Robert Kraft’s $15 Million Turn-the-Other-Cheek Response to Antisemitism

Robert Kraft deserves credit for something I have long urged: that wealthy Jews devote their philanthropy to Jewish causes and Israel. While his choice to spend millions—reportedly $15 million this year—on Super Bowl ads combating antisemitism is well-intentioned, it raises questions about the most effective use of limited Jewish resources.

Kraft can spend his money as he wishes. But Jewish philanthropy is not unlimited. $15 million is more than spare change; it can endow an institution for decades or determine whether an organization survives or collapses.

That sum could fund dozens of groups working 365 days a year to fight antisemitism through education, advocacy, legal action, campus engagement, and security measures. It could vastly expand the Jewish Virtual Library and sustain it for 15 years or more. It could transform Jewish outreach and defense in ways no 60-second commercial ever will.

What Jewish organizations — other than perhaps hospitals or universities — ever receive grants anywhere near that amount?

Kraft’s logic is understandable. As the owner of the New England Patriots, he views the Super Bowl as the ultimate platform: the largest audience, the brightest lights, the greatest cultural moment. Perhaps he imagines that if you can shape consumer behavior, you can also shape moral behavior.

But the obvious questions remain:

How many people will watch the ad?

How many will understand?

How many will care?

And how many will change their behavior because of it?

Kraft has already purchased Super Bowl ads in recent years. Does he have any evidence that they moved the needle? Or is he simply burning Jewish dollars for fleeting applause?

This year’s ad is problematic on multiple levels.

If you haven’t seen it, it shows a Jewish teen named David walking down a high-school hallway. Two students bump him and stick something onto his backpack. Snickering follows. When David reaches his locker, we see the note: “DIRTY JEW.”

Then a black hand puts a blue square over the Post-It like a parent putting a Band-Aid on a child’s boo-boo. We see a taller teen named Bilal who says, “You should not listen to that,” and tells him, “I know how it feels.” When David takes a step toward the bullies, Bilal tells him, “They’re not worth it, bro,” and David responds, “Yah, you’re right, I was trippin.”

The symbolism is unmistakable: endure the insult, suppress the confrontation, and walk away.

Critics have noted the ad misrepresents how antisemitism is experienced today. Most Jewish teens are not being taunted in hallways. They are being harassed, shamed, and taunted online. Here, also, the Jew is represented as a helpless victim. But the deeper problem is worse.

The ad appears to offer a response reminisce​nt of a Christian teaching: turn the other cheek.

This is not what Jews need now.

Too many young Jews already respond to antisemitism with fear, silence, and retreat. This commercial does not inspire courage. It does not model resistance. It does not say: stand up, speak out, fight back. It says: cover it up and move along. It is the response of the ghetto Jew, the court Jew, the dhimmi of the Muslim world, not what one would expect of a Jew living comfortably in 21st-century America.

And it obscures uncomfortable truths. Bilal’s name suggests he may be Muslim, sidestepping the reality that, on many campuses, Muslim student organizations have often led anti-Jewish and anti-Israel campaigns.

Even more corrosive is the broader cultural context Kraft seems unwilling to confront. The same week this ad was released, America’s provocateur-in-chief posted racist imagery of Barack Obama and his wife depicted as apes. Republican Senator Tim Scott called it “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” though he lacked the spine to name the man responsible.

President Trump has normalized extremism: Hitlerian rhetoric about immigrants “poisoning the blood,” grotesque lies about Haitians eating pets, pardons for violent extremists, dinner with the antisemite Ye and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, constant indulgence of conspiracism, and repeated antisemitic tropes.

Kraft could sponsor a thousand commercials, and they would still be no match for the prejudice Trump has mainstreamed, further magnified by voices like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Darryl Cooper. Stir in the radicalism of the far left, and the result is a toxic brew no commercial campaign can remedy.

Besides, I have never believed advertisements are effective tools for moral reform. A good Coca-Cola ad may sell soda. Selling virtue is different.

Even Kraft’s organization suffers from terrible branding. StopJewHate can be interpreted as if Jews are the problem. And the blue square pin — worn mostly by people already sympathetic — is virtue signaling that is neither confrontational nor transformative.

Rather than channeling Jesus, young Jews should be encouraged to think like Israelis. The message for our teens should be: Stand tall. Stand proud. Be unafraid.

Columnist Liel Leibovitz dryly proposed an alternative ad: exploding beepers, dead Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, tough Israeli women with rifles — and the caption: “F–k Around, Find Out.”

At least that would communicate something Jews have been reluctant to say: we are not helpless.

If Kraft insists on buying Super Bowl airtime, he should consider these recommendations: first, prioritize advertisements that explicitly build Jewish pride over those that foster passivity; second, avoid Madison Avenue’s soft-focus sermons in favor of messages that strengthen resolve and self-confidence; third, develop campaigns that encourage young Jews to stand tall and assert their dignity, rather than endure abuse.

Imagine a different David: not a nebbish shrinking at his locker, but a Jew with bulging biceps who pulls out a yarmulke, puts on a Magen David necklace, turns around, and walks straight back down the hall — not to beg for acceptance, but to assert dignity. He might casually knock the guy who put the Post-it on his backpack on his behind, lean down, and put a note on his forehead that says PROUD ZIONIST to make clear American Jews are done turning the other cheek.