Crimes against Jews have long been at the centre of religiously motivated attacks in the United States. According to the FBI, prior to the 7 October 2023 attack, crimes against Jews accounted for 68% of all religion-based hate crimes in the U.S. However, anti-Semitic attacks have skyrocketed since the Hamas assault in the Gaza Strip.

Religious and secular Jews, young and old, Democrats and Republicans alike have all fallen victim to hatred and violence. Recently, a deadly shooting occurred in front of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC, claiming the lives of 30-year-old Yaron Lischinsky and 26-year-old Sarah Lynn Milgrim, both employees of the Israeli embassy. The suspect, a 31-year-old man, reportedly shouted “Free, free Palestine” following the attack.

The suspect, Elias Rodriguez, was immediately taken into custody at the scene. He was interrogated by police, and his preliminary court hearing is set for June 18. Rodriguez has been charged with two counts of murder, the killing of a foreign official, homicide with a firearm, and the use of a firearm in a violent crime. In court, he repeatedly nodded in acknowledgment as the judge read the charges against him. He may face the death penalty for his actions.

Anti-Semitism and Violence Spreading on American Campuses

On U.S. university campuses, it has become a common occurrence for students to protest dressed as terrorists, wearing kaffiyehs—Arab scarves —covering their faces, while chanting slogans like “From the River to the Sea” and “Free, free Palestine.” Anti-Semitic networks reportedly finance so-called „information tents” on campuses and provide financial support to terrorist organisations, especially Hamas.

A Washington Times article notes: “Instead of ‘Heil Hitler,’ today’s terrorists shout ‘Free Palestine.’”

Radical left-wing faculty members tacitly support this behavior by failing to act against protestors or impose sanctions on students. Social media platforms further amplify rebellion and incitement against Jews, proudly promoting their activities and calling for the global ethnic cleansing of the Jewish people, as highlighted in the opinion piece.

Stopping the Jew hunt @WashTimesOpEd https://t.co/rmxmZTHJYQ

— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) June 12, 2025

Today’s Anti-Semitic Groups in the U.S. Resemble the Notorious Ku Klux Klan

The article’s author also emphasizes that this is not a new phenomenon in America: a masked group, filled with racial hatred, that sees no problem with the ideology of racial supremacy. Such groups have infiltrated significant segments of American society, including universities, media, local law enforcement, and both federal and state elected officials. They incite and commit violence against those they consider inferior, purely because of their identity—just as the Ku Klux Klan once did.

In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan portrayed itself as pro-American, Christian and law-and-order. The Klan’s infiltration into mainstream American society gave legitimacy and cover to its reprehensible system of racial and religious violence, xenophobia and corruption.

The Ku Klux Klan is the oldest and most infamous of American hate groups. Although Black Americans have typically been the Klan’s primary target, adherents also attack Jewish people, persons who have immigrated to the United States, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. In 1865, at the conclusion of the Civil War, six Confederate veterans gathered in Pulaski, Tennessee, to create the Ku Klux Klan, a vigilante group mobilizing a campaign of violence and terror against the African American people. As the group gained members from all strata of Southern white society, it used violent intimidation to prevent Black Americans from voting and holding political office. The first leader of the Ku Klux Klan was Nathan Bedford Forrest. Within the structure of the Klan, he directed a hierarchy of members with outlandish titles, such as „imperial wizard” and „exalted cyclops”.

Hooded costumes, violent “night rides” and the notion that the group made up an „invisible empire” conferred a mystique that only added to the Klan’s infamy. In 1915, the Ku Klux Klan was revived by white Protestants near Atlanta, Georgia.

In addition to the group’s anti-Black ideological core, this second iteration of the Klan also opposed Catholic and Jewish immigrants. By 1925, the Klan had as many as 4 million members and, in some states, considerable political power.

The Klan arose a third time during the 1960s to oppose the Civil Rights Movement and attempt to preserve segregation. Bombings, murders and other attacks by the Klan took a great many lives.

In 2024, the Ku Klux Klan underwent notable reconfigurations among its ranks. Two of the larger factions — the Old Glory Knights and the Loyal White Knights — either faded from relevance or ceased operations altogether. In the wake of these dissolutions, newer groups, such as the Maryland White Knights and the Sacred White Knights, emerged, gaining traction from members of the defunct chapters.

Could legal means help curb the spate of anti-Semitic attacks?

The parallels between the contemporary Jew-hating terrorist network and the Ku Klux Klan also present a legal road map for curbing anti-Semitic attacks, some experts say. Many states used anti-masking statutes to arrest Klan members.

Courts have widely upheld such statutes after balancing the right to expression or free exercise against the government’s need to ensure the civil rights of all American citizens.

The victims of the Klan also used legal avenues to incapacitate the organisation, forcing their sources of funding to their knees through civil rights and criminal lawsuits. Even private individuals can use laws against extortion and intimidation, among others, to seek financial compensation and severe punishment for the perpetrators of anti-Semitic attacks and the financiers behind them.

Cover photo: A protester holds a sign reading „Free Palestine” in front of Columbia University (Photo: AFP)