The alarming surge of antisemitism in America

(JNS) — The May 21 terror attack in Washington, D.C., where two Israeli embassy staffers planning to get married were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum is more than a national tragedy. It is a harbinger.

The murder of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, allegedly committed by Elias Rodriguez while shouting “Free, free Palestine,” is not only an act of terrorism; it is a symptom of a far more dangerous climate of normalized antisemitism in the United States.

You would have to be intentionally wearing blinders not to understand that this attack is not an isolated incident. It is the latest in a series of attacks that are growing in frequency, boldness and ideological clarity.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, in 2024 alone, 9,354 antisemitic incidents across the country were documented (those that were reported to officials), representing the highest number since the watchdog group began tracking such data in 1979. These numbers are not mere statistics. They are the lived experiences of American Jews who are now weighing whether it is safe to wear a kippah in public, to attend synagogue, to speak Hebrew in the street or dine at a kosher restaurant.

New York City, home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, has become a disturbing epicenter. In 2021, Joseph Borgen was beaten in broad daylight as his attackers yelled antisemitic slurs. This didn’t happen in some isolated area; it was near Times Square. The next year, Matt Greenman was assaulted while protesting against an anti-Israel protest. The attackers in both incidents have been sentenced to jail time, but the fact remains that these attacks happened in the open and in the presence of many people.

Other parts of the country are not immune. In June 2023, bucolic Toms River, N.J., saw a spate of hate crimes including arson, vandalism and threats, specifically targeting Orthodox Jewish residents. The goal of the perpetrator was to scare Jewish families, many of whom had moved from the heavily Orthodox population of nearby Lakewood, into leaving the area. If you still believe that America is immune to this kind of ideological violence that has plagued Jewish communities throughout history, wake up.

Washington, D.C., the capital of a country that takes pride in liberty and religious freedom, is now the latest site of bloodshed. The symbolism could not be more powerful: a Jewish museum, Israeli diplomats, a gunman invoking anti-Israel, anti-Zionist rhetoric. These elements are part of a broader narrative — that anti-Israel sentiment is increasingly serving as a pretext for antisemitic violence.

Let me be clear about one thing: Criticism of Israeli government policies is legitimate political discourse. Informed people can always hold their own against it. But when that criticism is converted into violence against Jews, whether they are American citizens or Israelis working in the capital, the red line has long been crossed.

This moment demands that we ask some hard questions.

What are American Jews supposed to think about this? What does it say about the health of American democracy when our Jewish institutions, day schools and synagogues need armed guards at the door, and people are cautioned to be discrete about their Jewishness?

Sadly, it portends a future of increasing insecurity unless decisive action is taken. The mainstreaming of antisemitism — whether from the far-right, radical left or conspiracy-fueled online sites — requires a unified societal response.

The Biden administration’s 2023 National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism was a necessary first step. But a strategy emphasizing security funding, education reform and cross-community engagement is only as strong as its implementation. Local law enforcement needs training in recognition of and response to hate crimes. Social-media companies must be held accountable for spreading hate. Political leaders must stop using Jewish lives as rhetorical fodder in ideological battles over the Middle East.

So, what’s next? Is this attack in Washington a clarion call for American Jewry to fortify their identity, to strengthen their communities and to ally with those who understand that antisemitism is not just a Jewish problem, but an American one?

This is not the America that I grew up in during the 1950s and 1960s. Certainly, silence and inaction cannot be the answer. The promise of America, the “Goldene Medina” for millions, is now being tested. And how we respond, collectively and unequivocally, will determine whether that promise holds true for American Jews in the years to come.

Stephen M. Flatow is president of the Religious Zionists of America. He is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995, and author of “A Father’s Story: My Fight for Justice Against Iranian Terror.”