Institutions demand armed guards and regulatory penalties

On Yom Kippur, a police officer outside an Ontario synagogue traded fire with a gunman for about three minutes while two dozen people prayed inside. Now Jewish leaders want armed officers at every service, and in Quebec the law says they can't hire them.

I'm Tamar.

And I'm Eli. This is another episode of Tribe & State, a Daily Lion production, where we follow where Israel and the Jewish world are pulling together, and where they are pulling apart.

We're starting in Berlin. Earlier this month, it was the far-right Alternative for Germany that surged in a regional election. This week, the shock moved to the capital. And it came from the other end of the spectrum. The far-left Die Linke finished first with twenty-five point seven percent of the vote. That more than doubles its previous support. The Christian Democratic Union, the Greens, and the Social Democrats hold eighty-two of the parliament's one hundred and fifty-eight seats. So they have a narrow majority to govern without the far left.

For Sacha Stawski, writing in The Jerusalem Post, the center-left has to establish a strict firewall against Die Linke, and refuse to enter a governing coalition with it. His case rests on what the campaign looked like. Josef Schuster, chair of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, notes that calls were made for the death of Israeli soldiers at the party's campaign events. The audience even sang along. The victory parties also hosted figures linked to the Remmo family. That's an organized crime clan that recently saw authorities seize seventy-seven of its properties. For almost three years, protesters have flooded Berlin's streets with antisemitic chants glorifying terrorism. And on this reading, that movement is now the strongest political force in the capital. The election, they say, was accompanied by antisemitic incidents, and by pro-Hamas declarations from Muslim candidates and voters. Those who want the firewall argue that a true democratic firewall must protect against attacks from all sides, not just one, and that the party is blind to its own extreme-left antisemitism. They warn that a strong faction within the party fails to distinguish between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, and that this creates deep insecurity for Jews. They hear in its rhetoric the old East German regime, where Israel was routinely smeared as fascist and imperialist. And they say the cost is already visible. The Jewish Hanukkah celebration has been one of the largest annual events at Neukölln Town Hall. It draws around two hundred and fifty people. But now, the Jewish organization Hillel says it will remove the Hanukkah menorah from the town hall, and light it at a neutral location instead. The outgoing district mayor calls the departure deeply painful. And he has little confidence that anything will change.

The party itself says the opposite. Its official platform links its lived antifascism directly to the fight against antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism. Its candidate for mayor has pledged to do everything to ensure that Jewish people, just like Muslims and queer people, can feel safe in the city. In the party's view, condemning government policies in Gaza is legitimate political discourse. It shouldn't be branded as hatred of Jews. Co-chair Ines Schwerdtner argues that while the real problem of antisemitism must be confronted, it must remain possible to criticize the Israeli government and military. Her co-chair goes further. Criticism of Israel's far-right government mustn't be conflated with antisemitic rhetoric, he says, and he accuses that government of committing genocide in Gaza. Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, director of the Centre for Research on Antisemitism, stresses that antisemitism exists in all parties. She calls this an exaggerated debate, obviously meant to influence the formation of a government in Berlin. On this reading, the party's voters weren't voting about Israel at all. Post-election polling shows that almost sixty percent of surveyed Die Linke voters simply wanted real political change. One Jewish voter says she supported the party's candidate because of her emphasis on social justice, and hopes she can help shift the dialogue toward working in coalition with other minority groups.

So the decision is the center-left's now. Take Die Linke into government, or govern without it on a narrow majority.

Across the Atlantic, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has unveiled a multimillion-dollar municipal plan to combat antisemitism. According to Jewish Insider, the thirty-page strategy allocates seven point four million dollars for security and prevention grants.

