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In remarks at the third annual Countering Antisemitism Summit in Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday, Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) CEO Sacha Roytman highlighted the need for Jewish unity and interfaith allyship amid the surge of Jew-hatred that has swept over the world since the October 7th attack in Israel.
“While in Israel, Jews are targeted by Hamas and Hezbollah, Diaspora Jews are under threat from the extreme left, extreme right, and radical Islamists who have found in antisemitism a common cause,” Roytman noted. “80 years after the Holocaust, I hear voices, including here in Florida, asking where we should go in case it gets worse. So here I am to tell you that we are fighting, that our team and organization since October 7th have stopped sleeping and stopped compromising or playing unnecessary political games. There is only one truth — Jews should feel protected and safe. We will not erase antisemitism, but we can’t accept that any Jew in the world feels threatened for being Jewish. This is our mission, and we will prevail.”
Watch an excerpt from Roytman’s speech here:
Roytman underscored the importance of inter-organizational collaboration to CAM’s work, saying, “After five years of very hard labor, we are proud of the coalition of more than 850 partners we have built. The Combat Antisemitism Movement was founded to fight antisemitism with no ego by building coalitions with non-Jewish groups, decisionmakers, and filling gaps where others are less active. We have built a system where we can operate as a special unit that can be activated at any moment and anywhere in the world to act, react, and never compromise.”
“Like others who have built their social justice movements by bringing together all of society, we hope to achieve the same with no ego and by coalitions,” he emphasized. “There is a place for everyone in this fight.”
“The biggest challenge that we have is finding the righteous of today,” Roytman pointed out. “The non-Jews ready to fight, ready to work, and support. We are focusing on finding non-Jews by building cultural projects to connect the Jewish world with the non-Jews.”
In his speech, Roytman also shared the story of his family who survived the Holocaust in Belgium, and presented CAM’s initiatives with mayors, business leaders, artists, and social media influencers, as well as its Antisemitism Research Center (ARC), which drives data-driven advocacy.
The Countering Antisemitism Summit was organized by the Palm Beach Synagogue.
“CAM was founded by a dear family of the Palm Beach Synagogue who you all know,” Roytman said. “Adam Beren, the son of the late Robert Beren, had a vision that it was possible to combat antisemitism differently. Robert believed very much in CAM. And today, like the Palm Beach Synagogue is part of his legacy, CAM is as well.”
Keynote speakers at Wednesday’s summit included former U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang, actress, dancer, and social media activist Montana Tucker, and former U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.
