Daily Alert Archives

This Is the Tragic Consequence of Conflating Jews and Israel

(New York Times) Naftali Shavelson - Entering Israeli diplomatic missions anywhere in the world is akin to boarding international flights: Metal detectors. Bag checks. Identifiable and plainclothes guards monitoring throughout. The security is second to none because it must be. Since its inception, Israel has been the unenviable fixation of extremist groups and individuals the world over. The horrific killing of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim on Wednesday in Washington was devastating, but it was not a surprise. I served for more than two years in Israel's Consulate in New York and quickly became used to hurrying past belligerent protesters on the way to work, and to bomb drills at lunchtime and security warnings at day's end to avoid public areas along my evening commute where mobs might gather, chanting for Israeli blood. During my tenure, protesters set fire to Israeli and American flags outside the consulate. When the assailant targeted this reception by the American Jewish Committee at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, he may not have known his victims were members of the Israeli diplomatic corps. It was not an Israeli government event and was attended by Jewish and non-Jewish envoys from various countries. But he apparently considering these killings a step forward for the Palestinian cause. Can anyone really say they couldn't see this coming after the wave of anti-Israel protests, encampments and social media screeds that swept America following the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023? For a year and a half, some within the pro-Palestinian movement have signaled that the way to put political pressure on Israel is to intimidate Jewish families going to Sabbath prayers and Jewish students going to get-togethers on campus. Debate over the Israel-Hamas war has turned into a pretext to denigrate Jews. Yaron and Sarah could have been me. They could have been any of us - my Jewish, non-Jewish, Israeli and American former colleagues. They could have been any attendee at any Jewish community event. The writer was media director at the Consulate General of Israel in New York.
2025-05-25 00:00:00
Full Article