Recent antisemitic violence across the country, including last weekend's terror attack on a pro-Israel event in Colorado and the murder of two Israeli embassy employees in D.C. last month, has galvanized the Jewish community around the country and here in Houston. "People nowadays think of antisemitism as a single incident, but it's not, it's an ideology," says Rozalie Jerome, founder and president of the Holocaust Remembrance Association. "It's a pervasive hatred that expresses itself in different forms."
Lately, those forms of antisemitism have been murders and firebombings...the types of terror attacks that are sadly common in the Middle East, but not in the U.S. "Ever since October 7, 2023, antisemitism has been loud, aggressive, and progressive," says Jerome. "And its main target is the state of Israel, but it seems to be happening a lot more here in America, on our campuses and now at these other locations."
Jerome tells KTRH that she has noticed a "pre-World War II, pre-Holocaust" mentality among many Americans. "I'm seeing it like no other," she tells KTRH. "And the fact that it's in my own country is upsetting."
Despite being upset and sad over what is happening, Jerome vows she won't let the focus be on the actions of "one crazy antisemite." Instead, her organization will use this as motivation to keep affecting positive change. "We're trying to teach people to not be silent," she says.
"A genocide begins with words," she continues. "Pay attention to the words that are being spoken, and yelled, and protested, among our youth and on our campuses...and what they're saying about Israel, the Jewish state."