March 5, 2026
The following column appeared in the Palm Beach Post.
For most Americans, safety is something they assume. For American Jews today, it is something we calculate.
According to American Jewish Committee’s State of Antisemitism in America 2025 Report, released Feb. 10, 91% of American Jews say they feel less safe as a Jewish person in the U.S. as a result of attacks on American Jews in the past year, including the 2025 murders of two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., the arson attack on the home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and the firebombing of a Boulder, Colo., march in support of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza .
This fear is not theoretical. It is shaped by a steady escalation of antisemitic behavior, from online incitement to vandalism, harassment, and, in some cases, deadly attacks.
Palm Beach County is not immune.
In recent months, hateful symbols — including a swastika and racial slurs spray-painted outside a Boca Raton office — have left residents feeling threatened. This past December, antisemitic language was etched into a handrail at Carlin Park in Jupiter, a public space frequented by families, children, and visitors. These were not random markings. They were deliberate acts meant to intimidate, exclude, and assert hostility in shared civic spaces.
Hate-motivated vandalism is not harmless or symbolic. It is designed to unsettle and test the boundaries of what a community will tolerate. When such acts occur, they reverberate far beyond the physical damage itself.
Nationally, the consequences of this climate are unmistakable. The AJC report found that 55% of American Jews say they changed their behavior in the past year out of fear of antisemitism.
That means they avoided wearing Jewish symbols, thought twice before attending communal events, and limited posting about Jewish issues. Among the 31% of American Jews who said they were the targets of antisemitism, four in five altered how they live their daily lives.
This is not how any group should experience life in America.
A major driver of this shift is the unprecedented rise in antisemitism online. AJC’s report found that nearly three-quarters of American Jews encountered saw or heard antisemitic content online or were personally targeted by it in the past year, the highest level ever recorded in the seven-year history of the report. Online rhetoric does not remain abstract; it fuels real-world behavior, emboldens perpetrators, and lowers the threshold for action.
Young Jews are especially affected. Nearly half of Jewish Americans ages 18–29 report being personally targeted by antisemitism in the past year. On college campuses, Jewish students describe exclusion and intimidation, while 80% of parents of Jewish high school students increasingly factor antisemitism into decisions about where their children will attend college.
History shows that rising antisemitism often coincides with broader societal polarization, extremism, and declining trust in democratic institutions. In 2025, majorities of both American Jews and the general public report less confidence in the way American democracy is functioning than they did five years ago. Hatred left unchallenged rarely stays contained.
Palm Beach County is a community that values inclusion, safety, and mutual respect. Upholding those values requires treating antisemitism, including vandalism, harassment, and intimidation, as the serious threat it is.
What must be done?
First, antisemitism must be named clearly and confronted consistently, without qualification or excuse. When hate appears in public spaces, the response must be swift and unequivocal.
Second, education and accountability must be strengthened. Schools, civic institutions, and community organizations must ensure antisemitism is understood not as a historical relic, but as a contemporary danger.
Third, leaders at every level must set an unambiguous standard. Silence, hedging, or delay undermines community trust and signals indifference.
At the national level, American Jewish Committee continues to advocate for stronger coordination to combat antisemitism domestically, including the creation of a designated federal role focused on addressing this challenge at home. Two-thirds of American Jews support this step, recognizing that antisemitism is persistent, adaptive, and not self-correcting.
Antisemitism is a test, not just of our concern for Jewish neighbors, but of our commitment to democracy itself. The question is whether we will meet this moment with clarity and courage or look back and wish we had acted sooner.
