We are all Israelis

You don’t see Russians being attacked on the streets just for being Russian, or Chinese people for being Chinese, or so on. Only Jews have the privilege of being targeted when the world decides that Israel has misbehaved.

It’s time for American Jews to realize that we are all Israelis in the eyes of our enemies, whose aim is squarely on our backs. It is of no moment whether you consider yourself right- or left-wing, Zionist or anti-Zionist, or on the fence about Bibi. Just as the Nazis did not distinguish between religious or secular Jews, today’s antisemitic anti-Zionists don’t care about your personal views regarding Israel — because we are all Israelis.

Now is the time to lean into our atavistic tribal instinct to defend our house. This is not to suggest animosity toward non-Jews, but rather to acknowledge the primacy of protecting our kin. If we don’t do it, who will? Some of us have complicated views concerning Israel’s current administration and direction. This is not the moment for having political preferences eclipse our sacred duty to support Israel when our enemies spew lies designed to delegitimize the Jewish state. We have a singular ancestral homeland. It has fought back heroically and in a virtually unified manner against a terrorist regime and its proxies. The modern state of Israel is no longer some theoretical religious symbol of the Jewish people for which we pray. As Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day) reminds us, Israel is comprised of our family and friends — fellow members of the tribe — who shoulder a disproportionate burden (including paying the ultimate price) of perpetuating the miracle of the Promised Land.

According to Tel Aviv University’s 2025 Antisemitism Worldwide Report, there were 20 Jews killed in antisemitic attacks outside Israel in 2025. This was the highest toll in more than three decades and comes despite the framework for the Gaza ceasefire being reached in early 2025 — i.e., even without major military operations, terrorists kept attacking Jews around the world. Many more Jews have been accosted and survived, including the near-tragic attack in a Detroit synagogue earlier this year. And don’t get me started on the thousands of Jewish college students threatened and ostracized on campuses across the country, while most of our American political leaders cowardly hid behind nonsensical notions of free political speech. This does not even capture the rotten ethos of coordinated cultural attacks on Jews, ranging from potential boycotts of Israeli artists (e.g., Eurovision and the Oscars) to the isolation of Israeli professors by feckless faux scholars who espouse academic freedom for everyone but the Jews.

American Jews can have legitimate differences of opinion regarding Bibi’s administration, but it’s a naively convenient excuse for Jew hate to pin it entirely on the democratically elected leader of Israel. The Israeli military establishment was relatively unified with respect to its defensive war against Hamas to free the hostages, as well as its decision to strike back at Hezbollah and Iran after years of attacks. To make it about Bibi plays into our enemies’ hands by pretending that a vast majority of Israelis didn’t support Israel’s decision to show the world that Jewish strength must be respected (and feared).

While there inevitably would have been some differences if Benny Gantz or Naftali Bennett would have been in office, do you seriously believe the world would have granted permission for Israel to go into Gaza to rescue hostages and destroy the barbarians of Hamas? We can only shine Hashem’s light across the world if we’re alive to do it, and we are well past the point of asking others permission to survive.

Ultimately, I’m tired of far-too-many acting as though Israel brought this on itself and is to blame for the rise of violent Jew hate. Antisemitism has always been there, waiting for an excuse to be normalized in the form of “political speech” or useful idiots chanting “Free Gaza.” It just needs a crack in the door. When we invite it into our homes by giving credibility to those who openly lie about Israel committing “genocide,” we breathe life into blood libels — and we put Jewish lives at risk. Even accounting for legitimate criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, some things are clearly beyond the pale. There is no justification for spewing nonsense to feed the insatiable beast of Jew-hate.

A disturbingly growing portion of America considers “Zionist” to be a four-letter word, hurling it as a slur against Jews of all shapes and sizes. Putting aside the faulty logic of separating anti-Zionism from antisemitism, when political leaders and polemics on both the left and the right pile on by claiming that Bibi dragged the U.S. into the recent Iran war, it adds fuel to the fiery blood libels threatening our people’s safety. Lest you think that that’s overly dramatic, many of us warned that the college protests needed to be crushed in their infancy because they would lead to the further normalization of Jew hate masquerading as “political free speech” in the form of anti-Zionism.

Tragically but predictably, the indulgent approach of university leaders, politicians, and media personalities led to attacks in Colorado, D.C., Bondi Beach, Detroit, and across Europe. The cause and effect are patently obvious.

Following last May’s Washington, D.C., killing of Aron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim (a young couple reportedly planning to get engaged in Jerusalem), the murderer reportedly pulled out a keffiyeh, chanted “Free Palestine,” and declared “I did it for Gaza.” The June 2025 firebomb attack on participants in a Boulder, Colorado rally calling for freedom for the hostages included shouts of “Free Palestine” — amidst a terrorist’s lighting on fire and killing 82-year-old Karen Diamond. No one asked Aron, Sarah, Karen, or any of the many Bondi Beach massacre victims whether they would have voted for Bibi had they been Israeli citizens or supported specific military tactics in Gaza. May the victims’ memories be a blessing.

The terrorists took aim at Jews because our enemies consider all Jews to be responsible for Israel’s actions. On a somewhat ironic level, we should embrace the worldview that all Jews are responsible for Israel by taking accountability for the safety of our fellow tribesmen by supporting the greatest Jewish protectors in the history of the world — the IDF.

We, the modern-day Israelites, live with a collective phantom limb in the form of the memories of our six million murdered brothers and sisters. Their blood screams out from the ground whenever a Jew is attacked for the crime of daring to be Jewish. With Hashem’s help, the latest war with Iran and its terrorist proxies will end in earnest. Israel will continue to need our support, and we should be prepared to offer it with open arms and generous hearts. After all, we are all Israelis.

Ari M. Berman lives in West Caldwell and is a member of Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell. He is an attorney.