In the aftermath of the October 7 attacks, the pro-Hamas forces have been protesting and blaming Israel long before Israel even stepped foot into Gaza. As the dead bodies of the victims still lay on the ground, these people were rallying and blaming Israel. The blatant lack of empathy, the use of swastikas and the lack of any sense of intellectual honesty laid bare their true
antisemitism. This overt callousness crystalized two important points to many people. The first is the level of hatred that exists among some of our fellow Americans, and the second is the degree to which our adversaries have become organized and mobilized. The unintended consequence of these activities is that it woke up a lot of people and helped recalibrate many peoples’ priorities.
In some ways this reaction has served the Jewish people. There has been a groundswell of successful, talented young individuals who have become activated and have come together to form small groups in an attempt to solve the problem and answer the questions of how to fight antisemitism and how to stem the tide of indoctrination of Americans. The net result has been a multitude of small organizations that have sprung up. Each one of these organizations has created a different approach to this challenge. Each one of the people behind them has demonstrated leadership in wanting to answer the question.
The key for these many different small groups to succeed is for a subset of the groups who have the best ideas to come together to collaborate and for the others to fall in line with them. In other words, the Jewish people must learn how to get out of their own way. When we’re able to do this, then we have a great chance of overcoming our enemies.
We are in a decade’s war for the minds and hearts of Americans. The formula for winning this war is technology + grassroots organization and mobilization + messaging. These are the ingredients necessary in order to have a chance at defeating the enemy and stemming the tide of antisemitism in the United States. The solution will come specifically not from above, not from the major Jewish organizations, but rather from the bottom up. It will come from the people, the masses of people who will and must come together. The major Jewish organizations do have an important role to play, but they will not be the deciding factor. That will come from the people. Among these groups there exist many incredible ideas, and by coming together we will harness genuine Jewish genius.
True victory will come when the people, the rank and file, can organize by community to work in a coordinated way. We must borrow from past successes that community organizing has produced and apply those lessons to ourselves. We must learn from the likes of Saul Alinsky and others who pioneered the strategies required for influencing those whom we aim to affect. We must study our friends’ and our foes’ actions to develop “best” ideas.
This process is already underway. The aftermath of October 7 has been a wakeup call to thousands and thousands of people. It has recalibrated the minds of so many. The unintended consequence of Hamas’s depraved action has created an awakening that bigotry is bigotry and hatred is hatred no matter who it comes from. Jewish genius has been unleashed and it must be harnessed.
