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Incitement Encouraging Violence Against Jews Can No Longer Be Ignored; and Jews Who Participate Must Not Be Tolerated
A pro-Hamas protester with a sign comparing the Auschwitz extermination camp with the current war in Gaza at a demonstration in Paris. Photo: Reuters/Henrique Campos
Last week, a disturbing scene unfolded in the streets of Teaneck, New Jersey. A rally turned into a violent mob, with chants calling for harm against the local Jewish community. These weren’t protests against policies — they were direct threats and attempts to intimidate Jews at places of worship.
This was no routine political demonstration exercising free speech. It was incitement against the local Jewish community, and the larger American Jewish community at large.
The only reason this mob descended on Teaneck was because it is home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish populations in the United States. Their sole target was the Jewish community itself.
Most chillingly, the protesters turned their vitriol on a synagogue that was hosting ZAKA — an apolitical organization responsible for handling the bodies of Jews for interment, and burying the victims of the October 7 massacre according to ritual traditions. To threaten and attempt to attack those whose role is to ensure kavod ha-met — reverence for the deceased — is an abhorrent violation of human decency and dignity.
This was not an isolated incident either. From Los Angeles to London, we’ve seen an escalating trend of rallies and protests devolving into naked antisemitism, and attempts to harass, intimidate, and terrorize Jewish communities. The perpetrators are fueled by age-old hatreds that are newly energized. They are frustrated because the IDF is too strong, so they take out their aggression on Jewish civilians. Hamas started this war by attacking Israeli civilians, and now, their followers and supporters have learned this tactic and are going after Jewish civilians the world over.
We must draw an unambiguous line. Peaceful protest is a hallmark of democracy, whether objecting to governmental policies or advocating for causes. But when protests metastasize into direct incitements to violence, the paths of peace have been abandoned.
Some may argue that even the most odious chants are protected speech. I disagree. The famous example is that you cannot falsely yell “fire” in a crowded theater, and claim free speech.
Rabble-rousing rhetoric that puts lives at intentional risk is not free speech, but rather provocation with the potential to incite violence — which crosses a bright red line.
We have seen this line crossed time and time again. Academic administrators acted properly when firing faculty members who claimed that genocidal chants against Jews are protected speech. Law enforcement has thankfully started arresting and prosecuting domestic extremists whose virulent speech is a match to domestic terrorism’s powder keg.
The chants and actions in Teaneck — and similar scenes globally — have reached beyond protected speech and into incitement. When protesters move to directly harass, intimidate, and verbally attack worshipers at their synagogues — and Jews in their homes — the right to peaceful protest ends. It becomes illegal harassment, incitement, and a true threat to public safety.
Therefore, I call on municipal leaders, state governments, and Federal law enforcement to treat these “protests” as they would any other situation involving criminal harassment, trespassing, threats, incitement, and potential violence. Aggressive deterrent measures and prosecutions are now required to protect public safety and the civil rights of Jewish communities. We are very thankful to the local police forces who are working tirelessly to keep the peace at these rallies. Unfortunately, they are just barely hanging on, and more steps need to be taken.
More critically, I appeal to all people of conscience — especially those identifying as Jewish — to join in resolutely condemning the Jews who knowingly participate in these vile displays of antisemitism under the guise of “protest.”
If you join a rally featuring blatant antisemitic slurs, bigotry, and calls for violence against your own people, you have turned your back on the Jewish community. There is no room in our ranks for Jews who participate in calls for violence against other Jews. Period. Whether they are Neturei Karta members, or belong to other denominations, this type of behavior has no place in the Jewish community. I call upon all national and local Jewish institutions to come together and join me in saying this clearly with one voice.
Rabbi Steven Burg, Aish’s CEO, also serves on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency, as an Executive Board Member of the Rabbinical Council of America, and a Board Member of Yeshiva University High Schools and Naaleh High School. Prior to Aish, Rabbi Burg was the Eastern Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, where he oversaw the Museum of Tolerance in New York City and contributed to the Center’s fight against antisemitism.
The post Incitement Encouraging Violence Against Jews Can No Longer Be Ignored; and Jews Who Participate Must Not Be Tolerated first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.