Dispatches from the Front Lines of Antisemitism is a monthly series by Sharon S. Nazarian, who reports on antisemitism as she travels the country and the world advocating for Jewish communities and combating prejudice and hate.
• THEY’RE MOVING WHERE?
As Jews around the world continue to feel their lives turned upside down following the horrors of October 7, Jewish communities in Europe have been facing a historically steep rise in antisemitic incidents for almost a decade. Today, many are seriously asking whether Europe can remain a safe home for its Jews.
On a recent ADL delegation visit to Brussels, Belgium, the leaders of its small and vulnerable Jewish community shared that they were asking themselves a similar question: Should they stay in Brussels, or should they go? (See image at top taken in the Belgian Parliament in Brussels.) After reporting that a majority of Jewish families were considering leaving, we were shocked to hear where they were thinking of going: not to Israel, not to the United States, not to Canada or Australia, but to Hungary or Poland. Those were the countries where they felt they would be safe and protected.
Of course, we were utterly alarmed to hear this, but it brought us to the stark realization that western European democracies are no longer seen as able to protect Jews due to the large influx of Arab and Muslim refugees. And it is that determination that drives the Belgian Jews and perhaps others in western Europe to consider Hungary and Poland, the former a quasi democracy at best but both known for strictly limiting the number of Muslim refugees.
• ENLISTING AMERICA’S MAYORS
Last week, as part of the Combat Antisemitism Movement’s (CAM’s) fifth annual Summit of Mayors, I was privileged to address 150 U.S. mayors who gathered in Beverly Hills, CA, for a three-day day summit on ways to combat antisemitism in their cities and municipalities. The unique and strategic approach of CAM to focus on mayors and cities has been paying off. This year’s summit drew more mayors than ever, who, along with members of their staffs, attended panel discussions ranging from “City Hall’s Role in Combating Antisemitism” to “IHRA Definition of Antisemitism: A Tool for Local Action” to “Threat Analysis: Essential Strategies for Mayors in Law Enforcement.”
My panel focused on education and the role mayors can play in addressing antisemitism in schools and universities. I shared the stage with Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel of the San Fernando Valley and University of California Regent and United Talent Agency partner Jay Sures, both articulate speakers. We each spoke about ways municipal leaders can confront the divisive, anti-Israel and often antisemitic demonstrations and encampments that took place on many U.S. campuses last year.
• WHAT IS HAPPENING IN AUSTRALIA?
Jews around the world are seeing one report after another of violent antisemitic incidents targeting the Jewish communities of Australia’s two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne. The most horrifying incident took place on December 6, when Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue was set on fire. It is believed to have been a deliberate arson attack that has since been labeled a terrorist act.
Most of us are sadly used to hearing about violent antisemitic attacks against Jewish communities in Europe, in the United States and in Canada. But Australia? The first hint of its antisemitism problem came on October 9, 2023, with what would prove to be one of many anti-Israel and pro-Hamas demonstrations. This one erupted on the steps of the world-famous Sydney Opera House where throngs waving Hamas flags chanted “Gas the Jews!” and “F-ck the Jews!” That quiet, safe and integrated community was simply paralyzed as they witnessed police telling Jewish residents to go home and stay away since they could not be kept safe.
Six months to the day, I was invited to participate as a keynote speaker at a large gathering of the Sydney Jewish community. The event’s theme was “Taking Back the Opera House” and it was held at the revered performance hall. Looking back to that gathering, which was filled with shock and fear on one hand and solidarity and coming together on the other, it’s hard to believe what that community has had to go through since. As someone who has travelled the world engaging with and supporting Jewish communities as the ADL’s senior vice president for international affairs, Australia was always considered one of the safest and most secure communities on my list. I guess the alarming acts we’ve recently witnessed testify to the post-October 7 upside-down world we’re living in.
• REKINDLING ALLIANCES
One of the realities many Jewish communal leaders have been heartbroken about is the fact that many of our coalition partners, with whom the Jewish community has stood shoulder to shoulder throughout American history, simply did not show up for us after October 7. As the rates of antisemitic incidents have risen through our cities and communities, on campuses and against our businesses, we have felt so alone and abandoned.
Well, there is some good news: I was privileged to meet the founder and director of an NGO called Rekindle, Matt Fieldman, who, along with his cofounder Charmaine Rice, is committed to Black-Jewish dialogue. Their mission is to address what really divides and unites the Black and Jewish communities. My meetings with Matt have included other members of the Rekindle family, including Reverend Jerome Skyes, who has brought many Black pastors to Israel for firsthand experiences and hopes to bring more than 100 pastors from the Cleveland area there in 2026.
I was so inspired and heartened to learn that Matt and Rev. Skyes don’t beat around the bush in their dialogues. In fact, they zero in on the tough issues. Questions such as “Is power a zero-sum game?” hit me hard. As we see the divisive binary framework many anti-Israel activists have used to frame Jews and Israelis as oppressors and Palestinians as the oppressed, embodied in the writings of Ta-Nehisi Coates and others, finding new frameworks that break down the dogmatic and illiberal nature of those structures has become an imperative. I believe groups like Rekindle can do just that.
Sharon S. Nazarian is the president of the Y&S Nazarian Family Foundation and serves as vice chair on the national board of directors of the Anti-Defamation League, having previously served as ADL’s senior vice president of international affairs. She also teaches as an adjunct professor at UCLA and is a Moment Institute senior fellow.