A young rabbi was murdered by terrorists in the United Arab Emirates.
Canada's former justice minister was targeted in an Iranian assassination plot.
Violent protests, filled with chants of "death to the Jews" and calls to burn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, erupted in Montreal.
A recent survey by the Jewish Federations of North America revealed alarming statistics: nearly 25% of Jews experienced antisemitic incidents in the past year, and 75% overheard or saw antisemitic comments in person or online.
Less than 100 years after six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, it is beginning to feel unsafe to walk the streets—anywhere in the world—even in Jewish communities, even in the Jewish state.
Is there a Jewish safety crisis? How did it escalate, and what can be done to stop it?
These were the questions explored on ILTV’s Insider last week.
“We have seen a significant rise in Jew-hating attacks, especially—but not only—since the October 7 attack last year,” said Dov Ben-Shimon, chief executive officer of the Community Security Service in America. “But our adversaries don’t define us. Jewish life in the U.S. is still vibrant, compelling, and dynamic. At the same time, there is this wave of hate—this hatred of Jews that comes from the right and the left, from Islamic extremists and more—that threatens our people and our community. We have to be prepared now more than ever to stand up to that hate and evil.”
Ben-Shimon explained that antisemitism has escalated in North America for several reasons: “hate-reinforcing algorithms” on social media, an increasing number of individuals who hate Jews as Jews and Zionists and are not deterred from acting, and inadequate security measures to protect Jewish communities.
On November 21, Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a Chabad emissary in the United Arab Emirates, was kidnapped and violently murdered. Ben-Shimon warned that such an event “could absolutely happen” in the United States as well. He emphasized that one of the best ways to prevent such tragedies is by building local security networks in every Jewish community, regardless of size.
“It means training volunteers to act as force multipliers—the first line of defense in every community—to identify problems and connect with law enforcement and security teams,” Ben-Shimon said. “It also means stronger communication, risk assessments, and training programs, especially on situational awareness, emergency procedures, and threat identification.”
However, as Ben-Shimon and another guest, documentary filmmaker Pierre Rehov, pointed out, antisemitism is not a new phenomenon. In his latest work, “Pogroms,” Rehov delves into the historical context of the October 7 attack and its roots. He attributes it to an alliance between Islamists, the KGB, and the Nazis, all driven by a shared goal to eradicate Jews and Israel.
Despite these escalating threats, there remains no unified Western response, argued Vivian Bercovici, former Canadian ambassador to Israel and founder of the State of Tel Aviv website.
“I think that we see a lot of ostriching—burying heads in the sand and pretending it’ll pass, it’ll go away,” Bercovici told ILTV.
Building on Rehov’s analysis, Bercovici highlighted a significant factor driving the rise of antisemitism in the West: the rapid growth of Muslim populations in Western countries over recent decades.
“People have not integrated into their communities, and they bring values that are very clearly hostile to Jewish people, and that’s what we’re seeing,” she said.
Bercovici stressed the importance of recognizing reality rather than dismissing it.
“Look at the facts. Stop trying to explain them away,” she said. “Stop behaving the way Jewish communities did in Europe in the 1930s.”