A sharp increase in violent antisemitic incidents across the country has stoked fear, grief, and anger within the American Jewish community, leading many to question whether leaders are responding with the urgency the moment demands.
In Colorado, a man set fire to a crowd with a makeshift flamethrower during a march in support of Israeli hostages, injuring 12 people. That attack came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy staffers were shot and killed outside a Jewish museum event in Washington, D.C. Just a month earlier, an arsonist set fire to the Pennsylvania governor’s residence, home to Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, while he and his family were asleep on the first night of Passover.
Officials reported that in both Colorado and Washington, individuals involved in the incidents yelled “Free Palestine” during the events. In Pennsylvania, the person responsible for the arson later claimed it was retaliation for Israeli actions against Palestinians.
“It is obviously tragic that it is happening with great frequency now,” said Stephen Kahn, senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Scottsdale, Arizona. “We’re not in a good place.”
Kahn, who was ordained in 1995, reflected on how drastically the environment has shifted.
“This wouldn’t have even cracked the top 20 things to worry about back then,” he said. “We thought antisemitism was over. America had been so good to the Jewish people.”
The rising violence across the country, showing up in unpredictable ways, has increased fears among many American Jews. It’s created a feeling that being visibly Jewish in public is becoming risky.
‘I’ve lost all my friends’: Isolation deepens for Jews amid rising hate
Alexandra Ward, a 37-year-old mother of two in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., said she is deeply concerned for her daughter’s safety at her Jewish preschool.
“I’ve been more cautious since the D.C. shooting. I think any Jewish institution is a target now,” she said. “This isn’t the America we thought we knew. It’s a scary time to be a Jew.”
Ward said she has stopped attending large Jewish gatherings and considered buying a gun for protection. When she took a firearms safety class, she noticed every person there was Jewish.
“Everyone in that class was Jewish. It was full. It’s just really scary,” she said, though she ultimately decided not to purchase a weapon. “If things keep going in this direction, I might reconsider.”
Caitlin, 41, who asked that her last name be withheld due to safety concerns, said her Washington, D.C. neighborhood has been repeatedly targeted with antisemitic graffiti and flyers.
“I don’t wear my Jewish star anymore,” she said, referring to her necklace. “My mom and I were going to go to services a couple of weeks ago and decided not to. It felt risky.”
Caitlin said anti-Israel protests have morphed into something more sinister.
“I’ve lost all my friends, like all my friends, because they’re all just — they’ve completely gone the other way,” she explained. “How can you be friends with people calling for your death?”
While some in the Jewish community strongly oppose the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza, they’re struggling to separate themselves from collective blame. Mara, a 27-year-old nonprofit organization worker in Washington, D.C., said it’s been difficult to see anti-Zionism blur into antisemitism.
“I think since October 7, I’ve found it really challenging to sort of extricate antisemitism from anti Zionism, and I feel like there’s a lot of conversations about Israel that sort of put the two together,” she explained. “I think as an American Jew, I really care about my Jewish community in the U.S., and I really care about being safe. And I think a big part of us being safe is not always aligning ourselves with Israel.”
A community demanding action: ‘Where is the outrage?’
Susan Shankman, senior rabbi of the Washington Hebrew Congregation, said there’s a profound sense of frustration within the community over the lack of public outrage in response to the recent violent wave of antisemitism.
“I think that many in the Jewish community are asking, where is the outrage?” Shankman asked rhetorically. “Our values urge us to speak out against hatred, and when it happens to any other group, we speak out. We consistently speak out against such hatred and violence, and we stand with others at those times, and it does not feel at this moment as though that same compassion is being returned.”
Shankman, who leads one of the largest reform congregations in the country, said that hate, violence, and terrorism are never the solution.
“I do believe that it’s up to communities making this decision that we won’t tolerate hate and the way to confront it is not through more hate and anger and bigotry and violence,” she explained.
A fall 2024 survey by the American Jewish Committee found that 93% of American Jews view antisemitism as at least a moderate issue, and nearly a quarter reported hearing an antisemitic remark in the past year. Two percent said they had been physically assaulted.
