Category Archives: Jews

When Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories Enter the United Nations

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This is Part Three of a series examining the surge in antisemitism: Conspiracy theories magnified at the United Nations

In May 2021, Pakistan, acting on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, introduced a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council establishing a permanent commission to investigate Israel and the Palestinian territories. It passed 24–9, with 14 abstentions. China, Russia, Cuba, Pakistan and Venezuela supported it. Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom opposed it. Neither Israel nor the United States voted, as neither was a council member.

Graffiti on Florida’s Holocaust Memorial in May 2021

The commission received a sweeping mandate to investigate alleged violations of international law and the historical causes of the conflict. Its mandate had no expiration date – a highly unusual move.

Three commissioners were appointed in July 2021: Navi Pillay of South Africa, a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as chair; Miloon Kothari of India, a former UN Special Rapporteur on housing; and Chris Sidoti, a former Australian Human Rights Commissioner.

A year later, Kothari publicly repeated antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish power while questioning Israel’s place in the United Nations.

The Jewish Lobby Controls What People Read

In July 2022, Kothari spoke with Mondoweiss, a publication strongly critical of Israel. Complaining about opposition to his commission, he declared: “We are very disheartened by the social media that is controlled largely by – whether it is the Jewish lobby or specific NGOs.”

He also alleged that substantial money was being spent to discredit the investigators.

For centuries, antisemites have claimed that Jews secretly control newspapers, publishing, entertainment and public opinion. Kothari updated that conspiracy for social media, coupling supposed Jewish control of information with financial power.

These were central themes of the fabricated Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which portrayed Jews as manipulating society through the press, finance and politics. Nazi propaganda later exploited these accusations to depict Jews as dangerous enemies of society.

These remarks came from one of three UN officials entrusted with investigating the Jewish state.

Miloon Kothari

Jewish Influence and International Accountability

Kothari also accused Israel of undermining the United Nations: “They, in fact, consistently, either directly or through the United States, try to undermine UN mechanisms.”

His allegations followed a familiar antisemitic narrative: Jewish influence over information, money and powerful governments supposedly shielding Israel from accountability.

Kothari also suggested that accusations of antisemitism were used against critics of Israel. Under this reasoning, objections to antisemitic statements become further evidence of the supposed conspiracy.

When an investigator sees criticism as evidence of a Jewish conspiracy, he has already found a reason to dismiss those who challenge his conclusions.

From Criticizing Israel to Questioning Its Legitimacy

Kothari went further: “I would go as far as to raise the question of why [Israel is] even a member of the United Nations.” He argued that Israel failed to respect its international obligations.

His historical interpretation was equally expansive: “What has transpired in the occupied territories since ’67 is something that had already been happening inside the Green Line since ’48”

Kothari explained that the commission was examining human rights “from the river to the sea” and added: “There are similarities inside and outside Green Line, so linkages must be made.”

He also argued that apartheid alone was insufficient to explain the conflict and that the commission needed to examine “settler-colonialism.” His framework placed Israel’s founding, rather than particular government decisions, at the center of the commission’s indictment.

From Personal Prejudice to UN Findings

Not surprisingly, the commission’s first report, issued in June 2022 under Kothari, emphasized systematic discrimination, territorial control and historical causes of the conflict. Kothari explained the commission’s ambitions: “Our work is to collect a repository of all the evidence that we gather.”

He said the material could eventually be handed to judicial bodies. Commission members had already met with officials at the International Criminal Court, including a deputy prosecutor, and contemplated approaching governments about arms transfers and companies operating in Israeli settlements.

The investigation was designed to influence international legal proceedings, diplomatic pressure and commercial relationships.

The commission’s October 14, 2026 report demonstrated how its historical framework endured. Paragraph 58 begins: “Since the 1947-48 war, Israel has continuously striven to expand territorially and displace Palestinians through violence.” The report attributes Israeli actions across generations to territorial expansion, demographic control and discrimination.

Four years earlier, Kothari had connected events in 1948 and 1967 through the same historical interpretation. The new report, issued under different commissioners, carried that framework forward, expressly directing readers to consider its earlier investigations.

An interpretation advanced by a commissioner who publicly invoked antisemitic conspiracy theories had become part of the commission’s continuing institutional narrative.

The Apology and the Institution That Remained

Kothari’s remarks in Mondoweiss drew condemnation from American officials, including Deborah Lipstadt, the US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, and Ambassador Michèle Taylor. European governments, Canadian officials and Jewish organizations also criticized him. Human Rights Council President Federico Villegas warned that Kothari’s comments could stigmatize Jewish people.

Commission chair Navi Pillay defended Kothari, arguing that his remarks had been misrepresented. Yet Kothari himself apologized in August 2022, acknowledging that describing social media as largely controlled by a Jewish lobby was wrong. He also clarified that he did not question Israel’s existence or advocate its expulsion from the UN.

Navi Pillay would go on to win the Noble Peace Prize for her work vilifying Israel

The commission continued.

On October 26, 2026, it publicized its October 14 report accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, crimes against humanity in the West Bank and deliberately targeting Palestinian children. Its historical account portrayed Israeli policy since 1948 as a continuing project of territorial expansion and Palestinian displacement.

Once incorporated into successive UN reports, contested historical interpretations acquire the appearance of independently verified facts, available for citation by governments, universities and political movements. The commission also recommended action by other countries and international institutions concerning Israel’s policies.

Kothari’s antisemitic conspiracy theories prompted an apology but little institutional reckoning. The investigations he helped shape became the foundation for successive UN reports, accumulating authority long after his departure and influencing global opinion, diplomatic campaigns and potentially international legal proceedings against Israel.

The UN allowed antisemitic conspiracy theories to take root in its reports, turning them into foundational texts for a new wave of anti-Israel invective cloaked in international authority.

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Antisemitism Around the World: What the Numbers Tell Us

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This is Part One of a series examining the surge in antisemitism, starting with an analytical perspective, and following it to find its basis and track its progression.

Ten countries, six years of data, and a striking change in the global pattern

Antisemitism is often discussed through individual incidents: an attack on a synagogue, harassment of Jewish students, vandalism of a Jewish business, or threats directed at Jewish families. Each event tells us something about the experiences of Jews in a particular place. Looking at thousands of incidents across several countries and multiple years can tell us something different.

It can reveal patterns.

Memorial site for Jews gunned down during a Chanukah celebration in Sydney, Australia

I examined reported antisemitic incidents in ten countries over six years, from 2019 through 2024. The objective was to understand how antisemitism changed over time, whether countries followed similar trajectories, and what happened around October 7, 2023, when the political-terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel and the subsequent war began.

I began with the numbers themselves, before considering possible explanations.

The Ten Countries

The ten countries chosen were the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Argentina. Each has an established Jewish community of more than 25,000 people and an organization or government agency that regularly publishes statistics on antisemitic incidents. Together, they provide a geographically diverse sample spanning North America, South America, Europe and Australia.

The countries also offer useful differences. Their Jewish populations range from tens of thousands to millions. They have different political systems, histories, cultures and approaches to recording antisemitism.

Before October 7, the ten countries were moving in different directions. Some had experienced years of increasing antisemitism, while others had seen substantial declines. By 2024, every one of them was reporting more antisemitic incidents than in 2022.

What could explain such a consistent change across countries with such different histories?

I used statistics from the Anti-Defamation League in the United States, Community Security Trust in Britain, the French Interior Ministry, German police, B’nai Brith Canada, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Italy’s CDEC, the Netherlands’ CIDI and Argentina’s DAIA.

