At this moment, IDF soldiers are deep inside Gaza, battling street to street to root out Hamas. I have no doubt they will be victorious. While I pray Israel’s soldiers are safe and swift to victory, I worry about the other global battlegrounds where we, the Jewish people, are under attack.
Hamas’s October 7 massacre opened the floodgates of Jew-hatred worldwide. We find ourselves in a global war against the ideology that Hamas stands for, yet despite the mounting threat, we seem uncertain and ill-equipped.
While I understand the fear that has gripped my fellow Jews, I refuse to see us as victims. And neither should you. We must meet this moment and confront our enemies on the battlefields of law, academia, business, philanthropy, media, and every other front where Jews are under attack.
If non-Jewish cowboys from Arkansas and Montana can rise to the challenge, surely we can too.
There’s no time to waste. Teeming Jew-hatred has exploded on university campuses, where calls for violence against Israel and against Jews have become habitual. Students march through campus repeating the chants of terrorist leaders: “Globalize the Intifada,” “From the River to the Sea,” and “We don’t want no two states, we want 48.”
Some even riff on Hitler’s Final Solution, screaming, “There is only one Solution.”
These are the fruits of a decades-long effort to make college campuses a breeding ground for anti-Israel propaganda. Students have been taught that Zionism is fascist, imperialist, racist, and colonialist and that Zionists are Nazis. In a post-Holocaust world, where Nazis symbolize the ultimate ideological evil and colonialism and racism are the ultimate crimes, the strategy is clear.
By accusing Israel of these evils, it becomes acceptable, even virtuous, to persecute Israelis and Jews. That is why a Cornell professor said he was “exhilarated” by Hamas’s terror attack and a professor at Columbia wrote that the Hamas savagery was a “major achievement” and a source of “jubilation and awe.”
Of course, it isn’t just on campus.
Antisemitism all over the world
We’ve seen a pogrom play out at an airport in Russia, Stars of David painted on Jewish apartments and businesses in Berlin and Paris, and Jewish students at Cooper Union in New York City forced to hide in a library while an angry mob banged on the doors. We’ve watched social media platforms devolve into mindless echo chambers flooded with mendacious accusations that Israel is committing genocide.
People who would never be so heartless as to rip down posters of a missing pet angrily tear down posters of kidnapped Israelis. Amidst the crowds of thousands marching in capital cities, one can spot swastikas and Hamas flags.
While the pro-Hamas masses have been crystal clear in their words and intent, we have been slow to mount a forceful response.
Our great failing is thinking that because we are in the intellectual and moral right, folks will come around. They won’t.
We think that because we marched by their side in the pursuit of justice causes, they will come to our side now. They won’t.
We think that if we just polish our talking points and refine our memes, we can convince them. They won’t be convinced.
There is no one coming to our rescue. It’s time for us to internalize this truth and recognize that we – the Jewish people worldwide – have the wherewithal to take on this fight. We’ve already seen an inkling of what that can look like, but now every person must take part.
Stop donating to colleges and causes that won’t unequivocally condemn Hamas.
Report every act of discrimination students face on campus so that we can file a class action lawsuit against the schools that are not meeting their obligation to keep Jews safe.
Rent every digital billboard available and display the faces of the hostages. Share their stories and those of their heartbroken family members on your social media channels.
Be part of a global campaign to ostracize Qatar and Turkey from every forum – sport, culture, business – until they expel the Hamas leaders who live like kings within their borders. You may think it’s beyond you, but if you belong to an athletic club or cultural institution or do business overseas, you, too, can apply pressure.
We are a people known for resilience and ingenuity. This is our fight, and there can be no backing down. Consider this your call-up.
The writer is a former director of speech writing at the Israel Mission to the United Nations and co-founder of Boundless Israel, a nonprofit organization that partners with community leaders in the US to support Israel education and combat Jew-hatred.