This isn’t just about the Jews. It never was

In the aftermath of what’s now being called the "12-Day War," involving Israel, the U.S. and Iran, antisemitic rhetoric and incidents have reached new and disturbing heights.  This is beyond even the devastating rise we’ve seen since Oct. 7. 

The Anti-Defamation League's recent report should stop every decent human being in their tracks. For many of us in the Jewish community, it was not a surprise. Painful, yes. alarming, absolutely. But shocking? Tragically, no. 

We didn’t need the data. We live it. 

MAMDANI IS AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO JEWISH NEW YORKERS

Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate in New York City on Oct. 5, 2024, ahead of the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)

For the Jew today, especially high school and college students, this isn’t just a sociological trend. This is the air they breathe. Young Jews are coming of age in a world that bombards them with slogans not about political policy, but about their very identity. From graffiti and shattered windows in cities across the country to violent chants on campuses and real threats of harm, the current climate does not reflect honest debate about international politics. Instead, it reveals a barely hidden, and often blatant, hatred of Jews, normalized in places where people are supposed to feel safe. 

I wear a yarmulke. I wear tzitzit (traditional Jewish fringes). I walk in the world as a very visible member-of-the-tribe. Before a single slur is thrown my way, no one asks me my thoughts on the last Israeli election. No one stops to inquire about my stance on a two-state solution. Like so many others who wear their Judaism proudly and publicly, I am targeted not for anything I’ve done, thought or said, but simply for who I am. They see a kippah, a mezuzah, a Jewish name or symbol and they lash out. That hatred is not academic or theoretical. It’s real, it’s visceral, and it makes no distinction. 

I’ve experienced my fair share of aggressive and dangerous antisemitism, but what chills me most is not my own experience. It’s fear in the eyes of the next generation. Students who feel they must hide their identities. High school students walking out of their Jewish Student Union (JSU) clubs wondering if they should remove their Star of David necklaces before their next class with a certain teacher. College kids who are afraid that simply being Jewish might make them social pariahs, or worse. They are expected, sometimes obligated, to celebrate everyone else's identity, but always hide their own. The double standard is glaring. 

Pro-Hamas supporters cause havoc outside of Union Station in Washington, D.C., July 24, 2024. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)

Let me be crystal clear: thoughtful and critical discourse about Israeli policy is not antisemitic. In fact, it’s necessary. Israel is a democratic country with its share of flaws and tough decisions to make. But when I hear people shouting, "Burn Tel Aviv to the ground" or "Globalize the Intifada," this is not policy critique. This is not intellectual opposition. This is a genocidal threat. We cannot let ourselves pretend otherwise. 

Antisemitism is no longer hiding in the shadows, rather showing up in polite society. The ADL report is chilling: mainstream voices are spreading conspiracy theories that Jews control policy, while slogans calling for Israel’s destruction and "Death to America" flood social media. What’s worse, White supremacists, radical Islamists, far-left activists and college professors now unite in their hatred of Jews. We’ve heard this before. We know where it leads. If you're not Jewish, reach out to your Jewish friends. Learn. Speak up. Challenge hate. When only one people is asked to justify their existence, something is deeply broken. Call it out. 

People hold an Israeli and U.S. flag in front of a large group of anti-Israel protesters in Los Angeles, Nov. 24, 2023. (David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images)

Above all, understand this: antisemitism is not a Jewish problem. It is a human problem. Wherever Jew-hatred was allowed to grow, so too grows the targeting of all other minorities. Societies that target Jews first never stop there. 

We Jews will not disappear nor cower. We will not apologize for existing. But we ask, simply, for your hand to stand together. Will you stand with us? Not just because we are your neighbors, colleagues, classmates and friends. But because all our children deserve a world where hatred is called out, justice is pursued and no one has to hide who they are. 

I still hold onto that dream. A world with more light, more courage and more compassion is possible. Let’s build it together. 

Rabbi Derek Gormin serves as Managing Director of NCSY and the Jewish Student Union (JSU), where he strives to inspire Jewish teens through education, advocacy, and joy. He lives in North Hollywood, CA with his wife and their five children.