By admin 
I wrote a column in The Sacramento Bee stating that I didn’t believe Israel was committing genocide in the war in Gaza. I also made clear that the suffering of innocent Palestinians is real and heartbreaking and that their lives are no less precious than Israeli lives. More than anything, I argued that words matter.
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Then I read the comments posted on social media.
Many readers disagreed with me and some challenged my argument thoughtfully, which I welcomed. That is what a public debate should look like.
But others attacked me because I am a rabbi and a Jew. Some invoked ugly stereotypes about Jews. Auschwitz was mocked. The Holocaust was denied.
How did a discussion about one word—“genocide”—descend into hatred of Jews?
The comments were disturbing, but they were hardly an isolated example of what Jews are confronting today.
Since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, antisemitism in America has remained at levels once difficult to imagine. The Anti-Defamation League recorded 6,274 antisemitic incidents in 2025—the third-highest number since it began keeping records in 1979. Even more disturbing, antisemitic assaults reached a record high.
The hatred is not confined to words on a screen. Recently, a man was charged with federal hate crimes after allegedly attacking a congregant and security guard during Shabbat services at Central Synagogue in Manhattan.
Social media has given this hatred something previous generations never had: a megaphone capable of reaching millions instantaneously.
We even have a relatively new word for the people who wield that megaphone: “influencers.”
Some have amassed enormous audiences by trafficking in outrage, conspiracy theories and hatred of Jews.Lies once confined to the fringes of society can now reach millions of people with a click. Repeat a lie often enough and, it begins to take on the appearance of truth.
But social media can amplify other voices as well. Recently, British singer Boy George released “We Will Dance Again,” a song confronting the accusation of genocide and the hatred directed at Jews since Oct. 7. Its title echoes the words that became a symbol of resilience after the massacre at the Nova music festival in 2023. Boy George, who is not Jewish, makes his own position unmistakable: “I stand with the Jews.”
Those words matter, especially now when the relentless accusation that Israel is committing genocide is helping to fuel an already dangerous climate of hatred toward Jews.
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Let me be clear about what I am—and what I am not—saying.
Criticizing the policies or actions of the Israeli government is not antisemitic.
But when Israel is repeatedly portrayed as a genocidal state, that accusation does not remain directed at its government or policies. Too often, it spills over onto Jews everywhere, who are expected to answer for Israel’s government, denounce Israel or be held responsible for decisions made thousands of miles away.
Sometimes, as I discovered in the comments directed at my column, the mask simply comes off.
Mocking Auschwitz has nothing to do with challenging the policies of the Israeli government.
Holocaust denial has nothing to do with advocating for Palestinians.
Attacking me because I am a rabbi and a Jew has nothing to do with Gaza.
At a moment when hatred of Jews is already alarmingly widespread around the world, adding fuel to it is dangerous.
The First Amendment protects the right to say things that others may find offensive, even hateful. But freedom of speech does not absolve any of us of responsibility for what we say. The First Amendment was written more than two centuries before social media gave one person the ability to send a hateful lie around the world in seconds.
Jews know from bitter experience where the language of hatred can lead. What begins with words does not always end with words.
After reading the comments, I responded on the Bee’s Facebook page. I thanked those who disagreed with me respectfully. I meant it.
They also reminded me that there is a line we cannot allow to be blurred.
People of conscience must be willing to stand up—publicly and privately—and say so.
The choice belongs to each of us.
Reuven H. Taff is rabbi emeritus of Mosaic Law Congregation in Sacramento. His commentaries have appeared in The Sacramento Bee, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and other publications.
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