The mainstream Jewish communal organizations argue that rhetoric demonizing Israel inevitably leads to the targeting of Jewish New Yorkers. The Anti-Defamation League has logged hundreds of antisemitic incidents in the city since January. And nearly forty percent were related to Israel. Moshe Davis was the founding executive director of the Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism under the Adams administration. For him, a report that ignores what is driving much of the hate seems to make a conscious effort to erase the connection between the violence against Jews in the city and the anti-Israel propaganda clearly fueling it. As these groups see it, the lies spread about the Jewish state have real consequences. They end with Jews being threatened on the way to synagogue, or stabbed in the streets. They accuse the administration of looking the other way while crowds gather outside houses of worship to voice support for terror groups, and fly flags meant to intimidate families walking in to pray. They demand zero tolerance for extremism in city government. And they want a clear definition of antisemitism that the city actually uses, keeping municipal contracts and procurement clear of ideological boycotts. They see the physical security grants as a positive step, for a Jewish population that makes up twelve percent of the city but suffers around half of its reported hate crimes. Davis himself says the protective measures will greatly help safeguard Jewish New Yorkers against attempted terror attacks. And the incidents are rising. In the first seven months of two thousand and twenty-six, anti-Jewish incidents rose by eight and a half percent. Yet these funds, they say, can't make up for a failure to confront the ideological drivers of the violence. Any municipal effort to combat antisemitism, they argue, is deficient if it refuses to address the realities Jewish residents face today.

The progressive allies of the mayor see a city protecting its residents through tangible investments rather than ideological tests. The municipal plan is modeled partly after the national strategy released in May two thousand and twenty-three. It asserts that the administration can leverage all of its tools to combat hate effectively, without needing to adopt a single definition of antisemitism. Philanthropist Alex Soros says it's great to see the mayor address this scourge head on with concrete action. In this view, debating the exact boundaries of anti-Zionism is both unnecessary and a distraction from meaningful policy. The mayor maintains that the city holds a responsibility to sustain and protect Jewish neighbors. The strategy directs one million dollars toward physical security at vulnerable nonprofits and another six point four million into the Partners Against the Hate program. That offers grants up to ten thousand dollars for community-based initiatives. Beyond hardware, the city is committing two million dollars to finish the Queens Holocaust Memorial and two point five million to a new cultural space in Brooklyn. In their view, that tackles the crisis of antisemitism directly through education and community partnerships.

So the money goes out either way. What the mainstream groups still want, a definition and a line on anti-Zionism, is exactly what the mayor's allies say the plan is better without.

From City Hall to the State Department, on Wednesday, nineteen Jewish Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. They're asking him to halt a plan that would fold the State Department's Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues into the office that monitors global antisemitism. The Holocaust envoy position has sat vacant since July thirty-first, when the previous diplomat finished her term. Now the Trump administration's antisemitism envoy, Yehuda Kaploun, is pushing to merge the two portfolios under his own leadership. And that proposal has split national Jewish organizations over how the American government should handle its diplomatic priorities.

As detailed in Jewish Insider, the lawmakers argue the two offices have fundamentally different, full-time mandates. You can't simply swap them. They told him the roles are, in their words, complementary, but they are not interchangeable. The antisemitism monitor is explicitly tasked with confronting contemporary hatred around the world. But the Holocaust envoy focuses specifically on historical justice, remembrance, and accountability. Because both are full-time responsibilities, they require dedicated leaders and specialized staff to handle those distinct areas. Combining these portfolios, they warn, won't streamline government efficiency or eliminate meaningful duplication. Instead, it'll dilute the capacity needed to do either job well. As the survivor population dwindles, the lawmakers stress that delaying or degrading the Holocaust office risks losing opportunities for restitution, accountability, and historical preservation that may never return. To prevent that, the coalition is demanding he immediately appoint a new, dedicated career department official to fill the empty role. Major Jewish organizations back this push. They argue a standalone office is necessary to show the unique priority the United States places on preserving the memory of the Holocaust. They want a dedicated advocate inside the government to ensure this critical work continues without interruption. Underneath the argument over offices, the lawmakers see a self-serving attempt to expand personal authority rather than a genuine effort to support survivors. Representative Jerry Nadler described the proposed merger as, in his words, a vain attempt to consolidate power by Yehuda Kaploun. The lawmakers argue if supporting victims and their families were actually a priority for this administration, they'd be looking for ways to bolster the independent envoy. Not trying to eliminate it.

