A synagogue burned in Mississippi. Protesters chanted support for Hamas outside a Queens shul. Swastikas appeared in schools from New York to Arizona. A Jewish family’s Hanukkah decorations made them a target in California.
Many of these stories didn’t make national news. Some barely made local news. That’s part of the problem.
Antisemitism thrives in the dark. Our job is to make sure it doesn’t stay there.
A predawn fire heavily damaged Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson on Saturday, the state’s largest synagogue and the city’s only Jewish house of worship. Investigators ruled it arson and arrested a suspect Saturday night.
The fire destroyed the library and administrative offices. Two Torahs were lost and five damaged. One Torah that survived the Holocaust was protected in a glass case and remained intact.
This is the same synagogue the Ku Klux Klan firebombed in 1967 because the rabbi supported civil rights. Nearly 60 years later, the pattern repeats.
American Jews deserve what every American deserves: to not fear in or for our sacred spaces.
Protesters outside a synagogue in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens chanted “Say it loud, say it clear, we support Hamas here” during a demonstration Thursday night.
There is a difference between protesting against Jewish settlements in the West Bank and calling for violence outside a synagogue. Chants like “we support Hamas here” pose an immediate threat to Jewish safety and should be unequivocally condemned.
Governor Kathy Hochul called the rhetoric “disgusting” and “dangerous.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was direct: “Marching into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and leading with a chant saying ‘we support Hamas’ is a disgusting and antisemitic thing to do. Pretty basic!” Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the chants “wrong” and later clarified: “Chants in support of a terrorist organization have no place in our city.”
We’re grateful they said so clearly. Fighting for Jewish safety means naming threats when they happen, whoever is responsible.
Theo Von, one of the country’s most popular podcast hosts, hosted Dave Smith on his podcast this week for a conversation that included extended praise of Nick Fuentes and promotion of the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.
Smith called Fuentes “brilliant,” “hilarious,” and “legendary.” Von called him “fucking brave.” Smith argued that “there are going to be a group of people who wish that America remain majority white,” and dismissed Fuentes’ praise of Hitler as “sarcasm.”
This follows Tucker Carlson’s two-hour embrace of Fuentes in October and Shane Gillis telling Joe Rogan on Christmas Day that Fuentes is “still funny as f*ck.” One of America’s most vocal antisemites is being laundered through the podcast ecosystem, one “he’s just funny” at a time.
Jake Lang, a pardoned January 6 protester now running for Senate in Florida, held a demonstration outside AIPAC headquarters in Washington. He threw chocolate coins, gave a Nazi salute, and peddled the Great Replacement conspiracy, claiming Jewish money is causing the “brownification of America.”
Lang warned that lawmakers who receive AIPAC donations would be “hung for treason.” When asked if the Holocaust happened, he said, “Not at that level, no.”
No matter which organization you oppose, throwing gold coins, making Nazi salutes, and invoking the Great Replacement theory is blatant antisemitism. No other way to spin it. This is someone running for a Senate seat in Florida. We deserve better, at a bare minimum, leaders who aren’t clear antisemites.
Manhattan, NY: A man carved antisemitic remarks on the front door of the Grolier Club, a 140-year-old library on the Upper East Side that houses rare Hebrew manuscripts. When an employee approached him, he brandished a sharp object and continued making antisemitic remarks.
Redlands, CA: A 23-year-old man was arrested for firing an airsoft gun while shouting antisemitic slurs at a Jewish family’s home decorated for Hanukkah.
Croton-Harmon, NY: A paper with antisemitic drawing and swastika was found at the high school. The student was identified and the matter reported to police.
New York, NY: A swastika was carved into a boys’ locker room at the United Nations International School.
Tempe, AZ: Some campaign signs of City Council candidate Brooke St. George were vandalized with swastikas and “Hitler mustaches” at multiple locations.
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.
