There are warnings that protect people, and there are warnings that transfer responsibility from those who threaten violence to those who may become its victims. Hasan Piker’s recent comments belong to the second category.

While displaying an image of Jeremy Moss, a Jewish candidate for Congress in Michigan, Piker suggested that if American Jews continue presenting themselves as singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone will “take action” – not against Israel, but against American Jews. Piker insists that he was warning against violence, not advocating it. But the moral failure lies within the warning itself. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries rightly called the formulation dangerous and antisemitic.

The message to American Jews is unmistakable: If you continue expressing the wrong kind of Jewish politics, what happens to you may become understandable. Your safety depends upon your behavior.

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