My head is spinning from the total overwhelming nature of JewHate around the world. I was sharing with my non-Jewish psychiatrist how overwhelming it can be to be a Jew right now and even moreso a Jewish professional. I expressed sadness that I am not sure if I will ever have again in my lifetime a sense of security. I explained that terrorism isn’t just when the violent acts occur, but it’s the feeling of being afraid to wear Jewish jewelry or clothing identifying oneself as a Jew, and being afraid to go to synagogue or a Jewish community event. The fear itself is terrorism. I told her that the lack of open and public support from non-Jews in the fight against the propaganda, the hate speech, the buzz words, the mis-information contributes to the unsafe feeling. I lamented the issues of people asserting that antiZionism isn’t JewHate (yes, it is) and Jews and non-Jews trying to make the claim that Zionism isn’t a part of Judaism (yes, it is) and that when knowledgeable Jews go down this dangerous road, it makes Jews even more unsafe because their off-kilter viewpoints are tokenized as how we should all think. (Let’s not even get started on the convoluted and oh-so-misguided “AntiZionist Chanukkah” celebrations.)
And then a day later, two terrorists attacked a Chanukkah party on Bondi Beach killing 15 and injuring many more. JewHaters applauded and said “Zios deserved it.” But an odd thing also started to emerge … the silent non-Jews, those who aren’t haters but also haven’t been UpStanders, condemned the act. Then, I started to see on various platforms non-Jews saying they were going to buy a menorah and put in their window in solidarity and it reminded me of this blog I wrote last year about Allies and Jewish Artifacts and the on-going debate as to if it’s appropriate for non-Jews to buy and use Jewish ritual items even if it’s as a display of support. In quick response, I used some AI and the Photoshop skills of a friend to create this image and I took to social media with the request
I’m asking all of my non-Jewish connections to save this image and share it on all of your social media.
It would be great to see social media flooded with this image shared by thousands of non-Jews showing their support and allyship by displaying this virtually in their “windows?”
(Jewish colleagues please share with the message above!)
It is starting to gain a little traction (not as much as I wanted and we are already on the third day of the chag). Some Jewish naysayers have asked, “What’s the point? We need people to DO SOMETHING to help us!” My response is that this is step one because I know what’s to come. Anyone who posts this is (perhaps unknowingly) opening themselves up to receiving the same vile hate we get every day in the form of disgusting comments from folks hidden behind their keyboards and bots paid for by Qatar, Iran, and Russia. And then, maybe then, they will for a moment feel what we feel and be inspired to actually DO SOMETHING.
And how do I know they are likely to experience JewHate by proxy? Because I have seen it on all sorts of Happy Hanukkah (Channukah, etc) posts. Groups ranging from professional sports teams to small county sheriff offices to corporations big and small, often share messages on their social media outlets. The comments sections on these images have ranged from “Congrats on supporting Gaza baby killers” to “Why are you supporting ZioNazis?!” So I full well expect our non-Jewish allies to get a small taste of this if they post the ally menorah image. While I don’t want to make them feel unsafe, I do want them to recognize what our social media feeds look like – what the algorhithms sends us. [Of note, some Jewish commenters shared simple “Thank You!!” reactions while others have said things like “Thanks for these wishes but we really need you to condemn the hate that leads to us being killed on the beach.”]
Years ago, I saw these quotes and they are displayed as the pinned post on my personal social media profiles:
It shouldn’t take a mass casualty event in Australia during Chanukkah for non-Jews to recognize their role in helping combat JewHate. It shouldn’t take them posting statements of allyship during Chanukkah for them to realize just how bad the JewHate situation is in the world. But if it makes them realize that their own safety and dignity is tied with ours, I am sure going to find a way to leverage it!
JewishGPS 
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