If you’ve been paying attention to the skyrocketing antisemitism afflicting the United States over recent years, you probably aren’t shocked by the murder of two young Israeli diplomats last night in Washington.
But you should be horrified, because this is what it truly means to be Jewish in America in 2025.
You see, last night’s victims reflected the beautiful complexity of both the American Jewish and Israeli worlds. The young man, Yaron Lischinsky, was Israeli by choice and a Christian born in Germany. The young woman, Sarah Milgrim, was an American by birth and Jewish. Both chose to work for the Israeli government as diplomats. Before being murdered, both attended a discussion about the future, about peacemaking and Gaza aid, alongside young diplomats from a dozen countries convened at a Jewish institution.
These are exactly the kind of people who are destined to make the world a better place for us all. They were taken away too soon.
The murderer, driven by hatred of Israel and intent on targeting Jews, made his views clear when he screamed “Free Palestine” after being arrested. What a disgusting justification for murder. This was a deliberate act of terror.
In the bigger picture, what this moment makes clear is that it’s extremely dangerous to be a Jew in America right now.
Regrettably, this is not the first time I’ve felt this way. I’m originally from Pittsburgh, the city that witnessed the single worst act of violence against Jews during the Tree of Life murders in 2018. And hatred there has not disappeared. Just last week, antisemitic fliers were spread throughout Squirrel Hill. And five weeks ago, the home of Pennsylvania’s Jewish Governor Josh Shapiro was firebombed in a direct antisemitic attack.
Add to that college campuses, where we have seen a surge of hate speech directed at American Jewish students, often justified as purely political, but having the effect of harshly intimidating young people who are just attempting to pursue an education. That’s what we call antisemitism.
And then there’s the traumatic impact of antisemitism right now on the broader Jewish community. As Jews, we can’t even visit Jewish institutions or attend synagogue without passing through a metal detector. There is literally not a single Jewish institution that I’m aware of that doesn’t pay for hard security to protect itself and its members. That is insane.
So today, as we honor the memory of the murdered Israeli diplomats and contemplate what it means to be an American Jew during, of all times, Jewish American Heritage Month, we must look to find solutions out of this morass. But unfortunately, there is no single measure that will fix this monstrosity of a problem, one that only seems to be reemerging with a velocity that threatens to grow out of control.
None of us, Jewish and non-Jewish American alike, should let that happen.
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