MIAMI, Fla. – They are striking. Bold billboards going up all over Miami-Dade County and part of a national campaign to “end Jew hate” amid a rise of antisemitic incidents.
Jon Warech of Hillel at Florida International University partnered with the non-profit group JewBelong to bring the billboards to South Florida.
“You can call this message provocative, but I would call it powerful,” Warech said.
The “End Jew Hate” awareness campaign is aimed to not just grab attention, but to spark a conversation, explains Archie Gottesman.
“When you say ‘does your church need armed guards? Because our synagogue does’ or ‘just 75 years since the gas chamber’ so no, billboards calling out Jew hate is not an overreaction. Like, those make people think,” she said.
Warech said the billboards send a message that what happened in the past could happen again.
“It has only been 75 years. This was not that long ago . . . what we see still happening today is a sign that it can happen again if we don’t speak out and that’s what we are doing,” he said.
A 2020 Anti-Defamation League report found antisemitic incidents rose by 40 percent.
And the striking social messages are going up on the heels of video shot last weekend in Orlando, which was provided to Local 10 News capturing self-proclaimed Neo-Nazis demonstrating.
They are seen making the victory salute sign, the Sieg Hiel, used by Nazis at political rallies.
Here in South Florida, hundreds of antisemitic fliers were distributed to homes in several predominantly Jewish populated neighborhoods sparking concern that antisemitic incidents are intensifying.
Are these the echoes of history? And is this awareness campaign working to meet the moment?
“The Holocaust didn’t happen just because of Hitler and the Nazis,” Warech said. “It happened because of the millions who stood by and did nothing about it.”
Gottesman said she believes the Jewish community needs to speak up and hopes that the bold billboards will connect and amplify the voices of community members who don’t harbor hate in their hearts.