Contemporary anti-Semitism has been described as the perfect storm: coming from the Left, the Right and from Islamists in the Middle East and beyond.

In our own country, who would have thought that those attending Shabbat services would be targets of shooters intoxicated with anti-Semitism, much of it via the Internet?  Or that only a few short years ago, many viewed the BDS movement as confined to college campuses only to see the growth of that movement spread to the women’s march, to LGBTQ marches, and to such places as the United Nations Human Rights Council and to the Irish Senate.

And who would have predicted that in the House of Representatives, we’d hear charges of dual loyalty and Jewish money buying elections and political favors?  Earlier this year, Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar augmented her record of anti-Israel statements by tweeting that support for Israel in the U.S. Congress was “all about the Benjamins,” suggesting that the pro-Israel lobby was buying off American politicians. This smacked of the timeless conspiracy theory that Jewish financiers buy off American politicians.  She attempted to apologize, but quickly dug a deeper hole for herself with her remarks on a panel that also featured her colleague Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American who supports a one-state solution that would end Israel’s existence as a Jewish nation.  On that panel, Omar claimed that anti-Israel statements by Tlaib and her are dismissed as anti-Semitic merely because both of them are Muslim.

Omar’s intransigence is made somewhat understandable by the failure of the House of Representatives to issue an unequivocal condemnation of either her behavior or the wider problem of anti-Semitism.  In confronting the world’s oldest and most resilient social problem, the House of Representatives this spring did what would have been unthinkable in condemning, say, racism or misogyny:  It folded the problem into a litany of horribles that included discrimination against multiple other groups, including Muslims, Blacks, Native Americans, and Japanese-Americans.

Despite the best efforts of Congressman Ted Deutch of Florida, the resolution’s initial drafter, the final amalgamated product is a sweeping condemnation of all bad things, rather than a serious attempt to address anti-Semitism.  The catch-all resolution acknowledged that anti-Semitism is one of many forms of discrimination in the United States, but there are a number of things it did not tell us.  For example, that anti-Semitism is a unique, and uniquely persistent, social illness featuring distinct manifestations and sometimes requiring distinct solutions.  Today it is at its greatest peak since World War II.  Or that hate crime statistics demonstrate that Jews are by far the most targeted religious group in the United States.  Or that anti-Semitism appears both on the far left and the far right of the political spectrum, but its alarming growth on the left, among minorities, and among young people, is pushing anti-Semitic viewpoints further into the mainstream.

When anti-Semitism spiked 19 years ago in response to the second intifada, officials in Europe were slow to react to the problem, dismissing it at first as a temporary backlash to events in the Middle East.  Proponents of a “holistic” approach to combating social hatreds argued that there should be no “hierarchy of discrimination,” implying that anti-Semitism should not receive a special focus and should instead be grouped together with other phobias.  We have now heard similar arguments in the U.S. Congress, which collectively rejected a stand-alone resolution on anti-Semitism.  Nearly two decades after the start of the current wave of anti-Semitism, some minds have yet to change on this issue, even as evidence of rising or sustained levels of anti-Semitism continues to manifest itself around the globe.

In the Middle East, Arabic-language media outlets and social media are a repository of anti-Semitic cartoons, articles, and opinion columns that portray Jews and Israelis as evil monsters.  Cartoons incorporating grotesque Jewish stereotypes reminiscent of the Nazi-era propaganda of Der Sturmer appear not only throughout the Arab and Muslim world, but also in much of Europe.  There, burgeoning immigrant communities absorb anti-Jewish images and polemics as well as the inflammatory, one-sided anti-Israel narrative offered by both the print press and Arabic-language satellite TV stations and websites.

ran has hosted Holocaust cartoon competitions, reflecting the Iranian regime’s attempts to expand its promotion of anti-Semitism beyond the borders of its nation.  For more than 35 years, the Iranian regime has been trying to delegitimize Israel through both soft and hard power.  Iran spreads its anti-Semitic and anti-Israel narrative through schools, social media, television, and non-stop political rhetoric.  Its polemics have attracted an audience in the Middle East, as well as in the West.

Anti-Semitism has been most acute in Europe, where anti-Semitism has reasserted itself as a cultural virus and even gained potency in many respects.  On the continent that gave rise to the Holocaust, the ugly specter of anti-Semitism has further tarnished European society for much of the past 19 years, posing the greatest threat to face the Jewish community at any point since World War II.

While the Jewish state has been a preferred target of anti-Semites in the 21st century, the Jewish religion also appears to be coming increasingly under assault.  Two regions in Belgium this year are banning the practice of shechita, or kosher ritual slaughter, which is already outlawed in four European countries; attempts to lift the prohibition in Switzerland resulted in an anti-Semitic backlash.  Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland have at times advanced measures limiting circumcision.  This follows a history of similar opposition to Jewish ritual practices across Europe – sometimes on the basis of a humanitarian argument, but nonetheless with the result of impinging on Jewish laws and customs that go to the core of Jewish identity and raising questions about the viability of Jewish life in countries that impose these bans.

As a result of anti-Semitic attacks, thousands of Jews have emigrated from Western Europe to Israel in each of the past several years.  Furthermore, a recent survey of European Jewish leaders indicated that membership and participation in Jewish institutions has declined, at the same time that security has, of necessity, been increased.   

