Any reported anti-Semitic act brings horror and dismay.
The May 21 killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers — Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky — near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, raised a level of fear.
“Look at what happened in DC last week,” observes Susan Rona, Mountain States Region director of the ADL, “where the normalization of hate has turned to extreme violence.
“I think that’s a great cause for concern.”
When a hate incident like the one in the nation’s capital surfaces, communication throughout the ADL ranks spikes.
“From an awareness piece in terms of our work, certainly, we work together as a team to look at and evaluate any local threats in our area,” Rona says.
“We talk as a team and coordinate with our national office around those pieces. We look at where advocacy efforts might lie in these places.
“And really, it’s also so important to have the communal support from each other in these moments to know that we’re all here for each other as a community.”
Unlike the past few years of anti-Semitic-laden incidents in Denver — Oct. 7, 2023 protests at local college campuses, drama at Denver City Hall and the State Capitol, Aurora City Hall unrest, and the temporary closure of the Golda Meir House — actions of late have been relatively restrained.
“We are seeing somewhat of a decline in numbers (of anti-Semitic incidents) for this year, so far,” says Rona.
Such optimism can be quickly foiled. Case in point: the revelation that the plot to bomb the US Embassay in Tel Aviv was masterminded, according to the Justice Department, by Joseph Neumeyer, who hails from Greenwood Village, Colorado.
“Join me as I burn down the embassy in Tel Aviv,” Neumeyer posted on social media. “Death to America, death to Americans, and — the west.”
Neumeyer was arrested on May 25 at JFK Airport in New York, after first being detained by Israeli authorities on May 19.
“With these incidents and shootings in the US we all need to be vigilant, and we all still need to speak out against the conflation that happens,” says Rona.
“There are many people with strong feelings towards war against Israel and hatred towards Jews.”
