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Police, security agencies advise Jews to be on alert ahead of planned ‘National Day of Hate’ on Shabbat
This is a developing story.
(JTA) – The police bulletins have circulated among Jews on social media, in WhatsApp chats and via email: A white supremacist group is calling for a “National Day of Hate” this Saturday and encouraging antisemites to vandalize and deface Jewish institutions.
Information about the antisemitic campaign was first provided by the Chicago Police Department, and a “situational awareness alert” with NYPD insignia circulating online advises local Jewish communities to be on the lookout for suspicious activity.
The NYPD did not comment on the authenticity of the bulletin but told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “While there are no identified threats to New York City, out of an abundance of caution, the Department will deploy additional resources to sensitive locations, including houses of worship, throughout the weekend.”
The NYPD bulletin also shared one of the hate group’s messages, which called for “MASS ANTI-SEMITIC ACTION.” The message urged followers to “shock the masses with banner drops, stickers, fliers, and graffiti,” and to film their activities.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the campaign is being pushed by a small white supremacist group in Iowa called Crew-319, in conjunction with other extremist groups. The ADL confirmed that the hate message in the NYPD bulletin is authentic and comes from Crew-319’s channel on the social network Telegram, which is popular with extremists.
In its memo, the Chicago Police Department’s Place of Worship Safety Advisory Team, which monitors threats to synagogues and other houses of worship, urged Jewish community members to “keep situationally aware and pay attention to your surroundings while out in the neighborhood, not just on Shabbos, but during the week as well.”
An alert from the Community Security Initiative, a New York City-area Jewish security agency, advised residents that “no specific details have been shared by New York-based extremists to indicate their exact plans for this weekend. We assess that propaganda-based activities are likely, as we have seen across New York in recent months.” The alert recommended “heightened situational awareness” and cautioned residents not to confront people spreading propaganda.
The Chicago Police Department said in a statement this week, “At this time, there is no actionable intelligence.” Chicago’s Jewish federation sent a message to synagogue rabbis and leadership in the area saying that there is no discernible concrete threat to the local Jewish community at this time. Chicago Alderman Deborah Silverstein, whose ward includes the heavily Orthodox West Rogers Park neighborhood, echoed that assessment.
“There has been no threat to Chicago. Chicago is not at the moment targeted in any way. But the police are very active,” Silverstein told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Unfortunately, because we have been targeted before, we have a very active police department.”
The messages from police and community leaders came alongside an outpouring of anxiety from Jews sharing the news of the threatened antisemitic action on social media.
The alert came roughly a week after two Jews exiting morning prayer services were shot on consecutive days in Los Angeles, allegedly by a man with antisemitic motives. Last fall, two men were arrested in Penn Station for threatening violence against New York City synagogues, and weeks earlier, police in New Jersey warned synagogues in the state about a “credible threat.”
“So being an American Jew in 2023 is choosing between 1) taking my kids to pray, anxiously looking at the exits worried about their safety or 2) staying home and letting the anti-Semites define my Jewishness,” tweeted Daniella Greenbaum Davis, a writer and former producer on the TV talk show “The View.”
Crew-319, the group behind the antisemitic initiative, is a “tiny Iowa-based neo-Nazi crew that distributes propaganda and engages in antisemitic stunts,” Oren Segal, vice president of the ADL’s Center on Extremism, told JTA. Segal said that on Sept. 11, 2022, a member of the group drove a U-Haul truck hung with posters reading “Jews did 9/11” through Des Moines.
In recent months, hate groups have targeted Jews with fliers, graffiti and in-person protests. The Goyim Defense League, one of the country’s most visible hate groups, has distributed antisemitic fliers in Jewish communities across the country and unfurled hateful banners on highway overpasses; recently they also staged an antisemitic protest outside Chabad of South Orlando. Their propaganda reportedly inspired the suspect in the L.A. shootings.
Antisemitic messages have also been projected onto sports stadiums, graffitied on college campuses and displayed outside Disney World.
