How Worried Should We Be About the Latest Violence Against Jews?

In the past two weeks, we’ve witnessed two deeply alarming incidents in the United States: the cold-blooded murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers on the streets of Washington, D.C., outside a networking event, and this past weekend’s attack in Boulder, Colorado, where Molotov cocktails and a homemade flamethrower were used on a gathering for hostages, injuring twelve people. In both cases, the attackers reportedly shouted “Free Palestine,” making clear these were politically motivated hate crimes targeting Jews. Add to this the firebombing of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s house on Passover, and the pattern becomes harder to ignore.

It’s important to distinguish here between anti-Semitism as a broad category and anti-Jewish violence as a specific, physical threat. Anti-Semitic incidents come in many forms—defaced synagogues, swastikas on campuses, hate speech, and online harassment. The vast majority of them are intended to intimidate and harass, not to kill. When we talk about the documented rise in anti-Semitism over the past decade, we are usually referring to these non-violent, though no less toxic, acts.

According to the "State of Anti-Semitism in America 2024" report, published in February 2025, 33% of American Jews said they had personally experienced anti-Semitism—either in person or online—within the past year. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has tracked a steady increase in reported incidents since 2016, with the most significant spike—an estimated 360%—occurring between 2021 and 2022, coinciding with the intensification of the war in Gaza.

But acts of 'bodily violence' against Jews remain relatively rare, and deadly attacks even more so. If we’re looking at numbers—and I recognize the discomfort in reducing this issue to statistics—far more Jews in recent years have been harmed or killed by right-wing extremism than by leftist political violence. There are structural reasons for this: right-wing extremists tend to hold explicitly racist and anti-Semitic worldviews, and they often glorify violence and 'gun culture'. Combine those elements, and you get a high potential for lethal outcomes.

The deadliest attacks on American Jews in modern memory remain the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh (October 2018, 11 killed), and the shooting at a synagogue in Poway, California (April 2019, one dead, three injured). These followed the 2017 “Blood and Soil” white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia—a rally whose open Nazi iconography and anti-Jewish chants signaled a turning point in mainstreaming hate.

What makes the most recent attacks so unsettling is that they don’t fit the profile we’ve come to expect. Protest slogans and campus activism are usually where leftist anger over Israel and Gaza manifests—not Molotov cocktails and targeted killings. The question naturally arises: is this a new trend?

I don’t think so.

One commonality links the violent attacks of 2018 and those we’ve just seen: Donald Trump is President. While the Colorado attacker reportedly told authorities he had been planning an attack for a year, it’s not a stretch to suggest that he chose this particular moment to act because the political climate now feels opportune.

The President sets the national tone. Traditionally, presidents have used the authority of their office to calm tensions and unite the country. Trump does the opposite. When he isn’t providing comfort to right-wing extremists—offering them a permission structure for their hate—he’s promoting conspiracies that demonize immigrants and minorities. In true form, trump responded to the Colorado attack by posting, “He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly... This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland.” No expression of sympathy for the victims. No condemnation of violence. No call for calm. Just more gasoline on an already smoldering fire.

Do I believe something fundamental has changed in America? Is America a more anti-Semitic society now than ten or twenty years ago?

Actually, no. I’d argue the opposite is likely true: most Americans today are more tolerant and open-minded than in previous generations. But extremists—on both ends of the spectrum—have become more emboldened, particularly under trump. And that’s why we are seeing more mass violence across the board. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there were over 488 mass shootings (defined as four or more victims) in the U.S. in 2024 alone—more than one per day.

Viewed in that context, the recent attacks in Washington and Colorado, as horrific as they are, may not be signs of something new. They are signs of something worsening: a political and cultural atmosphere in which hate is not just tolerated but activated.

The threat to Jews in America right now is real. But it’s not rooted in a sudden surge of popular anti-Semitism. It’s rooted in the dangerous convergence of extremism, impunity, and a political leadership that fuels division instead of diffusing it.

We should be concerned. Not because America has become a nation of anti-Semites, but because we are failing to contain those who are.