The Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., which was built to preserve our Jewish legacy and inspire future generations, is now a crime scene.
Two young, innocent souls — Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim — were gunned down outside a place dedicated to memory and resilience.
Their murder was not an accident. It was a targeted act of hate. And it was intended to terrorize, intimidate and advance a poisonous political worldview that scapegoats and vilifies Jews.
The hate that fueled the violence did not originate solely in the tortured mind of the lone gunman. It was sown, cultivated and normalized, and fed by slogans that began as political expression and metastasized into threats.
The threats were then amplified — shouted in the streets, plastered across campuses and echoed online — under the guise of cries for freedom and social justice. They became the rallying cries of those committed to the elimination of Zionism and, too often, of Jews themselves.
When “Free Palestine” is weaponized as a prelude to murder, when “Globalize the Intifada” becomes a slogan for inciting violence against Jews, we must call it out clearly. Hate is not protest. It is provocation. Hate is not liberation. It is incitement. And acting on hate is not justice — it is jihad turned inward.
We reject the idea that antisemitism becomes tolerable when it masquerades as progress. That grotesque lie has, unfortunately, found fertile ground in polite society, where too many have nodded along, turned away or stayed silent as Jewish identity is demonized, as Jewish lives are devalued and Jewish suffering is dismissed as inconvenient.
We know what happens when violent words are left unchecked. We have seen what happens when societies avert their gaze as Jews are singled out. This may not be Europe in 1939, but we also bury our dead, murdered in public, for being Jewish.
We grieve. We fear. But we cannot be silent.
We speak not only for ourselves but for the kind of country we firmly believe America can be — one where justice is not conditional, where protection is not politicized and where hatred is not ignored because the target is unpopular. We stand for a nation where Jewish lives are not the exception to our shared values but part of their foundation.
But where are our allies? Where are the voices that roar against every other form of bigotry? When a mosque is defaced, people march. When immigrants are threatened, crowds rally. We have always shown up — for others. We always will. But now, we need others to show up for us.
This must be a turning point. We call on our representatives and leaders — especially from communities that count Jewish people as allies — to come forward, now. Not with vague statements or private condolences, but with public, unmistakable commitments to confront antisemitism in every form, from all ideological perspectives.
This is not just a Jewish issue. This is an American issue. History shows that hatred unleashed against Jews never stops with us. It is a warning flare for society.
So, if you believe in justice, in dignity, in freedom from fear — this is your fight too. Join us. Speak out. Stand up. Because if America cannot help protect Jewish lives and stand against Jewish hatred, then we have failed — not only as Jews, but as a nation.