The antisemitic activity also comes amid a national rise in extremist violence. An ADL study published Thursday found that the proportion of mass shootings tied to extremism has risen significantly over the last decade.
The Secure Community Network, a national group that coordinates security for Jewish institutions, told JTA it had been tracking extremist activity around the date for weeks and would be issuing a more detailed bulletin to its synagogue network. CEO Michael Masters said his team “is working around the clock to ensure the safety and security of our community.”
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The post Police, security agencies advise Jews to be on alert ahead of planned ‘National Day of Hate’ on Shabbat appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Katherine Janus Kahn, illustrator of ‘Sammy Spider’ Jewish children’s books, dies at 83
More than 30 years ago, a colorful little eight-legged spider named Sammy made his picture book debut and scurried into the homes of Jewish families across the country.
Sammy Spider and his mother live in a house with a young Jewish boy named Josh Shapiro and his family. Starting with “Sammy Spider’s First Hanukkah,” he romped through Jewish holidays, prayers and practices across more than two dozen books — all illustrated with bright watercolor collages that have made the books instantly recognizable to generations of Jewish children.
That was the work of Katherine Janus Kahn, who died Oct. 6 at age 83.
Janus Kahn, a fine artist also noted for her works on political justice and women’s issues, illustrated more than 50 books for Kar-Ben, a publishing house for Jewish children’s books that counts the “Sammy Spider” franchise as among its best-selling.
“We are heartbroken,” Kar-Ben said in a Facebook post, adding, “We are profoundly grateful for her legacy, and for the countless stories and memories she leaves behind.”
David Lerner is the CEO of Lerner Publishing Group, the parent company of Kar-Ben, the country’s largest publisher of Jewish children’s books.
“Katherine’s art and storytelling helped shape the landscape of Jewish children’s literature,” he said in an email. “Her books have been recognized with many national awards, honoring her creative vision and her lasting impact.”
Kar-Ben was a tiny company when it first connected with Janus Kahn in the early 1990s. She had drawn attention with her paper-cut illustrations for “The Family Haggadah,” which became a bestseller when it was published in 1987, and the publisher wanted to pair her with an author named Sylvia Rouss who had dreamed up a little spider with a big Jewish future.
“We liked her many styles and thought the collage work would be fun for Sammy’s Hanukkah,” Judye Groner, Kar-Ben’s founder, wrote in an email. “We had no idea that Sammy would become a children’s favorite character featured in over 20 books.”
In that first title, the curious little arachnid spies the young Josh celebrating Hanukkah, wishes he could warm his spider legs on the menorah and wants to spin the colorful dreidels that Josh gets every night.
“Silly Sammy. Spiders don’t light Hanukkah candles. Spiders spin webs,” his mother tells the disappointed Sammy. The catchy refrain repeats for Hanukkah’s eight nights when his mother gives Sammy eight spider socks spun with colorful dreidels, just like the ones Josh gets.
Over the next three decades, Sammy learned about empathy in “Sammy Spider’s First Mitzvah,” celebrated the entire Jewish holiday cycle from Rosh Hashanah to Shavuot and stowed away in Josh’s luggage in “Sammy Spider’s First Trip to Israel.” The most recent book, “Sammy Spider’s Big Book of Jewish Holidays,” came out this year and compiles many of the classic stories that are now widely distributed to Jewish families through PJ Library.
Janus Kahn’s art brought the characters sparkling to life, according to Heidi Rabinowitz, past president of the Association of Jewish Libraries and host of the Book of Life Podcast about Jewish children’s literature.
“Her rainbow-soaked collage artwork give the Sammy Spider books a huge advantage,” Rabinowitz wrote in an email. “They make Sammy and Mrs. Spider friendly and even beautiful, completely removing the ‘ick factor’ from their arachnid identity.”
For Janus Kahn, who studied art at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy after graduating from the University of Chicago, the work connected to her core identity. In a 2017 watercolor essay, she said her study at Bezalel came after she volunteered to support Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and headed to Israel, where she said “reconciliation felt possible,” even after the war’s end.
