Jewish lawmakers call out silence as antisemitic threats surge in Florida

Yahoo

4 hours ago

Sen. Tina Polsky made it clear in a prayer at the beginning of a Florida Senate session:
The sound of silence is deadly for Jews in Florida and Jewish communities everywhere.
On June 5, the Boca Raton Democrat called on senators to be 'a light in the darkness, to confront hatred with justice and to never stand silent in the face of cruelty.'
It was a restatement of a "call to conscience" issued earlier in the day by the 14-member Florida Jewish Legislative Caucus.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel, there has been an increase in violence against Jews in Florida, according to 'The Year in Hate and Extremism,' an annual report by Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit legal advocacy organization based in Montgomery, Alabama.
There were 353 Florida reported antisemitism incidents in 2024, fewer than the previous year but 31% higher than 2022, according to the SPLC. The counties of Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade make up the U.S. third largest Jewish community, after New York and Los Angeles.
At the same time, some civil rights advocates and pro-Palestinian groups fear conflating hatred with legitimate criticism of Israeli policies. They caution about suppressing free speech and peaceful protest, calling for a balanced approach that protects Jewish communities while preserving the right to dissent.
Earlier during a break in budget negotiations, Rep. Mike Gottlieb, D-Davie, the chair of the Jewish Legislative Caucus, held a news conference to encourage people to speak up and condemn violence because 'silence enables bigotry.'
'We need people to stand with us to fight antisemitism. It is not OK to pick on anybody for any reason. We need Floridians to know that we are uniting people, Republicans, Democrats, independents, Black, White, gay, straight, to say this is wrong and we are not going to tolerate it,' Gottlieb said.
The SPLC report finds more than half of the reported incidents involved people harassing Jewish residents over the state of Israel policies.
They include vandalism of Jewish institutions and places of worship, intimidating flyers from known hate groups, and outright battery, such as one involving a 68-year-old Broward man near a synagogue.
'People are literally experiencing fear to be Jewish here in America. A year and a half ago, I was talking to a few people. I said, 'We're going to just start getting knocked down in the streets,' and it's happening now,' said Rep. Debra Tendrich, D-Lake Worth.
Tendrich organized Thursday's call-to-conscience news conference in less than 24 hours. A discussion with colleagues about three recent high-profile attacks, including two in which 'the attacker tried to burn Jews alive,' prompted her.
In the past three months, a suspect has fire-bombed the Pennsylvania governor's mansion after Jewish Gov. Josh Shapiro and family had finished dinner; two Israeli embassy staffers were murdered outside a Washington, D.C., museum; and a man with Molotov cocktails, gasoline, and a make-shift flamethrower sprayed fire on people marching in support of Jewish hostages still held by Hamas.
Two dozen colleagues and legislative staffers stood with the 14-member caucus as they voiced disappointment with other elected officials and community leaders for not loudly condemning the acts of violence as hate crimes.
Silence is complicit in abuse because it isolates the victims and makes them 'an easy target," Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman explained.
Added Rep. Jennifer 'Rita' Harris, D-Orlando, 'Hate wants us to be silent.'
Neo-Nazis staged demonstrations and flew banners on highway overpasses two years ago in her district. Earlier this year, Harris co-sponsored a bill that makes Jan. 27 Holocaust Remembrance Day in Florida.
Rep. Hillary Cassel of Dania Beach flipped to the GOP from Democrat in December because among other issues she 'felt disconnected' from the Democratic Party after listening to a debate about a Hamas-Israeli ceasefire. She too said she would not be silenced.
'Let me be clear," she said. "Blaming Israel for Hamas terrorism is not activism. It is antisemitic. Shouting 'From the river to the sea' is not a peaceful protest. It is a genocidal slogan for the eradication of Israel and endangers Jewish lives everywhere. Language that advocates the destruction of an entire people is not activism. It is incitement.'
Cassel said she was fortunate to live in the state of Florida where the Legislature has delivered "the most protections" in the country for the Jewish community.
The past two sessions, the Florida Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis has responded to a series of hate crimes:
HB 187, which codifies as Florida law the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. Thirty-six other states use the IHRA definition, which emphasizes criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.
HB 1109, which provides funding for security hardening measures at Jewish day schools.
HB 269, which created a felony to harass individuals based on their ethnicity or religion and makes it a misdemeanor to leave flyers with hateful images, messages, or any other credible threat on a person's private property.
Polsky told the Senate she was grateful beyond words for the allies and friends who have stood beside the Jewish community since the hostages were taken in 2023.
She closed with these words, 'May we work together to transform grief into action and despair into hope, so that our children may live in a world free of fear in honor of those injured and to guide our body as we continue to work for the betterment of Florida."
James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at [e-mail] and is on X as @CallTallahassee.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Jewish legislative caucus slams rising antisemitism in Florida, U.S.