This week, Jewish communities around the world mark the anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Escaping Europe and arriving in America during World War II, the Rebbe knew well where silence leads. His father died in exile for daring to defend religious liberty under communism.
The Rebbe taught the world to lead with light—to fight hatred by speaking out against injustice wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.
Today, that ancient poison of global antisemitism strikes with new intensity. Just last week alone, we saw horrific incidents targeting Jewish communities around the world: a synagogue attacked in Montreal and another vandalized in Toronto. Jewish communities across Europe and around the world require heightened security to practice their faith and go about their daily lives.
Have we already forgotten the Rebbe’s message?
“In whatever place and in whatever time an individual finds themselves,” the Rebbe once said, “each person is chosen and appointed to fulfill a particular purpose.”
When U.S. President Donald Trump asked me to serve my country, those words became my marching orders. Our purpose here today is clear. Not only does antisemitism surge across the world: anti-American, anti-Western threats now lurk around every corner, fueling violence and terror.
Still, too many leaders, governments and so-called activists around the globe have turned a blind eye. They are quick to stand up for others yet content to ignore—or worse, justify—the plight of their Jewish citizens or neighbors.
I was living in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., when Australian scholar Yankel Rosenbaum, 29, was stabbed to death on Aug. 19, 1991, during riots when cries of “Kill the Jews!” filled the streets. I stood there. I heard them. I still remember the cowardly excuses, the moral equivocating and the paralyzing silence.
That story is a familiar one today. Voices on all sides of the political spectrum betray Jewish communities through inaction and cowardice.
Fulfilling our purpose in the world means standing up for what is right, as the Rebbe did, without apology and without delay.
That is why real leadership demands moral courage. Together, we must not only call out antisemitism when it is politically expedient or rhetorically useful, but we must stand with Jewish communities, no matter the cost. We cannot compromise in the fight against antisemitism because this evil is an acid that will corrode the very fabric of our societies.
Under the president and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the United States is answering that call. We are shattering the old silence, leading by example and making clear that there can be no compromise with antisemitism as it rears its ugly head around the world.
Within the realm of foreign policy, the Trump administration is taking decisive action to protect Jewish communities and defeat this scourge at its source. We are holding international organizations accountable for fanning the flames of antisemitism; urging governments to fulfill their most basic commitments to protect Jewish communities; and finding and bringing to justice terrorists like Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, who has been indicted in the United States for directing and carrying out attacks globally.
Others are taking a stand as well.
When president of Argentina Javier Milei stands before the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in Buenos Aires to decry an “implicit alliance between the radical left and Islamist terrorism ... [that] functions as a contemporary vector of antisemitism,” when Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz affirms Germany’s historic obligation to counter antisemitism while reopening a synagogue with tears in his eyes, or when the leaders of governments across the Middle East and North Africa take groundbreaking steps to normalize ties with the only Jewish nation-state, we see what real leadership looks like.
Our chorus is growing. The only question is who will join us.
Still, the fight against antisemitism does not rest with governments alone. As I told a group of rabbis and ambassadors from around the world this week, it rests with each of us. Rather than wait for the next attack, we must speak out proudly, without fear or hesitation. We must be clear-eyed in our morals and unashamed in our convictions. As the Rebbe reminded us, “a little light dispels much darkness.”
No one since Moses has had a greater reach among the Jewish people. As we honor 32 years since his passing, let us commit to being that light.
Let us add good things around the world. Let us stand up for what is right. And let us remember that silence is never an option. Respecting one another: that is the reason why God created us.
Together, we must build a better world for us all. The Rebbe’s memory demands nothing less.
