How many warning signs do we need? History is repeating itself for Jews in the West

​Jews need to stop pretending we are not already in a war in the West. This is not a distant conflict, and it is not theoretical. It is playing out in streets, universities, houses of worship, and public spaces once considered safe.

​Jews today are no longer safe anywhere. The events of just the past two weeks should have shattered any remaining illusions.

​This is not a passing spike in hatred or a messaging problem that can be fixed with better explanations. It is a moment that demands urgency, clarity, and action. Denial now comes with a very real cost.

​Antisemitism is not simply rising. It has peaked and become lethal. It is organized, masked as activism or moral outrage, and increasingly accepted by the elite, Western society.

​In the last two years, antisemitic incidents in the United States have surged by roughly 65%, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The United Kingdom has seen a similar rise, based on figures from the Community Security Trust. In Australia, the increase has been even more alarming, with antisemitic incidents jumping by more than 300 percent, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. 

​And these are not the only countries experiencing a surge in antisemitism.

​The people carrying these ideas are not just chanting slogans. They are threatening, attacking, and in some cases murdering Jews. Pretending we are not in a dangerous place, or believing this can be solved through traditional approaches like education, interfaith dialogue, or better hasbara, is not just naïve. It is reckless.

​History has already shown us where that road leads.

​Consider what has happened in recent days.

​In New York, police are investigating a stabbing in Crown Heights believed to be driven by antisemitic hatred. The victim, a member of the Orthodox Jewish community, was attacked near the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters. Authorities say the suspect shouted antisemitic slurs. This happened in broad daylight, in one of the most visibly Jewish neighborhoods in the country.

​Days later, authorities identified the suspect behind a mass shooting at Brown University and later found him dead in New Hampshire from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators say the same individual also killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor shortly afterward.

​The suspect, Claudio Neves Valente, is believed to have killed two students and wounded nine others during a shooting inside a Brown lecture hall. Two days later, police say he murdered MIT professor Nuno F. G. Loureiro at his home outside Boston.

​Loureiro, a physicist and fusion scientist, had publicly expressed support for Israel. He was not Jewish.

​Investigators also confirmed that the shooter intentionally targeted a classroom taught by Rachel Friedberg, a teaching professor of economics and a faculty associate of Brown’s Judaic studies program. Friedberg is openly Jewish, has taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is a known supporter of Israel.

There is still information to be released, but it cannot be a coincidence that two openly pro-Israel, pro-Jewish individuals were murdered or attempted to be murdered by the same person within the span of days.

​Then came Bondi Beach.

​One week ago, two gunmen with known links to ISIS opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration on one of the most iconic beaches in the world. Fifteen people were murdered. Dozens more were injured. Thousands were nearby.

​This was not hidden. It was not accidental. It was a public Jewish event targeted openly and deliberately.

​Each incident could be dismissed on its own. Together, they reveal a far more troubling pattern. Violence against Jews is becoming normalized across countries, institutions, and ideologies that once claimed neutrality or protection.

​These events are often treated as separate. They are not. They are connected by a deep antisemitism that has spiraled out of control in the West. Antisemitism functions like metastatic cancer. Left untreated, it spreads. Eventually, it kills.

​This is a wake-up call.

​I am not arguing that the situation will inevitably end in catastrophe. But history makes one thing painfully clear. When warning signs are minimized, they rarely disappear.

​The Jewish community understands this better than most. We know the cost of waiting too long. We see the danger of convincing ourselves that this time will somehow be different.

​In Germany, it took years for persecution to escalate into genocide. It began with discrimination after the appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor in 1933. It then moved to boycotts and public incitement, followed by Kristallnacht and the Nuremberg Laws in 1938 stripping Jews of rights. It culminated in 1942 with the “final solution to the Jewish problem” and organized mass murder.

​I am not saying another Holocaust is inevitable. But there could be a modern version of it. Or more mass shootings. 

Jewish history may not repeat itself exactly, but it does rhyme. From the Crusades to the Inquisition to the Holocaust, periods of relative calm have often ended with catastrophic violence.

​Talk will not stop this. Action will.

​Jews need to be realistic. Passports should be current. Aliyah files should be open. Preparation is not panic. It is prudent.

​More importantly, Jews and allies need to act together. We do not need another glossy hasbara campaign or another well-funded Holocaust education program alone. Those have their place, but they are not enough.

​What is needed is an organized response. An army, not with weapons, but with strategy. One that understands this war is being fought on multiple fronts.

​That means academia, where Jewish students and faculty are targeted. It means media and social media, where lies spread faster than facts. It means government, culture, and the arts, where Jews are increasingly excluded or demonized.

​It means putting our differences, egos and fundraising goals aside and, once and for all, pooling Jewish resources, wealth, and brainpower to protect ourselves, while welcoming anyone like-minded about Israel and the fight against antisemitism to stand with us.

​Our enemies are already organized across these fronts. It is long past the time that we were, too.

​Vigilance is no longer optional. Action must happen now, not after the next attack and certainly not after the subsequent funeral.