What Happened Between 2019 and 2024?

The first question was straightforward: how many antisemitic incidents were recorded each year?

Country201920222024Change 2022–2024
United States2,1073,6979,354+153%
United Kingdom1,8051,6623,528+112%
France6874361,570+260%
Germany2,0322,6416,236+136%
Canada2,2072,7696,219+125%
Australia*3684782,062+331%
Italy251241877+264%
Netherlands182155421+172%
Argentina918427687+61%
Belgium9234129+279%
Australia uses reporting years ending in September. Its 2024 period covers October 2023 through September 2024. Figures reflect national reporting systems with different definitions and coverage.

Taken together, there were roughly 12,500 antisemitic incidents in 2022 and 31,000 in 2024, an increase of approximately 148%. Although reporting definitions vary between countries, the combined total offers another perspective on the scale of the increase.

Every country recorded more incidents in 2024 than in 2022.

The increases ranged from 61% in Argentina to more than 300% in Australia. The median increase was approximately 153%, meaning the middle country experienced roughly two and a half times as many recorded incidents in 2024 as in 2022.

Yet the countries had arrived at 2022 by very different paths.

Some Countries Had Been Rising. Others Had Been Declining.

Between 2019 and 2022, antisemitic incidents increased in four countries: the United States, Germany, Canada and Australia. The United States experienced particularly substantial growth, with incidents rising 75%.

The other six countries were moving in the opposite direction. France recorded 687 incidents in 2019 and 436 in 2022, a decline of 37%. Argentina fell from 918 to 427, a decline of 53%. Britain, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands also recorded lower totals in 2022 than in 2019.

Despite their trajectories, all ten countries had experienced substantial increases from their 2022 levels.

We tested whether countries with the fastest increases before 2023 also experienced the fastest increases afterward. The statistical relationship was extremely weak, with a correlation of just +0.13.

In practical terms, knowing whether a country’s antisemitism had previously been rising or falling told us remarkably little about the size of its subsequent increase.

How Unusual Was the Increase?

I next compared the 2024 figures with the historical patterns established between 2019 and 2022. I tested three approaches: comparing 2024 with the earlier four-year average, extending the earlier trend forward in a straight line, and projecting the earlier compound annual growth rate.

Every country recorded 2024 totals ABOVE all three benchmarks.

The size of the difference varied depending on the method, particularly in countries where earlier incidents had been declining. Extending a short downward trend can produce unrealistically low projections, so no single forecast should be treated as a definitive estimate of what would otherwise have happened.

But the important finding is that the conclusion remained consistent when we changed the mathematical assumptions: 2024 was substantially above the levels suggested by earlier reporting patterns.

When Did the Pattern Change?

Annual totals show the scale of a change. Monthly figures help establish its timing.

In France, 39 antisemitic incidents were recorded in October 2022. In October 2023, the number was 563, more than fourteen times as many. October 2024 recorded 157 incidents, substantially below the extraordinary October 2023 peak but still approximately four times the October 2022 level.

Britain offers another useful comparison. Community Security Trust reported an average of approximately 154 incidents per month during the year preceding October 7, 2023. The average during 2024 was approximately 294 per month, an increase of 91%.

Australia recorded 495 incidents in the reporting year ending September 2023 and 2,062 in the following reporting year, which began six days before the Hamas attack. That represents more than a fourfold increase.

These observations show two related developments: a dramatic initial increase around October 2023 and continued elevated reporting levels during 2024.

The timing is particularly interesting because the countries were experiencing the same international event despite having different domestic histories and earlier antisemitism trends.

Was the Increase Temporary?

A sudden event can produce a brief surge in incidents that quickly subsides. It can also be followed by a more lasting change.

The 2023 and 2024 numbers allow us to begin distinguishing those possibilities.

Britain, France and Belgium recorded fewer incidents in 2024 than in 2023, indicating that their initial peaks had moderated. Yet all remained substantially above their 2022 levels.

The United States, Germany, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and Argentina recorded higher totals in 2024 than in 2023. Australia’s reporting calendar places nearly the entire first post-October 7 year in its 2024 total.

Thus, the immediate surge was followed by different national trajectories, but elevated incident levels persisted across the sample through 2024.

What Have We Learned?

The ten countries began with different histories, different Jewish populations and different trajectories. Yet all experienced substantial increases in recorded antisemitism during the same period. The available monthly records place the sharpest change around October 2023, with elevated levels continuing through 2024.

The statistical pattern is plainly visible. Antisemitic attacks have always existed but spiked around the world after October 7, 2023. People around the world came for their local Jews who had nothing to do with an event thousands of miles away. This is a unique global phenomena, as people do not attack other diaspora communities for wars involving their homelands anywhere else.

Related:

Chumming For Antisemites (December 2023)

Why Did Antisemitism Explode Around the World?

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This is Part Two of a series examining the surge in antisemitism: Following the Evidence Across Ten Countries

In June 2024, a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped and assaulted by three boys, aged 12 and 13, in Courbevoie, a suburb of Paris. The attackers subjected her to antisemitic insults and threats. Two were subsequently sentenced to seven and nine years in prison, while the third was found guilty of complicity and placed under educational supervision.

The presiding judge concluded that the girl would never have been subjected to the attack had she not been Jewish.

The attack raises a disturbing question. How did children barely into adolescence acquire such intense hatred of Jews, and what made them willing to act upon it?

It is a question that reaches far beyond France.

Following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, reported antisemitic incidents surged across the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Argentina. Between 2022 and 2024, increases ranged from 61% in Argentina to more than 300% in Australia.

Ten countries across four continents, with different populations, economies, governments and relationships with Israel, experienced the same extraordinary escalation: Anti-Israel feelings manifest in antisemitic attacks globally.

I next sought to look at the available evidence to understand why. What characteristics correlate with antisemitism? Which beliefs make people more likely to hate Jews? And what explains the sudden transformation of that hatred into harassment, threats and physical violence?

Some of the strongest findings involve conspiracy theories, attitudes toward Israel and younger generations. Other explanations that seem intuitively obvious – and First One Through has discussed frequently – show surprisingly little relationship with the surge.

The Conspiracy Connection

Antisemitism has always found fertile ground in conspiracy theories.

For centuries, Jews have been accused of secretly controlling governments, financial markets, newspapers and wars. The accusations have changed with technology and politics, but their essential message remains the same: powerful Jews are supposedly manipulating events behind the scenes.

“They were behind World War I, when they were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making financial gains and controlling resources. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it.” – 1988 Hamas Foundational Charter, Article 22

In 2024, the Anti-Defamation League and YouGov surveyed 7,000 adults across seven countries: the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia and Argentina. They found that people who believed in secret plots controlling world events generally, were significantly more likely to accept antisemitic stereotypes.

The relationship was among the strongest measured in the survey.

Britain’s Community Security Trust found the same narratives appearing in actual incidents. In 2024, it recorded 487 antisemitic incidents involving conspiracy theories, including 345 concerning supposed Jewish control over politics, media, finance and other institutions.

Conspiracy theories offer a simple explanation for complicated events. Economic difficulties, political defeats, global pandemics and international conflicts can all be blamed on a hidden enemy.

When Jews are assigned extraordinary collective power, blaming them for events in which they have no involvement becomes easier.

That is especially dangerous when the event in question is a war involving Israel.

When Hostility Toward Israel Becomes Hatred of Jews

The strongest evidence of what changed after October 7 comes from Britain.

