Last Sunday afternoon, two men were waiting for a table at a restaurant in San Jose, California. They were speaking Hebrew. That was apparently enough.
Three men in black shirts approached them, said “F*** the Jews,” and beat them to the ground. One was knocked unconscious. The other can no longer chew his food. Both ended up in the hospital. The attackers fled before police arrived.
This happened at Santana Row, an upscale shopping district, in broad daylight, with diners watching from nearby tables. A witness said the attackers moved with deliberate, focused fury. “They were doing it with such anger,” she said.
Nobody stepped in. Some onlookers went back to their meals.
Jewish leaders, including myself, have been warning about this for two and a half years. I personally have written op-ed after op-ed.
I have said, over and over, that the rhetoric coming from our political leaders has consequences. Real, physical consequences. Now, here we are.
When Congressman Ro Khanna – in whose district this attack occurred – spent months demonizing Israel, calling its actions genocidal, and fanning the flames of hatred, why would he express shock when two Jews get beaten for speaking Hebrew in his backyard?
When Governor Gavin Newsom uses the word “genocide” to describe Israel, why would he expect anything different? Words from powerful people land somewhere. They land in the minds of people who are already looking for permission to lash out.
That permission has been granted, again and again, in our classrooms, our city halls, our state legislatures, and our public squares. It needs to stop.
We watched this happen on college campuses. Jewish students paying nearly $100,000 a year to attend elite universities were harassed, blocked from class, and screamed at by mobs, while administrators stood by and did nothing, claiming that this wasn’t Jew-demonization but an issue that depended on ‘context.’
That was the canary in the coal mine. We said so at the time. The response was more committee meetings and more statements of “concern.”
From warning signs to real-world violence
Now the violence has moved off campus. It is in our shopping districts. It is in our restaurants. It is at our places of worship, and it is not going to stop here.
Look at what is happening elsewhere. In Toronto, three synagogues were shot at, one during a Jewish holiday.
The American Consulate was shot at. In Australia, Jews are being murdered in public. The US Justice Department has acknowledged that Israel-demonizing protest movements are growing more violent. This is a pattern.
The victims in San Jose said something that stayed with me. They said they thought they were alone, but then they realized they were not, because people gathered around them, embraced them, and stood with them.
That community response is real, and it matters. But community warmth is not a substitute for political accountability.
The politicians who have stoked this environment need to own what they have helped create. Condemnations issued 48 hours after an attack, carefully worded for political audiences, are not enough.
Leadership means refusing to use language you know will put people in danger. It means standing up before the beating happens, not after.
The aforementioned politicians in question need to account for their actions. You can add Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow to the list as well.
Two men went to dinner on Sunday. They spoke their language. They ended up in the hospital. That is where we are. If our leaders are not held accountable, it will continue to get worse.
The writer is the international CEO of Aish, a global Jewish educational movement. He formerly served as Eastern Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, where he oversaw the Museum of Tolerance in New York City.