Fear in America’s Jewish community intensifies after latest antisemitic attack

By Chelsea Bailey and Danny Freeman, CNN

(CNN) — Like many Jewish Americans, Hannah Gay Keao has been living on edge and fear of antisemitism since Hamas’ deadly October 7 terrorist attack on Israel.

But when her daughter asked why she was sad hours after a man targeted Jewish people and set them on fire at a community event in Boulder, Colorado, Gay Keao paused.

The firebombing attack happened just 25 miles from where Gay Keao serves on the Edgewater city council, and she said she searched for a way to explain the antisemitism unfolding in their backyard in terms the 4-year-old could understand.

“She’s Jewish,” Gay Keao said. “It’s important for her to know the realities of the world.”

Jewish leaders have been alarmed by the historic rise in antisemitic threats since the war between Israel and Hamas began in 2023. That fear has only heightened this week with the attack in Boulder, the third violent attack on the Jewish community in the last two months.

Two Israeli embassy workers in Washington, DC, were killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in late May, and an arsonist set the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion on fire on the first night of Passover because of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s views on the war in Gaza, according to search warrants.

“I wish I could say I was surprised by these events, but Jews have been sounding the alarm on the rise in antisemitism since October 7,” Sheila Katz, the CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women said. “This is what happens when we allow antisemitism to go unchecked.”

The attack on Sunday came during a peaceful demonstration aimed at raising awareness of the remaining hostages in Gaza. Twelve people were injured, and two remain hospitalized, officials said.

The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, told investigators he “wanted to kill all Zionist people” and had planned the attack for a year, according to an affidavit. He was captured on video by bystanders yelling “Free Palestine” before police arrested him.

Soliman now faces a federal hate crime charge and state charges of attempted murder.

“Most Jews right now are feeling unsafe and unsure about where to show up,” Katz said. “Killing and burning Jews does nothing to make Palestinians safer or more free.”

“Antisemitism will never be a path to justice.”

When the worst feels inenvitable

Sunday’s attack came hours before the start of Shavuot, the holiday commemorating the day God gave the Torah to the Jewish people.

At the Main Line Reform Temple just outside of Philadelphia, Senior Rabbi Geri Newburge said the past several weeks have been brutal, leaving her “pretty demoralized and heartbroken.”

The aftermath of October 7—combined with escalating protests against Israel’s war in Gaza— made an attack like this feel inevitable, she said.

“It doesn’t feel like such a stretch to me at this point that the rhetoric would move from posters or chants to doing something violent,” Newburge said.

The rabbi noted she and members of her congregation have also felt antisemitism increasing across the country — and it’s taking a toll.

“It’s exhausting — spiritually, emotionally and even physically,” Newburge explained.

Across the country, Jewish schools, synagogues and community centers continue to have tight security. Oftentimes, there is a visible police presence or armed security guards.

Michael Bernstein, board chair of the Tree of Life in Pittsburgh, attended an event last Wednesday for a local Jewish organization where some of the attendees were non-Jews. He called the necessary security an “unfortunate tax” and a measure most other communities don’t need.

This latest wave of attacks has left many Jewish leaders wondering what more can be done. Bernstein said Jews needed to secure their spaces, but security and the Jewish community alone wouldn’t solve antisemitism.

“This is an American problem, it’s not a Jewish problem,” he said, and pointed to Pittsburgh community after the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue.

The 2018 shooting, the worst attack on Jews in American history, left 11 worshippers dead and six others wounded.

Pittsburgh, he said, came together to say antisemitism wasn’t acceptable.

“An attack on one group is an attack on all of us,” Bernstein said. “And the community held us.”

“It’s an all-of-society approach.”

Non-violence is ‘non-negotiable’

Outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, candles and flowers mark the spot where Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were gunned down on May 21.

The white lilies placed at the memorial hadn’t even started wilting yet when the firebombing in Boulder began.

Milgrim and Lischinsky attended an event to discuss how multi-faith organizations could work together to bring humanitarian aid to war-torn regions like Gaza. Their friends and colleagues said they were devoted to the peace process in Israel.

The suspected gunman, whom DC police later identified as 31-year-old Chicago native Elias Rodriguez, shouted “Free Palestine” after he was arrested.

Katz, who said she knew Milgrim professionally and had been invited to the event, but was unable to attend, stressed “non-violence must be non-negotiable.”

“Anyone who wants to see peace, who wants to see an end to the war, who wants to see the hostages to be released, who wants to see a better future for Palestinians and Israelis, has to understand that violence towards Jews in America or around the world is not going to make that peace happen,” Katz said.

Antisemitism has surged globally, according to the Anti-Defamation League, and rose after the start of the war in Gaza. Threats to Jews in the United States tripled between October 7, 2023 and September 2024, the organization said.

Gay Keao said she has been critical of Israel’s action toward Palestinians but has also witnessed a disregard for Jewish safety since October 7. Now, she often wakes up wondering, “What’s going to happen next?”

“I just refuse to believe that the cyclical violence is inevitable,” she said. “As a Jewish person, I can’t embrace that. I’m here for breaking those cycles.”

‘It comes after everybody’

Nearly 2,000 miles away, sitting beneath his synagogue’s serene outdoor Holocaust memorial, Philadelphia Rabbi Shawn Zevit said his diverse urban congregation has been experiencing a mix of emotions.

But, he said, reaching out to Jewish loved ones is critical at this moment, so his community does not feel alone.

“Just the message of ‘I’m thinking about you,’” Zevit argued, can be comforting to Jewish people feeling upset.

But the rabbi also noted calling out even minor instances of antisemitism is key to preventing future attacks.

“Treat those moments as gateways for increased solidarity and vigilance,” he said.

Katz said people knew how to call out antisemitism when it was “bullets in synagogues or Nazis with tiki torches” but needed to be able to recognize it in all of its forms.

“Antisemitism doesn’t begin with bullets or firebombs,” she added. “But it ends there when it’s ignored.”

Bernstein, the chair of the board of the Tree of Life, warned antisemitism doesn’t stay a Jewish issue. He pointed to a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, where 10 people were killed in a racially motivated mass shooting at a supermarket.

“This hateful ideology,” he said, “it comes after everybody.”

CNN’s TuAnh Dam contributed to this report.

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