On a quiet Wednesday morning, I got a call that shook me. A friend had just seen a sign posted near the exit by her workplace. It read, “From the river to the sea.” Her voice trembled. “Aaron, I’m shook up. I can’t believe someone put that up.” I told her plainly, “I’ll take care of it.”
Let’s be clear about what that phrase means. Israel is a small country, roughly the size of New Jersey. It is the only Jewish state in the world, home to half of the global Jewish population and the last refuge for the rest. Its eastern border is the Jordan River. Its western border is the Mediterranean Sea. When people chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” they are not promoting coexistence. They are calling for the destruction of Israel and the erasure of the Jewish people who live there.
That is not resistance. That is a call for genocide.
After dropping my kids off at school, I drove to the site and took the sign down. No one should have to pass a public call for their people’s extermination on their way to work. And yet in America today, such messages are not just tolerated. They have become part of everyday life.
Later, I learned that local organizations had been in contact with the police about removing the sign for TWO DAYS. TWO DAYS! That is unacceptable. Calls for Jewish genocide are now just part of the background noise at protests, on campuses and online. We have gotten used to it. And somehow, this is not a national scandal.
Where are the protests? Where are the public condemnations? The sensitivity trainings? The calls to action from our leaders? Nowhere. And just as troubling is the silence from our own community.
Not too long ago, a group of neo-Nazis paraded themselves on an overpass. Shortly after, local organizations held a rally against Nazis and extremists. And they had the audacity to disinvite a local rabbi from speaking because he was a Zionist. What kind of upside-down world is this? Since when does the proud Jew get called the extremist, while the crowd calling for our death gets a microphone? Make it make sense.
Too often, I see Jews nodding politely as someone in the room casually calls for our destruction. What is wrong with us? Wake up. If your friends are chanting “From the river to the sea,” they are not your friends. They are declaring themselves your enemies. Call them out. Quit apologizing. Quit trying to win over people who would rather see us gone.
That same day, after tearing down that hateful message, I hosted a parlor meeting with Ayelet Shmuel, a social worker from Israel. Something she said stayed with me: “I’m tired of apologizing and asking for permission. I have no sympathy anymore. I just care about my people.”
She’s right. And it is time we all embraced that mindset.
Jewish blood is not cheap. Jewish life is not expendable. And we do not need permission to defend ourselves, whether it is the IDF in Israel or a Jew in Cincinnati ripping down a sign that calls for our extinction.
We come from a long line of warriors and world-changers. A people broken and scattered, yet so loved by G-d that He chose us again and again to carry light into the darkest corners of history. From Moses to King David, from the Maccabees to Bar Kochva, we bear the legacy of those who stood when it would have been easier to kneel. Their spirit lives on in the IDF, in the Bielski brothers, in the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto and in every Jew who chooses pride over fear.
As Tuvia Bielski told his partisans, “Don’t rush to fight. But if you must, fight like lions.” And as Ze’ev Jabotinsky taught us, “It is simple: defend yourself. The world respects only strength.”
Be like them.
We did not survive TWO THOUSAND years without sovereignty just to bend over backwards for those who chant for our end. Stand tall. Be unapologetically Jewish. Be proud.
Raise your voice. Protect your people. Make it clear. Jewish lives are not up for debate.
