Op-Ed: This Was Never Just About Israel

The following is an op-ed authored by Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) CEO Sacha Roytman:

A photograph sent to us from Zurich shows antisemitic graffiti outside a fitness center. It is one more image of hatred defacing an ordinary European street, in a place where people exercise, families pass and children learn what their society is prepared to tolerate.

Some will dismiss it as vandalism, while others will insist that it must be understood in the context of events in the Middle East.

We have heard these excuses before, but the mask is slipping, and the message is becoming impossible to deny. This was never only about Israeli policy. It was never only about one Israeli government, Zionism, or solidarity with the Palestinians.

For too many, it has always been about Jews.

The progression has been revealing.

Firstly, we were told that demonstrators were merely opposing particular Israeli policies. When Jewish communities warned that the rhetoric was becoming dangerous, they were accused of trying to silence legitimate criticism.

Then the argument changed. The objection, we were told, was not to Israel itself, but only to its current government. Yet synagogues were targeted, Jewish schools required additional security and Jews with no connection to the Israeli government were harassed.

Then came the claim that the hostility was directed only at Zionists, not Jews. However, “Zionist” increasingly became a convenient substitute for “Jew,” used to justify excluding Jewish students, intimidating Jewish businesses and demanding that Jews renounce a central part of their identity before being accepted in public life.

We saw the discrimination and singling out of Jews, because this was something never demanded of any community with religious, ethnic or national ties to a country involved in one of the dozens of conflicts or occupations around the world.

All the while, the hatred was presented as advocacy for Palestinians. Yet genuine concern for Palestinians does not require threatening Jews in Europe. It also does not necessitate vandalizing Jewish institutions, celebrating terrorism, or scrawling genocidal messages outside a fitness center in Switzerland.

The graffiti in Zurich is therefore not an isolated incident. It is part of a global pattern in which political language provides cover for an ancient hatred. The vocabulary changes, but the target remains the same.

People often ask how Germany in the 1930s became Nazi Germany. The answer is that it did not happen overnight. It happened one act of hatred at a time, one excuse at a time and one person looking away at a time. It began when hatred of Jews became normal.

Historical comparisons must never be made carelessly. For years, I resisted the suggestion that Europe was approaching such a point, because I believed its institutions, laws and memory would provide sufficient protection.

Today, I am no longer sure. A total of 2,962 antisemitic incidents were monitored in Europe by CAM’s Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) in 2025, nearly a 50% rise from 2024.

Antisemitism is once again becoming socially acceptable across parts of Europe. It is shouted at demonstrations, spread online, painted on walls, and frequently excused in universities, cultural institutions, and political movements.

Too many people dismiss each incident as marginal. Too many institutions tolerate conduct they would immediately condemn if directed at any other minority. Too many leaders lack the courage to confront hatred when doing so carries a political cost.

The greatest danger is not only the individual extremist. It is the gradual adjustment of society around that extremism. Each unchallenged slogan makes the next one easier to utter and accept. Each act of intimidation that goes unpunished expands the boundaries of what is considered acceptable. Each official who responds with ambiguity teaches the perpetrators that their actions carry few consequences.

Europe should remember one lesson above all, and it is that hatred never stops with the Jews. It never has.

Jews are frequently the first target, but they are never the last. History shows what follows when movements built on fanaticism and intolerance gain confidence. Churches and their congregants become targets. Journalists are threatened for asking the wrong questions. Women are told what they may wear and where they may walk. Gay people, dissidents and minorities are intimidated. Eventually, anyone who refuses to fall in line is treated as an enemy.

Antisemitism is not merely a threat to Jews. It is an early-warning system for societies. When Jews can be openly demonized, harassed or frightened into silence, the democratic immune system is already failing.

If Europe’s Jews eventually conclude that they have no future on the continent and choose to leave, Europeans should not ask why they left. They should ask why they were not protected. They should ask which group the mob will turn against next. Above all, they should ask what will remain of Europe’s democratic character by the time they discover the answer.

To the Swiss authorities, the message must be clear — there can be no neutrality in the face of antisemitism. Graffiti on a wall in Zurich is not a distant foreign conflict. It is a Swiss problem, on Swiss soil, directed against people living in Switzerland. It must be investigated, removed and publicly condemned.

This applies far beyond Switzerland. Governments must enforce the law, institutions must uphold clear standards, and civil society must refuse to normalize language that would be recognized as racist in any other context.

The excuses have run out. The mask has slipped. The time for zero tolerance is now.

Sent to us today from Zurich, Switzerland, outside Fitness Milandia.

People ask how Germany in the 1930s became Nazi Germany.

It did not happen overnight. It happened one act of hatred at a time. One excuse at a time. One person looking away at a time. It began when hatred of… pic.twitter.com/BvukUEqwEr

— Sacha Roytman (@SachaRoytman) July 30, 2026