“My Judaism and my books are tied together so integrally that I don’t think I could ever untie them,” she said in a 2013 video with Rouss that showed her demonstrating her artistic techniques in her home studio.
Among her other titles was “The Hardest Word: A Yom Kippur Story,” published in 2001, the first in a series written by Jacqueline Jules about a Ziz, a large, magnificently colored Jewish mythological bird. Like Sammy Spider, the Ziz books struck a chord and are now part of the canon of Jewish children’s books.
“She was just so creative,” recalled Jules, who had multiple books illustrated by Janus Kahn. Their first book together, “Once Upon a Shabbos,” published by Kar-Ben in 1998, was about a bear who gets lost in Brooklyn just before the start of Shabbat. Jules was struck by how Janus Kahn’s illustrations added new texture to a story inspired by an Appalachian folktale.
She and Janus Kahn realized they lived near each other in the Washington, D.C., area. After meeting at an event for the book, they headed to a coffee shop for a two-hour conversation that launched a decades-long professional relationship and close friendship. They socialized together, along with Groner, who also lived nearby.
The two were paired up for the Ziz books, another series that has charmed generations of Jewish children. For those books, Janus Kahn created a fanciful creature using paints rather than collage.
“She borrowed different characteristics from a variety of birds. The legs were from a flamingo, the feet were from a rooster,” Jules said.
Now, the Ziz has taken on a life of its own, making appearances in synagogue plays and other programs based on the books. Just a few weeks ago, Jules saw a photo of someone who dressed up as the Ziz at a synagogue event for Yom Kippur, in keeping with the first book’s theme.
Janus-Kahn would often join Jules for a Ziz storytelling at Jewish venues, bringing a feltboard to embellish the Ziz props and a hand-made Ziz puppet that Jules used. At one memorable event, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Janus Kahn arrived with two colorful feather boas, Jules recalled.
“She made the Ziz come alive,” she said.
With Janus Kahn’s death, Jules, Groner and Rouss not only lost the gifted master illustrator for their books. They have also lost a treasured friend of many decades.
“Kathy was a gift and our friendship was a gift,” Jules said.
Janus Kahn is survived by her husband, David Kahn, and a son, Robert.
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In memory of the quiet hero from Nepal, Bipin Joshi
זונטיק, דעם 19טן אָקטאָבער 2025, צוויי יאָר און כּמעט צוויי וואָכן נאָכן בלוטיקן זיבעטן אָקטאָבער האָבן מיר זיך געזעגנט בײַם בן־גוריון־פֿליפֿעלד אין ישׂראל, מיט ביפּין דזשאָשי.
ווער איז ביפּין דזשאָשי?
אפֿשר געדענקט איר ביפּין דזשאָשין?
איר ווייסט נישט, ווער ער איז?
ביפּין דזשאָשי איז געווען אַ 23־יאָריקער נעפּאַלער יונגערמאַן, ווען ער איז געקומען קיין ישׂראל אין סעפּטעמבער 2023 מיט אַ גרופּע נעפּאַלער יונגע־לײַט. זיי האָבן זיך באַזעצט אויף אַ צײַט אין דעם קיבוץ עלומים [אַלומים], אַ צען קילאָמעטער פֿון עזה. דאָרט האָט ער געאַרבעט אין די פֿעלדער. נאָך שׂימחת־תּורה האָט ער געדאַרפֿט אָנהייבן זײַנע אַקאַדעמישע לימודים אין באר־שבֿע־אוניווערסיטעט, אין דעם תּחום פֿון אַגריקולטור.
