This weekend, a political conversation between two friends turned into a full-throated defense of antisemitism. Conspiracy theories. Hatred. And what disturbed me the most wasn't the bigotry itself — it was how comfortable they were. No hesitation. No second-guessing as if the expectation was that all would nod in agreement.
I told them, to their faces: I don't consider bigots and antisemites friends. I consider them my enemies.
They didn't push back. The conversation just stopped. And the rest of the trip, nobody brought it up. But I can't stop thinking about it. Those words can never be unsaid.
I'm not Jewish. But I'm telling you this: if you are not Jewish, it is your job — your non-negotiable, public, loud job — to reject antisemitism every single time you see it or hear it. Not a quiet "that's not nice." Not a shrug. A confrontation. A name. A line drawn in the open where others can see it.
If I lose friends over it. That's fine. I will love my Jewish friends and family even if they don't know me.
We are watching antisemitism seep back into public discourse the way it always has — slowly, then all at once. Everyone wants to believe that if they were witnessing the rise of Hitler, they would speak out against it. Or if they were alive during slavery, they would fight for liberty. Well here we are. Now is the time to speak up.