Earlier this month, the New York Police Department reported that hate crimes in New York City surged 68% from 2018 to 2019. Of the 184 hate crimes reported, 60% targeted Jews. In New York and all around the country, Jews are under attack. The monsters that come to kill us and draw swastikas on our playgrounds, schools and community centers have a unified approach, but we as Jews don't have a unified message against anti-Semitism.
That needs to change.
On Sunday, The Jerusalem Post held its 2019 Annual Conference in Manhattan, and one of the first speakers of the day was Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress. During his speech, he called on the Jewish Diaspora to unite as one in the fight against anti-Semitism.
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"We are one people; I don't care if you are on the Right or on the Left, Sephardi or Ashkenazi. If you are Jewish, I want you to be free," he said, adding that the Jewish people "must step up and act as one."
I want to take this opportunity to say that I, Bryan E. Leib, fully support Lauder's call for unity. We must unite as Jewish-Americans in the fight against anti-Semitism, the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and the toxic anti-Israel climate on college campuses around the country.
It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican, an observant Jew or a secular Jew. We must come together as one people! When those with hatred in their hearts toward Jews walk into a synagogue to murder us, they don't care about our age, our political beliefs or our religious beliefs. They are coming after us because we are Jews. It's that simple.
With that said, it should be "that simple" for us as Jewish Americans to unite together with one voice to condemn anti-Semitism. We must come together to fight for our people, our birthright and our future here in America, in Israel and throughout the world.
We must unite together so that the memory of the 6 million Jews we lost in the Holocaust never fades from history. We must act to secure the future in the face of rising anti-Semitism. With strength and unity, we must act to fight this hatred wherever it rears its ugly head. We must push back against elected officials who think that it's appropriate to loosely use terms like "concentration camps" and "Never Again."
We must condemn those who choose to question the dual loyalty of Israeli-Americans and Jewish-Americans, but not people of any other heritage in America. Why aren't Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans and Chinese-Americans accused of having dual loyalty?
We must condemn those who openly advocate for boycotts against the State of Israel. In that same breadth, we should also declare that BDS has failed in its mission to destroy Israel. However, the movement is gaining ground on college campuses around the country.
We must come together with one voice to loudly proclaim that anti-Semitism has no place in America. I am proud to personally support Lauder's statement, and I urge my friends and colleagues, along with community leaders and elected officials around the country to do the same. It's imperative that we unite before it's too late.
This article is reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
