Since Jewish people, for the most part, don’t believe in Jesus, should Christians even care about the resurgence of antisemitism?

All people of good will should resist hateful attitudes and actions. And, as Christians, we know that God Himself, who opposes all forms of ethnic hatred, is especially grieved by antisemitism.

In Israel on October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists slaughtered 1,200 Israeli civilians and took 251 hostages. Since that time, antisemitism, meaning the hatred of the Jewish people, has exploded in the United States of America. The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith reports that antisemitic acts in our nation have increased by 400 percent. Over 10,000 separate antisemitic incidents occurred in the year following the massacre. Now, it has become commonplace for people to use hateful tropes about Jewish people, to delegitimize and demonize Israel, even to punch Jewish people walking in the streets of New York City or other major cities, to deface synagogues and Jewish cemeteries, to threaten Jewish college students, and much more.

The Scriptures clearly affirm God’s great love for the Jewish people. The Lord said to the Jewish people through the prophet Jeremiah, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jer. 31:3). The prophet Zechariah, told God’s words to His people: “For whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye” (Zech. 2:8).

Some may object to citing these Old Testament passages. They may believe that, since most Jewish people have not believed in Jesus as the Messiah, somehow God has transferred His love to other people. The apostle Paul contradicts this, writing that, despite Jewish opposition to the gospel, Jewish people remain “loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:28–29). Jewish people still need to trust in the Messiah Jesus for their personal redemption, as do all people (John 8:24). But even in unbelief, God’s faithfulness to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob causes Him to love and care for the Jewish people.

In the Abrahamic covenant, God said, “I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse” (Gen. 12:3). God loves the Jewish people and opposes antisemitism. So, God desires every follower of the Lord Jesus to bless them. When we hear prejudiced or unkind words about Jewish people, we should speak up. Even more, we should stand up, combating any kind of discrimination or violence against God’s beloved Jewish people.