If you are shaken this week, you are not alone. The attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, struck at the heart of Jewish life in America. A synagogue. A preschool. Over 100 children inside. We are blessed beyond measure that no one was killed. The security team and teachers who protected those children are heroes. And Temple Israel gathered for Shabbat the very next night. That is who we are.
This week’s newsletter sits in that context. Equating American Jews with the State of Israel puts Jewish lives in danger. And even where those connections exist, political beliefs are never a justification for violence. That is playing out right now, from Michigan to San Jose to a courtroom in Philadelphia.
On March 12, Ayman Mohamed Ghazali drove a pickup truck through the front doors of Temple Israel, the nation’s largest Reform synagogue, and opened fire. The truck contained fireworks and a chemical agent that ignited on impact. Security guards engaged him. One was struck and knocked unconscious. Ghazali died. The FBI is investigating the attack as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.”
Ghazali was a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen whose brothers were killed in an Israeli airstrike a week earlier. Some commentary framed this as an understandable overflow of grief. It is not. Political disagreement never justifies attacking a house of worship or the people inside it. And equating American Jews with Israel’s actions puts every synagogue, school, and community center at risk. The moment anyone treats violence against Jews as a response to geopolitics, they have accepted the premise that put the attacker behind the wheel.
Joe Kent, (now former) director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned with a letter blaming the U.S.-Israel war with Iran on “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” It is well within anyone’s right to oppose this war. But laying the entirety of blame on Israel and a shadowy “lobby” plays into traditional antisemitic tropes about Jews having dominion over world governments and global conflicts.
Kent’s record makes this worse. He has close ties to conspiracy theorists, 2020 election deniers, Proud Boys, Groypers, and other far-right extremists. His intentions and motives are not the moral stand he portrays. We must be able to have a robust debate about the war without it being marred by antisemitism or by weaponized false accusations of antisemitism. Kent’s letter fails that test.
The Trump administration’s demand that the University of Pennsylvania hand over the names of Jewish students and staff is now before a federal judge. At a March 10 hearing, Judge Gerald Pappert appeared receptive to the government’s argument. The original demand was wrong and counterproductive. Penn was right to refuse. Doubling down and taking the university to court to force its hand is beyond the pale.
San Jose, CA: Two Israeli-American men were beaten outside a restaurant at Santana Row after being overheard speaking Hebrew. One was knocked unconscious. Witnesses reported the attackers shouted antisemitic slurs and “don’t mess with Iran.” Three suspects have been charged with felony assault; hate crime charges remain under consideration.
San Jose, CA: Miles from the Santana Row attack, graffiti at San Jose State University called for the “eradication of Jews” alongside messages including “Kill all Jews” and “make Osama proud.” A leader of the Jewish faculty association said students were too afraid to attend a counseling session because they didn’t want to gather visibly as Jews on campus during a time of threat.
Manhattan, NY: Graffiti reading “Kill a Jew, go to heaven” was found spray-painted on a boulder in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side, one of the most Jewish neighborhoods in the city. The NYPD is investigating.
Brooklyn, NY: A 54-year-old Jewish man was punched repeatedly on the N train while his attacker made antisemitic remarks and ripped the yarmulke off his head. Neil Hurlock, 20, was arrested and charged with multiple hate crimes.
Brooklyn, NY: A swastika was scrawled on a vacant storefront in Brooklyn Heights. The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating.
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.
