The brutal killing of two young people outside a Jewish museum in Washington and the violent attack in Boulder, Colorado, on Jews marching for the hostages still held in Gaza should serve as urgent wake-up calls to us all.

These recent attacks are not isolated incidents but the predictable result of years of increasingly normalized antisemitism that has moved from society’s fringes into the mainstream.

When anti-Israel discourse becomes so extreme that it dehumanizes Jews, when conspiracy theories about Jewish power and influence spread unchecked across social media platforms, and when university campuses and school classrooms become hostile environments for Jewish students, violence often follows. 

This troubling pattern extends beyond America’s borders. Worryingly, research shows that 46% of the world’s adult population, an estimated 2.2 billion people, hold antisemitic beliefs. Just in the last few weeks, we’ve seen horrifying incidents and developments impacting Jews abroad, with barely a response from government leaders or the public.

Three overseas examples

In France, a school in Lyon was set on fire and defaced with swastikas and antisemitic slogans, while three synagogues, the Shoah Memorial, and a kosher restaurant were vandalized across Paris in a single night. Days later, a rabbi was violently assaulted in Normandy, and soon after, he was attacked again in Paris. 
In Colombia, political leaders are increasingly adopting the rhetoric of anti-Israel groups, sending a hateful and dangerous message to their people. President Gustavo Petro has repeatedly used his X/Twitter account to compare Israel to the Nazi regime and has amplified videos to his 8 million followers, stating: “Shoot him, end him, don’t leave a single dirty Zionist.” When elected officials legitimize such antisemitic language, it creates a climate for violent reactions to flourish. 

In Canada, a Jewish elementary school student endured months of antisemitic bullying and harassment following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, facing chants such as “Jews must die” from his peers. A Canadian child was tormented because of his faith and a conflict thousands of miles from his classroom. 

And the list goes on and on.

THE CONSEQUENCES of this normalization of antisemitism are undeniable. Discourse related to Israel and criticism of its leaders and actions are fair game. But when that criticism moves into demonizing Jews or “Zionists,” the Jewish state, and those associated with Israel, it leads to the dehumanization of Jews around the world.

This progression is neither accidental nor inevitable; it is the result of our collective failure as liberal societies to draw clear lines between acceptable debate and rhetoric and dangerous hate speech.

We cannot accept a reality where Jewish children attend schools surrounded by armed guards, where synagogues require police presence for every service, and where Jewish institutions must hide behind fences. The answer to antisemitic violence is not for Jews to lock themselves away from society; it is for society to ensure that violent antisemites pay a higher price for acting out their hatred. 

This is everyone's fight

And let’s be clear: The history of antisemitism teaches us that hate doesn’t stop with the Jews. When democratic norms erode and violence becomes an acceptable response to difference, everyone suffers the consequences. 

This is why the fight against antisemitism must be everyone’s fight. Faith communities, political leaders of every party, Americans, Australians, Brazilians, or Germans all have a stake in ensuring that hatred does not take root in our societies.

We need governments to ensure that their Jewish communities are protected and that law enforcement agencies take antisemitic threats seriously and investigate them thoroughly. We need social media platforms to enforce their own policies against hate speech consistently.

We need educational institutions to teach the history and dangers of antisemitism alongside other forms of prejudice. And we need political leaders to speak out clearly and unequivocally when Jews are targeted.

Most importantly, we need ordinary people to recognize that their voices matter.

When you hear antisemitic jokes or conspiracy theories, speak up. When you see Jewish institutions being vandalized or threatened, stand with your Jewish neighbors. When politicians or public figures traffic in antisemitic tropes, hold them accountable. 

The attacks in Washington and Boulder are warning signs that we ignore at our own risk. Hatred takes root in our communities when we look the other way; it’s time we all address antisemitism head-on.

The writer is the ADL senior vice president of International Affairs.