דעם טאָג פֿון שׂימחת־תּורה איז ביפּין דזשאָשי מיט זײַנע נעפּאַלער פֿרײַנד אַטאַקירט געוואָרן, ווי אַלע אײַנוווינער פֿון די ייִשובֿים אין דער עזה־געגנט. ווי אַלע האָט ער געפּרוּווט אַנטלויפֿן, זיך שיצן, וואַרטן אויף הילף. להיפּוך אָבער צו די ישׂראלים, האָט ער נישט געקענט די שפּראַך פֿון לאַנד און נישט די שפּראַך פֿון פֿײַנד. ער האָט אויך קוים פֿאַרשטאַנען די אומשטאַנדן אין וועלכע דער אַטאַק איז פֿאָרגעקומען.
ער איז בכלל נישט געווען קיין צד אין דעם סכסוך.
זיצנדיק אין איינעם פֿון די קליינע בונקערס בײַ די גאַסן, איז ער ערשט באַשאָסן געוואָרן פֿון אַראַבישע טעראָריסטן, האָט צוגעזען ווי עטלעכע פֿון זײַנע פֿרײַנד ווערן געטראָפֿן, גוססן. דערנאָך, אַז די טעראָריסטן האָבן זיך ווײַטער איזדיעקעוועט איבער די וואָס נאָך בײַם לעבן און זיי אָנגעהויבן באַוואַרפֿן מיט האַנטגראַנאַטן — האָט ער געפּרוּווט כאַפּן און צוריקוואַרפֿן. אַזוי האָט ער געראַטעוועט עטלעכע פֿרײַנד.
ביפּין דזשאָשי איז אַ שטילער העלד וואָס האָט געטאָן מיט שטילער גבֿורה און וואָס די וועלט איז אים לרובֿ מזכּה מיט שטיל פֿאַרשווײַגן. אויף די גרויסע מאַניפֿעסטאַציעס איבער דער וועלט לטובֿת מענטשלעכקייט שרײַט מען לרובֿ נישט זײַן נאָמען; דערציילט מען לרובֿ נישט זײַן מעשׂה; דערמאָנט מען לרובֿ נישט זײַן אַקט פֿון מענטשלעכקייט און נישט זײַן אוממענטשלעכן סוף.
ביפּין דזשאָשי איז נישט אומגעברענגט געוואָרן דעם 7טן אָקטאָבער 2023.
ער איז אויך נישט געראַטעוועט געוואָרן דעם 7טן אָקטאָבער 2023.
ער איז פֿאַרכאַפּט געוואָרן דעם 7טן אָקטאָבער 2023 קיין עזה.
דעם זעלביקן טאָג נאָך האָט אַ קאַמערע אין דעם שיפֿאַ־שפּיטאָל אין עזה רעקאָרדירט אים, אַ לעבעדיקן, בשעת ער ווערט געשלעפּט פֿון אַ פּאָר עזהער.
מיט צוויי יאָר שפּעטער, אין אָקטאָבער 2025, האָט די ברייטע עפֿנטלעכקייט זיך דערוווּסט וועגן אַ פֿילמעלע, וואָס די ישׂראלדיקע אַרמיי האָט געפֿונען אין עזה. אין דעם פֿילמעלע זעט מען ביפּין דזשאָשין אַ רעלאַטיוו געזונטן. דאָס פֿילמעלע האָבן זײַנע פֿאַרכאַפּער און שומרים געמאַכט משמעות אין נאָוועמבער 2023.
מיר ווייסן, אַז ביפּין דזשאָשי האָט געלעבט אין עזה לכל־הפּחות אַ חודש צײַט. אַ רעלאַטיוו געזונטער. נאָר ווי געזונט קען אַ פֿאַרכאַפּטער אין עזה זײַן?
די וואָס האָבן באַוויזן איבערצולעבן און זײַנען צוריקגעקומען — זײַנען אפֿשר נישט צוריק קיין געזונטע, זיכער נישט קיין לחלוטין געזונטע — אָבער דער פֿאַקט אַז זיי זײַנען נישט צוריק קיין משוגענע איז אַ גבֿורה פֿאַר זיך. שטילע העלדן.
