We all know how divisive our society has become, where almost every area of human activity has become politicized—the media, academia, science, health, entertainment, culture, sports. Nevertheless, I was stunned recently to see that even acts of life-saving charity are now being filtered through the lens of a political agenda.

I was speaking to a longtime friend about supporting the Jews in Ukraine and mentioned that in view of the vicious antisemitism exhibited by the Ukrainians during the Holocaust, and also the alarming increase in antisemitism in the world today, that I thought the best way to support our people in Ukraine was to send funds directly to Jewish institutions and not through governmental agencies. I was immediately verbally attacked for not including Christians and Muslims in my support advice.

I countered that the Jewish community in Ukraine, as well as worldwide, is only a tiny fraction of that of Christians and Muslims, and any distribution to other causes would proportionately diminish our support for the Jews. Further, I should expect reciprocity, whereby the world’s Christians and Muslims would aid the Jews when they are in need, but I don’t see this happening. This did not have the result I hoped for, but instead precipitated another fierce verbal barrage against me and my “right wing extremist friends,” including a lengthy attack on Trump and company, none of which had anything to do with the Jews in Ukraine.

I knew my friend was a far-left extremist, but I felt that acts of charity for the Jews in need in Ukraine would be noncontroversial, but instead was shocked to find that it, too, is now another politically charged woke issue. This is not only sad, but truly frightening.