The Super Bowl’s New Antisemitism Ad could never work in Israel, where Jews are not with trimbeling knees, but rather have a strong back bone and oftentimes know how to use an M16A4. In Israel Jews are the majority. And the primary accusation leveled against them is not weakness, but excessive strength and using too much power, too much force, too much willingness to defend themselves. The Middle East is a rough neighborhood, and Israeli Jews have learned, sometimes painfully, that symbolic gestures do not deter violence.

No one there believes that sticking a blue square on a backpack is an adequate response to hatred.

Showing weak Jews is not helping in any way to combating Antisemitism. It just lowers the self esteem of Jews and makes them an ever clearer target. It is a textbook example of how good intentions, filtered through progressive ideology, end up reinforcing the very problem they claim to fight.

The ad, titled “Sticky Note,” was produced by Robert Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance Against Hate. It depicts a Jewish schoolboy who discovers an antisemitic message taped to his backpack. Enter the savior: a Black student, clearly larger, stronger, and more confident, who steps in to express solidarity and explain that he knows what it feels like to be targeted. Together, the two respond by placing a blue square sticker on the bag, a symbol that has become an international sign of opposition to antisemitism.

This narrative checks every progressive box. Intersectionality? Check. Victimhood hierarchy? Check. Symbolic activism replacing real action? Absolutely.

The Jewish character is not portrayed as resilient, capable, or self-reliant. He is weak, passive, and dependent. He is saved not by his own community, but by another minority group that supposedly knows oppression better than he does.

Far from empowering Jews, the ad locks them into the role the progressive left prefers: perpetual victims who require external protection.

That image has little to do with reality. In practice, other minority groups do not show up en masse to defend Jewish students on American campuses. They do not march alongside Jews when synagogues are vandalized, when Jewish students are harassed, or when Israeli flags are torn down. Quite the opposite: many of the loudest antisemitic voices today come from coalitions that Jews were told were their “natural allies” in the social justice ecosystem.

The cold truth is one American Jews would be wise to internalize: when antisemitism rises, you are on your own.

Why are we depicting the problem with antisemitism as a kid getting a sticky note? It’s not coming from kids, but from influencers, podcasters, celebrities, and non-governmental-organizations with foreign aid money. On the deranged progressive left, Jews are increasingly framed as the embodiment of everything evil about “whiteness”, collectively blamed for actions taken by other Jews thousands of miles away. On the unhinged fringes of the right, Jews are portrayed as shadowy figures who control banks, Hollywood, and the media, conveniently declared both omnipotent and not really white at all. Add to this a growing number of online influencers who sincerely believe in demons and spirits and claim Jews are responsible for most of the world’s pedophilia, and the picture becomes clear.

A blue sticker is not going to fix this. Neither will carefully choreographed ads that flatter progressive sensibilities while avoiding the uncomfortable reality that antisemitism is not primarily a misunderstanding. It is a lie, and often a violent one. Lies do not disappear when confronted with symbols. They disappear when they are challenged, exposed, and resisted. That resistance must include the willingness to defend oneself physically.

Which brings us to another uncomfortable point: the fact that this campaign is backed by an extraordinarily wealthy American Jewish businessman. He has every right to donate his money as he sees fit. But if the goal is to make Jewish life safer, there are far better investments. Start with Jewish education. Serious education that strengthens identity, history, and pride. Jews who know who they are are far harder to intimidate. Then invest in self-defense: krav maga, firearms training, and real security measures. Not because Jews seek confrontation, but because history teaches that Jews who cannot defend themselves become targets.

We do not need more ads that repackage Jews as fragile mascots for intersectional activism. We need more Jewish pride and less Jewish victimhood.

Because in the real world, no heroic stranger is guaranteed to step in. And the harassment rarely ends with a sticky note.

The lesson of Jewish history is not that survival depends on moral appeals to others. It depends on strength, solidarity, and the refusal to accept a permanent role as the world’s favorite victim.

Attorney Ran Bar-Yoshafat is a reserve officer in an elite combat unit in the IDF, author, international lecturer, and advocate for the State of Israel.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)