As another devastating side effect of the deadly Oct. 7
Hamas
terror attacks on
Israeli
civilians, Jews around the world are becoming the targets of antisemitic hate. First came celebrations of the slaughter. In
Cyprus
; Sydney,
Australia
;
Ontario
and
Toronto
,
Canada
;
Beirut
; Damascus; Baghdad; Cairo; and Ramallah, supporters of Palestinian resistance came together to applaud attacks on the Israeli state.
The Anti-Defamation League
tracked 39
anti-Israel rallies in the United States. They included events in
New York City,
Chicago
, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Tucson, Anaheim, San Francisco, Columbus, Tampa Bay, Albuquerque, Providence,
Philadelphia
, and Washington, D.C. In New York City, one reveler
displayed pictures
of dead Israelis on his phone. Another
showed off a picture
of a Nazi swastika. A speaker in Philadelphia attested that “every person who died yesterday wasn’t innocent. Every Israeli Settler by default is a terrorist.” In Chicago, crowds chanted, “No Zionism in our town.”
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“Make no mistake,” a speaker told crowds in D.C., “We are in celebration.”
These celebrations soon gave way to acts of outright antisemitism.
In France, more than 20 individuals have been arrested in relation to “
dozens of antisemitic acts
” recorded since Saturday. These incidents include Jewish children, wholly innocent of ties to the Israeli state, being harassed by classmates. A student’s shirt was ripped during one attack.
In London, authorities report that antisemitic incidents have increased three-fold compared with the same period last year. Photos of smashed windows at a
kosher restaurant
in London are devastatingly reminiscent of photos from
Kristallnacht
, the night of broken glass, when Nazi leaders vandalized and destroyed Jewish-owned homes, synagogues, and businesses.
In the U.S., Jews are likewise in increasing danger. One individual
posted a video
outside a Corsicana, Texas, synagogue giving the Nazi salute and threatening that he could not wait “til the day that we [expletive] expel you mother[expletives].” In Irvine, California, a
man carried
a swastika flag as he marched across a highway overpass. At Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a pro-Israel Jewish student’s dorm room door was
set aflame
. Services at a Salt Lake City, Utah, synagogue were stopped after a
bomb threat
was called in on Sunday.
The growth of anti-Jewish rhetoric online is especially concerning. On Oct. 6, the ADL’s Center on Extremism noted “
59 Telegram messages
from extremists … call[ing] for violence against Jews, Israelis and Zionists.” Just 18 hours after Hamas’ attacks, the center tracked over 347 threatening messages, a 488% increase over the prior day.
These messages emanate from white supremacist groups, groups that espouse antisemitism, and groups affiliated with the Islamic State. In some posts, the ADL said that “antisemites and white supremacist groups discuss hopes of similar future violence against Jews in America.”
What started as revelers celebrating attacks on Israel is morphing into a large-scale campaign of antisemitism. In some cases, Jews are under attack as proxies for the Israeli state simply because of their religion. They are also being targeted by extremist groups seizing on these events to act on their deep antisemitic hatred.
In the U.S., this shift arrives at a time when the country has already been experiencing a disturbing trend of rising antisemitism.
According
to the Pew Research Center, 2.4% of American adults are Jewish. FBI hate crime data show that 54.1% of religiously motivated hate crimes in 2021
targeted Jews
. In 2022, the ADL recorded
3,697 antisemitic incidents
in the U.S. This represents a 36% increase in incidents over the prior year. It was also the “third time in the past five years that the year-end total [of antisemitic incidents] has been the highest number ever recorded.”
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There is no time to waste in protecting Jewish Americans who are likely to come under increasing attack in the coming weeks as Israel defends itself against the enemy that slaughtered its innocent populace. While
police departments
around the country, as well as the FBI, are standing up to protect the Jewish community at this troubling time, everyday citizens must look inward and do their part. We should all stand in support of our Jewish countrymen, who do not deserve to be subject to violence and harassment as a result of geopolitical events occurring on the other side of the world.
Beth Bailey (
@BWBailey85
) is a freelance contributor to Fox News Digital and the co-host of The Afghanistan Project, which takes a deep dive into the tragedy wrought in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
