A Jewish mother in London walks her child home from school, the child’s kippah visible beneath a hood. A group of teenagers notices, sneers, follows, and starts the ritual: “Free Palestine!”-not as a political argument, but as a weapon. In Brussels, a Jewish student steps off a tram and is shoved, his Star of David necklace yanked. In Amsterdam, a synagogue-goer is filmed, mocked, and threatened. In New York, a Jewish couple is cursed at on the subway. In Sydney, a Jewish man is harassed outside a café simply for speaking Hebrew on the phone.
In each case, the victim is forced to do the same terrifying math: Do I run? Do I respond? Do I call the police? Will they arrive in time? Will they take it seriously? Will my attacker come back? Will this escalate?
We can no longer pretend that this is a series of “isolated incidents.” It is a global pattern: Jews being targeted in public, with increasing brazenness, in cities once considered safe. And the emotional damage is not merely fear-it is loneliness. The sense that you are on your own. That if things go wrong, you are a solitary Jew standing in the open while the crowd watches.
That’s what happened to me this past year alone, in 2025, in both verbal assaults as well as physical attacks, in Toledo, Spain, Vienna, Austria, Sydney, Australia, Times Square, New York, and the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach.
In all these cases I was, and felt, utterly alone.
That is the psychological victory antisemites crave: not just to intimidate Jews, but to make us feel abandoned.
So here is the blunt truth. Jews worldwide need a communal protection network-a rapid-response system with trained volunteers and professional security partnerships-so that any Jewish man, woman, or child who feels threatened in public can instantly summon support.
Not “someday.” Not after another tragedy. Now.
We need a global organization with chapters in major Jewish population centers and flashpoint cities. I’m calling it The Jewish Defense Network.
The goal isn’t vigilantism. It’s the end of Jewish loneliness in public.
What the Jewish Defense Network would do:
Picture this: A Jew in London is being followed and harassed. Instead of swallowing fear and walking faster, they pull out their phone and dial one number-or press one app button. Within minutes, a rapid-response team of volunteers - both Jewish and Gentile - arrives: calm, trained, visible. They stand between the victim and the harassers, document what’s happening, de-escalate where possible, and escort the person safely to where they need to go-home, a train station, a community center, a synagogue.
In New York, a Jewish woman is being verbally assaulted on the street. She calls. A rapid-response pair shows up-ideally two to four trained volunteers, with clear identification, body cameras where legal, and a strict code of conduct. They don’t inflame. They don’t brawl. They protect. They witness. They escort. And if the situation warrants it, they coordinate with police.
In Melbourne, teenagers surround a Jewish student and spit slurs. The student calls. A trained team arrives quickly, and-this is crucial-the student is no longer alone. Even if the harassers run, the message has been sent: Jews another allies have each other’s backs.
Antisemitism thrives when Jews are isolated. Our answer must be instant community, the lines of the Shomrim rapid respone groups in hassidic neighborhoods of New York.
Why existing systems aren’t enough
Many communities already invest in security for institutions-synagogues, schools, community centers. That work is essential. But the new frontline is not only the building. It is the street. The subway platform. The university walkway. The shopping mall. The park. The city square.
Police matter, and we must work with them. But Jews in many cities have learned the hard way that police response can be slow, inconsistent, or constrained by politics. Indeed, in Britain and other places the Jews being attacks have often been arrested as the incitors of the violence against them. And in places where antisemitism is increasingly wrapped in “activism,” harassment is often dismissed as “speech” until it turns into violence.
A Jewish Defense Network would not replace law enforcement. It would fill the gap between “call the police” and “hope you make it home.”
This is not paranoia. It’s preparedness.
The model: disciplined, lawful, trained
Let me be crystal clear: This cannot be a loose posse. It must be professionalized and strictly lawful. The Jewish Defense Network should be built on three pillars:
1. Training and standards: De-escalation, situational awareness, first aid, legal boundaries, documenting incidents, and victim support. No hotheads. No people looking for fights.
2. Coordination: A central dispatch system (phone and app), location-based rapid response, and clear escalation protocols.
3. Partnerships: Work with credible security professionals, communal institutions, and-where possible-local law enforcement.
The very idea of Jewish self-protection makes some people uncomfortable because they fear optics. But optics did not save Jews on October 7. Optics did not stop deadly attacks in Paris, Pittsburgh, Poway, Jersey City, Sydney, Manchester, or countless streets where Jews are assaulted and told the world is cheering.
Our ancestors learned a painful lesson: when Jews rely on the goodwill of others for survival, Jews eventually pay in blood.
Security for Jewish buildings is no longer enough. Jews need security for Jewish bodies.
A global network, locally rooted
This must be global because antisemitism is global. But it must be local because response must be fast.
The exisiting London Shomrim needs an expanded pan-UK chapter. Brussels needs Brussels. Amsterdam needs Amsterdam. Miami, New York, Houston, Los Angeles. Sydney and Melbourne. And yes-beyond those cities, wherever Jews feel vulnerable.
If I had had one number to call on the night of December 1st, 2024, as I was assaulted by radical Islamist Faiz Akbar for merely sitting peacefully with my laptop writing a speech for my friend Robert Kennedy, Jr., America’s HHS Secretary, I would not have had to choose between walking away in cowardice and standing up to someone threatening to murder me.
Each JDN chapter would recruit vetted volunteers, coordinate training, and maintain rotating shifts so that someone is always on call. This is not a fantasy. Many communities already have volunteer ambulance corps, neighborhood patrols, and communal emergency response, Jewish response groups to antisemitic attacks exist. The Jewish Defense Network would unify and expand that spirit-focused specifically on public antisemitic harassment and threat response.
The moral argument: Jewish dignity
We are not asking for special treatment. We are asserting a basic right: the right of Jews to walk in public without fear.
There is nothing extremist about escorting a frightened Jewish teenager home. There is nothing radical about responding when a Jew is being surrounded and threatened. There is nothing “provocative” about standing, quietly and firmly, between a victim and a mob.
What is provocative is the world’s growing comfort with Jews being hunted in plain sight.
If a Jew cannot walk freely in a modern city, then ‘Never Again’ is just an empty slogan and a lie.
Join us
As Douglas Altabef recently wrote, it is time to Globalize the Maccabees. It’s time for Jews worldwide to establish a communal protection group called “The Jewish Defense Network” with global chapters.
If you want to help build this-if you want to set up a chapter in your city, volunteer, donate expertise, donate funds, provide training resources, or partner as a security professional-write: info@shmuley.com.
Let’s stop outsourcing Jewish safety to the same institutions that keep telling us to lower our profile. Let’s stop teaching Jewish children that survival means hiding. Let’s build a visible, disciplined, compassionate safety net that says to every Jew, everywhere: You are not alone.
Join us.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach-“America’s Rabbi”-is the international bestselling author of 36 books and is described by The Washington Post and Newsweek as “the most famous rabbi in America,” by The New York Observer as “the most famous orthodox Jew in the world,” and by The Jerusalem Post as one of the 50 most influential Jews alive. Founder of the Oxford University L’Chaim Society, the second-largest student organization in Oxford’s history, he mentored many of today’s world leaders who were his students. . He is founder of The World Values Network, which champions Jewish values and fights antisemitism worldwide. Follow him on Instagram and “X” @RabbiShmuley.