The people pushing for the merger see an opportunity to strengthen diplomatic advocacy by cutting redundant red tape. For the administration's antisemitism envoy and the organizations backing his bid, Holocaust denial is inextricably tied to modern antisemitism. So they see the division between the two offices as artificial. They argue that consolidating the issues portfolio into the antisemitism office under a single ambassador-level official will actually elevate the government's reach. They say it'll streamline operations and bring more weight to the fight for historical memory.

The decision is Rubio's. Fill the empty post with its own envoy, or fold the Holocaust into the office that fights antisemitism now, under Kaploun.

Still in Washington, a federal education panel has recommended suspending the American Psychological Association's accreditation authority over unchecked antisemitism. Separately, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued an Ohio healthcare system for firing a Jewish surgeon. The advisory committee voted seven to four on Thursday to strip the association of its power to accredit graduate and internship programs. The commission filed its federal discrimination lawsuit against Mercy Health on September twenty-fourth. That's nearly three years after the surgeon was dismissed.

For Jewish advocacy organizations, suspending accreditation sends an essential message. It forces entrenched institutional compliance. The panel's decision followed two days of testimony from nearly thirty outside witnesses highlighting issues in psychology education programs. Advocates had warned the leadership for over a year about what needed to change. But they failed to act. The Combat Antisemitism Movement called the recommendation a very strong message that needed to be sent. And the Brandeis Center noted that they've made a serious impact that administrators can no longer ignore. They say the push for penalties reflects how pervasive antisemitism in medical settings has become. It alienates trainees and prevents Jewish patients from seeking care. The center reported a steady stream of complaints from healthcare professionals and patients since Hamas attacked Israel on October seventh, two thousand twenty-three. Others warn that the hostility is rapidly becoming a public health crisis. In their view, in the mental health arena, the bias has become baked into the fabric of accredited programs. That leaves Jews to avoid treatment out of fear of discrimination. And they warn this growth endangers everyone who depends on the American healthcare system. They say regulatory guidance and civil rights laws now require aggressive enforcement. That includes litigation and funding leverage to hold non-compliant institutions accountable. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a letter on September third clarifying how these protections apply to federally funded programs. Because Medicare and Medicaid represent about half of hospital budgets, federal enforcement makes administrators stand up and take notice. The commission chair stated that the agency won't hesitate to bring litigation to protect Jewish workers. She cited the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty-four. The true test, they say, will be whether federal agencies back up these letters with strong investigations.

Professional accreditors and institutional leadership see an excessive penalty. They believe it threatens critical funding and aggravates public health shortages. The executive lead psychologist for the accreditation commission strongly disagrees with the recommendation to suspend its recognition. He warns it'll have a real and lasting impact on the nation's mental health. He argued in Jewish Insider that the suspension will cause many accredited psychology programs to lose access to the federal funding necessary to train the next generation of professionals. It'll also block students from meeting requirements for state licensure. They argue there's no pervasive culture of antisemitism within accredited programs to justify these punitive measures. That's especially true when formal complaints remain virtually nonexistent. The commission noted that it's received only two complaints of antisemitism in accredited programs. He called it unacceptable for anyone to feel unwelcome or excluded in the professional community. But he expressed a wish that the individuals who raised concerns in public comments would've come forward to them directly. That way action could've been taken sooner. Responding to the federal discrimination lawsuit, a spokesperson for Bon Secours Mercy Health stated that as a Catholic ministry, their mission and values guide everything they do. The organization emphasized that it welcomes individuals of all faiths and backgrounds who help advance its commitment to improving community health. They added that no further information will be provided because they don't discuss pending litigation.

The panel's vote is a recommendation, not a ruling. And the Mercy Health suit is only beginning.

North of the border, police have confirmed that the thwarted Yom Kippur shooting at the Ontario synagogue was a targeted hate crime. That's prompting Jewish communal leaders across North America to demand armed off-duty police details and statutory buffer zones around houses of worship. The attack happened on the twentieth of September at the Sons of Jacob synagogue. According to The Algemeiner, as two dozen worshippers gathered inside, a gunman opened fire. An officer outside exited his vehicle and engaged him.