In 2022, the Community Security Trust recorded 246 antisemitic incidents involving Israel-related rhetoric. By 2024, that number had reached 1,844. Israel-related incidents accounted for approximately 86% of Britain’s entire increase in reported antisemitism over those two years. Other antisemitic incidents increased much more modestly.

Germany experienced a similar ideological shift. Among the antisemitic crimes police specifically connected to October 7 and the subsequent Middle East conflict, more than 85% were classified under foreign or religious ideological motivation. Right-wing extremism remained a major source of German antisemitism overall but the offenses connected to the war had a different ideological profile.

France documented hundreds of incidents involving explicit references to Palestine. In the United States, the ADL found that 58% of recorded antisemitic incidents in 2024 contained elements related to Israel or Zionism. Italy and Argentina also documented the intersection of anti-Israel rhetoric with established antisemitic accusations.

The pattern crossed borders, languages and political systems.

A synagogue in Paris, a Jewish student in New York or a Jewish business in London could become a target for anger over events in Israel.

Herzl-Ner Tamid, a synagogue on Mercer Island, Washington that was vandalized in November 2023

The connection to conspiracy thinking is significant. When people already believe Jews possess collective political power, they can more readily assign collective responsibility for Israel’s actions to Jews everywhere.

A Troubling Generational Divide

The age of the Courbevoie attackers raises another important question: What are younger people learning about Jews?

The seven-country ADL survey found that 23% of Generation Z respondents and 24% of millennials believed Jews were responsible for most of the world’s wars. By comparison, Baby Boomers and older respondents, the figure was 10%.

Younger respondents were also substantially more likely to express favorable opinions of Hamas.

German researchers studying young people before and after October 7 found increasing traditional antisemitic prejudice, with conspiracy thinking and religious fundamentalism among the associated factors. A separate study of American and German respondents likewise found younger age to be an important predictor of certain antisemitic attitudes.

In Britain, minors were involved in approximately 30% of antisemitic physical assaults where the offender’s age was known, compared with 15% of other antisemitic incidents.

Canada’s police records also show an increase in the proportion of young people accused of religion-motivated hate crimes, from 23% to 35% when comparing 2019–2021 with 2022–2024. Those figures cover crimes against several religious communities, rather than Jews alone.

Social Media Gives Old Hatreds New Reach

A century ago, conspiracy theories spread through newspapers, pamphlets and political speeches. Today, accusations about Jewish control, Israeli conspiracies and collective Jewish responsibility can circulate globally within minutes.

Research in the United States and Germany has found associations between intensive social-media consumption, conspiracy thinking and antisemitic attitudes.

Britain’s incident records provide another revealing comparison. In 2024, 71% of online antisemitic incidents involved Middle East-related rhetoric, compared with 42% of offline incidents.

Political and ideological accusations were particularly prevalent online.

In Britain, X accounted for substantially more recorded antisemitic incidents than Facebook, Instagram or TikTok. Argentina’s monitoring likewise found more reported antisemitic activity on X and Facebook.

These records identify where incidents were reported, rather than measuring how strongly each platform influences its users. Still, they reveal how familiar antisemitic accusations have found new audiences and new means of circulation.

A young person encountering repeated claims that Jews control world events, manipulate governments or bear responsibility for a distant war may come to regard those accusations as ordinary political explanations. The messages become familiar and their acceptance can make collective blame seem reasonable.

From Prejudice to Physical Violence

The escalation after October 7 went far beyond hostile words.

In the United States, antisemitic physical assaults increased from 111 in 2022 to 196 in 2024. Britain recorded 137 physical attacks in 2022 and 202 in 2024. Australia’s reported physical assaults increased from 11 to 65 between its 2023 and 2024 reporting years, nearly a sixfold increase. Argentina recorded ten physical assaults in 2024, compared with one in 2022. France recorded 106 physical assaults during 2024.

These attacks included people being punched, kicked, spat upon and otherwise assaulted because they were Jewish.

The increases occurred in countries with very different demographic and political characteristics.

They also varied in severity. In Australia, physical assaults increased faster than overall antisemitic incidents. In Britain, the total number of incidents increased faster than physical assaults.

The international escalation had different local expressions, even as Jewish communities across multiple countries faced greater physical danger.

The challenge is understanding what separates people who hold antisemitic beliefs from those willing to act violently upon them.

The Explanations That Failed the Test

We also examined several factors that might seem obvious explanations for the international surge. The results were surprising.

Immigration did little to explain the differences. Countries with higher levels of overall immigration did not consistently experience larger increases in antisemitic incidents.

Muslim population share was also a poor national predictor. Countries with larger Muslim populations did not systematically experience greater increases in reported antisemitism.

This is a different question from identifying the ideologies or backgrounds of individual offenders. Germany’s police records demonstrate the importance of ideological motivation, while the national population comparison shows that demographic proportions alone explain little about the size of the surge.

Economic hardship produced mixed results. Unemployment showed no consistent relationship with the increase in antisemitic incidents. Some relatively prosperous countries experienced enormous increases, while others facing greater economic challenges recorded smaller ones.

Government positions toward Israel were equally unhelpful. We compared countries’ voting alignment with the United States on Israel-related resolutions at the United Nations. The relationship with antisemitic incident growth was virtually zero. A government’s diplomatic position offered little indication of how much antisemitism would increase among its population.

Countries with more widespread antisemitic beliefs did not necessarily experience larger increases in antisemitic incidents. The ADL’s international surveys measure agreement with familiar antisemitic stereotypes, including accusations of excessive Jewish power and influence. Across seven countries, the average number of stereotypes endorsed had almost no relationship with the percentage increase in reported antisemitism.

Argentina had relatively high levels of measured antisemitic prejudice but the smallest proportional increase in incidents among our nine countries. France had lower measured prejudice yet experienced a much larger escalation.

These comparisons concern the growth of recorded incidents, rather than the absolute risk of an attack. They also draw on different national reporting systems. Nevertheless, the absence of a consistent positive relationship is revealing.

The amount of prejudice already present in a society appears to be only part of the story. Something else determines when those beliefs become more openly expressed, politically mobilized or translated into attacks.

What the Ten Countries Reveal

The evidence points toward a distinction between the existence of antisemitic prejudice and the circumstances that bring it into the open.

Conspiracy thinking is strongly associated with antisemitic attitudes. October 7 and the subsequent war provided an international event around which hostility toward Israel and Jews became increasingly intertwined. Social media circulated the accusations widely, especially under younger people.

In multiple countries, the escalation extended into physical violence.

The most striking finding is that broad national characteristics – immigration levels, Muslim population shares, economic conditions, government voting patterns and even the prevalence of antisemitic stereotypes—did little to predict which countries would experience the largest increases.

The perpetrators in each country did however often come from the Muslim community. While at first blush, one would be tempted to attribute their actions in defense of fellow Muslims, using the analysis above would point in a different direction. As revealed in ADL polls, Muslims are two to five times more likely than Christians to believe antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The war provided a common international catalyst. The response reflected the beliefs people held, the narratives they encountered and the willingness of some to blame Jews collectively for events in Israel.

Two people killed in a synagogue on Yom Kippur in Manchester, UK by a plan pledging allegiance to ISIS

Return to the 12-year-old girl in Courbevoie.

Her attackers were children. She was a child. The court determined that her Jewish identity was the reason she was targeted. The tragedy reveals what is at stake when anti-Jewish prejudice becomes a justification for violence.