One country of growing concern is Poland, a nation rich in Jewish heritage but with few remaining Jewish residents.  Anti-Semitic attitudes in Poland have spiked in recent years, with hate speech appearing more frequently on TV and the Internet.  This is happening at a time when Poland’s government has shown an unwillingness to acknowledge the country’s role during the Holocaust, in which some Poles were complicit in the murder of Jews.  The Polish Parliament last year attempted to pass legislation that would have criminalized some statements of Polish culpability in the Holocaust.  On a visit to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, a former Polish Prime Minister referred to World War II, saying: “Today Poland and Israel are united by our history, common fates, which were so brutally interrupted by Nazi invaders.”  She added, “There is understanding and a full will to cooperate and clearly state who was the invader, who was the executioner and who was the victim.”  In her historical framework, Jews and Poles were equally victimized, while the Nazis were the sole perpetrators.

The current Polish Prime Minister recently announced that Poland would never return or pay compensation for property seized from Jews by the Nazis and then nationalized by the Communists.  Poland is the only country in the European Union not to pass comprehensive legislation on property restitution.  Because Poles were also victims of the Nazis, the Prime Minister argued, paying restitution would be a “posthumous victory for Hitler.”  Also recently, a Polish politician forced a kippah on the head of the ruling Law and Justice Party leader, saying she was “selling the country to the Jews,” an indication of how popular sentiment impacts policy debates in that country.

Hungary has also proven deeply worrisome, as in recent years it has witnessed the rise of the xenophobic and anti-Semitic Jobbik party, which has called for the creation of a list of Jewish public officials, repeated the historic “blood libel” against Jews, and labeled Jews a “national security risk.”  An increase in violence against Jewish individuals and institutions and the proliferation of anti-Semitic materials in the media and the Internet has mirrored the rise of anti-Semitic public opinion, include the use of traditional stereotypes.  Furthermore, the government has attempted to rehabilitate and glorify World War II-era figures who were openly anti-Semitic and pro-fascist.

And of course lethal attacks on synagogues in Pittsburgh and San Diego have stoked fears about Jewish security in our own country in the past year.  The level of comfort that American Jews once felt in our own communities has been shaken, as Jewish institutions across the United States have been forced to rethink security needs in response to emerging threats.

The growth of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS) is a pernicious illustration of the problem.  Clearly, the BDS movement is rife with anti-Semitism, as a recent legislative resolution in the German Bundestag, aimed at countering anti-Semitism and one-sided anti-Israel discrimination, has highlighted.  This is the German Parliament’s rejection of BDS in the interest of combating all forms of anti-Semitism.  And yet BDS proponents depict their agenda as one merely geared toward Palestinian independence and quality of life.  The case they present to the world, and particularly university students who are often captivated by the BDS message, is one of peace and justice for a persecuted Palestinian people who have been brutally repressed by a colonial occupier.

In truth, though, BDS is far from pro-peace.  The BDS movement actually rejects the peace process, having dismissed nearly every peace effort and having eschewed any degree of Palestinian responsibility or accountability for the conflict.  Rather than promote peace, BDS works toward the dismantling of the Jewish state.  And rather than encourage compromise, BDS fosters Israel’s isolation.  While progressives tend to reject isolation where Cuba or Iran is concerned, their application of a profound double standard against Israel absolves them of any worries about the efficacy or morality of isolation as a strategy.

In 2016 the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) adopted a working definition of anti-Semitism that clearly outlines the dimensions of the problem.  According to the IHRA document, tenets of anti-Semitism include, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination [such as] by claiming the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” and “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis,” as BDS regularly does.  The IHRA definition is based on Natan Sharansky’s “3D test” for differentiating legitimate criticism of Israel from anti-Semitism:  demonization, delegitimization, and double standards, all of which BDS engages in.

The time has come for governments and international organizations to follow suit.  Governments around the world should approve a working definition of anti-Semitism based on the IHRA model, one that should then be widely promoted to educate public officials, journalists, teachers, and others about the contemporary manifestations of anti-Semitism.

While much has been done to fight anti-Semitism in the past decade or more, much work remains.  The need for practical and effective strategies to combat and defeat this pathology is still crucial.  To this end, B’nai B’rith has called for the appointment of a special coordinator on anti-Semitism in the United States, to be housed at the Department of Justice.  The tragedies in Pittsburgh and San Diego and the alarming spike in other domestic anti-Semitic incidents necessitate increased attention by the U.S. government.  Such an official at the Justice Department could coordinate cross-agency efforts to tackle anti-Semitism, working with officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security, for example.  This position would complement the work of Elan Carr, the State Department’s Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism, who does outstanding work in spotlighting anti-Semitism around the globe, but whose portfolio does not include anti-Semitism occurring within the United States.

Congress should pass the Combating European Anti-Semitism Act of 2017, which would require the State Department to report on the security challenges facing European Jewish communities; describe relevant educational programs and law enforcement efforts; and document attempts by European governments to utilize working definitions of anti-Semitism.

Congress should also pass the Combating BDS Act, which would allow state and local governments to penalize entities that engage in boycott, divestment, and sanctions activity targeting Israel, and the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which would provide the Department of Education with important definitional assistance in determining whether federal anti-discrimination laws have been violated in educational programs and activities.  This will certainly ease the plight of Jewish students who are currently experiencing anti-Semitic harassment on campus.

Finally, Congress should support a robust level of U.S. foreign aid.  The international affairs budget, which represents a mere one percent of the overall federal budget, represents an important investment in U.S. interests abroad.  By fighting terrorism, shoring up fragile economies and democratic political systems, and tackling poverty and disease, foreign aid protects vulnerable minorities around the world.  The battle against anti-Semitism is greatly aided by this vital soft power tool.

Whether it occurs in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, or Warsaw, Poland, anti-Semitism must be confronted aggressively.  The responsibility to do so falls squarely on all of us, together with our allies and all people of conscience.  Just as the very existence of the Jewish people and the Jewish state is a product of hope and determination, we must continue to apply these qualities to the challenge at hand.  The security of our community depends on it.