פֿאַר וואָס שרײַט מען אויף די מאַניפֿעסטאַציעס איבער דער וועלט לטובֿת מענטשלעכקייט, לרובֿ נישט וועגן דער אָ אוממענטשלעכער, אויפֿגעצוווּנגענער גבֿורה? נישט גענוג. אַ שטילערהייט פֿאַרשוויגענע גבֿורה.
ביפּין דזשאָשי איז צוריק. ער האָט אָבער נישט איבערגעלעבט. דעם 14טן אָקטאָבער 2025 איז אַ טויטער גוף וואָס דער כאַמאַס האָט אומגעקערט אידענטיפֿיצירט געוואָרן ווי זײַנער. ביפּין דזשאָשי איז פֿאַרכאַפּט און דערמאָרדעט געוואָרן אין עזה דורך עזהער.
זײַן משפּחה, וואָס האָט לעצטן זונטיק מקבל־פּנים געווען זײַן אָרון אין נעפּאַל, אַריבערגעפֿירט דעם זעלביקן טאָג פֿון ישׂראל, האָט, ווי המונים אין ישׂראל, געהאָפֿט ביז דער לעצטער רגע אויף אַ בעסערן סוף. זי האָט געהאָפֿט, אים אַרומצונעמען אַ לעבעדיקן — נישט אים אויפֿצונעמען אַ דערהרגעטן.
זײַן משפּחה צוזאַמען מיט המונים קרובֿים, פֿרײַנד און באַקאַנטע האָט אים אָפּגעגעבן דעם לעצטן כּבֿוד פֿאַרברענענדיק זײַן קערפּער לויטן הינדו־מינהג נאָענט צו אַ טײַך. דאָס געוויין האָט געגעבן אַ ריס אין הימל, ווי טיף עס איז געווען דער ריס אין זייערע הערצער. זײַן משפּחה האָט נישט באמת פֿאַרשטאַנען דעם סכסוך צוליב וועלכן זייער זון איז געפֿאַלן אַ קרבן.
זײַן משפּחה — ווי ער גופֿא — איז נישט געווען קיין צד אין דעם סכסוך. די פֿאַרכאַפּער האָבן געוווּסט. זיי האָבן גערצחנט לשם רציחה. פֿאַר וואָס שרײַט די וועלט לרובֿ נישט וועגן דעם?
פֿאַר וואָס באַשרײַט די וועלט לרובֿ נישט אַזאַ קרבן? דעם קרבן ביפּין דזשאָשי. פֿאַר וואָס קען די וועלט לרובֿ נישט ביפּין דזשאָשין?
זונטיק, דעם 19טן אָקטאָבער 2025, צוויי יאָר און כּמעט צוויי וואָכן נאָכן בלוטיקן זיבעטן אָקטאָבער, האָבן מיר זיך מיט אים געזעגנט אין אַ ישׂראלדיק־נעפּאַלישער צערעמאָניע מיט מלוכישע פֿאַרטרעטער, דיפּלאָמאַטן, קיבוץ־מיטגלידער, אַקאַדעמישע רעפּרעזענטאַנטן, פֿרײַנד און באַקאַנטע אי פֿון דער ישׂראלדיקער געזעלשאַפֿט אי פֿון דער נעפּאַלער קהילה אין ישׂראל. מען האָט אים באַדאַנקט פֿאַר זײַן איבערגעגעבענער אַרבעט אין קיבוץ, דערמאָנט זײַן חלום זיך צו לערנען אין דער פֿרעמד כּדי זיך אומצוקערן איין טאָג מיט נײַעם וויסן און בײַצושטײַערן פֿאַר דער אַנטוויקלונג פֿון זײַן אייגן לאַנד, אָפּגעשאַצט זײַן פֿריילעך־גוטמוטיקן כאַראַקטער און געדענקט אין זײַן שטילער גבֿורה.
די צערעמאָניע איז פֿאָרגעקומען אונטער אַ הייסער אָקטאָבער־זון, ענלעך צו דער וואָס האָט באַשײַנט די לעצטע רגעס פֿון זײַן פֿרײַהייט, ענלעך צו דער אונטער וועלכער כאַמאַס־אָנהענגער האָבן צוגערויבט בגוואַלד און מיט רציחה זײַן פֿרײַהייט.
