October 7 has reached US soil, as violence against American Jews is surging - opinion

One month after October 7 last year, a Jewish man in Los Angeles was killed by a pro-Palestinian protester during a pro-Palestinian rally. In February this year, two Jewish men in the Los Angeles, California area were shot and wounded as they left their synagogues. In August, a Jewish man was stabbed outside a synagogue in Brooklyn while the perpetrator yelled “Free Palestine” and “Do you want to die?”

Students at dozens of colleges have been harassed, threatened, and assaulted on campus by protesters. A student at Cornell University was sentenced to prison for making online posts that included, “if you see a jewish ‘person’ on campus… slit their throat” and threatening to rape, torture, and throw Jewish women off a roof.

And in September, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a 20-year-old Pakistani citizen, was arrested for allegedly planning an ISIS-inspired mass terrorist attack targeting Jewish people in New York City. The attack was planned for October 7, 2024. 

What began in Israel has reached US soil.

The FBI just reported that the Jewish community is the most targeted religious group in the United States for hate crimes. Jews are just 2% of the population but account for 67% of all religiously motivated hate crimes.

These include the 1,005 bomb threats and swatting incidents in the last year logged by the Secure Community Network (SCN), the official security organization of the North American Jewish community – incidents that can force evacuations as people are abruptly pushed out of their facilities. 

Religious services, school days, and other events are interrupted, causing fear and sometimes trauma for those who engage in Jewish life. People go to synagogues to pray. They should not have to flee.

Other incidents include events where protesters proudly support the terror group Hamas and their terroristic actions. Individuals are frequently seen promoting and advocating for the slaughter and genocide of Jews with pro-Hamas flags, slogans, and vandalizing buildings, sidewalks, and other public spaces. 

The Justice Department has brought charges, obtained plea agreements, and secured sentences for over 30 criminal acts motivated by antisemitic hate in just the past few months. SCN has worked with authorities on many of these cases.

ALL OF THIS is happening within our country and being stoked, in some cases, by outside influences. Iran is fomenting some of these violent groups and has been actively involved in financing anti-Israel protests. In so doing, Iran and Hamas have found their way into our cities and towns and systematically infiltrated our institutions. They are actively influencing and working to undermine American life.

It’s time for Americans to wake up and face these threats before a mass attack takes place.

American society has become too tolerant of Jewish hatred

Instead of universal outrage, what we have seen – too often – is tolerance. Too many of our own institutions have stood idle against this fierce rise in hate and violence toward Jews.

When asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violates their universities’ Codes of Conduct, the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania equivocated.

The leaders of the most prestigious schools in our country believed overtly calling for genocide is not severe enough on its own – as if the value of Jewish lives requires context.

At Emerson College in Boston, 118 protesters were arrested after police cleared an anti-Israel encampment. The school then posted bail for all the students, signaling institutional support for students breaking both the law and the college’s own code of conduct.  

Columbia and the University of Southern California allowed students to take over campus buildings during protests, interrupt campus activity, invade safe and sacred educational spaces, break windows, and cause damage.

This institutional tolerance has a direct impact on the safety and security of Jews. If this were to happen to any other community, it simply would not be accepted.

But no matter what, we won’t let these attacks and threats stop us. We will continue to worship, gather, and pass our religion on to the next generation. For thousands of years, people tried to stop us. No one has ever been successful, and especially in the United States, we must not let anyone succeed.

AS WE REACH the anniversary of the October 7 mega-atrocity by Hamas, we need Americans from all walks of life to support our community. We need pressure applied, especially to university leaders, who tolerate violence and illegal encampments. We need people, if they see something, to say something to law enforcement. We need those with authority to prosecute people who engage in hate crimes.

And we need our community to stay engaged: to implement security and safety protocols at our institutions that are based on best practices, not fear. We need community members to get trained to be empowered and resilient. We need to keep showing up to Jewish life.

We will continue to do our job to keep the community safe. And because this is America, we know we’re joined by tens of millions of people who see things the same way.  

But all it takes is one or two Hamas supporters to do untold damage. We need everyone’s help and support to make sure that never happens.

The writer is the national director and CEO of the Secure Community Network, the official safety and security organization for the Jewish community in North America.