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The Jewish People Stand, Despite Historic 
and Current Efforts to Destroy Them

With attacks on Jews worldwide and the State of Israel reaching a fever pitch, the Jewish people commemorate Tisha B’Av – a solemn time that has combined many catastrophes into a single day of mourning, including the destruction of both Temples, expulsions and massacres throughout history.

Empires and Regimes Tried to Erase the Jews

The ancient Babylonians destroyed the First Jewish Temple on the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av in 586 BCE. The Roman empire destroyed the Second Temple on the same date in 70 CE. Rome renamed the land Palestine to try and sever the Jewish connection to Israel and drove the survivors into exile. This year, Tisha B’Av begins at sundown on July 22, a day of fasting, prayer and remembrance. The Babylonian empire included what is today’s Iran.

Nearly two thousand years later, the Babylonian and Roman Empires are long gone – the Jewish people remain but continue to face threats from old and new enemies. Since the Temples were destroyed, Jews have prayed facing Jerusalem and closed Passover seders and Yom Kippur services with the same vow, “Next year in Jerusalem” – nearly two thousand years before the modern State of Israel existed.

Within days of Tisha B’Av, on July 18, 1290, King Edward I expelled every Jew from England – the first time a European kingdom expelled its entire Jewish population. Those who stayed risked seizure and death. The ban held for more than 350 years.

The attempts to erase the Jews did not begin with the medieval world and did not end with the Holocaust. Exactly 704 years after the English expulsion, Iran directed the bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994, killing 85 people. More than three decades later, no one has been brought to justice – and the regime that ordered the attack is still at work.

Rising Extremism Threatens Jews

Iran never stopped. The same regime behind the attack in Argentina continues its war against the U.S. and its regional allies.

Yet as America directly confronts Iran, Vice President JD Vance has turned the blame toward Israel and the Jews. Vance recently accused Israeli influence campaigns of “manipulating” American opinion on the Iran war, telling influential podcast host Joe Rogan that foreign influencers can “go to hell.” Vance also told Rogan and his millions of listeners that Jeffrey Epstein had “connections” to Israeli intelligence. Both allegations tap into age-old antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The same animosity toward Israel reached the floor of Congress. More than 100 House Democrats – nearly half of their caucus – voted to cut off all U.S. military aid to Israel on July 15. Far-left activists threatened U.S. Democratic Rep. Adam Smith through a campaign of intimidation and violence. Smith changed his position and voted against Israel after “my family’s home was vandalized, a fire has been set in my driveway and there have been demonstrations in the middle of the night.”

His account confirmed a warning issued the same day. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said American counterterrorism had long overlooked far-left political violence and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar described a “growing operational alliance between leftist activism and Islamist terrorist organizations” – with Israel on the front line.

The growing hostility toward Israel within the Democratic Party is driven by the far-left Democratic Socialists of America. Prominent leaders supported by the DSA include NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The extremist organization recently adopted a platform calling to abolish the American two-party system and its presidency, Senate and Supreme Court. The DSA also backs the Palestinian “right to resist” – the same language Palestinian terror groups use to justify murdering Israelis.

Enemies Fall, the Jewish People Endure

The Jewish people have outlived every power that set out to erase them. Edward I expelled its Jews in 1290. They returned under Oliver Cromwell in 1656. Soon after, they built London’s Bevis Marks synagogue, where Jews have worshipped without a break for more than 300 years.

British Jews now face a new wave of hatred. An Islamist terrorist carried out a deadly assault on a synagogue, Iran-backed terrorists torched Jewish ambulances that served the whole community and many Jews have been harassed in the street.

Renewed antisemitism is driving many British Jews to consider leaving for Israel – but they do not stand alone. The founder of Muslims Against Antisemitism is challenging fellow Muslims to confront the bigotry in their own ranks and a London pastor is fighting the Church of England’s recent push to falsely brand Israel “genocidal.”

Some countries are changing course. Argentina was once a safe haven for fleeing Nazis and long obstructed investigations into the Jewish community center bombing on its own soil. Now, Argentina stands among Israel’s closest allies and is seeking to prosecute those responsible for the attack. Many Israelis cheered for Argentina against Spain in the World Cup final. Argentina lost to Spain – now one of Israel’s loudest accusers in Europe, and a hotbed of antisemitism.

Through it all, the Jewish people respond to the hostility with continued resilience. The ultra-Orthodox Chabad movement launched, “Born to Be a Yid,” billboards in NYC to “build confidence, joy, strength and connection” among Jews. In Queens, congregants whose synagogue was vandalized with feces vowed to “continue praying and to be proud Americans.”

This is what Tisha B’Av has come to represent: The saddest day on the Jewish calendar is living testimony to survival. Many nations that set out to erase the Jews are gone. The Jewish people remain – still facing Jerusalem, still proclaiming, “Next year in Jerusalem.”

1. Tisha B’Av turns a day of mourning into proof of survival

The same Jewish nation that watched its Temples burn is still here to mourn the destruction of its holiest sites. That is not weakness – it is defiance. A people truly erased would have no one left to grieve. Yet two thousand years later, Jews still gather to fast and pray. Tisha B’Av is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar – and the surest sign the Jewish story did not end where its enemies intended.