אויף אַ פּלעצל בײַם פֿליפֿעלד פֿון וועלכן ער איז אָפּגעפֿלויגן אַהיים, איז געשטאַנען ביפּין דזשאָשיס אָרון. דעם אָרון האָט מען באַדעקט מיט בילדער, בלומען און בריוולעך. איבערן אָרון האָט דער פֿאָרשטייער פֿון דעם ראַיאָן אין וועלכן עס געפֿינט זיך קיבוץ עלומים, אויסגעשפּרייט לויטן נעפּאַלער מינהג אַ ווײַסן, זײַדענעם שאַל. בײַ אַ באַזונדער טישל האָט דער עולם נאָך די הספּדים געקענט אָנצינדן נשמה־ליכטלעך צו זײַן אָנדענק.
אַן עולם — נישט קליין, כאָטש אָן נעפּאַלער קרובֿים.
די רעדעס זײַנען געווען אויף ענגליש און העברעיִש, בכּבֿודיק, מענטשלעך. איידל. נישט פּאָליטיש. די צערעמאָניע האָט געדויערט אַן אָנדערהאַלבן שעה און זיך געענדיקט אָפֿיציעל מיט צוויי הימענס נאָך אַנאַנד, פֿאַרפֿלאָכטן ווי דער צופֿעליק־בשותּפֿותדיקער גורל פֿון די צוויי פֿעלקער און לענדער: ישׂראל און נעפּאַל.
דאָס לעצטע בילד אין מײַן זכּרון: אַ ייִד מיט לאַנגע פּאות וואָס פֿירט אַוועק דעם אָרון צו אַן אויטאָ.
די לעצטע קלאַנגען אין מײַן אויער: דער פּליוך פֿון געוויין פֿון נעפּאַלער פֿרויען, קלאָגערינס;
די האָפֿענונג פֿון איין הימען און די טאַנצנדיקע טענער פֿון דעם צווייטן.
אַזוי האָבן מיר אים אָפּגעגעבן דאָ אין ישׂראל דעם לעצטן כּבֿוד.
ביפּין דזשאָשי — אַ שטילער העלד, אַן אומבאַשריגענער קרבן.
לאָמיר אים געדענקען — אַ מענטש, גערצחנט אין עזה דורך עזהער, אָן קיין שום זינען און אָן קיין שום באַרעכטיקונג, לשם הריגה.
The post In memory of the quiet hero from Nepal, Bipin Joshi appeared first on The Forward.
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‘The church is asleep right now’: Ted Cruz calls on Christians to confront right-wing antisemitism
(JTA) — Sen. Ted Cruz used his keynote address at a major gathering for Christian supporters of Israel this week to warn of “a growing cancer” of antisemitism on the right, which he said church leaders are failing to address.
“I’m here to tell you, in the last six months, I have seen antisemitism rising on the right in a way I have never seen in my entire life,” Cruz said, speaking on Sunday at a megachurch in San Antonio, led by John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel, which claims to have more than 10 million members.
He continued, “The work that CUFI does is desperately, desperately needed, but I’m here to tell you, the church is asleep right now.”
In the days around Cruz’s speech at Hagee’s 45th annual Night to Honor Israel, a cluster of conservative voices made similar appeals, arguing that antisemitism inside parts of the right can no longer be waved away as fringe. Essays in The Free Press and Tablet mapped how extremist figures and ideas have been normalized and the Jewish educational center and think tank Tikvah warned of a “clear faction” hostile to Israel and Judaism.
In The Free Press, conservative columnist Eli Lake published an essay titled “How Nick Fuentes Went Mainstream,” arguing that the far-right activist — long shunned for racist and antisemitic rhetoric — has lately been welcomed by a roster of popular podcasts and livestreams. In Lake’s telling, the “stigma” around Fuentes has “melted away,” an index of how the Overton window has shifted inside parts of the online right.
