Articles by Ted Deutch

Since Oct. 7, students and faculty on college campuses around the country have been expressing blatant support for Hamas terror tactics, advocating for excluding Zionists from campus spaces and chanting antisemitic slogans. But in recent weeks we have seen an alarming escalation from deeply problematic and hateful speech to chaotic disruptions to threats of violence.

In March, demonstrators barged into a Columbia Law School luncheon for admitted students, chanting virulently anti-Israel and abusive rhetoric. The school administrators present did not object or call campus security.

Iran's aerial assault on Israel involved some 320 attack drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. It was the act of a regime fully committed to annihilating the Jewish State.

For the last six months, since Oct. 7, I have heard one question over and over — from elected officials, the Jewish community, university students and their parents, allies: How do we combat this terrifying surge in antisemitism? What can we do to protect American Jews on college campuses, in high schools, on city streets and in our houses of worship? Thanks to Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Reps. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.) and Chris Smith (R-N.J.), the co-chairs of the Senate and House Bipartisan Task Forces for Combating Antisemitism, we have an answer for our government: Pass the Countering Antisemitism Act.

Ominous headlines about the Israel-Hamas war, antisemitic condemnations from world leaders and South Africa’s outrageous genocide allegations before the International Court of Justice could easily lead one to believe that Israel is isolated on the world stage.

We have a national antisemitism crisis, and it affects Jews every day — on the streets, at school, at work, online and everywhere in between.

The U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, released in May 2023, can't be seen as just a list of suggestions. These are requirements that must be urgently followed through and built upon.

On October 7, 2023, the music industry suffered the deadliest event in its history when more than 400 people were brutally murdered and kidnapped at the Nova Music Festival in Israel. The event was billed as a celebration of “unity and love.” We should honor that spirit this weekend at The Grammys.

One hundred days after the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, why do Jewish Americans feel unsafe? It’s because we’ve seen this before.

Last week, the world was forced to listen to South Africa’s outrageous claims accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

These four lies have spread like wildfire. The horrific results for Jewish communities around the world are there for all to see.

Two months after the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Israel’s well-documented reports of the atrocities of October 7 continue to be questioned and even outright rejected as falsehoods.

Watch AJC CEO Ted Deutch address the increase in antisemitism since O‍ct‍obe‍r 7 at The Second Front conference hosted by The Jerusalem Post.

Read AJC CEO Ted Deutch's full speech from the University of Michigan. Ted joined Facts on the Ground (FOG), a student-run anti-disinformation organization, at the University of Michigan — his alma mater — to speak out against the rampant disinformation following Oc‍to‍be‍r ‍7 and to show his support for Jewish and pro-Israel students on campus.

When the Hamas attack on Israel unfolded last month, I watched, as many of us did, in sheer horror as the full scope of the terrorists’ depravity and barbarism was revealed.

November 14, Jews from all across the U.S. will gather in Washington, D.C. for a pro-Israel march. Together, we will show our support for Israel, call for the release of the hostages, and rise against antisemitism. We will stand united for human dignity and against terror and hate. This moment transcends politics, generations, and religions.

In the wake of the vicious attack on Israeli citizens by Hamas terrorists, Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups, a group or more than thirty-six student groups, chose to ignore the barbaric murders, kidnappings, and abuse of hundreds of Israeli citizens by Hamas and instead blamed Israel. This statement is wholly inimical to the ideals of the university and toxic to Harvard’s campus environment.

For college students, campus is not just the center of their academic experience, it is also their home. While campuses should, of course, be places where principles of freedom of speech are honored, universities must speak out forcefully when hate descends on campus. University leadership must make clear that they do not condone any form of hate speech or bigotry, nor do they welcome it on campus.

Just a few days ahead of the Jewish New Year, Israel’s Mossad Director David Barnea shared that the agency and its international partners have thwarted 27 planned Iranian attacks on Jews and Israelis abroad this year alone. According to the U.S. State Department, the Iranian regime has sanctioned and carried out assassinations, terror plots and attacks in 40 countries since coming to power in 1979. This includes the July 18, 1994, bombing of the Argentine Mutual Israel Association (AMIA), which killed 85 people and injured 300 others when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck into the six-story building at 633 Pasteur St. in Buenos Aires. It was the deadliest antisemitic attack outside Israel since the Holocaust. Three decades later, those responsible for this wanton act of terror continue to walk free.

The attack against AMIA struck not only a building, but the heart and soul of Argentina and its Jewish community — the sixth largest in the world and the largest in Latin America. This was a blatant attack on our shared values of peace, inclusion and coexistence. In defending these values, we must come together as a global community to bring these murderers and their benefactors to justice.

AJC CEO Ted Deutch breaks down the most important aspects of the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism in his latest Ten from Ted video newsletter.