Active Jewish Self-Defense
Jewish communities and Israelis around the world must respond to pro-Palestinian antisemitic attacks.
A short video on Facebook shows two young Jewish men. One is putting on tefillin at a Chabad booth in a public place; the other is playing the guitar, and the two carry on a conversation through song: A: You never told me you’re a Jew… B: I’m not! A: Well, look at you. What are you doing with that leather? B: I’m just checking my blood pressure.
It is lighthearted, youthful humor, but it brought some far less amusing associations to mind. One Jew is trying to hide his identity until his friend exposes it. Even when every sign makes it obvious that he is Jewish, he continues to deny it and comes up with an excuse about a medical procedure.
There is something deeply sad about this humor. Jews and Israelis are forced to conceal their identity; yet they are still routinely exposed, assaulted, and humiliated by agents of Palestinian-style Nazism in Western countries.
The great question before us: Is this a fate we are expected to accept submissively, as Jews did during the Spanish Inquisition or as people did in Nazi Germany? Or do we have the power to defend ourselves; and are we prepared to do so whenever necessary, without fear? Jewish communities and Israelis around the world have all the capabilities necessary to actively defend themselves against this pro-Palestinian antisemitic terror.
The Israeli government has a role to play in protecting Jewish communities in every corner of the world. Ahead of the High Holy Days this coming September, the government instructed Jewish communities to demand greater security from their respective countries. Expecting Mamdani to provide security for the Jews of New York is like expecting Khamenei to provide security for Zionists. Moreover, no security system in the world can prevent every act of harassment against Jews. Local police, even when they genuinely want to help, cannot protect every Jew on the way home after praying at a synagogue. We therefore should not place too much faith in security alone. Jews themselves must be prepared to act in their own defense, with the full support of the State of Israel.
The State of Israel tells Israeli tourists to keep a low profile: not to wear clothing that identifies them as Israeli, to conceal their kippah and tzitzit, and not to speak Hebrew in public. Palestinian terrorists are sophisticated enough to recognize Israeli vulnerability around the world and exploit it to the fullest. In most cases, we suffer a double loss: we appear weak, and we get attacked regardless. That equation must be reversed. Israelis must look like Israelis and sound like Israelis wherever they are in the world. Anyone who attacks them should not expect to walk away from the encounter unscathed.
Take, for example, the antisemitic attack on Friday night, August 14, at Central Synagogue in Manhattan. A neo-Nazi terrorist enters the synagogue during prayers, violently attacks worshippers and confronts the security guards. A local police officer manages to arrest him, and charges are now being filed against him. That is not how such an incident should end. A synagogue full of Jews, together with several security guards, should fight back and send the attacker to the emergency room with broken bones. These Jews have every moral and legal justification to beat the attacker until every potential attacker thinks twice about whether he is willing to put himself at risk. Without Jewish deterrence, antisemitic attacks will become increasingly severe.
We can learn a great deal from an antisemitic incident that took place on one of the Philippine islands on August 3, 2026. A Spanish tourist sitting in a café recognized an Israeli tourist. He hurled insults at him and physically attacked him. Within minutes, the Spanish tourist found himself dazed on the floor. Cameras at the scene captured the Spaniard’s attack and his defeat at the hands of the Israeli. The police gave him two choices: apologize and compensate the Israeli, or risk arrest and prosecution. The footage was posted on social media, and the humiliation suffered by the antisemitic Spaniard was enormous. Uriah, the Israeli, is a model for every Israeli who finds himself facing an antisemitic attack. This is how the Jewish people defend themselves.
It is clear to me that if the Mossad takes responsibility for the security of Jews and Israelis around the world, it will not be long before most antisemitic attacks come to an end. The Mossad will know how to identify the attackers and those behind them, and strike back at them through covert means. The attackers have an address. They have property and bank accounts. They have jobs or places of study. They have aspirations for citizenship, and they have a desire to stay alive. If we reach them instead of waiting for them to reach us, we can effectively quell this wave of attacks. In other words, the pursuers must feel pursued. They must understand that the rules of the game have changed. Just as the State of Israel has grown stronger and protects the Jewish minority in the Middle East against numerous enemies, Jews and Israelis must likewise find the formula for victory.
