Two horrible attacks – one in a Jewish museum in Washington and the more recent in Boulder, Colorado, – Remind us that Jewish identity is still an objective in the United States. These attacks are part of a disturbing pattern of hate and violence that extend throughout the country.
Anti -Semitism in the United States is in a generational maximum. The anti-defamation league reported 2024 As the year with the most anti -Semitic incidents since the follow -up began in 1979. After Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, anti -Semitic acts, including harassment, vandalism and threats, shot up: the incidence in 2024 was 893% more than a decade before. Jewish students are afraid to speak on campus. Families are eliminating Mezuzahs from their door posts. Business leaders hesitate to speak.
This is part of a widely used cycle: hate speech leads to hate crimes.
In Los Angeles, we can point out any number of incidents, including Kanye West antisemy tweets in October 2022, banners about 405 shortly after, Thousands of horrible flyers, Strumation of Jewish institutions and private houses, and worse.
We notice every time this could drive. Indeed, in March 2023 Two Jewish men were shot in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood. In November 2023, Paul Kessler was killed in a demonstration in support of Israel, and in June 2024, we witnessed Violent attacks against the Jewish community in the synagogue of the Torah of Adas.
We cannot wait for more violence to act. The moment demands more than symbolic gestures. We do not need more community meetings, we need results. As a city that claims to be a lighthouse of progress and pluralism, angels should lead, first, maintaining their promise to support security for the most vulnerable population of the.
After the violence of the Torah of Adas, the leaders of the Jewish community met with elected officials, who promised to better protect the places of Jewish worship. This should include the creation of “bubble zones” to decline the tensions between protesters and faithful, enforce desco ordinances (they are originally used so that the perpetrators of Ku Klux Klan could be identified) and finance part of the unfortunate but necessary security costs in the Jewish institutions.
That was almost a year ago. All those promises have evaporated. There are no bubble areas. Degradation does not apply. There is no supplementary money for private security. The city must maintain its word and support Jewish communities so that we can surely express our rights of the first amendment.
Those promises a year ago should have been the beginning, not the end. Much more action is needed.
Los Angeles schools must encourage inclusion, not being places where Jews feel forced to hide their identity. Unfortunately, many students and Jewish professionals report that they are marginalized, gasoli or attacked, often by people who claim that they fight for justice.
The city must ensure that K-12 schools and universities in Los Angeles are equipped to recognize anti-Semitism and respond effectively. The mandatory curricula, such as ethnic studies, should reflect the true diversity of Jewish experience, including Sephardic stories, Mizrahi, Russian and Ethiopians. The leaders of the Jewish community offered to help train Lausd teachers on how to intervene when Jewish students are intimidated or isolated, and rejected us.
There are 50,000 Jewish students enrolled in public schools throughout the Southland. Their safety and inclusion must be a priority: constantly affirmed and reinforced.
The recent increase in anti -Semitism is a warning for all of us, because hate does not stay in a lane. Anti -Semitism often points out the broader social decomposition. That is why the most effective response is to fight all hate, together.
In recent years, many Jewish leaders in Los Angeles have invested in civic associations in black, Latin, Asian, LGBTQ+ communities and faith based on faith. We have built coalitions, trained together and advanced shared policies agendas to raise all communities. We are immensely proud of this work.
But when it comes to anti -Semitism, it often seems that the Jewish community has been assuming the load alone. Philanthropy, corporations and government must overcome this alliance so that we can develop mutual understanding, dissipate conspiracy theories and provide a quick response when any group is under threat.
You do not need to be Jew to be outraged by anti -Semitism. You just need to believe that each person deserves to live without fear. This is not a Jewish problem. This is a problem of angels. And as the lack of housing, racial injustice and violence, requires a solution from the entire city.
Noah Farkas, a rabbi, is president and executive director of the Los Angeles Jewish Federation.
