Antisemitism is a tangible reality, not just theory or online debates.
This week showed how few people with a platform treat it that way. In their hands the word became a verdict, handed down or withdrawn by allegiance: guilt for enemies, absolution for friends, and no reference to what it actually means.
Every one of those verdicts leaves Jews less safe. The word only protects anyone when it stays tied to reality.
Hasan Piker defended calling Haredi Jews “inbred” this week by pointing out that he calls plenty of other groups inbred too. That’s not how tropes work. This claim has targeted Jews for centuries: race scientists blamed Jewish “inbreeding” for everything from diabetes to madness, and the Nazis turned it into proof of racial impurity.
Yes, there have been false accusations of antisemitism against Piker. This isn’t one of them. Insisting it is makes it worse. A trope directed at some Jews is still a trope.
On Carlson’s podcast Monday, Hunter Biden told the host “I know 100 percent you’re not antisemitic” and framed the accusations against him as attempts to silence criticism of Israel. This about a man who hosted Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes for a friendly two-hour conversation last fall.
Criticism of Netanyahu is not antisemitism. Whitewashing Carlson is something else. Biden owes an apology, for going on the show and for the cover he’s providing now.
On his show last week, Ben Shapiro said Jon Stewart is “as Jewish as a ham sandwich” and Bernie Sanders was born a Jew but isn’t actually one. Sanders lost family in the Holocaust and is the reason menorahs are included next to Christmas trees in public displays. What both men have actually done is criticize the Israeli government.
Stripping Jews of their Jewishness over their politics borrows antisemitism’s central logic: someone else gets to decide who the real Jews are.
Rep. Nancy Mace posted on August 7 that “Every single Muslim holding public office in America is a trojan horse” and a threat to national security. Pressed on CNN, she named Zohran Mamdani and Abdul El-Sayed and said Islam should be removed from civil society in the United States.
Swap the word Muslim for Jew and the post is unpublishable. Mace faced no consequences and will finish her term.
A politics that sorts citizens into loyal and suspect by religion has never stopped at one religion.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns dismissed the Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard on Thursday, calling the incidents cited “too isolated and episodic” to establish a Title VI violation. Last year a different judge ruled the administration’s Harvard funding cuts unlawful, calling antisemitism a smokescreen for an ideological assault on universities.
Jewish students at Harvard have real concerns. This lawsuit was never built to address them.
Metro Detroit, MI: Antisemitic fliers were distributed through towns in Michigan, including Oak Park, Huntington Woods, Berkley, and Southfield in late July, the latest in a months-long campaign. The materials carried swastikas, Great Replacement content, and lists of Jewish officials and executives. The Jewish Federation of Detroit counts four or five separate distributions in recent weeks.
San Diego, CA: Someone broke into the off-campus home of UC San Diego’s Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter and spray-painted swastikas, KKK references, and “Die AEPi” across the walls. Police are investigating it as a hate crime, with a $2,000 reward for information.
Campbell, CA: A state investigation found Westmont High School failed to respond adequately after a student told a teacher “Don’t talk to that Jew” about a classmate, then said the Holocaust was deserved. Investigators concluded the teacher laughed, then denied it. The state has ordered staff training by September 1.
North Miami Beach, FL: A man wearing a kippah was struck with a cellphone and threatened with a metal chair at a Starbucks inside a Target, the assailant shouting “I hate them.” Bystanders intervened. The suspect faces felony charges.
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.
We’ll continue offering clear responses, frameworks, and resources as these stories develop.
