The Rising Tide of Anti-Israel Hate Must Be Stopped

Last week, two staffers from the Israeli Embassy – Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim – were murdered in cold blood outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC. The alleged killer told police that he “did it for Palestine.” 

Killing a young Jewish couple outside of an event in Washington does nothing to help the Palestinian people. But for this terrorist murderer, it was enough to know that the defenseless civilians he killed were Jewish – giving him the chance to shout his nonsense to the watching media.

Antisemitic violence, harassment, and discrimination have been on the rise both nationally and globally for years. I called attention to this worrying trend on a number of occasions during my time as Secretary of State. But the October 7th attacks on Israel ushered in a new era of danger for the Jewish people. And Hamas urged their followers to bring the violence to the United States and across the globe.

The United States saw an estimated 360% increase in antisemitic incidents in the three months following October 7, 2023, compared to the same period the previous year. College campuses have become infamous hotspots of antisemitism: Nearly 50% of Jewish college students report that they have felt uncomfortable or unsafe at campus events because they are Jewish, avoided visible expressions of their Judaism, or held back from expressing their views on Israel due to fears of antisemitism.

Unfortunately, this is part of a global trend. A report by the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel identified 2024 as a “peak year” for antisemitism, with an astounding 340% increase in antisemitic incidents worldwide – nearly doubling since 2023.

It’s worth noting that the spike began in the days immediately after October 7th – before Israel had retaliated against Hamas, when the world should have been united in disgust and outrage at Hamas’ gleeful slaughter of so many innocent men, women, and children.

Apologists for the terrorists who seek Israel’s destruction are full of excuses for antisemitic speech, harassment, and even violence. By their logic, the Jewish people bear collective responsibility for the actions of the Jewish state; and since they erroneously consider the State of Israel to be fundamentally illegitimate and guilty of any number of crimes, then individuals of Jewish origin become, in their minds, legitimate targets.

This evil must be fought on every front.

After more than a year of dithering by the Biden Administration, we are thankfully starting to see real action by President Trump to protect the civil rights of Jewish Americans.

The steps being taken to punish violators of these legal protections – particularly the universities that have become havens for violent Hamas supporters – are long overdue and should serve as a deterrent for other large-scale organizations that have tolerated or encouraged antisemitism.

I’m proud to note that the ACLJ has a long record of cases pushing back on antisemitism, including lawsuits brought against universities like the City University of New York (CUNY) for a sustained pattern of tolerating antisemitism on campus. And I applaud the steps the Trump Administration is taking against places like Harvard that refuse to curtail antisemitic hate in the name of free speech.

In Congress, the important oversight work that has done so much to expose the problem of antisemitism within federally funded institutions must continue. Additionally, lawmakers like Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar who provide rhetorical aid and comfort to these bad actors must be called out and should face punitive action by their party leadership.

Antisemitism is a symptom of societal sickness. Without reaffirming the Judeo-Christian values at the heart of our Founders’ vision, we will grow ever-more vulnerable to the radicalism, hatred, and bigotry.

George Washington knew this well. While antisemitism remained rife even among his enlightened contemporaries, he saw that it could – and would – have no place in the United States of America. As he wrote in his historic letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island:

It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens . . . . May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants.

Every American should reject the evil of antisemitism so that the heinous mistakes of the past are never repeated.