Jewish media publish open letter against rise in antisemitism since Oct. 7 attacks
A ‘second, global front’ is emerging, statement says, ‘targeting Jews on campus, at work, on streets and at home’
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Beth Harpaz November 8, 2023
Jewish media around the world published an open letter Wednesday deploring the rise in antisemitism in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and Israel’s war on Gaza.
The joint statement was initiated by the Jewish News in London in partnership with The Jerusalem Post. Organizers said it would appear in 29 media outlets in seven countries including France, Mexico, Argentina, Australia and South Africa, with text in English, Spanish and French.
The letter argues that outside the Middle East, “a second, global front” is emerging, “targeting Jews on campus, at work, on the streets, and at home.” While acknowledging that critics will “dismiss every word in this piece,” including “Jews who tell you this article doesn’t speak for them,” the statement contends that the “level of fear among our readers is like nothing in memory.”
Publications printing the letter include Hadassah Magazine. “While any of us may have phrased pieces of it differently, this is a powerful statement and I support the idea of us all sending a joint message at this incredibly painful time that has shocked even the most seasoned among us,” Hadassah Magazine’s executive editor, Lisa Hostein, said in an email informing other Jewish media in the United States about the opportunity to publish the letter.
Jodi Rudoren, editor-in-chief of the Forward, declined to publish the letter because the Forward does not print house editorials or generally make ideological statements.
While recognizing “the innocents killed in Gaza as a result of this entirely unnecessary war launched by Hamas,” the letter says that the intensity of “raw hatred against Jews” since Oct. 7 “has been a devastating shock.” Examples in the statement include the mob hunting for Jews at the Dagestan airport, the Jewish woman stabbed in Lyon, France, and Stars of David spray painted on homes in Berlin.
“On campuses across the United States, ‘martyrs’ who butchered Jewish children in their beds on October 7 are being celebrated, while a student at Cornell University was arrested for posting death threats against Jews,” the letter adds. It also denounces world leaders who have been “cheerleaders” against Israel, like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan saying Hamas “is not a terrorist organization.”
Citing pro-Israel rallies, a surge in contributions to Jewish charities and “running battles on social media,” the letter says Jews have “never been so determined, so energized, so united and so proud.” It ends by calling on “the world to listen and treat us as you would want to be treated.”
Outlets publishing the letter include Australian Jewish News; Radio Chai (France); Radio Jai (Argentina); in Ohio, Cleveland, Columbus and Akron Jewish News; JNS; Jewish Telegraph (U.K.); Washington Jewish Week; South African Jewish Report; Baltimore Jewish Times; Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle; Detroit Jewish News; IJN — Denver; St. Louis Jewish Light; Enlacejudio.com (Mexico); The Jewish Standard; New Jersey Jewish News; The Jewish Star; Diario Judio (Mexico); Southern Jewish Life magazine; TC Jewfolk and Cincy Jewfolk.
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