The most urgent challenge is to confront the ideas and conspiracy theories that turn Jews into collective enemies—before another child, student, worshipper or passerby becomes their target.

“Stolen Land” Is the Excuse. Jews Are the Target.

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Pal-Awda is organizing a protest in Riverdale, Bronx, on October 24 to stop what it calls the sale of “stolen Palestinian land.” Its target is a Jewish real estate event organized by My Israel Home.

Graphic promoting an event against the sale of stolen Palestinian land in Riverdale, Bronx, highlighting the date and time.

The accusation is enormous. The evidence is missing.

The protesters identify no stolen property, no dispossessed owner, no fraudulent deed and no evidence that anyone offering a home for sale acquired it unlawfully. They simply declare the land stolen and demand that the sale be stopped.

And what exactly makes a privately owned home “Palestinian land”?

There has never been an independent sovereign country called Palestine. Even if there had been, that would establish nothing about ownership of a particular house.

Imagine a homeowner in Dallas selling a house to someone from Los Angeles. Protesters descend on the transaction, shouting, “Stop the sale of stolen Dallas land!”

Stolen from whom? The homeowner? The city? Everyone who ever lived in Dallas?

Dallas describes an actual place. It does not own every home within its boundaries. A homeowner can sell to another person, regardless of where the buyer was born or lives.

The same is true in Judea and Samaria. Land owned by an Arab is the property of that owner, just as land owned by a Jew is the property of that owner. Lawful ownership can change hands. A property’s location or the ethnicity of its former owner establishes neither permanent ownership nor theft.

Pal-Awda previously celebrated forcing a Jewish gathering out of Queens. It targeted an event at a synagogue in Manhattan. Now it is targeting Riverdale, seeking to stop Jewish families from gathering to consider buying homes in Israel.

“It is our duty to make them think twice before holding these events. We need to make them scared! We need to make them scared! We need to make them scared.” – people at PAL-Awda protest in front of a synagogue event helping Jews move to Israel in November 2025

Congressman Ritchie Torres, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson and Council Member Eric Dinowitz condemned the campaign in a joint statement, calling it “an attack on Jewish New Yorkers” and declaring that “the Bronx will not tolerate it.”

Joint statement from New York officials condemning attacks on Jewish community gatherings, emphasizing the right to assemble without fear.

The campaign has a documented pattern: targeting Jewish real estate gatherings, pressuring venues and celebrating when Jewish events are driven out of New York City. And this is in regards to ALL of Israel, as Pal-Awda has condemned all Jews making aliyah regardless of where they intend to live.

“Settler, settler, go back home, Palestine is ours alone!” – PAL-Awda’s Instagram

The protesters have identified no stolen home. But they have identified their target: Jews.

Simply allowing the event to take place is an inadequate response. The entire Riverdale community – Jewish and non-Jewish alike – should stand together in visible opposition to those who gather to harass and intimidate Jewish homebuyers. Elected officials who condemn antisemitism in statements should stand alongside the people being targeted.

Antisemites should never be allowed to decide where Jews can gather, where they can buy homes or whether they can live openly as Jews. Riverdale should make that unmistakably clear.

Every Jew Belongs. Every Ideology Doesn’t.

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More than 100 Jews gathered in Brooklyn this month to plan a network of anti-Zionist synagogues, schools and summer camps. The emerging Jewish Diaspora Movement brought together people associated with Jewish Currents, Rabbis for Ceasefire, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ) and the American Council for Judaism. Rabbi Alissa Wise, formerly of Jewish Voice for Peace, is among its founders. Discussions included plans for a Jewish day school in Boston in 2029.

The gathering is part of a broader effort to reshape what future generations of American Jews learn about their religion, history and relationship to Israel.

The “intellectual” groundwork is expanding. Temple University professor emerita Carolyn Karcher’s Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism, featuring 47 Jewish contributors, includes a guide encouraging readers to bring anti-Zionist arguments into synagogues and families. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Benjamin Moser’s Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History profiles twelve Jewish opponents of Zionism, placing their dissent within a longer Jewish intellectual tradition.

Jewish opposition to modern Zionism has a history. Jewish attachment to the Land of Israel has a far longer one.

Judaism is an ancient, land-based religion. Abraham traveled to Canaan. The Israelites returned from Egypt. Jerusalem became the center of Jewish worship. The Torah commanded pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times annually, during Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. For millennia, Jews have prayed toward Jerusalem, mourned the destruction of its Temple and concluded the Passover Seder with the aspiration of returning there.

Opposing modern Jewish statehood is a political or theological position. Denying the Jewish people’s ancient connection to the Land of Israel is a historical falsehood. The distinction matters because Judaism’s scriptures, laws, holidays and prayers are rooted in a particular people and their ancestral homeland.

A Jew may reject God, violate Shabbat, oppose circumcision or denounce Israel and remain Jewish. Jewish belonging encompasses believers and atheists, the observant and secular, Zionists and anti-Zionists.

A Jew can reject a teaching of Judaism and remain Jewish. But that does not transform the rejection into a teaching of Judaism.

A Jew who eats ham makes a personal choice. A rabbi who certifies ham as kosher betrays the trust of Jews who rely on that certification to observe their religion. Similarly, a Jewish school that teaches children to deny their ancestral connection to Israel betrays the trust of parents who expect it to transmit Jewish history and tradition faithfully.

Jews who disagree with established organizations are free to create alternatives reflecting their beliefs. Existing institutions have the same right to preserve their missions. The Jewish identity of an institution’s founders establishes its origins. Its teachings and conduct determine whether it deserves the community’s trust.

Rabbi Brant Rosen, founder of the anti-Zionist congregation Tzedek Chicago, described his community as “consciously not an inclusive community.” His congregation establishes boundaries around its beliefs. Yet Open Hillel challenges Hillel’s restrictions on sponsoring organizations that advocate boycotts of Israel or reject its legitimacy as a Jewish state.

Hillel welcomes Jews across denominations, levels of observance and political beliefs while maintaining a mission that includes strengthening Jewish connections to Israel. Anti-Zionist congregations defend their own ideological boundaries while demanding that Hillel loosen its own. BDS supporters advocate withholding institutional support from organizations whose values they oppose, yet object when Jewish institutions apply similar standards to BDS.

At Emory Hillel, Rabbi Nikki Golomb was dismissed in August, weeks after beginning her position. She attributes the decision to her fiancé’s fierce criticism of Israel; Hillels of Georgia disputes that account, citing concerns about transparency and alignment with its mission. Golomb was affiliated with Rabbis for Ceasefire, founded by Alissa Wise. Whatever the disputed circumstances, Hillel has the right to expect its religious educators to uphold its mission.

Screenshot from Hillel’s website

Jewish disagreement has produced competing religious movements and institutions for centuries. But religious harm occurs when an institution entrusted with Jewish education misrepresents foundational elements of Jewish history or tradition. A school that teaches children to deny the Jewish people’s connection to Israel can legitimately have its claim to teach authentic Judaism challenged by the broader Jewish community. Opposition to modern Jewish sovereignty alone does not establish that denial.

Physical harm presents a separate and more urgent threshold. Organization that campaign to deprive threatened Jewish schools or synagogues of reasonable security protections, or to deny Israeli civilians protection against attack – like JVP, JFERJ, IfNotNow NYC and the American Council for Judaism – know that they expose Jewish lives to danger. The Jewish community has the right to challenge such conduct, withdraw communal recognition and support, and defend institutions that faithfully serve their missions.

