June 3, 2025 — Dallas
The following column appeared in the Dallas Morning News.
On the morning of May 22, I brushed back tears as I told my daughters that two young Israeli Embassy staffers were murdered outside an American Jewish Committee event the night before in Washington, D.C. — I wanted them to hear it from me, not the news or their friends.
As the AJC Dallas regional director, I’ve planned many similar events. But in more than 30 years of Jewish communal service, I’ve never felt the impact of hate-fueled violence so personally.
In the toxic landscape of social media, comment sections and other forums are filled with anti-Jewish hate. Posts abound across myriad platforms equating these cold-blooded murders with righteous resistance. Too many people find it all too easy to dismiss the horrific murders of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky — or worse, to rationalize or even praise them. How did we get here? What brought us to this moment?
On Oct. 24, 2023, on Lower Greenville, stickers were found posted on electrical boxes featuring a masked, militant figure with a slingshot and the phrase: “Nothing but hate for Israel and Zionism, Nothing but love for Palestine and liberation. From Gaza to the Americas, decolonization means attack!”
It was a direct glorification of and incitement to violence. It came less than three weeks after Hamas brutally massacred 1,200 men, women, children and babies in Israel on Oct. 7, and before the Israel Defense Forces had even entered Gaza.
For the ensuing 19 months, similar incitements to violence against Jews have persisted, often framed by slogans like “globalize the intifada” and “resistance by all means necessary.” This drumbeat has echoed across college campuses, progressive circles, social media and beyond.
The phrase “globalize the intifada” evokes the violent periods from 1987 to the early 1990s and 2000-2005 when close to 1,000 Israelis were killed or injured by Palestinian terror attacks, including suicide bombings in civilian areas and bus bombings. Two particularly brutal attacks include the June 2001 bombing of a Tel Aviv disco that killed 21 Israelis — 16 of them teenagers — and the July 2002 Hebrew University massacre, when nine people were murdered, including five Americans. Both attacks were carried out by Hamas.
In today’s environment, chants of “intifada revolution” or calls to “globalize the intifada” function less as historical references and more as rallying cries — ones that, whether knowingly or not, incite violence against Jews, Israelis and Zionists. And when that violence inevitably erupts, it is often rationalized as a justifiable step toward the goal of a “Free Palestine.” But let’s be clear — no violence will bring us closer to a future with a secure Palestinian state living side-by-side with Israel. If this was truly the goal, the cries would be much different.
In November, Israeli soccer fans found themselves the subject of a modern-day pogrom. In what subsequent investigations found to be pre-orchestrated over WhatsApp and Telegram as a “Jew Hunt,” fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv club were chased down, ambushed and assaulted in Amsterdam. Even taxi and ride-sharing drivers were discovered to have been involved with coordinating the vile attacks.
When incidents like this occur, a predictable pattern emerges. Unlike other diverse communities — who are rightly given the deference to define what bigotry or hatred directed at them looks like — Jewish community leaders who call out antisemitism are often ignored or dismissed.
Let’s be clear: The brutal murders of Milgrim and Lischinsky did absolutely nothing to advance the cause of the Palestinian people. Their deaths were not acts of resistance — they were atrocities. And yet, for far too many in the anti-Israel crowd, it’s disturbingly easy to dismiss these two young people because they worked for the Israeli Embassy — as if that somehow justifies their execution.
Those who chant to “globalize the intifada” should take a hard look at what they’re endorsing. Words have power — and these words glorify bloodshed. There are countless productive ways to fight for justice and peace — murder is not one of them.
Joel Schwitzer is director of the AJC Dallas.
