NEW YORK (VINnews/Chaskel Bennett) – As war rages in the Middle East and missiles rain down on Israel, the Jewish State is fighting not only for survival on the battlefield, but for its standing in the court of public opinion.

But Jews around the world are confronting something darker. A surge of hatred no longer whispered, but openly unleashed.

It is everywhere. Graffiti on our community centers. Attacks on our schools. Threats to our synagogues. Masked protesters openly spewing antisemitic hatred.

This is not new. It is the story of our people.

Social media has become a cesspool of vitriol, with thousands of posts pushing obscene stereotypes without shame. A growing class of YouTubers has turned this hostility into a cottage industry, descending on Orthodox communities looking to expose, distort, and destroy. What they encounter instead is something they cannot comprehend: a people unafraid, unfazed, and unbroken.

At the same time, public figures amplify the hate. Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens have launched conspiratorial attacks against Chabad, recycling the oldest lies in modern form. On the ground, the consequences are real. A postal worker violently knocked down an innocent four-year-old Jewish child in Rockland County. In London, masked arsonists torched Hatzalah ambulances.

Children. Faith. Ambulances. Cowards.

These are not isolated incidents. They reflect a growing comfort with targeting Jews especially visibly Orthodox communities simply for existing.

Because we will not hide.

We live our identity openly. And in a world that too often tolerates hatred, visibility becomes vulnerability.

But the Jewish response to hatred has never been retreat or silence.

We build.

A four-year-old boy knocked to the ground stands up, picks up his yarmulke, places it back on his head, and walks forward. That is not just a reaction. It is a declaration.

When Chabad is attacked, Jews give and build more. Faith is recommitted.

When ambulances are torched, we replace and expand. More people to help.

When hatred rises, we rise higher.

Jewish strength is not loud. It is constructive. It is building families and communities, acts of kindness, saving lives, and refusing to disappear.

As we approach Passover, we are reminded that we have been here before. Different enemies. Same hatred. Same response.

While we were shocked at the burning of the Hatzalah ambulances, what followed was no less stunning.

Instead of understanding, thousands rushed online to attack the victims outraged that Jews would dare to create a volunteer ambulance service devoted to saving lives, Jew and non-Jew alike.

If we are waiting for sympathy, we should not hold our breath. We did not receive it after October 7th. We did not receive it when a Jewish day school in Michigan was attacked. And we see the reaction when our ambulances are torched.

Antisemitism is real. This moment has made that unmistakably clear.

But it has also revealed something more powerful: the strength, unity, and unwavering support within our own community.

Those ambulances were not random targets. The arsonists thought they understood what they represent.

They grossly miscalculated.

You cannot destroy what they stand for.

It does not live in metal or machines.

It lives in us. It is us.

We answer. We save. We build.

Chaskel Bennett is a Jewish Communal Leader, and a Founding Member of Hatzalah South Florida in Boca Raton, Florida You can follow him on X @chaskelbennett

Or email [email protected]