Terrorism and Antisemitism Are Really Twin Evils

By Devorah Halberstam and Alan Vinegrad

When Devorah’s 16-year-old son Ari Halberstam was murdered in 1994 while riding in a van on the Brooklyn Bridge with 14 of his Jewish classmates, it was treated as an act of random violence by a lone wolf. But it wasn’t.

For more than six years, she worked to get the authorities to reclassify it as an act of terrorism. And at the same time, they acknowledged that it also was a horrific act of antisemitism. It was a toxic combination of evil. She personally took this horrific event and made it her mission in life to combat both terrorism and antisemitism wherever they occur.

Here we are, nearly 30 years later. And these twin evils are back, worse than ever before. We now have social media spreading disinformation and antisemitic hate. And it’s happening all over — even at our country’s colleges. Regrettably, antisemitism is alive and well in this country, and is getting worse. It’s a cancer that, left untreated, will spread and destroy everything in its path.

The threat of terrorism is also alive. The head of the FBI, Christopher Wray, spelled it out last month. We are up against terroristic threats to our homeland and the Jewish community, who are only 2.4% of the country’s population, but are the victims of 60% of all hate crimes.

Whatever the causes of the barbaric attacks of Israelis on Oct. 7, that event was a clarion call to America that we may be next. But this call to action is not just about Jews. Terrorists believe that the world is their playground and everybody is fair game. Whether Al Qaeda, Isis, Black September, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hezbollah or Houthis, the message is the same: destroy innocent lives in great numbers, in the name of twisted and malevolent views about our world order.

And these are not lone wolves. These organizations are populated with hardened, organized murderers. We must not confuse terrorism with any other crime. Terrorism’s handprint is its unique, destructive force on our society.

We need to take all the tools at our disposal, dust them off, and use them to maximum effect. The response must come from every part of law enforcement — federal, state and local — working hand-in-hand to fight this fight of our lives. They must prevent and thwart antisemitic acts — terroristic or otherwise — wherever they can. They must aggressively go after those who manage to succeed despite law enforcement’s very best efforts to stop them. Whether in synagogues, the streets, college campuses or anywhere else, they must act. Every step taken can be the difference between life and death.

Our communities must be more vigilant than ever before, helping law enforcement fight the battle against terrorism and antisemitism on the ground by being their eyes and ears.

And our educators must educate students about basic principles of civility and morality. Teach them the difference between legitimate political debate about the Middle East conflict, and unequivocally condemning acts of barbarism and torture that have absolutely no place on our planet, in any society. Explain to them the evils of bias and discrimination, whether against Jews or any other vulnerable group. Ask them: if they don’t fight for the rights of others, even those of other faiths, who will be around to defend their rights when the time comes?
And it is not only about what is going on at our college campuses. It’s also about our young children.

Following the death of Ari, Devorah co-founded the Jewish Children’s Museum to teach children of all races and religions about the history and culture of the Jewish people. It is a place to embrace and accept and understand each other, no matter who we are or where we come from.

We call on parents, teachers, counselors, and school administrators to advance this same mission. To collectively and individually build coalitions of good people who can teach our children the importance of respecting the beliefs of others. The last thing we need in this country is a new generation of haters. Rather, we need a new generation of model citizens, with hope and acceptance for all.

We have just celebrated Chanukah — the festival of lights. Hopefully, that holiday can bring a new form of justice to our community — with light prevailing over darkness, and good over evil.

–Devorah Halberstam is a recognized expert on bias crimes and terrorism and serves as the chair of the New York Police Department’s Civilian Hate Crime Review Panel. Alan Vinegrad, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, co-prosecuted the federal civil rights case against those who attacked Yankel Rosenbaum at the onset of the Crown Heights riots. Originally published in the New York Daily News.