The Coalition Against Antisemitism

Jewish people generally expect antisemitism, in a variety of forms, will “rise up against us to destroy us in every generation,”¹ yet this ancient evil has grown another head in our day, especially since the horrifying events of October 7.

The war in Israel and the ways in which the nations of the world seem to have forgotten about October 7, along with the alarming rise of global antisemitism, has mobilized Chosen People Ministries to ask Christians to oppose antisemitism wherever it is seen! We sense the great need for a more active and collaborative effort to form a pro-Jewish advocacy movement among believers. This initiative will enable us to oppose the rising movement of global antisemitism post-October 7, 2023, both within and outside of Israel.

Attitudes and actions like those in the column to the left echo behavior toward Jewish people last seen between World War I and the Holocaust! We cannot ignore these links to past discrimination and persecution of Jewish people prior to the founding of the modern State of Israel! As believers in Jesus the Messiah, we now have the opportunity to correct Jewish misconceptions of Christians created by the persecution of Jewish people by alleged Christians prior to and during the Middle Ages.

These recent events give Christians a new opportunity to decry the actions of those who hate God’s chosen people—like Hamas—and to do what they can to help protect Jewish people from harm. As believers, we can denounce accusations against Jewish people. The church has a real chance to repair the damage of the past and show how true Christians care deeply about Jewish people—both in word and deed.

Today’s church cannot make the same mistakes the European and North American churches made eighty years ago. We have entered a new season paralleling this previous era and, therefore, we must take action to support Jewish people and oppose the genocidal activities of Iran-backed terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as anti-Israel campus groups. This growing anti-Jewish movement—whether clothed in political or nationalistic garb or expressed as blatant hatred of Israel and Jewish people—must be halted before it is too late.

Evangelical churches and Messianic Jewish congregations, with their institutions, universities, and mission agencies, must foster a renewed effort to unite against the rising antisemitism in the United States and other countries.

Evangelicals often view support for Jewish people as synonymous with supporting Israel. This connection is changing today as Jewish people of every nation need your help and support at this moment because of the rise of global antisemitism. God miraculously created a people through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and promised this people a land (Genesis 12:1–3). We believe both parts of the promise are important—the land and the people.

As believers in the Jewish Messiah, we should support Jewish people as well as the land, as the modern State of Israel includes more than 60 percent of the world’s Jewish population. Although many antisemitic conspiracies existed long before 1948, Israel has now become the target of Islamic antisemitism, going far beyond politics to the dehumanization of Jewish people and Israelis, especially in Arabic social media and through the preaching of radical mullahs (those trained in Muslim law). Current political arguments against the Jewish homeland are often driven by age-old anti-Jewish views regarding Jewish subservience to Muslims and European-influenced racist theories and, therefore, are antisemitic and not political in nature!

Historical Antisemitism in Muslim Societies

The old antisemitic slurs and tropes hurled against Jewish people for hundreds of years before the modern State of Israel existed are now re-packaged and encased in political and human rights rhetoric. The newer political arguments against the Jewish state overshadow historical antisemitic arguments, tropes, and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.

At times in the Middle Ages, Muslims controlled much of the Middle East, North Africa, and even parts of Europe. In these Muslim societies, Jewish and Christian people were generally tolerated as dhimmis, second-class citizens who acknowledged their subservience to their Muslim rulers and paid a special tax. This practice continued in the Ottoman Empire, a large Muslim empire lasting until the end of World War I. Often, Jewish people and Muslims lived together peacefully. Still, there was always an underlying attitude of Muslim supremacy over Jewish people in Muslim-dominant countries.

Additionally, there are many reasons why Islamic tradition believes Jerusalem is supposed to be a Muslim city.

Muslim and Middle Eastern mischaracterizations of Jewish people fueled antisemitic hatred even before the modern State of Israel emerged in 1948. There is no denying the heinous attacks by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, have taken this historical anti-Jewish extremism to a new level, in which Jewish people are dehumanized and treated as subhuman, evidenced by the torture, rape, and horrific acts of violence by Hamas toward innocent Israeli civilians.

