Why Today’s Antisemitism Discourse Misses the Big Picture
With Hamas’s attack on October 7th, something fundamental shifted for American Jewry. In every community and every conversation, the same themes keep emerging – disregard, alienation, criticism of Israel, and a flood of misinformation. Overnight, all of us became advocates, educators, and history teachers, explaining the situation to anyone willing to listen. Although a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect about a month ago, the flames have not subsided. American Jews are now encountering antisemitism in their own neighborhoods.
In fact, this is the same ancient antisemitism that has existed for centuries. But the new reality in which American Jewry finds itself forces many communities to re-engage with the issue. Jewish organizations across the country are fighting countless battles – each within its local community and in their children’s schools – often feeling as though they are plugging holes in a dam against a rising flood of hatred.
In a variety of settings, many Jewish parents and leaders are seeking ways to raise awareness, help community members recognize antisemitism, and provide tools to respond – which often means correcting falsehoods, refusing to let hatred pass unchallenged, and at times reporting incidents to institutions such as the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish parent groups, or the relevant school administration.
This is particularly important because the line between legitimate criticism and antisemitism is often blurred. It is therefore essential to understand that attacking Zionism as distinct from attacking Jews is antisemitism in every sense of the word, since its purpose is to deny the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel and to erase Jewish history – regardless of the facts (the vast majority of anti-Zionists cannot answer even basic questions about which Israeli government policies they oppose or what exactly about Israel troubles them; they simply do not want a Jewish state to exist). Similarly, obsessive, disproportionate focus on Israel compared to global events is also a form of antisemitism. Why, for example, is a school district in a quiet East Coast suburb endlessly preoccupying itself with Israel?
When it comes to the spread of misinformation, most people sharing it have no idea what they are amplifying. For example, a group of artists called upon Hollywood celebrities to wear a pin to the 2024 Oscars in support of a ceasefire. The pin, however, symbolized a notorious image from 2000 of a terrorist in Ramallah displaying his bloody hands to a cheering crowd after lynching two Israeli soldiers who had mistakenly entered the city.
Another common form of antisemitism today is deliberate erasure. At one suburban preschool near Philadelphia, flags of many nations were displayed – except Israel’s, while a Palestinian flag was included. In another district, a middle school presented a chart of world religions, and Judaism had been mysteriously removed. The Philadelphia School District added “Palestinian Solidarity Day” to its November 2025 calendar while simultaneously removing the date recognizing Mizrahi Heritage Month. At the start of the new school year, students at another middle school discovered that a mural had been painted in a hallway depicting five female activists, one of whom was Linda Sarsour—a self-described Palestinian-American and outspoken BDS supporter who frequently speaks against Israel and who expressed sorrow when the U.S. military captured Saddam Hussein, saying her Arab pride had been wounded.
In September 2025, an event titled “Zionism is Racism” took place in Philadelphia. Despite numerous letters sent to various parties, including to the church that hosted this disgraceful event and to the City of Philadelphia, which even published it on its official cultural events calendar – the event proceeded as planned, with no response to the many appeals that had been made. This is a moral lapse, but it is also – and above all – antisemitism.
In addition to overt hostility, there is the deafening silence that abandons Jews completely to the rising hatred against them; and in doing so, assists in normalizing antisemitism. As Jews, this obligates us to look at reality through a different lens and to ask ourselves honestly whether the current discourse about antisemitism is truly advancing us – or whether we are fighting it in the wrong ways, in a manner that turns the present discourse into a distraction from the broader threats we face.
Since it appears that no institutional body is coordinating the complex reality Jews are facing today, it falls to Jews themselves to look at the situation from a broader vantage point. This is an invitation to examine these issues on a macro level and through a new conceptual framework for understanding antisemitism in the current era.
First, we must recognize that much of the pro-Palestinian activism we are seeing – chants like “Free Palestine” or “From the river to the sea” – may appear tied to Gaza or Middle Eastern politics but often serves as cover for organized Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood. Though not designated as a terrorist organization in the U.S., the Muslim Brotherhood seeks long-term influence within Western democratic institutions and the very principles of the free world that sustain it. This activity occurs in broad daylight and threatens American values and democratic foundations.
In this context, the ISGAP Institute (the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy) published the report “The Muslim Brotherhood’s Strategic Entryism into Western Society: A Systematic Analysis” (November 19, 2025), which provides an extensive review of the organization’s long-term efforts to influence Western institutions. The report presents a comprehensive analysis of the Muslim Brotherhood’s strategy of entry into American societal institutions. It draws a clear distinction between Islam as a religion and Islamism as a political ideology, focusing on the latter. This distinction is critical, as the issue is not the religion of Islam or Muslims as individuals, but rather Islamist political extremism, a totalitarian ideology that claims exclusivity.
In this regard, the Governor of Texas took an important step when, on November 18, 2025, he declared the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) to be “foreign terrorist organizations”. While the designation is only at the state level, it is nevertheless significant. Similarly, the State of Massachusetts took an important step when it released an official report examining antisemitism in public schools and on college campuses, identifying it as a “widespread” problem. The report included several recommendations, including mandatory training for educators on recognizing and preventing bias and antisemitism; stronger digital literacy education related to online content; the creation of a statewide system for reporting antisemitic incidents; and revising school curricula to include the history of the Jewish people, Israel, and the Middle East.
Another critical factor is the role of social media in fueling hatred and falsehoods. Many people adopt fabricated narratives that originate online. Meta, which has the power to curb the spread of hate speech, chooses silence – endangering democratic values and the safety of millions. How is it acceptable that policymakers remain unaccountable for a reality in which the unchecked spread of lies and hatred has become their de facto policy? Where is the serious public conversation about the chaos caused by profit-driven choices?
Finally and significantly – many American Jews are unaware that during 2023, the Israeli government pursued deeply destructive and divisive policies that tore Israeli society apart, endangered the Zionist enterprise, and prompted repeated warnings about the dangers these actions carried – to the point that many Israelis felt as though the country was standing on the brink of a modern-day Destruction of the Temple. Nine months into the crisis that was gripping Israeli society came October 7th – a day that forever altered the lives of Jews worldwide.
Accordingly, American Jewry must understand that their fate is intertwined with that of the Jewish people in Israel. What happens in Israel affects them, and vice versa. Such an understanding would necessarily require American Jewry to grasp the reality of what is happening in Israel and to voice criticism when actions taken in Israel harm them. In other words, when the Israeli government abandons the arena of public diplomacy during years in which Jews are facing antisemitism on a scale unseen since the Holocaust, American Jewry must recognize that the Israeli government has a responsibility to protect them – even though they are not citizens of Israel. Israel is their home as well, and the real measure of this bond is their safety as Jews living outside Israel, not their cultural connection to Israel or where they pay taxes. This is a shared destiny, not merely an abstract idea.
In the end, many entrepreneurs and community leaders live among us, each contributing within their own sphere. In times of crisis such as the one we are experiencing now, the most important task is to join forces, not to work in isolation, but to coordinate and integrate the many challenges now confronting American Jewry. In my view, this is the very essence of Zionism in our time.
