It should be abundantly clear: The rallying cry of “Free Palestine” has become a call to engage in antisemitic attacks.
In just the past two weeks, two brutal assaults against Jewish Americans have rattled communities, exposing a grim truth – the rhetoric pushed by “Free Palestine” ideologues is used to encourage deadly violence far beyond the Middle East.
These acts are not random outbursts of hatred; they are the direct result of a global ideological campaign that too often paints Israel – and by extension, Jewish people – as villains, stoking anger that finds dangerous expression on American soil.
On a quiet Sunday afternoon in Boulder, Colorado, a peaceful group of Jews marching to raise awareness for Israeli hostages held by Hamas for over 600 days was suddenly targeted with Molotov cocktails. The attacker, Mohamed Soliman, was caught on video shouting “End Zionists” and “Palestine free and for us.”
Violent attacks on Jews symptoms of a wider, toxic narrative
Just days earlier, outside the Capital Jewish Museum, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were murdered by Elias Rodriguez, who also screamed “Free Palestine” as he carried out his deadly act. Both incidents were swiftly labeled by American authorities as terror attacks, yet they reveal a deeper, disturbing pattern.
These violent acts are symptoms of a wider, toxic narrative that has taken root in parts of the West, a narrative that reduces a complex, brutal conflict to simplistic slogans and demonizes the only democracy in the Middle East.
For years, certain ideological circles, funded by hate groups, under the banner of “Free Palestine,” have pushed a story that ignores the harsh realities on the ground.
They portray Israel as a genocidal aggressor while glossing over the fact that it is defending itself against ruthless enemies and terror cults responsible for unspeakable horrors, including the raping, killing, and burning alive of over a thousand civilians. Hamas, the terror group behind these atrocities, has invested billions into tunnels, using civilians as human shields, and weaponizing grief, often fabrications, to sway public opinion.
They don't care about Gazans
Its leadership has openly admitted that the loss of Gazan lives is irrelevant to them, revealing a brutal disregard for human life on all sides.
This is not a conflict between equals or a battle of moral twins; it is a fight for survival against a force that cynically weaponizes suffering to mask its cruelty. Yet instead of confronting these facts, some media outlets and activists choose to amplify a one-sided narrative that fuels hatred and violence throughout the West and beyond.
Articles such as those questioning why American Jews enlist in the Israeli army miss the point entirely. When your community faces existential threats, you stand up to defend it. Increasingly, Jewish youths in the US are drawn to Israel not just by identity but by the stark reality of rising antisemitism in their own country – hostile campuses and communities where hatred is becoming alarmingly normalized.
This growing animosity is no accident. The demonization of Israel has bled, by plan, into the demonization of Jewish people, making synagogues, schools, and community centers, even friendly, peaceful gatherings, targets for violence.
The chilling truth is that some of the harshest anti-Israel rhetoric is a soundtrack for terror. Those who shout slogans like “Free Palestine” may not pick up a gun or Molotov cocktail themselves, but their words stoke the fires of hatred that embolden attackers like Soliman and Rodriguez.
What is most tragic is how this rhetoric reduces human lives to pawns in an ideological war where moral complexity is sacrificed for catchy slogans and political gain.
The crusade for moral simplicity has left Jewish communities increasingly vulnerable, turning them into collateral damage in a conflict that is far more complicated than soundbites allow. It is a reckless gamble with real lives that demands immediate reckoning.
The attacks in Boulder and Washington, DC, are not just crimes against individuals; they are warnings. They signal how dangerous it becomes when discourse is hijacked by extremism and when propaganda replaces honest conversation. They remind us that violence related to the global conversation about Israel and Palestine cannot ignore the real human cost of hate speech and lies.
Honest reporting needed
What is needed now is a return to honest, courageous reporting and dialogue – one that embraces complexity and confronts uncomfortable truths. One that is not driven by funding that rewards this terror. Israel’s fight is not perfect, but it is a fight for survival against a foe that freely commits atrocities.
Recognizing that does not preclude empathy for civilians caught in the crossfire, but it does require rejecting false equivalences and propaganda that deepen divides rather than bridge them and that promulgate antisemitism, justifying attacks on Jews everywhere.
The recent attacks are a stark reminder of what is at stake when words become weapons – and it is well beyond time to stop trading truth for slogans, to recognize that the funding for this terror flows from hate groups, and to begin defending the values of security and justice.
Michael J. Salamon, PhD, is a psychologist and strategic consultant specializing in trauma and abuse. He is director of ADC Psychological Services in Netanya and Hewlett, NY, and is on consulting staff at Northwell Health, Manhasset, NY.
Louis Libin is an expert in military strategies and innovation and advises on and teaches military innovation, wireless systems, and emergency communications at military colleges and agencies. He is the founder of a consulting group for emergency management, cybersecurity, IP, and communications.