Israel Takes Flak for California Wildfires in Latest Bout of Jew-Hate

Within a day of historic wildfires battering Los Angeles, activists from Code Pink were knocking on the doors of U.S. Congressmen with a message: “When US taxes go to burning people alive in Gaza, we can’t be surprised when those fires come home.” Not every critique of the Israeli government is antisemitism, but this one really crossed a line.

Code Pink is not the only group pointing the finger. Commentator Medhi Hasan, anti-Israel groups Within Our Lifetime and Jewish Voices for Peace, and even satirical news publication The Hard Times took up this mantle, suggesting either that the wildfires are some sort of karmic retribution for the war in Gaza, or that allocating U.S. resources toward Israel’s war effort — which includes the task of bringing home seven American hostages in Gaza — somehow fails to benefit Americans and inhibits our preparedness to tackle domestic emergencies.  

Such claims, based on nothing but an unfair moral standard and disdain for Israel, definitively cross the threshold from fair critiques to antisemitism. Scapegoating the world’s only Jewish nation — which is half a world away — for the tragedy of the California wildfires is more than an egregious act of Jew-hate: It is an insult to all stakeholders and a distraction from the important conversations about actionable solutions.

Blaming Jews and Israel during a natural disaster is increasingly popular. A similar phenomenon occurred last fall when white supremacist groups including Patriot Front, The Western Chauvinist, and Goyim Defense League cited Israel as the cause behind delayed emergency aid for Hurricanes Helene and Milton, even going so far as individually targeting Jewish officials such as FEMA director of public affairs Jaclyn Rothenberg, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Asheville, N.C., Mayor Esther Manheimer. And who can forget 2018 when D.C. Councilman Trayon White Sr. and now-Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene both claimed the Rothschilds, a Jewish banking family, control the weather — the latter invoking her infamous “Jewish space laser” conspiracy. 

Aid to Israel is hardly the cause of the United States’ failure to prepare for and respond to climate disasters like the LA fires. U.S. aid to Israel represents less than 0.00001% of the federal budget. These investments do not come from the budgets of federal, state, or local disaster relief agencies. 

This foreign aid to Israel is also critical for U.S. security, negating the claim that this spending doesn’t benefit everyday Americans. By supporting Israel in countering Iran-backed terror groups, the U.S. avoids putting its own troops at risk. In return, Israel shares critical intelligence and technology, such as the Iron Dome, now part of the U.S. Army’s defense system and manufactured in the U.S. This aid also strengthens the economy, supporting over 20,000 American jobs and generating billions for U.S. companies. And as with all 100+ countries receiving U.S. aid, aid to Israel is strictly conditional under U.S. and international law, including the Leahy Law, ensuring compliance with human rights standards. While more resources ought to go into climate disaster preparedness, claims that this particular budget item offers no benefit to Americans are baseless.

Beyond its inaccuracy, this fabricated link between the LA wildfires and the war in Gaza is incredibly insensitive. By comparing suffering, it minimizes the devastating tragedy facing Los Angeles, where over 180,000 people are evacuated and five have been killed. It particularly slights the Los Angeles Jewish community, the second-largest in America, especially given that the over-century-old Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center was one of the thousands of buildings destroyed. 

This conflation also disregards the injuries of all parties in Gaza by ignoring the root cause of that humanitarian crisis — Hamas’s terrorism, kidnapping of Israeli (and American) hostages, and putting innocent Gazans in harm’s way by locating terror infrastructure beneath civilian homes, schools, and hospitals. Comparing these atrocities to the natural disaster facing Los Angeles only feeds Hamas propaganda, and insults the people of Gaza who deserve a better life than that under Hamas rule. It also ignores the 60,000 innocent civilians in northern Israel who were evacuated from their homes fourteen months ago — 80% of whom still have not returned — while Hezbollah rockets burned over 21,500 acres of Israeli forests, largely planted by Jews in the last century on land bought by the Jewish National Fund. 

During these LA fires, Jews have been at the forefront in offering relief to affected parties. The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has coordinated relief efforts through more than a dozen synagogues and community centers. The Jewish Free Loan Association is offering $2,000 no-interest loans to cover emergency needs like clothing and shelter. And local Jewish businesses, including Yeastie Boys Bagels, have been delivering free food to victims and firefighters, partnering with organizations like World Central Kitchen to expand their reach. Of course, organizations and individuals across Los Angeles are contributing to wildfire relief — not just Jewish ones — but fringe activists calling Jews the problem when Los Angeles Jews are so clearly part of the solution adds even more insult to injury.

As a Jewish climate writer focused on solutions stories, I am incredibly disappointed and frustrated to be covering Jew hate today. I would much prefer to ignore it; if not for the fact that during Hurricane Helene, 33 antisemitic X posts targeting Jewish officials received 159 million views collectively (as compared to 2.6 million views for FEMA’s posts that weekend) and led these leaders to fear for their safety and struggle to communicate with constituents on social media while trying to handle a historic disaster. Thinking of my friends in Los Angeles, the last thing I would want is for baseless theories about Jews and Israel to get in the way of anyone getting the help they need, or the important conversation of how we move forward.

The time politicians in Congress spend this week listening to the Code Pink activists at their doors could be far better spent studying and implementing real, actionable solutions to prevent future wildfires. Nearly 85% of U.S. wildfires are caused by human actions, including unattended campfires, discarded cigarettes, and arson, highlighting the importance of public education on fire prevention. Strategies such as controlled burns, brush removal, forest thinning, and the use of monitoring tools like satellites and drones can significantly reduce the risk of wildfires spreading. Politicians should also examine current regulatory hurdles, including lengthy approval processes under the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act, which often delay or prevent forest management projects from happening until it’s too late. These conversations are critical to our nation’s safety, and can’t happen if Congressmen have activists knocking on their doors with fresh antisemitic propaganda.

At this stage, there is one clear culprit for the LA wildfires — not the Jews or foreign aid to Israel, but rather, climate change. Southern California just experienced its hottest summer on record. Having received only 2% of normal rainfall to start the year’s rainy season, the landscape was especially parched and ready to ignite. On top of that, this week’s historic Santa Ana windstorm, with record-breaking gusts up to 100 mph, helped burning embers spread to new areas in extremely quick fashion. Through a newer field called attribution science, scientists can use predictive models to calculate the exact degree to which climate change influenced these unusual weather conditions, and by extension, the wildfires themselves — World Weather Attribution will likely provide more information in the coming months as this research gets conducted. But this series of events already offers an important lesson in what scientists term “correlated extreme weather events” — when two or three climate anomalies take place at the same time, the damage compounds. We must understand and prepare for these increasingly frequent scenarios, and getting caught up in antisemitic conspiracy debates sidetracks that conversation as well.

Antisemitism is often called a shapeshifting virus: one day it’s Jewish space lasers, the next it’s baselessly blaming LA fire department budget cuts on federal foreign aid to Israel. But in any form, it’s harmful and counterproductive. Unfounded anti-Israel accusations following Hurricanes Helene and Milton snowballed into actual threats against Jewish officials, and distracted from critical conversations around climate solutions and disaster preparedness. In the midst of today’s wildfires, let’s not make the same mistake.