Today marks 1,000 days since October 7, when thousands of terrorists invaded Israel, murdered 1,200 people - most of them civilians - and kidnapped 251 people of all ages into Gaza.
October 7 became the starting point of a global campaign that treated Jews everywhere as legitimate targets. We learned that antisemitism had been waiting in the wings, waiting for an excuse to explode into the mainstream.
We watched as events in the Middle East were used to justify acts of pure hatred. Jewish businesses were vandalized. Synagogues were firebombed. Jewish students were harassed and assaulted. Jews were murdered for no other reason than being Jewish.
Many have tried to explain this as anger at Israeli policy. But that excuse collapses the moment a synagogue is attacked in Toronto, a Jewish student is assaulted in London, or Jewish families are gunned down on a beach in Sydney.
If October 7 revealed the depth of Hamas's hatred, the 1,000 days since have revealed how readily that hatred could be translated into hostility toward Jews around the world.
What I've learned over these past 1,000 days is this: Jew-hatred is not rational. It cannot be appeased or defeated by hiding who we are. We cannot compromise our identity or our values in the hope of being accepted.
So what are we to do? Stand firmly as Jews. Defend one another. Speak the truth without apology. And keep doing so until Jew-hatred is pushed back into the shadows where it belongs.
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