A 72-year-old Jewish man in New York City hanging posters of hostages being held in Gaza was punched in the face last week by thugs shouting, “Free Palestine.”
Since the Oct. 7 massacre, the campaign to “Globalize the intifada” has exploded with a vengeance, threatening the safety of American Jews as never before on U.S. streets.
A couple was shot and killed last month in Washington, D.C., by a radical leftist gunman outside the Capital Jewish Museum. Jews in Boulder, Colo., who were marching for the release of hostages in Gaza before the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, were firebombed by an illegal Egyptian immigrant. Both assailants yelled “Free Palestine.”
Demands to “Globalize the intifada” advocate repeating past terror waves in Israel. When militants demand to “free Palestine” by “any means necessary,” they foster harassment, violent attacks and even murders, but especially the elimination of Jews and the Jewish state.
Jews in many parts of the United States cannot enter a synagogue without fear, hang a mezuzah on their door, wear a Star of David necklace, talk about Israel or acknowledge that they’re Jewish because exposing themselves endangers them and their families.
Outrageously, dozens of American legacy media entities are complicit in this antisemitic, anti-Israel movement. Outlets feature scandalously false news stories that impugn Israel and hide the identities of the perpetrators or victims to whitewash anti-Jewish hate attacks by radical leftists and Islamists. They also manipulate Gaza war reports to minimize Hamas’s war crimes.
Likewise, many in academia and the arts support globalizing the intifada, and spread vicious lies about Israel on college campuses and at cultural venues. Even liberal Jews encourage violence by unfairly criticizing Israel, and refusing to condemn both leftist and Muslim antisemitism.
When pro-Hamas militants scream, “Globalize the intifada,” it’s not an empty slogan. They openly admit that it’s a call for violent revolution against Jews, but also against the United States and Western civilization. Those who truly believe in Israel, the Jewish people and traditional U.S. values need to step up, especially American Jews and their institutions.
Attacks on Jews skyrocket to historic highs. The World Zionist Organization reports a 340% increase in antisemitic incidents in 2024 globally and 288% in the United States as compared with 2022. In the year following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Anti-Defamation League reported more than 10,000 incidents, the highest in more than 45 years. A 2024 report by the American Jewish Committee noted that 56% of American Jews modified their behavior due to fear, and that 69% of American Jews encountered Jew-hatred online. The report attributes these trends to political extremism and anti-Israel sentiment.
Mainstream media fuel a “global intifada” by promoting blood libels against Israel. In late May, the BBC reported U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher claiming “14,000 babies in Gaza would die in the next 48 hours” if Israel didn’t allow more aid immediately. Shortly thereafter, the media also reported that the Israel Defense Forces shot and killed dozens of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid. The Washington Post issued a headline, “U.N. condemns U.S. aid scheme after Israel opens fire on crowd.” Both stories were abject lies. This pattern of defaming Israel has repeated itself many times during the Hamas-Gaza war, fueling the campaign to globalize the intifada.
Legacy media whitewash ultra-left and Islamist anti-Jewish hate crimes. After the attack in Boulder, for instance, media outlets issued headlines like “Multiple people burned in Sunday attack in Boulder” (NPR) and “Attack at Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall in Colorado burns eight people, officials say; suspect in custody” (CBS). There was no mention of targeting Jews or the Israel-hating Egyptian suspect screaming “Free Palestine.” When the media excise incriminating details, they not only sanitize antisemitic terrorism, they promote it.
Mainstream media minimize Hamas’s war crimes. A recent BBC headline proclaimed, “Israeli air strike on hospital kills 28 people in Gaza, civil defense says.” This headline fails to reveal that the hospital covered a Hamas military headquarters. Indeed, the media seldom report the common Hamas war crime of putting their terrorists and infrastructure in and around civilian buildings, or their habit of publishing lies in the guise of “press reports.” The media practice of parroting Hamas’s narrative hides the terrorist group’s brutality, vilifies Israel and supplies ammunition to advocates of the global intifada.
Elite universities and celebrities glorify a “global intifada.” Pro-Hamas demonstrations and encampments on campus prescribe genocide of Jews, “From the river to the sea,” leading to harassment and violence against Jewish students nationwide. Thus, many American campuses are danger zones for Jews.
Entertainers have also joined the campaign to stigmatize Israel and justify violence. Last month, more than 350 celebrities at the Cannes Film Festival signed an open letter falsely accusing Israel of genocide, and in April, the Irish band Kneecap hung huge slogans on stage: “F**k Israel. Free Palestine.”
Jewish leaders and organizations unfairly criticize Israel and fail to oppose the campaign to “globalize the intifada.” After the Oct. 7 massacre, groups like Students for Justice in Palestine held rallies on U.S. campuses glorifying violence, but Jewish organizations were slow or muted in responding. At Columbia University, for instance, Jewish students faced ongoing intimidation, but major Jewish groups failed to apply sustained pressure on university leadership to protect them.
Last year, Jewish Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for “significant course corrections” on how Israel conducted the war against Hamas and advocated new elections to replace the Israeli government. He also blocked the Senate’s approval of the Antisemitism Awareness Act to prevent alienating antisemitic, pro-Hamas protesters and to attract votes for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Our failing fight to defeat “globalize the intifada.” While the Trump administration has taken some proactive steps, including defunding post-secondary institutions that fail to protect Jewish students and deporting pro-terrorist foreign students like Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil, this alone won’t stop anti-Jewish, anti-Israel radicals.
American Jews and Israel supporters must dramatically step up resistance to the antisemitic, anti-Zionist and anti-American intifada on our streets. That means aggressive legal warfare, stricter law enforcement, a louder voice in legacy and alternative media, and political pressure. It means outspoken outrage in the public square at attempts to rob us of our safety and freedom.
Those of us who remain silent are part of the problem. We must rise up against the “global intifada” before it destroys not just the Jews and the Jewish state, but American democratic values.
{Reposted from JNS}