2. Every empire that attempted to erase the Jewish people fell

Babylon destroyed the First Temple. Rome destroyed the Second and drove the survivors into exile. Empires and inquisitors spent centuries trying to erase the Jews – and the Nazis murdered 6 million in their attempt. Every one of those empires have fallen, and the Jewish people remain. Iran vows to destroy the Jewish state today – yet another name on a lengthy list of those who have tried.

3. Jews have prayed toward Jerusalem for two thousand years

Many anti-Israel activists claim that no connection exists between Judaism and Israel – 2,000 years of history disproves this lie. Jews have faced Jerusalem in prayer, wept for it on sacred holidays and ended every Passover and Yom Kippur with a vow to return – all of it long before there was a political movement or a modern Jewish state. Many of America’s earliest synagogues honored Israel with their names. A bond this ancient cannot be invented. The tie between the Jewish people and their homeland is not a political stance – it is at the heart of their faith.

4. The Jewish people answer rising hatred with pride

Those who hate Jews want them to be smaller, quieter and afraid – if not, dead. In every generation, the Jewish answer has been defiance. When synagogues are vandalized, Jews keep praying. When Palestinian terrorists bombed restaurants and buses, Israelis returned to their routines the next day. Cowering in fear is the surrender the haters expect, but that the Jewish people will never relinquish their identity.

• Honor Tisha B’Av: Learn what it commemorates and educate others. The story is powerful – Jews have mourned on this day for 2,000 years and outlived every empire that set out to destroy them.

• Stand with those confronting hatred in their own communities: Support the Americans who refuse to stay silent – such as the Irvine vice mayor who stepped down from a Rotary Club position rather than serve under an incoming president accused of antisemitism – and back the organizations fighting hatred where you live.

Yeshiva University President Rabbi Ari Berman, as told to the Jewish News Syndicate:

“We need not only to mourn for a destroyed Jerusalem. We’re being called to defend Jerusalem today, and that’s truly our opportunity, responsibility and mission.

“A lot of our challenge today is that we’re seeing people lie about the Jews – and undermine the Jewish story and Zionism. We’re seeing it in our politics today, and people are waiting to see: what are the Jews going to do? We need to respond with absolute clarity and with truth – and we need to defend Jerusalem.

“The vision of the Temple is not just for the Jewish people, but for all of humanity where the inspiration to act with truth and kindness lives for all.

“That’s why Tisha B’Av and our mission is not really just for the Jewish people but for all people of moral conscience to work together to bring goodness and to dispel hate to the world.”

Click here to read more.

Stories of Resilience

• Rare well-preserved Iron Age wood offers evidence of First Temple’s destruction in Jerusalem
• Foreign Sar-El volunteers help keep the IDF running behind the front lines
• More religious Israeli women answer the call to combat
• Hungary’s leader nominates Jewish chess grandmaster Judit Polgár as interim president
• Colombia and Slovenia pledge to move their embassies to Jerusalem

Stories Impacting American Jews

• Med school deans tell Congress they axed anti-Israel ‘settler colonialism’ courses
• Texas man indicted for threatening to blow up the White House and “kill some billionaire Jews”
• San Jose State graduate student charged in antisemitic bomb-hoax threats
• U.S. Jewish leaders receive a threatening, vulgar letter at their homes
• Book publishers turn away Jewish clients: “At least your characters aren’t Zionists”
• Brooklyn teacher moonlights as host of an antisemitic conspiracy show
• Blue Square Alliance survey: 29% of young Americans call Jews a threat to society

Stories Impacting the U.S. and Israel

• Pro-Israel community honors late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in national tribute
• U.S. Reps. Lawler and Gottheimer move to dismantle and replace UNRWA
• Israel hunts down every Oct. 7 terrorist: 1,200 killed that day, 1,500 since
• Michael Katz, 82, dies three months after an Iranian missile strike

Stories from Around the World

• Malaysia’s leader vows to deport Israelis found in the country
• Rescuers’ plaque vandalized before a Paris Holocaust ceremony
• Far-left French party incites 200 protesters to storm concert by lesbian Jewish DJ
• Israeli rabbis spat on in Lithuania’s capital
• Australian university leader apologizes for failing to protect Jews

The Focus Project develops and distributes news, background, history and weekly talking points on timely issues to inform individuals and organizations about issues affecting the American Jewish community and Israel, and help readers speak with more consistency and clarity. The editions also provide potential responses for addressing incidents of antisemitism and anti-Zionism. With input from a spectrum of major American Jewish organizations, we focus on that which unites us, rising above political and individual agendas.



Recognizing that hatred of Jews comes in many forms and directions, we strive to address all sources as they arise, and educate our growing audience on topics ranging from inter-religious relations to relevant international developments. From week to week, we may focus on issues arising from the political left, university campuses, from the political right and from institutions, government, and corporations. We don’t try to address all issues in each edition. We hope you will find this information useful in your writing and/or speaking. We are always open to your feedback: info@focus-project.org.

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