Jewish leaders met in Fort Worth Wednesday to talk about the "state of antisemitism in America." The American Jewish Committee says 77% of Jewish Americans feel less safe now than when the Israel- Hamas war started in 2023; 90% say antisemitism has increased since then.
"Thankfully, we feel a bit less of this sting here at home in Fort Worth," says Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and Tarrant County Chief Executive Barry Abels. "We have neighbors who support us, and we have police in Fort Worth and within the county who respond and protect our Jewish community."
"The statistics in this AJC report should be sobering to us," says Mayor Mattie Parker. "They should be a wake-up call that we're not doing enough in this country to protect our Jewish brothers and sisters."
AJC says a third of American Jews have been targeted personally with antisemitism either in person or online in the past year. The group says 56% have changed their behavior out of fear of antisemitism in the past year, up from 46% in 2023 and 38% in 2022.
In Texas, AJC says people have recently posted antisemitic banners in Dallas and Austin. Along the Katy Trail in Dallas, they say a rabbi was verbally accosted in the past week.
AJC's survey showed 72% of all adults across America believe antisemitism is a problem in the United States. Fifty nine percent of Americans say antisemitism has increased in the United States the past five years; of those, 88% said they are concerned about the increase.
Schweitzer says Fort Worth has shown communities can bring people from different faiths and backgrounds together. The survey shows 92% of people believe members of different faiths should increase cooperation among each other.
"It cannot be a zero-sum game," he says. "You can support your Jewish community against antisemitism and still be horrified when children of a Palestinian woman in Euless are the victims of an attempted drowning."
City Councilwoman Elizabeth Beck attended the event Wednesday along with her rabbi. Beck is an Army veteran who served in Iraq. She said the military urged denominations to post details about services on bulletin boards except Judaism.
"The United States military didn't think they could keep us safe if they advertised where they worshipped," she says. "That's not the case here in Fort Worth, Texas. In Fort Worth, Texas, I can stand next to my rabbi. I can proudly go to services Friday night and know I'm going to be okay."
Parker says vigilance and listening to the Jewish community can help prevent an increase in antisemitism.
In 2022, a man with a gun went into a synagogue in Colleyville and took four people hostage. He was shot and killed after a stand-off.
In 2023, a man charged with setting a fire at a synagogue in Austin pleaded guilty to a hate crime and was sentenced to ten years in prison.
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