JNS
By Jonathan D. Salant
“I was surprised and a little bit relieved and also heartened by how much political support the preliminary recommendations received immediately,” a Democratic state representative, who is Jewish, told JNS.
A special Massachusetts state commission, which formed in the wake of the spike in Jew-hatred after Oct. 7, calls antisemitism “a distinct and rapidly increasing form of hate that requires specific and focused action.”
“Taken together, the aggregated data points unmistakably in one direction: antisemitism has risen significantly since Oct. 7, 2023, and remains an urgent challenge that demands coordinated action,” per the 70-page report by the Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism, which Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, and the state legislature created in 2024.
The findings of the report, which was approved unanimously, have “put the discussion of antisemitism on the map,” Rob Leikind, the New England regional director for the American Jewish Committee, told JNS.
The report will be handed to state legislators officially on Nov. 30, as the commission closes its doors.
“Certainly, as we started the process, looking prospectively, many of us, including me, felt it was important work to do to bring to light the issues, explain it to the public and let them see first hand the gravity and seriousness of the problem,” commission co-chair Simon Cataldo, a Democratic state representative who is Jewish, told JNS.
“A significant part of the success of this endeavor will not only be what the public was able to see through our hearings but the changes that are consistent with our recommendations,” he said.
The report comes after anti-Jewish hate crimes in Massachusetts increased by 20.5% last year, and more incidents were directed at Jews than at blacks for the first time since the state began tracking such data in 1991. More than eight in 10 religiously-targeted hate crimes were directed at Jews.
“All of us were surprised at the gravity of the issue,” Cataldo told JNS. “You can see the data, which was appalling and shocking.”
The report said that incidents of discrimination, harassment, bias and hate against Jews should be taken as seriously as incidents against any other group. It also said that it should be easier to file complaints about incidents of hate, bias or discrimination and Jew-hatred should be included in training students, faculty, staff and administrators on combating hate and bias.
It called for training for all law enforcement personnel that specifically addresses how to recognize antisemitism, and said the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination needs to update guidelines to make it clear that discriminating against Jews in hiring or at work is illegal under federal and state law. It also advised state agencies and private employers to address Jew-hatred in their diversity, equity and inclusion and anti-discrimination training programs.
“What the commission did was identify some of the kinds of issues that we can take concrete actions on,” Leikind said. “People don’t know about antisemitism. They’re not recognizing events when they happen.”
The commission made it clear that criticizing Israeli policy is not antisemitic, nor is advocating for the rights of Palestinians.
But after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, the commission said, “expressions reasonably understood as supporting, celebrating or promoting violence against Jews should be recognized and condemned as hateful and antisemitic.” That includes the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani refused to condemn initially.
The report said the Jewish people are not monolithic and it is therefore “wrong, ignorant and may be antisemitic to call upon Jews to explain the actions of the Israeli government because they are Jewish” or “demand that Jews share their thoughts on the conflict simply because they are Jewish.”
Furthermore, while the First Amendment protects hate speech, the commission said “part of combating antisemitism is recognizing such offensive speech, and responding by speaking out against it without imposing censorship or punishment.”
“Condemning hateful rhetoric, even when lawful, is a moral obligation of leadership,” it said. “Silence in the face of hate normalizes it.”
The commission released its recommendations for K-12 schools in August as the school year got underway, before approving the final report this week.
The preliminary report’s recommendations include an advisory council to ensure that students at every grade level receive age-appropriate curricula and resources about Judaism and antisemitism, and anti-bias education, including about antisemitism, for teachers and staff.
Cataldo told JNS that the positive reaction to the preliminary report indicated that the final document’s findings and recommendations would be taken seriously.
“I was surprised and a little bit relieved and also heartened by how much political support the preliminary recommendations received immediately,” he said.
State and federal officials from the commonwealth quickly praised the final report.
“In Massachusetts, we are doing everything we can to combat antisemitism,” Healey stated.
She said the report would serve “as an important guide for educating our children, building a better understanding of the Jewish experience and making it clear that antisemitism has no place in Massachusetts.”
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said, “Massachusetts and the entire nation are experiencing an historic rise in antisemitism, and it cannot be tolerated.”
“We must call it out and combat it whenever and wherever it arises,” he added.
Institutions of higher education became hotbeds of anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric after Oct. 7. Leikind told JNS that college students had no idea how to deal with people with whom they disagreed, and professors have not been taught how to encourage respectful discussions.
“No one has learned to have a conversation with different points of views,” Leikind said. “Most of these kids are coming from bubbles in self-affirming environments, and they have no concept for dealing with people who see the world differently.”
The report includes best practices that other colleges have adopted and Massachusetts institutions could follow as well.
“In some sense, they have no excuse now,” Cataldo said. “We’ve laid this out in great detail and given them templates.”
Cataldo told JNS that both Jewish and non-Jewish members of the commission contributed significantly to the final report. He said he was “so honored and so grateful” to be involved.
“It’s part of my professional role, but it’s impossible to divorce the spiritual, ancestral and religious connection from this,” he said. “I look at this project as something God has asked me to do.”