At Tablet, a first-person essay by a libertarian insider headlined “Hitler Is Back in Style,” traced what the author describes as a libertarian-to-alt-right pipeline that, over the past decade, normalized conspiratorial thinking about Jews and open flirtations with Hitler apologetics. The piece is both confessional and diagnostic, naming podcast ecosystems and ideological crosscurrents that, the author argues, have turned “antiwar” rhetoric into reflexive anti-Israel sentiment and a broader hostility to Jews.
Meanwhile, Tikvah, one of the most prominent right-wing groups in the Jewish world, noted in an email to supporters Thursday that it has tracked the same trend.
“Today, there is a clear faction of the right that is overtly hostile to Israel and to Judaism. And though small, it is no longer marginal or possible to ignore,” wrote Avi Snyder, a senior director at Tikvah.
The organization pointed to a body of essays it began publishing in 2023, warning that some on the right were reviving old suspicions about Jewish loyalty, casting the U.S.-Israel alliance as a trap, and disputing the moral superiority of the Allied fight in World War II.
In the background is the aftershock of Charlie Kirk’s assassination last month, which unleashed a torrent of conspiracies that quickly turned antisemitic in parts of the right’s online ecosystem. Fact-checkers documented a flood of false claims, while some influencers toyed with theories about Israeli or “Mossad” involvement — rhetoric with enough popular traction that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, felt compelled to issue a rebuttal. The swirl reinforced how fast fringe ideas migrate in today’s media sphere, even as prosecutors in Utah have charged a suspect and outlined a motive that has nothing to do with Israel.
In his speech, Cruz noted he has talked to Netanyahu about declining support for Israel on the right — and that the two men see the issue differently.
He recounted a recent conversation with the Israeli prime minister, saying that Netanyahu’s first instinct was to chalk much of it up to foreign amplification from places like Qatar and Iran — bots and paid misinformation networks.
Cruz pushed back: “I said, ‘Mr. Prime Minister, yes, but no. Yes, Qatar and Iran are clearly paying for it, and there are bots, and they are putting real money behind it, but I am telling you, this is real, it is organic, these are real human beings, and it is spreading.’”
Later in his address, Cruz highlighted the drift’s theological dimension. He warned of a resurgence of replacement theology, which he characterized as a “lie that the promises God made to Israel and the people of Israel are somehow no longer good, they are no longer valid.”
According to replacement theology, the Israelites were supplanted as God’s chosen people once the Christian church was founded.
Cruz didn’t blame anyone by name, but his comments come as figures with long records of inflammatory commentary toward Jews or Israel have continued to gain oxygen. Fuentes has rebounded from ostracism to high-visibility bookings; Tucker Carlson draws millions of viewers amplifying narratives that edge into Jew-baiting; and Candace Owens’ conspiratorial comments about Israel continue to pull audiences.
Together they form a feedback loop in which algorithmic reach and controversy reward edgier takes — and make it harder for party actors to draw lines.
Adding to the fray is last week’s Young Republicans leak, a Politico exposé of a Telegram chat where early-career GOP activists traded racist slurs, joked about gas chambers and praised Hitler. The episode prompted firings, the shutdown of state Young Republican chapters and bipartisan condemnation. But Vice President J.D. Vance downplayed the messages as immature “jokes” and urged critics to “grow up,” a stance that itself became part of the week’s debate over whether the right will police its own.
Soon after Kirk’s assassination, Rich Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a veteran of Republican politics, urged more policing on the right. In a post on X, he called on conservatives to stop booking Carlson, calling the former Fox News host’s posture toward Jews and Israel “a disease that is poisoning the Republican Party.”
He added, “It needs to be met with a decision by those we call ‘leaders’ to stop platforming him (and those who echo such vile sentiments).”
More than a month later, the most important right-wing leader in the country, Donald Trump, has yet to weigh in.
The post ‘The church is asleep right now’: Ted Cruz calls on Christians to confront right-wing antisemitism appeared first on The Forward.