For Jewish communal leaders across North America, the thwarted shooting proved that mass-casualty attacks on synagogues can only be stopped by dedicated armed police stationed directly outside. The firefight between the officer and the gunman lasted roughly three minutes before a second officer arrived. Belleville Police Chief Murray Rodd confirmed the suspect had the means to cause a mass casualty, and that the only thing stopping him were those two officers. He urged departments nationwide to be proactive. In their view, that proactive stance requires legal reform, because laws preventing institutions from contracting armed off-duty police leave communities exposed. In Quebec, existing legislation blocks police from providing armed protection through private contracts. The federal government allocated seventy-five million Canadian dollars over five years for community security. But local leaders argue the provincial ban creates a clear gap between the threat level and the protection available. Advocates warn that governments must take decisive action to safeguard Jewish life before another attack. Eta Yudin of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs wants paid on-duty police available quickly at high-risk times. And she says Canadians can't accept a future, as it exists in Europe, where synagogues and Jewish schools can only operate safely behind permanently stationed armed police and soldiers equipped with machine guns. A colleague of hers at the same organization says the commitment that Canada is a country where Jews can live securely and openly is no longer held. It shouldn't be normal, he says, for a community to go through airport-level security just to visit a synagogue. They see statutory buffer zones and expanded federal funding as essential legal safeguards too, to prevent congregants from being driven away from religious life. A new California law establishes a one-hundred-foot buffer perimeter around houses of worship. There, protesters can't approach within eight feet of a congregant without consent. Survivors of previous attacks stress that intense security is now a requirement. Federal funding recently allowed a Michigan synagogue to install cameras that helped staff respond to a truck-ramming within seconds. Without these measures, communities risk losing the people who simply stop showing up out of fear.

Civil liberties advocates see a threat to basic civic freedoms in the buffer zones. They argue that buffer zone legislation establishes criminal penalties that threaten constitutional speech rights and peaceful public assembly. Under the California measure, a first offense carries a fine of up to one thousand dollars and six months in jail. A second violation carries up to five thousand dollars and one year. The Council on American-Islamic Relations warned that these penalties put peaceful protesters at risk. They argue that Americans should be able to demonstrate against political events even if a house of worship is hosting them.

So Quebec's Jewish leaders are asking the province to change one law, and in California, civil liberties groups are objecting to another.

From synagogues to stadiums, the row over Macklemore being dropped from a show at Gillette Stadium has now spread to Europe. Live Nation faced pushback for promoting the rapper's new solo tour focused on Palestinian advocacy. That independent run's scheduled to begin in Dublin on October twenty-six, before heading to Paris and London. Meanwhile, the cultural backlash has widened to target pop singer Pink. She's now facing an online petition with nearly two hundred thousand signatures demanding her removal as a UNICEF ambassador over her involvement in the dispute.

The venue operators and Jewish community leaders who sought the exclusion argue that promoting one-sided political rhetoric from the stage while ignoring Hamas terror stokes divisiveness. They say it threatens the safety of Jewish audiences. And they say fans paying between one hundred and fifty and two hundred and fifty dollars for a pop concert aren't expecting to be hostilely harangued. In Britain, the Jewish Leadership Council warned that the imagery used in recent performances raises serious concerns. They asked promoters to explain what steps they'll take to ensure that Jewish audiences and staff feel safe and welcome. Robert Kraft stated that ignoring the actions of Hamas isn't honest, and only advances more divisiveness and hate. They say Jewish public figures have a right to object, and to express fear without having their concerns dismissed. Pink noted the frustration of watching a performer show violent images from a war, and then tell all of the Jews in the stadium that it wasn't about them. She emphasized that she didn't ask for anyone to be fired. She simply needed to be able to say that the rhetoric scared her and the people she loves, without being told that her fear is just propaganda. And they say private stadium owners and concert organizers have every legal and business right to decline to platform speech they deem harmful. Kraft delivered a clear ultimatum to the tour. He stated that if the rapper remained on the bill, they wouldn't be allowed to play in his venues. As one free-speech advocate put it, private operators are leasing that space in order to make their own autonomous decisions about what shows they want to host.

