Jews: Don't remain in blissful ignorance - opinion

‘Will you hide me when they come for me?” This was the most dramatic segment of Bari Weiss’s interview with Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Meta, titled, “I was wrong about antisemitism.”

Sandberg was describing a walk she took with a non-Jewish friend just after October 7. She was emotionally overwhelmed from the attack on the Jewish state and pleading for help. Her friend responded, “It will never come to that, but of course, I would hide you.” Moments later in the interview, Sandberg admitted that she no longer believed that Jews were in any real danger.

A recently circulated meme stated, “Nothing broke our Jewish hearts more than the absence of understanding and empathy from the people we thought were our friends.” While it’s true that this is gut-wrenching, it’s even more disturbing to see Jews who fail to comprehend their own reality.

Blissful ignorance

The only way anyone could be as dismissive as Sandberg – and she’s far from alone – is if his or her head was in the sand. From the protests both on and off campus to the constant antisemitic acts of violence worldwide, it’s clear that they are coming for us. These incidents are regular and widespread. Recently, for example, a protester on a New York subway car screamed out, “Raise your hands if you’re a Zionist! This is your chance to get out.” Not only did all the Jewish riders stay silent (because that’s truly what that call was for), but so did the rest of the passengers.

Many who attend the rallies and cry for justice have no sense of the actual situation on the ground in Israel. They’ve heard the word “genocide” and the phrase “the right side of history,” and, like the lambs that they are, they have fallen in line without any additional inspection. This social pressure has caused people either to march or, like those on the subway, to remain silent out of fear.

However, there’s a much larger issue at hand. The undermining of democracies is happening in real-time. The Free Press published a piece by Ayaan Hirsi Ali that details the move to socialism occurring in the West. A prime example is the foreign funding of universities, which has taught a generation of youth to hate their own country and believe that democracy is a colonialist oppressor that needs to be dismantled. None of this bodes well for the Jews. History has proven that we are not safe in socialist settings.

The reason Sandberg and her friend were so confident about the safety of Jews is that the government has no official policy targeting them. As I have said to myself, “It’s one thing for crazy college students to chant “death to the Jews,” but the government is protecting us, and that will never change.” But is that the case? Those who hate democracy and the Jewish people have already made their way into the halls of government. The Squad consists of members of the US Congress who ascribe to these philosophies, and those on the streets and campuses are the future leaders.

As I listened to Sandberg’s flippant dismissal of the threat to Jews around the world, the podcast was constantly interrupted. Every few sentences, a push notification sounded over the dialogue, informing me where the 150 rockets and 30 suicide drones fired by Hezbollah at my home – Israel – landed in just one day alone. 

The terrorist organization has been attacking the North since October 7, but its tactics have changed recently. They no longer limit their targets to public infrastructure. They know that the IDF will not use the Iron Dome to intercept rockets destined for unpopulated zones. Now that it’s summer and the climate is much drier, they are bombing the open areas to start forest fires. And they are succeeding in burning down the North.

What Sandberg and others like her fail to understand is that Israel is the tip of the spear in the battle against the West. The defensive war we’re waging against the radical Islamist terror groups in the region is the last stronghold for both Jews and those who stand for freedom and peace. If, God forbid, the war ends with the destruction of the only Jewish state, then know that you are next.

The writer is a rabbi, a wedding officiant, and a mohel who performs britot (ritual circumcisions) and conversions in Israel and worldwide. Based in Efrat, he is founder of Magen HaBrit, an organization protecting the practice of brit milah and the children who undergo it.