As antisemitism spirals out of control across the globe, including in the streets of U.S. cities and on college campuses, it’s difficult not to recognize frightening parallels with Germany in the late 1920s and ’30s, and events that eventually led to the systematic murder of Europe’s Jewish population. Jews the world over memorialized the Shoah and its ramifications on May 6—Holocaust Remembrance Day—so as never to forget the conviction of “Never Again.”
Yet cries for boycotts of Jewish-owned businesses and Israeli products are becoming more commonplace, and hate crimes against Jewish citizens are skyrocketing. College campuses have become the hotbeds of the new “Brown Shirts” forcing Jewish students and faculty into hiding.
While the horrific atrocities of Oct. 7 and Israel’s defensive response are the most recent impetus for the antisemites to espouse their hatred of Israel and Jewish people, the vile animus directed at Israel and Jews is unfortunately not new. It’s just finally been unleashed with abandon. Jews have always been the canary in the coal mine, and what we’re seeing take place across the West will not end when Israel’s war with Hamas finally ends.
What does all of this mean for the future of Jews in the Western world and America, in particular? Will the civilized world wake up to stop the barbarians who have entered our gates before it’s too late?
Join us for a critically important and insightful conversation with Holocaust historian Rafael Medoff, who will help contextualize the disturbing events playing out today.