Like many Jews, I had no idea my life was about to change when I woke up on October 7. The grief of that day was overwhelming. While the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) organized celebratory protests in Times Square, my family and friends struggled to learn the fates of loved ones. What followed over the ensuing days, weeks and months was almost more shocking. Instead of empathy, there was avoidance. Instead of moral clarity, there was equivocation or in some cases, justification.
Many of my Brooklyn neighbors were rightly horrified by the white supremacist march in Charlottesville and the chants of “Jews Will Not Replace Us.” But when protesters ripped down posters of Jewish hostages and chanted “From the River to the Sea” and “Globalize the Intifada” within days of 10/7, those same neighbors were silent.
Jews are justifiably nervous. In the past two years, we’ve seen a spike in anti-Jewish hate crimes. Targeting Jews isn’t an abstract idea. My friend’s restaurant, Miriam, on 5th Avenue in Brooklyn, was defaced with the words “Genocide Cuisine” and “Israel Steals Culture” in blood red paint. A few months earlier, the Brooklyn Museum Director’s home was vandalized with blood-red graffiti labeling her a “White-Supremacist Zionist.” Some excused these crimes as political protests but let’s be honest: no one would justify attacking a Chinese chef or Yemeni museum director to protest foreign policy.
This hypocrisy reveals a dangerous double standard: Progressives reject bigotry unless it’s aimed at Jews. They champion empathy unless the victims are Israeli (even though not all Israelis are Jewish). They defend inclusion unless Zionists are in the room.
That double standard, paired with a stunning lack of leadership, led us to form Brooklyn BridgeBuilders, a grassroots coalition of Brooklynites determined to restore dignity and accountability to local politics. We refuse to stay silent while antisemitism rises and elected officials look the other way—or, worse, fan the flames.
The more I engaged with my community, the more I encountered illiberalism. I haven’t seen Nazis in Brooklyn. But in the past 20 months, I’ve experienced more open hostility to Jews than ever before. When I asked progressive institutions, like the Park Slope Food Coop, to acknowledge Jewish concerns, I was met with blank stares or outright rejection. Spaces that once felt inclusive now felt conditional: Deny Israel’s right to exist, or get pushed to the margins.
In retrospect, we missed the signs. NYC Comptroller Brad Lander’s embrace of Linda Sarsour and candidates who downplay antisemitism like Zohran Mamdani, Jamaal Bowman, and Shahana Hanif, didn’t happen in a vacuum. It was the natural extension of a broader shift in the progressive movement.
Brad Lander is the most dangerous kind of figure in this moment: a prominent Jewish official who lends credibility to those who diminish Jewish concerns. But he’s not alone. The persistent downplaying of antisemitism, especially from leaders and institutions that claim moral authority, comes at a time when this ancient hatred is metastasizing in front of our eyes.
Those of us confronting antisemitism are routinely undermined by cynical actors who speak of “weaponizing antisemitism,” thereby deflecting from its real-world consequences. Representative Jerry Nadler’s endorsement of Zohran Mamdani only confirms how far the Overton window has shifted.
When Rabbi Andy Bachmann, the former head of Congregation Beth Elohim, wasn’t allowed onstage at Powerhouse Books, because he was a “Zionist”, it felt like another nail in the coffin for liberal Jewish American life in NYC. In its apology, Powerhouse rightly noted that,“ [l]itmus tests as a precondition for participation in public life are wrong. Rejections of dialog, debate and nuance are wrong.” But for many Jews, the damage was done.
Here in Brooklyn, we began to organize politically because we believe that no vulnerable community should have to beg for empathy or acceptance. There is no cause, no ideology, no political agenda that justifies hatred against Jews (or any religious or ethnic group) living in the United States. Ever. We’ve seen where silence and appeasement leads.
We will continue to speak out and to stand with progressive leaders who are not afraid to stand with us. Because Jewish safety is a progressive value. And it’s time we said so unapologetically.
