opinion
A Year After Colleyville,
the Jewish Community
Must Remain Vigilant
Andrew Goretsky and Hope Comisky
Police during the Colleyville synagogue hostage crisis / News 360 TV / Wikipedia
J ust over one year ago, on Jan. 15, 2022, an
extremist held four innocent people at gunpoint
at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville,
Texas. That morning, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker
discovered a man walking outside in the cold and,
in an act of compassion, opened his synagogue to
off er refuge, only to be held at gunpoint and taken
hostage with three other worshippers.

The extremist that held Cytron-Walker hostage
believed the conspiracy theories about Jewish
power and control of government. He believed
that if he threatened the rabbi and the congre-
gants, a prominent New York rabbi would arrange
for the government of the United States to release
a convicted terrorist from prison. This was never
possible, but this individual genuinely believed
that it could happen because he had accepted
dangerous conspiracy theories regarding Jewish
power. This hostage situation, and the 2018 Tree of Life
attack, highlight the dangers that these conspiracy
theories present to our communities. The Tree of Life
attacker believed that Jewish people were conspir-
ing to replace white Americans with Black and brown
Americans and immigrants, in what is known as the
Great Replacement Conspiracy Theory. We must
fi ght back against these conspiracies and not let
them become more prevalent in society.

The Anti-Defamation League saw a record number
of antisemitic incidents of harassment, vandalism
and assault in 2021. Recently, ADL released its
report on antisemitic attitudes in America that
provides a comprehensive snapshot of current
antisemitic attitudes in the U.S. and the fi ndings are
disturbing. For example, this survey found that 20% of
Americans believe in six or more antisemitic conspir-
acy theories, like the conspiracy theories that
motivated the attackers in Pittsburgh and Colleyville.

The survey also found that 75% of Americans accept
as true at least one antisemitic conspiracy theory or
trope about Jewish people.

This report makes clear what we have known:
Antisemitism is not only on the rise but is becoming
far too mainstream.

Though Cytron-Walker would later credit ADL
Evil triumphs when good people do nothing. So, we
must continue to work together if we are to win this
struggle and create a better and safer community for
all. Everyone can join and contribute to this eff ort.

and law enforcement for the tactical training that
saved his life and the lives of his fellow captives,
training may not be enough to stop future attacks.

In a country like the United States, where religious
freedom is a cornerstone of our democracy, defense
training for the clergy cannot be our best option in
the fi ght against violent extremism.

We need to combat the rhetoric of hate and bigotry
that pushes people to extremes and leads to grave
consequences not only for Jews but for Christians,
Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists and people of all faiths
and backgrounds.

Despite the rise in antisemitic beliefs and rhetoric,
we have hope because there are so many people
of all backgrounds who want to come together and
push back the tide of hatred. There are more allies
than enemies in this battle.

But evil triumphs when good people do nothing.

So, we must continue to work together if we are
to win this struggle and create a better and safer
community for all. Everyone can join and contribute
to this eff ort.

First, report incidents and encourage your friends
to report incidents of antisemitism. Even though
the number of antisemitic incidents is at an all-time
high, we know that these types of incidents, like
many biased incidents, are grossly underreported.

Accurate data regarding incidents of antisemitism
is vital to ADL’s ability to infl uence and advocate
for leaders to address this issue. You can report
an incident by going to our website at adl.org/
report-incident. Second, work with your school district and
workplace human resources to ensure that antisem-
itism education and Jewish culture are included in
their diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging work.

Depending on the source, the number of Jewish
people in America is 8 million and in the world is 15
million. This is an infi nitesimally small percentage of
the American and world population.

Most people will not have direct engagement with
a Jewish person. We must work with organizations
to educate with accurate information to counter the
conspiracy theories that exist. Your school district
and workplace diversity education is a great place
to start. ■
Andrew Goretsky is the regional director for ADL
Philadelphia. Hope Comisky is the board chair for
ADL Philadelphia.

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