As Jews around the world observe International Holocaust Remembrance Day this Saturday, we cannot escape the knowledge that we are only three months out from the largest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust. We cannot escape the knowledge that our present bears eerie similarities to our past. Amid the swift rise in Jew-hatred, Holocaust-like denial, and revival of ancient conspiracy theories, the Jewish people are still mourning the 1300 lives taken on October 7 and the 136 hostages remaining in Gaza.
In the diaspora, bomb threats to Jewish institutions have quadrupled, anti-Jewish hate crimes are at all time highs, and Jewish business have been vandalized and boycotted simply for being Jewish-owned. Meanwhile, Jewish students are targeted and attacked at college campuses across the country.
As an organization that was formed to combat intolerance globally, rooted in our own experience of targeted persecution, we must start with ensuring that our community here at home feels safe and free from threats and discrimination. The widespread antisemitism that has captured large swaths of the American Right and Left demonstrates what makes Jew-hatred so insidious and difficult to counter: its adaptability and appeal to authoritarians of all political persuasion.
We know our history. We have seen this before. We have seen where this hatred ends.
At Jewish World Watch, we are reassessing and retooling our high school and college campus program curricula to better educate students – Jewish and non-Jewish – on Jewish history, indigeneity, and antisemitism. And, critically, how such history is inextricably entwined with humanity’s development and application of human rights law and the laws of war. Our young people deserve better from us and we are committed to providing it.
We believe they are the antidote to spiraling hate and extremist violence across the country and on college campuses. Our programs, which attract students of all faiths and backgrounds, instill empathy and understanding through respectful dialogue.