00:00Today, I speak to you with a heart that is heavy, and I looked at our shared and seemingly shattered world.
00:11Last year, the American Jewish community endured the worst year for anti-Semitic incidents since ADL began tracking incidents more than four decades ago.
00:21There was a total of 3,697 incidents reported across the U.S. in 2022.
00:30An increase of 36% compared to 2021, which in itself was a record-setting year as well.
00:38ADL's report, Hate in the Golden State, right here, documented that there were 518 anti-Semitic incidents in California alone in 2022.
00:48An increase of over 41% over 2021.
00:53ADL has tracked a high-volume increase in organized white supremacist propaganda activity, a rise in incidents at K-12 schools and on college campuses, and a spiking bomb threats towards Jewish institutions.
01:09And this was all before October 7th.
01:14On that Saturday morning, the world permanently changed for most Jews around the world.
01:21From a post-Holocaust, never-again world to a world we can kind of see how it could happen again.
01:28That barbaric and unconscionable attack on innocent civilians in Israel was an attack on all of us.
01:37The unearthing of the devastation in the past week in Israel has been some of the most heartbreaking moments that I, as a professional, as a Jewish American, and as a human being, have personally experienced.
01:51And I have to tell you, I've personally experienced a revolution as an Iranian American, the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
02:03So with all that sorrow, we also gained sober clarity.
02:08We must all come to terms with what Hamas is and what it's not.
02:13Hamas is not an army.
02:16They are not freedom fighters.
02:19They are not a political party.
02:22They are a genocidal Islamist extremist terror organization.
02:28100% dedicated to destroying the Jewish state and the Jewish people.
02:34It is all stated very clearly in their charter.
02:38Just look it up.
02:39Literally, Google Hamas Charter.
02:42Their charter commits their followers not to achieving a two-state solution, not even a Palestinian one, but to the simple goal of destroying the Jewish state.
02:5570% of its budget comes from the country where I was born, Iran.
03:01Given that the Iranian regime is the number one state sponsor, we at ADL literally label Iran the number one state sponsor of terror around the globe, the largest propagator of anti-Semitism, and Holocaust denial in the world.
03:20They literally have Holocaust cartoon contests to see who will win the cartoon that denies the Holocaust most effectively.
03:31So let's be clear.
03:33This tragedy has global implications.
03:36We know that the barbaric actions of Hamas have already triggered a deluge of anti-Semitic incidents and attitudes against Jews in every major capital.
03:50In the US, ADL is already seeing a spike in anti-Semitic incidents over 107 since October 7th.
03:59We have seen rising anti-Semitic incidents in Germany where stars of David were found painted outside of homes of Jewish Germans.
04:09In Australia, at a pro-Hamas rally, they chanted, gas the Jews.
04:16The Colombian president, the only head of state, outright applauded Hamas.
04:23In South Africa, there are calls to boycott Jewish businesses.
04:28And in the UK, where some of the largest pro-Hamas rallies were held, the Jewish communities already experienced a 500% spike in anti-Semitic incidents.
04:41Added to this, ADL is monitoring the rising crimes against Muslim communities and acts of Islamophobia.
04:50We all saw in Illinois where an innocent six-year-old little boy, a Palestinian-American boy, was gruesomely murdered and his mother was stabbed.
05:00So this is a stark situation we're facing.
05:03And at ADL, we're mobilizing in a way that is unprecedented for our 110 years of existence.
05:11ADL Center on Extremism is monitoring pro-Hamas rallies held across US cities and across the globe.
05:19We are monitoring insightful anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric proliferating on social media.
05:26You've all seen it.
05:27From the far left and even the extreme right.
05:31Our J7 joint task force is working around the clock using every diplomatic resource that we have available.
05:40The US, Canada, UK, Germany, Australia, France, and Argentina.
05:45Working with those governments and NGOs to ensure the safe return of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
05:52We're also working across education and business sectors today to ensure that on campuses and in boardrooms, free speech does not morph into anti-Jewish hate speech.
06:06And that leaders have what they need to address anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.
06:13That they understand pro-Hamas is the same as being pro-Taliban or pro-ISIS.
06:20That's what that means.
06:23We know that such efforts is also especially critical in your industry, in the entertainment sector.
06:30Film and television play an incredibly important and powerful role in the way people learn about and understand communities from that's different from their own.
06:40Media and entertainment have the ability to change hearts and minds and build deeper understanding and empathy.
06:48It's why ADL recently launched a media and entertainment institute formed by our work that the ADL leadership council has provided us.
06:59You all know better than we do at ADL.
07:02Media and entertainment has incredible power to influence and to educate through storytelling.
07:08Hollywood must play a bigger role in fighting back against anti-Semitism and supporting the Jewish community through the power of film and television.
07:17So I'm here to ask you to please use your voices to speak out against Hamas, against terrorism, and against hate of all forms.
07:26Please do not stay silent in this dark moment in our history.
07:30Post on your social media platforms.
07:33Sign on to ADL's workplace against anti-Semitism.
07:37Men you have corporate affiliations.
07:40Get them to sign that pledge.
07:42And engage, speak, and act.
07:47I also want to thank Variety and all those responsible for today's summit.
07:52You have a powerful voice and coming together as a community during these perilous times is both critically important and deeply moving.
08:01This will reverberate across the world and I know in Israel they will hear you.
08:07So I want to thank you all and really appreciate the fact that we've come together as a community to speak.
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