Israel was caught off guard on October 7, 2023. The prevailing strategic conceptzia (set of assumptions) – that Hamas neither intended nor was capable of launching a major attack from Gaza – proved catastrophically wrong. The result was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Israel quickly developed a new conceptzia – a strategy for fighting simultaneously on seven fronts. A country deeply divided on October 6, recognizing the existential danger it faced, came together on October 8.
At the same time, antisemitism in the United States, home to the world’s second-largest Jewish community after Israel, surged. Jews were murdered, terrorist acts were planned, Zionism and AIPAC – the American Israel Public Affairs Committee – were depicted as evil incarnate, Jewish-owned businesses were boycotted, synagogues experienced threatening mobs, and Jews on campuses were targeted.
The old assumptions
The surge in antisemitism also shattered a long-held American Jewish conceptzia: having faith in American exceptionalism and confidence that America was fundamentally different from any previous Diaspora experience.
But unlike Israel, and despite the laudable efforts of some, American Jews did not rush to a war footing, map out new strategies, allocate responsibilities, or display unity of purpose.
Instead, organizations largely responded independently, offering their own diagnoses and prescriptions, often disagreeing over both the causes of the crisis and the proper response.
The result has been a continued deterioration. American Jews have rarely been more anxious about their future. Too many once-trusted institutions and allies vanished after October 7, and too few Jewish leaders emerged to inspire the community beyond the boundaries of their own organizations.
Indeed, had the American Jewish community been asked to organize an operation as complex as Operation Overlord, the invasion of Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944, it would likely have struggled for lack of vision, coordination, and unity.
It is late in the day – but not too late – to ask what comes next. Without decisive action, the trajectory is unmistakable: greater danger, deeper isolation, diminished influence, and fewer consequences for Jew-hatred – not to mention mounting risks to the unique US-Israel relationship and the fraying of the bipartisan consensus that has sustained it for decades.
What does a new American Jewish conceptzia look like?
A new strategy
First, a change in mindset. We are at war. I do not use the word lightly. If Israel faces seven kinetic fronts, American Jews are the eighth. The aim is nothing less than to marginalize the voice and place of American Jews and to drive a wedge between Washington and Jerusalem. A war requires urgency, planning, mobilization, derring-do, adaptability, and common purpose.
Second, among the principal actors on this eighth front are younger Jews. They are likeliest to confront these challenges directly – in schools and universities, online, and in the workplace.
How prepared and well supported are they to stand proudly as Jews, master the facts, navigate difficult situations with confidence, and turn moments of tension into opportunities?
Third, applied research is needed to understand why a number of Jews are on the sidelines or, far worse, have joined groups and movements that demonize Zionism, delegitimize Israel, and minimize antisemitism.
Where did we go wrong? Was Jewish learning too often reduced to a handful of social justice slogans? Was Zionism neglected, relegated to a back seat, or treated as an annual celebration rather than a living component of Jewish identity?
We need answers – and we need corrective action. This is no time for hesitation, defensiveness, or more of the same.
Fourth, the majority of American Jews care deeply about their Jewish identity, connection to Israel, and concern for Jewish continuity.
This is precisely the time to intensify all three. Opportunities abound. Study Jewish texts. Learn Hebrew. Welcome Shabbat. Celebrate holidays. Travel to Israel. Connect with Israelis. Live Jewish. Act Jewish. Do Jewish.
Fifth, every hospital is committed to health care and every university to education, yet quality, specialization, and effectiveness vary enormously.
The same is true of Jewish organizations. In a time of war, members and donors should be asking hard questions about results, leadership, and measurable impact. Which organizations are truly moving the needle and deserve greater support? Which are generating meaningful outcomes rather than merely producing activity?
Defense to offense
Sixth, allies do exist, but they may not necessarily be the ones we thought of as our partners on October 6.
Rather than desperately seeking to reconnect with those missing in action, why not create a coalition of like-minded voices originally from the Middle East and now living in the United States – Iranians, Kurds, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Baháʼís, and Yazidis – to educate Americans, including policymakers, about the realities of the Middle East and expose the myths that dominate today’s discourse?
Why not help mobilize Americans en masse who care about the country to stand up to those who would divide society, weaponize antisemitism, embrace anti-American ideologies, or trample on the American flag?
Seventh, instead of constantly being on the defensive, trying to dissuade people from false claims of Israel’s “genocide,” “illegitimacy,” or “settler-colonialism,” let’s go on offense.
What exactly are today’s antisemites – however they label themselves – defending? Is it tyranny, terror, genocide, ethnic cleansing, misogyny, homophobia, jihadism, communism, or fascism? Expose them and their domestic and foreign networks, including the central role of Qatari money and Muslim Brotherhood ideology.
Eighth, it is high time to become far more sophisticated voters. Neither political party should any longer assume Jewish votes or support for granted. Both face internal debates that will shape America’s future and the place of the Jewish community within it. Jewish votes and support matter. Candidates for office should never again take anything for granted from American Jews.
Ninth, American Jews helped create Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and Madison Avenue.
Are the best minds in technology, communications, storytelling, lawfare, and grassroots activism at the tables where today’s strategic decisions need to be made for effective advocacy?
And 10th, Jews have contributed mightily to universities, cultural institutions, nongovernmental organizations, medicine, and countless other causes as an expression of love of country and a desire to live out their universalist values. Bravo! But some of those very same places abandoned us after October 7, or even before.
Denial is no strategy. Time to rethink philanthropy rather than allow ourselves to be played for freiers, that dreaded Israeli notion of being “a sucker.”
American Jews arrived on the shores of what became the United States in 1654. That is 372 years ago. It has been an extraordinary journey. Today, however, a gathering storm threatens all that has been achieved. Will we summon the faith, footing, and fortitude to navigate it successfully? No question today could be more pressing.■
David Harris is executive vice chair of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), and author of Antisemitism: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2025).