For generations, many Jews living in democratic societies have held a quiet belief: “It can’t happen here.”

After the horrors of the 20th century, that assumption felt reasonable. Jewish communities in North America, Western Europe, and Australia built thriving institutions, achieved levels of integration once unimaginable, and lived under legal protections designed specifically to prevent the return of the antisemitism that had once consumed Europe. Compared with the long arc of Jewish history, the post–World War II era seemed to represent something new:  a period in which Jews could finally live openly and safely across much of the democratic world.

Over the past year, however, that assumption has begun to collide with a series of violent events that many Jewish communities can no longer ignore. Across multiple continents, Jews have been attacked not for anything they did, but simply for being Jewish, and strikingly many of these incidents have occurred in countries long considered among the safest places in the world for Jewish life.

In May 2025, two Israeli embassy staff members were murdered outside a Jewish event in Washington, DC. The following month, a march supporting Israeli hostages in Colorado was attacked with firebombs, killing one participant and severely injuring others, including a Holocaust survivor. During Yom Kippur services in October 2025, a........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)