“For want of strategy an army falls, but victory comes with much planning.” — Proverbs 11:14    

We are losing the war against antisemitism. Here’s how the Jewish people should organize to win.

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A recently completed study, sponsored by Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), demonstrated the experience of Jews in America since the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7 last year: 3.5 million (61%) adults and 380,000 children have experienced at least one act of antisemitism in the last year. And the assault is not subsiding.

Few of us would disagree that a political, social, psychological and virtual war against the Jews is being fought in the United States, and in other countries, while Israel is fighting a physical war on various fronts, orchestrated by Iran.

Many of us are deeply involved in the world of combating anti-Jewish acts of violence, persecution and discrimination – as well as an outpouring of anti-Jewish (including, of course, anti-Zionist) sentiment. Many also work on promoting the positive, truth-based narrative of who we are as a people, our enduring values, our history and that of the Jewish state.

Many organizations (old and new) have been working to counter the actions, propaganda and narrative of our enemies on college campuses, in primary and secondary schools, on the internet, in traditional media, in legislatures and executive branches of governments, and in courts of law, among other places.

There have certainly been some “wins” – but few would disagree that we are still losing this war in the U.S. and in other liberal democracies.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in our ongoing and new efforts. Some new consortia have been formed in an attempt to pool resources and coordinate actions and communications.

However, in contrast to our well organized opponents, our efforts have been disjointed and competitive, rather than collaborative, and not particularly effective (with some exceptions) if judged by outcomes, i.e. actual measurable changes in the levels of anti-Jewish actions and sentiments, or in pro-Israel support.

There have been many outputs, i.e. activities by pro-Zionist and pro-Jewish organizations in the Jewish communal ecosystem. Events, articles, social media posts, conferences, discussions, testimonies, educational initiatives, etc. have been funded and undertaken in impressive quantities, and many seem to make perfect sense based on seemingly sound theories of change. But no ROI (return on investment) figures have been reported, or even sought, to our knowledge.

Some changes that need to happen will certainly take time, and the outcome measures will not be possible for some time, but nonetheless, KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) are glaringly missing to assess our progress toward what should be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-based) goals.

In the meantime, anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist efforts and impact seem only to be getting wider and stronger as measured by various metrics, i.e. frequency of antisemitic incidents, numbers of Jews directly impacted, public attitudes, traditional and social media narratives, politicians’ statements and votes (or lack thereof), college disruptions etc.

So, what might help us to win this war in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world?

First, let’s identify or articulate the war’s “fronts.” These include:

• Governmental/Political (federal, state, local), political parties: platforms, legislation, regulations, and enforcement;
• Higher Education (including faculty, trustees, administrations, students, alumni, parents, donors, campus-based and external organizations);
• K-12 Education (district personnel and policies, curriculum development, schools, teachers, unions, parents and schoolchildren);
• Business (companies, trade associations, leaders, DEI and other HR policies);
• Jewish communities and organizations — both those that support truth-telling and defensive and offensive strategies as well as those who are our “fifth column”);
• Other current and potential allies and enemies (often former “allies”);
• Media, including social media and tech platforms;

These are the “fronts” that many people have identified. There could be others that were either overlooked in this taxonomy or new ones that may emerge.

Now to strategies: What are the classes of approaches that can be employed on those fronts?

Consider:

• Intelligence (data and research to gather, analyze and disseminate actionable information, monitor developments and evaluate effectiveness);
• Legal (lawsuits, advancing or defeating  legislation);
• Finance (tracing and impeding money flows from nefarious entities, including foreign state actors, to institutions and individuals; promoting friendly political candidates and directing funds to defeat unfriendly ones);
• Education with a variety of target populations, entities and individuals (as long as effectiveness is measured);
• Communications, including brand development and coordination, messaging, outing bad actors while promoting allies, public engagement; offensive and defensive operations;
• Other (TBD)

Picture the above as a matrix with Fronts being the columns and Strategies being the rows.

The cells formed by the intersections of rows and columns represent specific sets of strategies for particular fronts, i.e. the intersection of the Higher Education column and the Legal row would be legal actions against or on behalf of colleges and the constituencies within; the intersection between the Allies and Enemies Column and the Intelligence row would contain, for example, research on nefarious actors for the purpose of exposing and discrediting them; the intersection between the Government/Political column and the Communications row would include something like a campaign to promote legislation on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.

This rubric would allow us to classify existing efforts in each cell and to identify gaps. For instance: In the cell Higher Ed/Finance, The Institute for Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP)’s project “Follow The Money” would be an example of an existing effort that might be scaled as the project’s effectiveness is proven (in this case, with Texas A&M’s decision to close its Doha, Qatar, campus).

On the other hand: the cell Education/Business is almost entirely empty, to my knowledge, with regard to educating corporate leaders, using research on current DEI that indicates that such policies hurt corporate culture and profits, and that there is a positive impact when companies reverse policies that are based on these neo-Marxist, racist and antisemitic underpinnings.

If the focus on outcome measurement is applied across the matrix, evaluation and comparison of various efforts can be achieved. This would allow investments — whether by philanthropists and foundations or by existing organizations —  to be rationalized and, one hopes, eventually coordinated.

Such an approach may require some sort of “donor services” organization akin to a rating bureau for investments (e.g. Moody’s) and/or charity evaluation agency (e.g. Charity Navigator)

A comprehensive mapping and categorization of existing initiatives and current gaps would be required, as would be the development of rating/evaluative criteria and systems. There are currently a few efforts in both of those directions that we are aware of, but even there — the efforts are not coordinated with each other save for a few exceptions by some organizations and funders in small groups.

We would very much welcome comments, questions and suggestions on how we, the willing and motivated, can move forward effectively, efficiently and expeditiously. Our enemies have been at it for quite a while and have achieved impressive results. Can we reverse their successes?

After a devastating attack on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s defense forces and security establishment have responded by deploying appropriate strategies (intelligence, air campaigns, ground operations, cyber etc.) on multiple fronts (Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran etc.).

What will we do here in the Diaspora?

Misha Galperin is former COO of New York Association for New Americans and of UJA-Federation of New York, CEO of The Educational Alliance and of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, and president of  the Jewish Agency for Israel International Development, and of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History. He is currently advising several philanthropists and nonprofits in the U.S. and in Israel, and is serving on boards of several organizations.

Yossie Hollander is a software entrepreneur and philanthropist, living in Irvine, Calif., after spending 40 years building technology companies in the United States and Israel. For the past 20 years, he has dedicated himself to philanthropy, with a major focus on combating antisemitism in the U.S.