Today on Word on the Street Live, we were joined by Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, for a conversation at an especially heavy and urgent moment – following a deadly antisemitic terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia.
Amy brought clarity, moral urgency and deep expertise to a discussion about how antisemitism spreads, how it is being exploited and what actually makes Jewish communities safer.
We discussed:
The antisemitic terror attack in Australia. We reflected on the lives lost – including 10-year-old Matilda and Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman – the heroism of Ahmed al Ahmed, and why this attack must be understood as part of a broader global pattern of extremist violence.
How extremism takes hold. Drawing on Amy’s work holding white supremacists accountable after Charlottesville, we talked about how antisemitism on the right and left develop under similar conspiracies, and how our political ecosystem allows hate to metastasize.
Coalition-building and shared safety. Amy outlined JCPA’s approach to tackling antisemitism and discussed her organization’s partnership with other faith-based advocacy groups like the Muslim Public Affairs Council, underscoring that Jewish safety, Muslim safety and everyone’s safety go hand in hand.
Our final thoughts? When antisemitism is weaponized to undermine democracy, extremists win. Our community’s response must do the opposite. Thank you for listening, and our hearts are with everyone grieving.
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