Jewish Voice for Peace is against defensive weapons for Israel

Every Jew belongs to the Jewish people. Every institution founded by Jews does not automatically speak for Judaism. And when an institution uses the Jewish name to falsify Jewish history, betray Jewish trust or endanger Jewish lives, the Jewish community has a responsibility to confront it.

The Revolution Is Local. It Waves a Foreign Flag.

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On February 20, 1939, more than 20,000 Americans packed Madison Square Garden beneath enormous swastikas, American flags and a portrait of George Washington. The German American Bund called its rally “Free America,” while its leader, Fritz Kuhn (1896–1951), promoted Nazi ideology, denounced Jewish influence and envisioned a radically different American society.

The crowd looked admiringly toward Hitler’s Germany, but its ambitions were directed toward America.

A large crowd gathered in an arena for a formal event, with a stage at the front featuring a prominent figure and decorative banners.
Crowd at Madison Square Garden allied with Nazi Germany, February 1939

On October 17, 2026, France erupted in demonstrations over living costs, public services and economic inequality. Rioters burned vehicles, looted businesses and attacked public buildings. In Paris, protesters climbed the monument to Marianne, symbol of the French Republic, and raised the French tricolor alongside a Palestinian flag.

The grievances were French. The revolutionary symbolism was international.

A person holding a Palestinian flag while walking through a foggy protest scene.
Crowd of protesters holding Palestinian flags and other banners, gathered near a monument with 'FREE PALESTINE' graffitied on it.

A Palestinian flag at a demonstration about Gaza represents a foreign cause. At a demonstration about French economic policy, it suggests something more: a foreign struggle adopted as a symbol of domestic upheaval.

Across different eras and ideologies, foreign struggles have supplied the symbols for movements seeking to remake their own countries.

A Generation Looking for a Different Future

Revolutionary politics becomes attractive when people lose faith in their institutions and their prospects for a better life.

The Great Depression shattered economic security for millions of Americans. The German American Bund exploited the resulting insecurity, offering national renewal, authoritarian certainty and enemies to blame for the country’s troubles.

Nearly a century later, Bernie Sanders’s 2016 campaign mobilized younger Americans disillusioned with an establishment they believed protected wealthy donors and political insiders. Revelations about Democratic National Committee favoritism toward Hillary Clinton reinforced those suspicions, while subsequent political upheaval deepened distrust of established leadership.

COVID disrupted education and livelihoods, inflation and housing costs eroded economic opportunity, and artificial intelligence raised fears about the future of employment. The concealment of Biden’s decline and Harris’s selection without a new nationwide primary reinforced perceptions of political decisions controlled by insiders. Harvard’s 2026 Youth Poll found that only 15% of young Americans trusted the federal government.

For people who believe established institutions protect the wealthy and powerful while their own opportunities diminish, promises to redistribute wealth, ownership and political authority become increasingly attractive. That dissatisfaction is producing electoral victories.

The Revolution Enters City Hall

The Democratic Socialists of America have translated economic frustration into electoral power, most visibly through Zohran Mamdani’s 2025 election as mayor of New York City.

A group of diverse protesters holding red signs and a banner that reads 'NEW YORK CITY DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS' during a rally advocating for socialism and against fascism.

Celebrating his victory, the DSA described a defeat for billionaires, corporations and the Democratic Party establishment. Its agenda connected housing, public transportation, childcare, policing and for some bizarre non-local reason, “Palestinian liberation,” within a campaign for what the organization explicitly called a “political revolution.”

The DSA advocates public ownership of major industries, higher taxes on wealth, stronger tenant protections and a larger government role in housing and essential services. These proposals would change who owns economic resources, who makes investment decisions and how much authority government exercises over everyday life.

The movement also reaches younger Americans through influential online broadcasters. Hasan Piker, one of the most prominent socialist commentators on the internet, combines criticism of American capitalism with outspoken support for Palestinian Arab violence. He promoted Mamdani’s successful mayoral campaign, hosted him on his livestream and appeared at campaign events. In April 2026, Piker extended his electoral involvement to Michigan, campaigning alongside Abdul El-Sayed in his U.S. Senate race.

Four men posing together with smiles at an event, with a microphone held by one of them, brightly lit stage in the background.
Anti-Israel influencers of the alt-left Mehdi Hasan, Hasan Piker and Jamaal Bowman celebrate Zohran Mandani’s victory for NYC mayor in November 2025

The revolution has an economic program, a political organization, influential broadcasters and elected officials. It also has a flag.

Why Palestine Became the Revolutionary Symbol

Palestine offers a ready-made narrative for movements organized around the struggle between privilege and liberation. The popular revolutionary image casts wealthy, technologically advanced, Western-backed White Israelis against poorer, brown Palestinians fighting dispossession. That imagery translates readily into American arguments about racial inequality, colonialism, policing and economic power.

The narrative fictionalizes history and present. Jews are indigenous to Israel, and its “white” Ashkenazi population is less than one-third of the Israeli population. But Israel’s prosperity makes the image of privileged rulers and dispossessed subjects politically compelling.

Pie chart illustrating the demographic composition of Israel, showing percentages of different ethnic groups: Arabs (21.1%), Mizrahi Jews (33.2%), Ashkenazi Jews (32.7%), Mixed Jews (5.8%), Black Jews (2.2%), and Others (5.0%).

Representative Rashida Tlaib and former Ohio state senator Nina Turner made the domestic connection explicit in their 2024 essay Black Liberation and Palestinian Liberation Are Interconnected, linking Detroit, Cleveland and Gaza through a common struggle against injustice. Others have done the same like CNN’s Marc Lamont Hill back in 2015.

The anti-Israel organization Within Our Lifetime has combined “Globalize the Intifada” with slogans including “Land Back,” “Kill Capitalism” and “Defund the Police.” The vocabulary connects Palestinian nationalism with American disputes over property, policing and political authority.

On October 8, 2023, one day after Hamas massacred Israeli civilians, demonstrators gathered beneath Palestinian flags in Times Square. A speaker mocked the victims of the Nova music festival, while protesters chanted slogans including “Resistance is justified” and “Globalize the intifada.”

The latter slogan called for extending a Palestinian Arab slaughter beyond its original geography, invoking a violent history which included suicide bombings and attacks on civilians.

Across Western democracies, Palestine has become more than a foreign policy cause for many revolutionary activists. It offers a common identity for movements seeking substantial changes to established economic and political institutions.

Canary Mission video on the socialist-jihadi alliance coming for the United States

The Old Accusation Returns

Every revolutionary narrative needs an explanation for why some people possess wealth and power while others struggle. When that explanation turns into a search for a privileged group supposedly responsible for everyone else’s suffering, an ancient accusation becomes available: Jews control the system.

The German American Bund accused Jews of exercising illegitimate influence over American finance, politics and public opinion. Father Charles Coughlin (1891–1979) brought similar conspiracies into millions of American homes through radio, presenting Jewish power as an explanation for the economic suffering of ordinary Americans.

The accusation survives across otherwise opposing political camps. On the far right, Nick Fuentes promotes conspiracies about Jewish control of American institutions. In entertainment, Ye has accused Jewish executives of controlling and exploiting Black performers. In a different context, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten described American Jews in 2021 as part of the “ownership class,” arguing that Jews were keeping minorities down.

The danger intensifies when the language of liberation is used to excuse violence against people assigned to the category of oppressor.

