Exploding Antisemitism + Other Headlines

Tuesday Digest (10.08.24)

A 12-Month Explosion of Antisemitism

Yesterday, Israel marked the anniversary of the tragic and brutal Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. That assault left more than 1,200 people dead, with 200 taken hostage.

Hundreds of people gathered yesterday at the site of Israel’s Nova festival, where so many young people were killed. Other Israelis participated in a memorial in Tel Aviv and at Kibbutz Nir Oz, where 25 percent of its residents had been abducted or murdered that day by Hamas.

One year later, Israel is fighting a multi-front war against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas-affiliated terrorists in the West Bank, Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, while also defending itself against Iran.

Israel’s current situation reminds me of what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians:

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NKJV)

And yet, the world continues to turn against Israel. Even the U.S. has failed to live up to our partnership with Israel. A recent report from the Anti-Defamation League Center for Extremism (ADL) has found that antisemitic attacks in the United States reached a record high in the year since the initial Hamas attack:

The group found more than 10,000 incidents from 7 October 2023 to 24 September of this year, more than a 200% increase compared to the same period a year earlier.

It is the highest ever since the ADL began tracking such incidents in 1979.