The Spiritual Roots of Antisemitism

As Messianic Jewish believers and Bible-believing Christians, we recognize Satan’s hand shaping modern antisemitism as the Bible teaches the source of antisemitism is the devil himself. Antisemitism, called “the oldest hatred,” has been around since the call of Abram from Ur of the Chaldees. Social commentators, both Jewish and Gentile, have developed numerous theories concerning why antisemitism persists. But they leave out and ignore the most critical reason of all: the spiritual dimensions, the “world forces of this darkness” and “the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

When God called Abram to be the father of His chosen people (Genesis 12:1–3), Satan made Jewish people the target of his fury. The evil one has tried to eradicate the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in every age and in endless ways to prevent God from using Israel as His instrument of redemption and blessing through the Jewish Messiah. We cannot view antisemitism merely as nationalistic, political, or ethnic hatred but rather as a cosmological effort on the part of the devil to destroy Jewish people and disrupt and derail the plan of God.

True Christians perceive this spiritual fight, exhibit love toward Jewish people, and oppose antisemitism because they believe in the Bible, the Jewish Messiah, and the covenants God forged with the sons and daughters of Israel. Why is this critical today? The Jewish community needs real friends amid this rising sea of antisemitism.

Our Response and Proposed Coalition

Chosen People Ministries’ response to the tragedies of October 7 and global antisemitism is to call upon believers in Jesus to act! We must hope to address the current crisis by fostering an awareness of rising antisemitism, providing resources, and offering practical advice to help counter anti-Jewish attitudes within your local spheres of influence.

These actions might include:

• praying for Jewish people and asking your congregations to pray corporately
• responding quickly to local acts of antisemitism
• promoting activism, public demonstrations, rallies, lectures, social media, and various public events supporting Israel and the Jewish community
• standing with pro-Jewish students on local college campuses and calling upon our denominations, and local Christian institutions to act as well
• letting your Jewish friends and family as well as local Jewish institutions know you are supporting them and are willing to help however you can

We are looking to build bridges with believers who are willing to influence our religious, educational, legislative, legal, and business communities. Our goal is to form a Coalition against Antisemitism among those seeking the welfare and well-being of Jewish people. We hope to include all who recognize the threat of antisemitism must be countered and who believe bringing the gospel to God’s chosen people is a common duty of all followers of Jesus the Messiah.

Join the Coalition! We will include you in special communications, keeping you posted on what is happening and giving you suggestions and tools to practically support Jewish people at this difficult time. I know the Lord will be pleased with your efforts.

Make your stand for the Lord and the Jewish people by joining the Coalition!

Here are some blood-curdling incidents our ministry regrets to report:

• On April 17, 2024, a university campus protester yelled, “We are Hamas,” and others chanted, “Al-Qassam [in reference tothe Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing], you make us proud, kill another soldier now!”
• On April 20, an anti-Israel protester on Columbia University’s campus held a sign declaring “Al-Qasam’s [sic] next targets” with an arrow pointing toward a group of pro-Israel counter-protesters standing nearby waving Israeli and American flags.
• In the late evening hours of April 18, anti-Israel protesters gathered just outside Columbia’s campus gates to support the student encampment. They reportedly screamed at a group of Jewish students, repeatedly referencing Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. One protester stated, “Remember the 7th of October? That will happen not one more time, not five more times . . . but 10,000 more times!” Another added, “Never forget the 7th of October. . . . The 7th of October is about to be every . . . day for you. You ready?”²
• On March 27 in Amsterdam, Holland, a Jewish woman was accosted at her home and called a “child murderer” over her daughter’s service in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
• On March 11, protesters called for an intifada (so named for terrorist attacks against Israelis) outside a Toronto, Canada, synagogue.
• On March 2 in Paris, France, a man wearing a kippah (skullcap) was attacked as he left a synagogue.
• On March 1, a fifteen-year-old claiming allegiance to ISIS stabbed a Jewish man in Zurich, Switzerland.

1. [1] Shimon Apisdorf, “Vi-He She-Amda,” Aish.com, September 9, 2012, https://aish.com/vi-he-she-amda/. See the chart recording antisemitic events since Jewish slavery back in Egypt. ↩︎
2. [2] “Campus Antisemitism Surges Amid Encampments and Related Protests at Columbia and Other U.S. Colleges,” ADL, May 5, 2024, https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/campus-antisemitism-surges-amid-encampments-and-related-protests-columbia-and-other. ↩︎