The wide-reaching protest movement against the war in Gaza has complicated attempts to separate criticism of the Israeli government, or even of Israel’s existence, from outright animosity toward Jewish people. Critics argue chants such as “globalize the Intifada” amount to barely disguised incitements to violence against Jewish communities. Protests across the country and the world have featured chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan that Jews understand as a call for the destruction of Israel.
The Anti-Defamation League’s most recent report found that 58% of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. had direct ties to Israel-related themes, the first time that figure has crossed the halfway mark.
Calls for a national response: ‘We need the money now’
Amid rising threats, Ron Halber, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, is urging Congress to dramatically increase funding for the federal government’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, raising the budget to $1 billion. The program, administered by FEMA, funds security upgrades for vulnerable nonprofit institutions, including synagogues.
Yet in March 2024, despite a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks, the program’s budget was cut by $30.5 million, dropping from $305 million to $274.5 million. Halber pointed to the recent shooting in Boulder as a stark example of the urgency.
“This person who committed this act of terrorism in Boulder was able to walk right into the crowd, and they obviously had no security, because they were just a group of people who were getting together for a peaceful walk,” Halber said. “I think those days are over. I think the time is now that most Jewish groups have to think whenever they’re gathering in public. There has to be some security, and we have to have the ability to get this money quickly.”
He stressed the need for more flexibility in the grant process and additional funds for operational costs, like hiring guards. Smaller or informal Jewish groups, he noted, often don’t qualify for or can’t navigate the application process.
“They need to make the program more flexible, they need to add significant funding, and they need to get the money out the door quickly,” Halber said. “It shouldn’t take months and months of waiting. We need the money now.”
Drawing the line between criticism and hate
Jonathan, a Jewish young professional in Washington, D.C., said political leaders must more clearly condemn rhetoric that veers into incitement. He emphasized the need to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and rhetoric that promotes hate or glorifies violence.
“It’s one thing to be concerned about the children of Gaza, who unfortunately, have become significant collateral damage from the response to the attacks in Israel on October 7, but it’s another thing to be using code words like ‘free Palestine’ and ‘globalize the Intifada,’” he said.
He called for federal action to investigate groups that promote or justify terrorism and revoke their tax-exempt status if necessary.
”There should be a refocus that these organizations that are promoting hate do not deserve tax-exempt status,” he explained. “Freedom of speech is extraordinarily important, but we are allowing coded language to be used to support terrorism, and that should not be allowed.”
Rabbi Kahn agreed that the solution will require coordinated leadership from both within and outside the Jewish community.
“The event in Boulder and what happened in D.C. are indicative of a society that has green-lit Jew hatred and can only be stopped by political leadership, Jewish leadership, and our non-Jewish friends,” he said.
Halber said that the burden of combating antisemitism cannot fall solely on Jews.
“It’s the job of non-Jews not to hate us. It’s the job of, when there’s antisemitism, for non Jewish elected officials to reject it. It’s the job of other faith groups to reject it, clergy, labor leaders, and business leaders as well.”
Hope in the next generation
Despite the darkness, Rabbi Shankman said she sees hope in the next generation of American Jews.
At a recent Bat Mitzvah and confirmation ceremony, she said teens proudly wore Jewish symbols and spoke about B’tselem Elohim, the belief that every human being is made in the image of God.
“In this moment, they’re not backing down, they’re stepping up,” she said.
BOULDER SUSPECT CHARGED WITH FEDERAL HATE CRIME FOR TARGETING ‘ZIONIST GROUP‘
It’s a theme deeply rooted in the Jewish diaspora, the enduring strength of a people who have persisted through displacement, adversity, and countless attempts to erase them.
“That’s what we do as Jews. Instead of being afraid to go out, we come together, bond, and overcome,” Jonathan, the young Jewish D.C. professional, said. “That’s what they’ve done for millennia, for thousands of years, we find ways to come together and recognize that we’re one people.”
Rabbi Kahn encouraged the Jewish community to view simple expressions of identity, such as gathering together, wearing the Star of David, and embracing their heritage, as powerful forms of resistance against those who try to silence or intimidate them.
“We act in defiance of those people who think that they’re going to scare us into submission,” Kahn said.