antisemitic attack in Australian history.
Sadly, within hours, the responses showed the state of the fight against antisemitism, as hate and its weaponization spread rapidly on both the left and the right.
But there were also signs of hope. Four House Democrats introduced serious legislation that fights antisemitism while protecting democratic values. It’s a reminder that real alternatives exist.
These times are deeply unsettling, but this is why Nexus exists. We know that democracy has worked to keep our people safe for decades, and we will continue our fight to protect it.
While Jews mourned, disinformation and justification narratives spread online.
There were those who justified the massacre because some of the victims supported Israel. Posts with thousands of likes described Jewish communal spaces as “effective outposts” for violence and declared “a dead fascist is still a fascist.” And Richmond, California Mayor Eduardo Martinez, a DSA member, shared a post implying Israel staged the attack, alongside an image claiming “the root cause of antisemitism is the behaviour of Israel.”
It is antisemitic to suggest that an attack on a Jewish event filled with children and families is in any way justified. The fact that some of those spreading these egregious accusations are Jewish does not make them less antisemitic.
Meanwhile, a viral influencer who previously claimed “all Zionists are pedophiles,” accused the Satmar community of protecting abusers, and pushed the antisemitic “Chabad tunnels” conspiracy, targeting the very community attacked.
We call on progressive organizations to denounce this antisemitism. Silence is not an option.
Rep. Randy Fine responded to the attack by calling for “a Muslim travel ban, radical deportations of all mainstream Muslim legal and illegal immigrants, and citizenship revocations wherever possible.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville posted: “Islam is not a religion. It’s a cult. Islamists aren’t here to assimilate. They’re here to conquer.”
This is inflammatory, racist, Islamophobic, and contemptible. It is the height of irony to push this screed in the name of Jewish safety, given how interconnected antisemitism and xenophobia are.
Vice President JD Vance closed Turning Point USA’s annual conference by rejecting “purity tests” for the conservative movement, declining to condemn figures like Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. He also asked whether people would rather lead “a movement of freethinkers” or “a bunch of drones who take their orders from George Soros.”
Sadly, he was only one of many who spread antisemitism at the conference. Follow our social media accounts for more details.
Representatives Nadler, DeLauro, Frost, and Balint introduced a bill that would fully fund the Office for Civil Rights, create a National Coordinator to Counter Antisemitism, and expand the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
The bill includes safeguards against weaponization: criticism of Israeli government policy is protected speech, and antisemitism accusations cannot be used as pretext for attacking universities or suppressing protected speech.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency covered the bill’s introduction, quoting Nexus National Director Jonathan Jacoby.
This is what we do: track real antisemitism, call out when it’s weaponized, and make clear the difference. If you’d like to support this work, you can donate here. We’d love to connect.
The word “antisemitism” is being stretched so thin it’s starting to tear. Actual Jew-hatred is finding its way into congressional primaries and left-wing coalition politics.
Antisemitism is not a feeling, and fighting it is not a vibe. It is concrete work. It looks like enforcing a content policy you wrote.