Protesters march on a city street holding a large banner that depicts a masked figure with the word 'Revolution' written on it, alongside Palestinian flags and other protest signs.
“No Kings Rally and March” in Chicago on June 14, 2025 featured Palestinian flags and call for “Revolution” (Photo by The TRiiBE)

Following October 7, Cornell professor Russell Rickford described Hamas’s breach of the Gaza barrier as “exhilarating.” CAIR executive director Nihad Awad invoked Martin Luther King Jr.’s observation about riots on the morning of the massacre and later expressed happiness that Palestinians had broken through the barrier.

Quote from Martin Luther King Jr. stating 'A riot is the language of the unheard,' alongside a profile image of King.

The consequences of importing a foreign conflict into American life became terrifyingly tangible in March 2026, when an attacker drove a vehicle carrying incendiary materials into Temple Israel in suburban Detroit while children and adults were inside. Abdul El-Sayed, then campaigning for the United States Senate, condemned the attack but also discussed the attacker’s family losses in Lebanon, explaining that “hurt people hurt people.”

Abdul El-Sayed speaking with a microphone at an event, discussing the impact of trauma and violence.

The attacker brought a foreign war to an American synagogue. The political explanation brought the grievances of that war into the response. The victims were Americans, including children gathered in a place of worship who had nothing to do with a war thousands of miles away, yet the socialist-revolutionary lens pivoted longingly to the attacker.

The Stakes Extend Beyond Jews

The German American Bund’s vision in 1939 threatened far more than America’s Jews. Its members admired an authoritarian foreign power and sought to transform the political and social character of their own country.

Today’s movements pursue different visions through different means, including democratic elections. Their ambitions to change ownership, wealth distribution, policing, education and government authority will shape the lives of Americans far beyond those attending demonstrations.

“there’s plenty of money in the world… it’s just in the wrong hands” – NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio address in 2019

Jews have particular reason to recognize the danger when political movements portray them as privileged beneficiaries of an unjust system. History has shown how readily that accusation becomes collective blame. But the consequences of sweeping transformations of political and economic power extend far beyond the Jewish community. Jews will suffer twice – first as Jews and then as Americans – regardless of whether they refer to themselves as American Jews or Jewish Americans.

The revolution is local. It waves a foreign flag. And the country it seeks to remake is our own.

When Jews Turn Against Their Own

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Jewish law still sanctions Jews who deliberately harm other Jews. Why has the community become so reluctant to consider that authority when the harm threatens thousands or millions?

In 1656, the Jewish community of Amsterdam excommunicated a 23-year-old philosopher named Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677). Its leaders pronounced a devastating herem, a religious ban that severed him from communal Jewish life. Members were forbidden to associate with him, speak with him or read his writings. The condemnation became one of the most famous excommunications in Jewish history.

For centuries, Jewish communities disciplined members whose conduct threatened religious obligations or communal life. Jewish law developed several levels of sanctions, most notably nidui and herem.

Nidui was the lesser punishment, a form of temporary religious and social ostracism, traditionally lasting 30 days in diaspora (non-Israel) communities. It restricted ordinary social interaction, sometimes requiring others to maintain a distance of four cubits, roughly six feet. Its purpose was to induce repentance and correction of the offending behavior.

Herem was more severe, imposing deeper and potentially indefinite exclusion from communal life. Depending on the circumstances, it could restrict social relationships, commercial dealings and religious participation. In tightly integrated Jewish communities, exclusion could devastate a person’s livelihood and standing in society.

Maimonides, the Rambam (1138–1204), enumerated 24 grounds for nidui in his Mishneh Torah. They included maintaining dangerous conditions, such as a vicious dog or unstable ladder; refusing to obey a religious court; and preventing the public from performing a commandment.

That last provision is particularly important. Jewish law recognized that obstructing a community’s religious obligations could warrant religious discipline.

These sanctions remain part of modern Jewish life. Orthodox communities still employ religious and social pressure against husbands who refuse to grant their wives a get, the Jewish divorce document required for remarriage under Jewish law. When a rabbinical court determines that a husband must grant a get and he refuses, communal measures may include exclusion from synagogue honors, religious gatherings and other forms of participation. Depending on the circumstances, formal nidui or herem may also be considered.

The Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA) organizes communal pressure against recalcitrant spouses, including public demonstrations and campaigns encouraging synagogues to impose restrictions, with appropriate rabbinic authorization.

Jewish communities recognize that one Jew’s deliberate conduct can cause another such serious harm that communal intervention becomes necessary. Yet these sanctions are rarely discussed when the threatened harm extends beyond an individual to an entire Jewish community.

A husband who refuses a get may face public ostracism for trapping one woman in a marriage. What of a Jew who deliberately works to prohibit circumcision, obstruct synagogue security or prevent entire communities from fulfilling religious commandments?

Three fundamental obligations provide a framework: protecting Jewish lives, preserving religious observance and sustaining Jewish communal continuity.

Protecting Jewish Lives

Jewish law places the preservation of human life, pikuach nefesh, above almost every other religious obligation. Leviticus commands, “Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.” The Talmud extends this principle into an affirmative obligation to rescue someone facing danger.

The clearest case involves a Jew knowingly facilitating violence against other Jews or deliberately obstructing their rescue from an immediate threat. Such conduct directly violates the obligation to protect human life and demands serious religious and communal accountability.

Consider a person deliberately sabotaging essential security at a synagogue or yeshiva facing credible threats. Jewish institutions increasingly depend on trained guards, controlled entrances and protective infrastructure. Knowingly interfering with necessary safeguards could expose worshippers and children to foreseeable danger.

A related question arises when someone campaigns to eliminate protective buffer zones around synagogue or school entrances. Where violent intimidation or obstruction threatens access, removing necessary security measures could endanger the community.

The issue becomes more complicated when the discussion moves to Israel’s national defense. Israeli missile-defense systems, including Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow, protect civilians against incoming rockets and missiles. Campaigning to eliminate essential defensive capabilities without adequate alternatives could foreseeably increase the danger to millions of people.

Broader opposition to American military assistance to Israel presents a less direct case. Military assistance encompasses different weapons, defensive systems and strategic objectives. A Jew who advocates eliminating defensive funding despite a demonstrated threat raises different questions from someone disputing a particular military appropriation.

Jewish law has long required Jews to address threats to human life. Religious authorities should be prepared to examine whether deliberately undermining essential security, whether at a synagogue or across Israel, violates that obligation.

Protecting Jewish Religious Observance

A Jewish community can endure poverty, exile and political upheaval while preserving its identity through religious practice. The covenant of circumcision, the laws of kashrut, prayer, Torah study and communal institutions have sustained Jewish life across generations.

Maimonides explicitly includes preventing the public from fulfilling a commandment among the grounds for nidui. This provides a classical foundation for examining deliberate interference with Jewish observance.

Consider a Jew actively working to outlaw brit milah, the covenant established with Abraham. A successful prohibition would directly prevent Jews from performing one of their foundational commandments. A campaign specifically intended to achieve that result should invite serious halachic examination.

A campaign to prohibit kosher slaughter, shechita, presents a similar concern. Such a law would prevent traditional ritual slaughter within the jurisdiction and could make religious observance substantially more difficult.

The same questions arise when Jews advocate prohibitions on synagogue worship, Torah education or the construction of religious facilities such as mikvaot. Restrictions on kippot and other religious clothing can also interfere with Jewish practice, depending on their scope.

These are precisely the kinds of conflicts in which religious authorities should examine whether conduct constitutes the deliberate obstruction of commandments. Where a recognized court determines that a violation warrants nidui, continued defiance may raise the question of stronger sanctions under Jewish law.

