Hamas’s butchers and their sympathizers in the West should not have the power to force Americans into hiding.
The sentence you are about to read would be incomprehensible to the average American just two decades ago. Twenty-two years after the September 11 attacks, New York City’s Jewish residents are keeping a low profile amid the unrest that is expected today, the “Day of Jihad.”
New York City officials are not formally advising the city’s Jewish population to keep their heads down. Indeed, NYPD deputy commissioner Rebecca Weiner told the city’s religious schools and Jewish-owned businesses to stay open amid a call for all uniformed officers to return to duty. “We have directed the NYPD to surge additional resources to schools [and] houses of worship to ensure they are safe and that our city remains a place of peace,” said Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday. But many of the city’s Jewish residents lack confidence in the city’s capacity to keep them and their families safe, and they’re taking no chances:
At least two schools in the New York City area are closed today (Friday) in response to Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal’s call for a global “day of Jihad,” the New York Post reported.
Two fathers of Jewish students at different schools told the Post that their children’s schools decided to close today in light of the threat of violence by Hamas supporters and sympathizers.
“This isn’t about Israel — it’s about Jews. And that’s what’s so horrifying,” one of the fathers said.
Some of the New York City Jewish schools that will not close on Friday are nonetheless taking extraordinary measures to keep their children out of harm’s way — just in case a crazed, antisemitic mob bent on violence descends on them. Not all the city’s residents are taking the imposition in stride. “Our kids go to a pluralistic Jewish school focused on social justice, diversity & community. School is canceled tomorrow because of the Day of Jihad,” read one father’s lament. “Are we still pretending this is about Israel?”
The efforts by the city’s Jewish community to close ranks came amid calls from Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal for a global rebellion in solidarity with the terrorists who slaughtered at least 1,300 Israelis on October 7. The Islamic diaspora and its allies, Mashaal said, must “engage in battle” against “the Zionists and their criminal leaders,” and especially “the Americans who came to their aid.” After all, “jihad is an individual responsibility.”
But it is not America’s Jews who should be cowering in fear — that should be the instinct shared by all who support the terrorists who would mete out psychotic violence against America’s Jewish population. Their sympathies violate the sacred American creed to which every U.S. citizen should subscribe.
In George Washington’s 1790 address to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I., the first president articulated the promise America represented to all the world’s people — particularly the stateless and the persecuted. America “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance,” Washington averred. “May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants.”
Hamas’s butchers and their sympathizers in the West should not have the power to force Americans into hiding. If New York City’s Jewish population lacks confidence in the city’s police to shield them from antisemitic attacks, it’s for good reason. “In 2022, ADL recorded a staggering 580 incidents in New York, which is a 39% increase relative to the 416 incidents reported in 2021,” the Anti-Defamation League reported this year. “Incidents in New York alone accounted for 15.7% of all documented antisemitic incidents in the United States in 2022”:
Of the total number of antisemitic incidents recorded across New York State, 68% took place in the five boroughs of New York City. Of the 395 antisemitic incidents documented in New York City, 172 were incidents of vandalism and 157 were incidents of harassment. Sixty-six were incidents of assault, meaning that 92% of the 72 total reported antisemitic assaults in New York State took place in New York City.
If the city’s Jews are in fear for their lives and those of their children today, it is a fear born of bitter experience. The city long ago squandered their goodwill, and it has a lot of making up to do. One show of force will not be enough, but it’s a good start. It should be overwhelming enough to convey to those who would sacrifice Washington’s promise that it’s they who should be afraid.