Did rah-rah Israel rally make US Jews safer? - comment

It is already dangerous to be a Jew in America, but you would not have known that at Tuesday’s March for Israel in Washington, DC. 

The National Mall was awash with more than 290,000 individuals carrying Israeli flags, echoing cries of solidarity and hope as lawmakers and citizens from all backgrounds took the stage, passionately shouting, “Never again!” and “Bring them home!” 

This display of Jewish and American-Jewish unity was so compelling that it left spectators breathless. The rally took place nearly 40 days after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, resulting in the tragic loss of 1,200 lives and the abduction of more than 240 individuals, and casting doubt on the resilience of the Jewish homeland – a place that so many Jews worldwide are counting on to be their haven if ever required.

Beyond being a poignant expression of support for Israel, the event conveyed a resounding message to the tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian Americans, who have stood with Hamas and engaged in protests across the eastern United States, and to the world: America unequivocally stands with Israel.

In an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Marnie Atias, who traveled from Milwaukee with her 15-year-old, said: “The world can see that we are together.”

The crowd energetically waved hundreds of American and Israeli flags, symbolizing a powerful visual representation of unity.

The dark truth: The US may no longer be a safe haven for the Jews

HOWEVER, A conspicuous and looming truth overshadowed the National Mall, akin to a giant gray elephant: America is no longer the haven and steadfast partner that rally presenters universally praised on the center stage.

The previous day, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a report revealing a staggering 316% surge in antisemitic incidents in the US during the month following Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, compared to the corresponding period the previous year.

Between October 7 and November 7, 2023, the ADL Center on Extremism documented 832 antisemitic incidents, encompassing assault, vandalism, and harassment nationwide, averaging nearly 28 incidents daily. Among these, 632 were acts of harassment, 170 involved vandalism, and 30 were physical assaults.

Simultaneously, public concern about antisemitism is on the rise. In a recent survey, more than 70% of Americans expressed that Jew-hatred is a serious problem. This marks a one-third increase from 2022, when 53% of Americans held the same view.

Just last week, a 69-year-old man was killed in California during an altercation with a pro-Palestinian protester. Also, in California on November 3, a driver allegedly accosted a motorcyclist who was displaying an Israeli flag, then intentionally rammed into the motorcyclist with his car.

On October 26, a Jew in Chicago was repeatedly kicked by someone who snarled, “Don’t f**k up my s**t, Jew.”

On October 27, a student in Pennsylvania attacked a Jewish student during a football game, ripping off his Star of David pendant, saying, “I hate Jews,” and calling the victim “kike.”

On November 3, a Jewish student at a pro-Israel rally at the University of Massachusetts was punched by a counter-protester.

The list goes on and on. 

In recent years, the numbers of Jews have notably declined at most Ivy League institutions, where anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism have simultaneously risen. In the late 1960s, a New York Times survey showed that the Jewish student populations at Harvard, Yale, and Cornell were at their height, estimated at between 20% and 25%. Today, Jews make up between 10 and 12% of the student populations at Harvard and Yale, according to Hillel. 

The sentiment on these campuses is encapsulated by a letter published at Harvard. A coalition of more than 30 student groups posted an open letter on the night of the Hamas attack, saying that Israel was “entirely responsible” for Hamas’s violence.

Some Jews could not even get to the March for Israel on Tuesday because of antisemitism. 

The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit delegation largely, if not entirely, missed the rally due to what the federation described as a deliberate no-show by hired bus drivers responsible for transporting them between the airport and the National Mall.

“The buses that were hired to take over 900 participants from Dulles International Airport to the site of the march failed to appear, delaying the arrival of many in our group,” read a statement from the Detroit Federation circulated by the Jewish Federations of North America. “We have learned that this was caused by a deliberate and malicious walk-off of drivers.”

The drivers did not want to take a bus of Jews to a pro-Israel event.

On the stage, leaders recounted the events leading up to the Holocaust in Germany during the 1930s. In the initial six years of Hitler’s regime, German Jews experienced the repercussions of legislation that systematically relegated them from “citizens” to “outcasts.” The government, aiming to eliminate perceived “enemies of the state” within German society, undertook various measures.

In 1933, the Nazi party and its affiliated organizations orchestrated a nationwide boycott of Jewish-owned businesses in Germany. Subsequently, laws were enacted barring Jews from civil service positions, and another regulation sought to restrict the presence of Jews in public schools.

By October of that year, a new law prohibited non-Aryans from working in journalism. Two years later, the infamous Nuremberg Race Laws were introduced. And two years after that, the Buchenwald concentration camp began operating.

America is not Germany, which had already become a dictatorship ruled by the Nazi party bent on destroying the Jews. 

In fact, on Tuesday, the Biden-Harris administration took another step to address the concerning surge in reported antisemitic incidents in schools and on college campuses since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack, by allocating resources to engage school and university leaders to foster secure and supportive learning environments.

But the step was needed because America’s unsettling landscape for Jews, which had already changed, was now palatable. 

THE CHEERS of the pro-Israel community were intoxicating, exciting, and even enthralling. It was good. 

However, a solidarity rally does not replace the harsh reality that America may not be the haven it once was. 

Jewish participants might have felt a renewed jolt of determination standing there. That wave of emotion, however, has not dissipated the undercurrent of danger – and the questions it poses for the members of the US Jewish community about their own identities and their place in the nation they so cherish.

The writer is deputy CEO – strategy and innovation for The Jerusalem Post and a senior correspondent. She also co-hosts the Inside Israeli Innovation podcast.