Further along the spectrum lies the controversy over government funding for yeshivas. Some advocates want public funding conditioned on students meeting secular educational standards in English and mathematics. Such requirements may create financial pressure on religious schools, while educational oversight also serves legitimate public purposes.

Jewish law must distinguish legitimate public oversight from deliberate obstruction of religious commandments. Where that boundary is crossed, religious authorities should be prepared to act.

Protecting Jewish Communal Continuity

The Jewish connection to the Land of Israel is integral to Judaism. Jerusalem occupies a central place in Jewish prayer, religious memory and law. Nachmanides, the Ramban (1194–1270), regarded settling the Land of Israel as a positive biblical commandment, although later authorities have debated its precise scope and application.

Consider a Jew advocating a prohibition on Jewish immigration to Israel. Such a restriction would interfere with the ability of Jews to settle in their ancestral homeland, an act that major halachic authorities regard as religiously significant.

Preventing Jews from visiting or praying at their holy sites raises related questions about religious access and worship. Restrictions on Jewish homeownership introduce another dimension, particularly where they specifically target Jewish purchasers.

These concerns are already entering American legislation. In October 2026, Representative Joaquin Castro introduced the Stop the Settlements Act, backed by dozens of Democratic lawmakers. The bill would impose sanctions on certain foreign persons involved in “settlement” activities and prohibit imports from covered settlements. Its reference to the West Bank raises a disturbing question: Would eastern Jerusalem, including the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, fall within its reach?

If so, Jewish organizations involved in purchasing and renovating homes, restoring historic synagogues such as Tiferet Yisrael, or supporting archaeological projects at the City of David could face sanctions-related consequences. The bill leaves critical questions about its application to these activities unresolved. Its sponsors should be required to explain whether Jewish religious and communal institutions in Jerusalem could become targets.

The possibility that American Jewish lawmakers would support legislation reaching Jewish religious institutions in Jerusalem is extraordinary. If Jews knowingly work to obstruct other Jews from maintaining synagogues, owning homes or fulfilling religious obligations in Jerusalem, why should their conduct escape the scrutiny of Jewish law?

Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) co-sponsored the Stop the Settlement Act

Further along the spectrum are efforts to boycott Israeli universities, exclude Israeli rabbis or educators, or discourage purchases of Israeli goods. Such actions may weaken educational, economic and communal relationships, although their connection to established grounds for nidui is less direct.

The case for religious sanctions is strongest where conduct directly obstructs an identifiable commandment or violates another established halachic obligation.

From Nidui to Herem

Jewish communities have historically imposed sanctions on individuals and movements. In 1772, rabbinic authorities associated with the Vilna Gaon (1720–1797) supported bans against the emerging Hasidic movement, a precedent that also illustrates the danger of communal authorities misjudging religious differences. Today, institutions such as Hillel restrict partnerships with organizations supporting BDS such as Jewish Voice for Peace, while the Conference of Presidents rejected J Street’s membership application in 2014. Between silence and herem lies a range of communal measures, from public censure to restrictions on institutional membership and leadership. These measures require clear standards and responsible authority.

The Jewish community is fraying. Its religious institutions, security and connection to Israel face growing internal conflict. Jewish law already recognizes that deliberate harm to another Jew can warrant communal sanctions. Qualified religious leaders should be prepared to examine serious violations, distinguish them from political disagreement and apply appropriate measures where justified.

If Jewish law can sanction a man for trapping one Jewish woman in a marriage, how can Jewish leadership refuse even to consider sanctions against those who deliberately endanger Jewish communities or obstruct their commandments?

Cornell’s Socialist Revolution and Its Jewish Students

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There is something rotten in Ithaca.

In October 2023, Cornell professor Russell Rickford described Hamas’s massacre of Israelis as “exhilarating” and “energizing.” Weeks later, a Cornell student threatened to shoot Jewish students, rape Jewish women and murder Jewish babies. Three years later, Rickford remains on the faculty, socialist organizations have gained political influence across campus, and anti-Israel activists have transformed Cornell’s student government and political culture.

A speaker addresses a crowd at a protest, with a banner in the background reading 'ANTI-ZIONISM IS NOT ANTI-SEMITISM'.
Cornell Professor celebrated the October 7 massacre of 1,200 in Israel

Cornell’s socialist revolution has unfolded alongside a disturbing deterioration in the environment for Jewish students. Organizations promoting socialism and campaigning against Israel have become political partners, winning elections, organizing demonstrations and challenging the university’s institutional relationships with Israel.

Rickford’s October 2023 remarks were captured on video just days after Hamas terrorists murdered, raped and kidnapped Israelis. Jewish students questioned whether they could safely express opposing views in his classroom. Cornellians for Israel president Zoe Bernstein and Hillel executive vice president Simone Shteingart publicly challenged his remarks. Rickford apologized, took a leave of absence and eventually returned to teaching, including a course titled Socialism in America.

Within weeks, Cornell student Patrick Dai threatened to attack the university’s kosher dining hall, shoot Jewish students, rape Jewish women and murder Jewish babies. The threats terrified Cornell’s Jewish community, prompting a police investigation. Dai was arrested, pleaded guilty and sentenced to federal prison.

Mugshot of a young man with glasses, wearing a plain white t-shirt, looking directly at the camera.
Cornell student Patrick Dai

Cornell’s Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter lists more than 300 members in the university’s student organization directory. One Cornell organizer advanced to national YDSA leadership, while another won election to Ithaca’s Common Council.

YDSA increasingly works alongside Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace and Cornell Progressives. Their joint campaigns seek divestment from weapons manufacturers, opposition to Israeli institutions and an end to Cornell’s relationship with Israel’s Technion. The broader Coalition for Mutual Liberation has claimed participation by more than 40 campus and community organizations.

The transformation is particularly striking when measured against Cornell’s recent history.

In 2014, Cornell’s Student Assembly voted 15–8–1 to table an Israel divestment resolution. A decade later, nearly 70% of participating undergraduates supported a divestment referendum. Graduate students approved another referendum in 2025. By 2026, every Student Assembly candidate jointly endorsed by SJP, YDSA and Cornell Progressives had won.

That political ascent was accompanied by increasingly confrontational activism. Protesters established encampments, disrupted a career fair involving defense contractors and interrupted an appearance by former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni. Cornell imposed disciplinary sanctions and temporarily suspended SJP before reinstating it under conditions.

The Anti-Defamation League assigned Cornell a C in its 2026 campus antisemitism report card.

The relationship between socialism and anti-Zionism became especially visible in September 2026, when Hasan Piker addressed approximately 450 students inside Cornell’s Sage Chapel at an event involving YDSA and other anti-Israel organizations.

Piker had previously declared that Hamas was a thousand times better than Israel. When challenged about that comparison on Pod Save America, he responded, “I stand by that.”

At Cornell, Piker celebrated socialist electoral victories, including the rise of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and joined a chant of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Event poster announcing Hasan's talk at Cornell on September 24, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm at Sage Chapel, sponsored by student organizations.

Governor Hochul sits on Cornell’s Board of Trustees by virtue of her office. Together, the university’s leadership and trustees bear responsibility for protecting the freedom of political expression while ensuring that Jewish students can participate in university life without intimidation.

Cornell has spent three years demonstrating how much ideological extremism its academic culture can accommodate. A professor celebrated the slaughter of Israelis. A student threatened to murder Jews. Socialist and anti-Israel organizations expanded their political influence, and a speaker who publicly stood by his favorable comparison of Hamas to Israel was welcomed into Sage Chapel.