But for the cultural advocates and performers backing the rapper, the entire dispute is a case of wealthy venue owners improperly censoring a humanitarian obligation to speak out against war. Macklemore argued that when the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage and which ones are too dangerous to hear, everyone should be paying attention. He insisted that being apolitical during a genocide doesn't work anymore. And that refusing to take a side when one party has bottomless financial and military support from America doesn't leave you in the middle. Addressing the crowd directly from the stage, Macklemore told his Jewish brothers and sisters that criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, and being against genocide in no way is a criticism of them. The advocacy is framed as a moral duty to push back when the call for a free Palestine is met with attempts to silence it. His backers say the attempts to enforce concert-stage neutrality ultimately backfired. They point to artist walkouts, public backlash, and wider independent tours. All three opening acts on the original tour resigned in solidarity. And the social media post addressing the removal garnered more than eight million likes. Now, the resulting solo tour will see all proceeds benefit organizations supporting the Palestinian people and movement. To them, that turns the loss of one stage into a much larger platform.

So the tour opens in Dublin on the twenty-sixth, with the same promoter the Jewish groups are now pressing for answers.

And from the stage to the ballot box, Michigan's Jewish Democrats are split over Abdul El-Sayed's Senate campaign. Some elected Jewish Democrats have openly refused to back him. And there have been petition fights over fringe signatories attached to his campaign.

For pragmatic Jewish Democrats, the overriding priority is keeping the Senate out of Republican hands. Halie Soifer, the chief executive of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, predicts the Republican nominee will earn no more than one-quarter of the Jewish vote. She says Jewish voters recognize that a vote for any Republican in two thousand and twenty-six is a vote for Donald Trump. As one signatory of a letter endorsing the Democratic ticket put it, the alternative candidate unquestioningly supports white Christian nationalism and policies that threaten American democracy. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel summarized the political reality by saying there is no choice. These voters argue they still share overwhelming common ground with the nominee on domestic policy. So a pragmatic alliance is necessary. The candidate emphasized his commitment to a big tent where the party can, in his phrase, march in lock step on the ninety-five percent of issues that they agree on. To that end, organizers gathered nine hundred signatures from Jewish voters pledging to cast their ballots for him. The chair of the Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus insists they can't be distilled down to one vote or one idea. And Nessel expects to be called, in her words, a traitor to my people for backing him.

Liberal Zionist voters refusing to endorse the campaign see fundamental red lines being crossed. Jewish leaders say a candidate must meet basic requirements to earn their vote. And that starts with the explicit recognition of Jewish sovereignty in Israel. State Representative Noah Arbit is among seventeen new signatories who joined a clergy-led petition demanding that the nominee temper his hostility toward the Jewish state. Rabbi Josh Bennett of Temple Israel, preaching on Yom Kippur against political tests put to Jews, argues that their full participation in American political life is also non-negotiable. He says no one should have to pass a test about Israel to be welcomed into a coalition on a campus or in a political party. Beyond the speeches, they point to the extremist figures the campaign aligned itself with, who actively seek to marginalize Jewish political participation. A campaign letter demonstrating supposed Jewish support included at least eighteen signatories who also signed a national statement demanding that institutions of higher education cut ties with mainstream Jewish groups. Arbit warns that this faction has no agenda to improve the rights and lives of Palestinians. But it's instead driven by a hatred of Israel that makes the movement, as he calls it, so vacuous and so dangerous. One voter on an organizing call said electing him feels like letting a fox into the henhouse. They argue that prioritizing party loyalty over these boundaries carries a heavy cost for the community's future. They expect a massive underperformance by the nominee in heavily Jewish areas where he failed to make the community feel comfortable with his candidacy.

Both camps are Jewish Democrats in the same state. One hears a vote against him as a vote for Trump. The other won't give him theirs until he recognizes Jewish sovereignty in Israel.

That's Tribe & State, a Daily Lion production. Don't forget to tune in to the other Daily Lion shows: Sixty One, Crosswinds, and All Fronts. Wherever this finds you, have a good week, and see you next Thursday.