Posted on 05/22/25
| News Source: Newsweek
Last night's shooting at a Jewish event in Washington, D.C., when two Israeli Embassy staff were killed, was clearly no random act of violence. It was merely the latest, most horrifying manifestation of a trend that has been intensifying for months, if not years, under the global banner of calls to "Globalize the Intifada."
What happened in the heart of the U.S. capital—at the Capital Jewish Museum—was not just a tragedy; it was a warning.
A brutal confirmation that when antisemitic rhetoric is normalized and allowed to proliferate unchecked, it leads not only to hate and fear, but to bloodshed.
We have long been raising the alarm about the escalating threats posed by radical ideologies, particularly from the far left, that cloak their antisemitism in anti-Israel language.
This murder didn't happen in a vacuum but is the direct result of the incessant hatred by those who call to 'Globalize the Intifada.'
This rallying cry, once confined to extremist circles, has become disturbingly mainstream. It has echoed through university campuses, appeared on placards in major cities, and been amplified by voices in the media and academia.
To many, this call to mass murder is misunderstood. To Jews, it is unmistakably a call to violence.
The Second Intifada alone, from 2000 to 2005, saw more than 1,000 Israeli civilians murdered in bombings, shootings, and stabbings, often in buses, cafés, synagogues and schools. The language is not metaphorical. It is a direct incitement to the very type of violence that erupted last night in Washington.
There is a fundamental truth that is too often overlooked or willfully ignored: antisemites do not hate Jews because of Israel. They hate Israel because it is the Jewish ancestral and indigenous homeland.
The target is not a political ideology or a particular policy, it is Jewish identity itself. Their calls for violence long pre-dated the Oct.7, 2023, massacre and the State of Israel's war against Hamas.
Sadly, this hatred is no longer hiding in the shadows.
The Combat Antisemitism Movement's (CAM) recently released annual Antisemitism Data Report offers a sobering statistical confirmation of what many Jewish communities have been feeling viscerally. We are witnessing a marked, decisive ideological shift.
While in 2023, antisemitic incidents were split relatively evenly between far-right and far-left origins, last year saw a staggering 324.8 percent rise in far-left-linked antiemitic incidents. Of the 6,326 incidents documented, 68.4 percent—more than two-thirds—were tied to far-left ideology.
This surge is not merely the result of fringe radicals. It is being fueled by radicalized social movements, coordinated media disinformation campaigns, and a growing culture of impunity for antisemitic rhetoric disguised as merely "anti-Zionism."
CAM is working with law enforcement agencies around the world to educate about these threats, including the types of language and symbols associated with antisemitism, that can lead to violence.
Jewish students have been targeted and harassed on campuses. Synagogues have been vandalized. Community leaders have received threats. And now, people have been shot.
Let us be clear: this is not about silencing criticism of Israel or legitimate political discourse.
Jews around the world, including within Israel, hold a range of views about policy and leadership. However, when criticism becomes an excuse to dehumanize Jews, to target them in public spaces, and to call for globalized violent uprisings, the line between political expression and hateful violent speech has been violently crossed.
The far left is not alone in bearing responsibility for the rise in antisemitism. Far-right ideologies remain deeply dangerous. Nevertheless, in today's climate, where left-wing movements often dominate cultural, academic, and political spaces, the normalization of antisemitism under the appropriation of social justice movements has become especially insidious.
Bigotry is still bigotry, hate is still hate, and violence is still violence, even when it's cloaked in progressive language.
Therefore, we must move from mourning to action. Leaders must condemn not just the act of violence in Washington, but the ideology that inspired it. Universities must stop tolerating chants and symbols that glorify terror. Social media platforms must stop giving antisemitic content a megaphone.
All of us must speak out, not just when violence erupts, but every time hate and violent speech is normalized.
This shooting was not an isolated act. It was a signal. A signal that the red lines have been crossed. And now, the responsibility is ours, to draw them again, firmly, and to defend them with moral clarity.
The lives of innocent people depend on it.