Cornell’s Jewish students have watched this transformation from the receiving end of threats and intimidation.

Cornell has decided to shut down fraternity events and parties for the rest of the year after a suit alleging gang rape at a fraternity in 2024 came to public attention. Will the school take similar action against the socialism and anti-Israel clubs?

Sign reading 'FRAT CULTURE IS RAPE CULTURE' held up during a protest.

Democratic Politicians Readying for Jerusalem’s Jews To Get 20 Years in Prison

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Imagine three American Jews participating in their cultural heritage: one American Jew buys an apartment in Jerusalem’s Old City, and hires an Israeli contractor to repair the roof and renovate the kitchen. Another American contributes to archaeological excavations uncovering ancient Jewish Jerusalem, say in Ir David. A third donates to rebuilding a synagogue destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948.

Rebuilding the Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem, which was destroyed by the Jordanian army when it illegally seized the city in 1949 (photo: First One Through 2023)

Under legislation sponsored by 54 congressional Democrats, each may face federal prosecution, a million-dollar fine or even 20 years in prison.

Congressman Joaquin Castro’s Stop the Settlements Act, H.R. 10642, reaches far beyond stopping new Israeli housing construction in disputed territories. It authorizes sanctions against foreign persons involved in the financing, planning, construction, expansion or maintenance of Israeli settlements or outposts, subject to certain determinations.

This is not legislation targeting building a new neighborhood in the middle of the West Bank. It targets even maintaining what already exists, even in cities with thousands of years of Jewish history and presence. Democrats in Congress have chosen language broad enough to raise questions about the ordinary upkeep of Jewish communities.

The bill repeatedly refers to “settlements” in the “West Bank and Gaza.” It never explicitly states whether eastern Jerusalem including the Old City is included.

Palestinians claim “East Jerusalem,” part of a divided city that existed as a result of the 1948-9 war, which lasted for 18 years until 1967, as part of their future state. Israel considers united Jerusalem its capital, including the Old City.

Congress knows these competing positions. Congress knows that the Jewish Quarter contains homes and synagogues predating Israel’s establishment in 1948. Yet 54 Democrats have attached their names to legislation without clarifying whether these historic Jewish neighborhoods fall within its reach. Deliberately.

Consider the consequences. A future Democratic president may decide to state that “East Jerusalem” actually exists and that it is part of the West Bank. The activities described above become a crime.

An American buys an apartment in the Jewish Quarter, where Jews lived for centuries before Jordan expelled its Jewish residents in 1948. He hires an Israeli company to restore the property. If an American administration classifies the Old City as a settlement (at least, any location where a Jew buys land) and sanctions that company for its broader construction or maintenance activities, paying the contractor could become a federal offense.

Now consider Ir David, the City of David, where archaeological excavations uncover the streets, structures and artifacts of ancient Jerusalem. An American donor might contribute money to uncover archaeological remains. But if the recipient organization were sanctioned, that donation could become prohibited.

Ir David excavations unearthing Jerusalem at the time of the Second Temple. (photo: First One Through July 2024)

The ramification would be to halt Jews from connecting to their past and only enable Arabs to excavate or destroy Jewish history.

Then there is Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue. Built in 1877 in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter, the synagogue was destroyed during Jordan’s conquest of the Old City in 1948. Its reconstruction restores a Jewish house of worship that existed generations before Israel recaptured the Old City in 1967.

Could the organization rebuilding it be sanctioned for construction or maintenance in territory an administration considers a settlement? In addition to being obtuse about Jerusalem, the bill contains no express exemption for historic synagogues, religious restoration or Jewish institutions predating 1948.

Domes of the Tiferet Yisrael (top center) and Hurva Synagogues (above right) return to the Old City skyline (photo: First One Through November 2025)

The legislation invokes the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Willful violations of applicable prohibitions can carry criminal fines of up to $1 million and imprisonment for up to 20 years. Civil penalties may apply even without criminal intent.

If an administration designates locations in Jerusalem’s Old City, an American could potentially be barred from ordering a handmade menorah or other merchandise produced there for shipment to the United States.

Castro says his legislation is intended to stop settlement expansion and Palestinian dispossession. Yet its language raises questions about the Old City of Jerusalem, the maintenance of existing homes, archaeological preservation, religious reconstruction and ordinary commercial activity.

Despite the language, the self-declared “pro-Israel” group J Street has endorsed it.

Fifty-four Democrats have attached their names to legislation that could reach into the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. And the list of Democratic co-sponsors and anti-Israel alt-left Jewish groups supporting it continues to grow.

Turning Deep Blue New York, Purple

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The Democratic Socialists of America have discovered that the shortest path to socialist political power runs through the Democratic Party’s safest districts. Their ambitions extend beyond winning elections. They seek to transform American capitalism, foreign policy and the Democratic Party itself.

DSA’s National Political Committee celebrated Chris Rabb‘s congressional primary victory in Philadelphia as a win in “the deepest blue Democratic district in the country.” In districts where the Democratic primary effectively determines the general election, a disciplined socialist organization can acquire political power using electoral majorities built by generations of traditional Democrats. Rabb said of his win ““that the era of establishment politics is coming to an end.”

DSA is remarkably candid about its objectives. Its National Electoral Commission advocates building an independent mass socialist party with a program that will allow the working class to “end capitalism.” Nationally endorsed candidates must support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. DSA leader Sydney Carlson-White celebrated Rabb’s victory as “bringing an anti-Zionist, anti-AIPAC, anti-capitalist voice into Congress in the bluest district in the United States.”

Rabb’s backers included:

  • Democratic Socialists of America
  • Working Families Party
  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
  • Hasan Piker

Hasan Piker, the influential socialist commentator who campaigns alongside many DSA candidates, is explicit about the political strategy. Describing the Democratic Party, he declared, “That’s a weak party. That’s a party that you can seize. That’s a party that you can take advantage of.“

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani demonstrates how far that movement has advanced. His victory brought a democratic socialist into one of America’s most prominent political offices, while DSA-backed candidates subsequently defeated established Democrats in congressional primaries.

DSA-backed Zohran Mamdani went on to win deep blue New York City’s mayoral race

The Democratic Party provides the ballot line and historically loyal electorate. DSA supplies the candidates, volunteers and ideological discipline.

In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul faces Republican Bruce Blakeman. Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than two to one, and Hochul entered October with a substantial polling advantage. Mamdani has endorsed her, as have various far-left politicians including Rep. Nydia Velázquez, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Can the Democratic Party continue accommodating an organized socialist movement committed to ending capitalism and advancing anti-Zionism while assuming that traditional Democrats will continue delivering overwhelming electoral majorities?

NY Governor Kathy Hochul with NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani

A narrowing Democratic margin could send a powerful signal that the party’s safest territory is becoming more competitive. The political consequences could extend beyond one election, influencing candidate recruitment, party alliances and the willingness of Democratic leaders to accommodate DSA’s agenda.

DSA has made its intentions unmistakable. Piker has described a party ripe for seizure. The movement has demonstrated that it can defeat Democratic incumbents and turn those victories into growing political power.

Jews in New York have historically voted Democrat by wide numbers are turning to Republicans due to the al-left seizure of the party

Moderate Democratic politician will tell you in confidence in private: New York Democrats should vote for moderate politicians in the primaries and for Republicans in the general election to turn New York purple, to create a wall against the tide of vile hatred stemming from the far-left flank taking over the party.

Related:

The DSA Is Systematically Coming For Zionist Jews (August 2023)