As Americans preparing to celebrate Independence Day, we take this moment to appreciate our nation — the vision of our forefathers, the courage and sacrifices of all who have fought for our freedom, those who came before us on this land to whom we owe a debt of respect, public servants, and all decent and hardworking people who keep us moving together toward a more perfect union; we appreciate today's children as tomorrow's leaders and ways every individual can bring the principles of independence, self-determination, and democracy to life. 

As Jews, we have a front-row seat to the current theater of pile-on activism comprising and often compounding and conflating anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas, anti-Left, anti-Right, and antisemitic calls for disruption, revolution, even violence, arson, rape, and murder. But we hope all our fellow Americans see that each of us has a vested interest in the protests, protestors, puppeteers, proxies, and apologists who increasingly call not just for death to Jews and Israel, but death to America.

• In Dearborn, Michigan, during an Al-Quds Day rally, demonstrators chanted “death to America.”  
• Protesters March 28 in New York City chanted, "Down with the USA.” 
• Anti-Israel activists in May set fire to an American flag at the base of The 107th Infantry Memorial in New York City’s Central Park.
• At University of Pennsylvania, two American flags were torn down and desecrated. 
• The Columbia University Apartheid Divest coalition and Students for Justice in Palestine issued a statement of support for alleged serial arsonist Casey Goonan, who was arrested for involvement in four firebombing and arson attacks at the University of California, Berkeley, as revenge for the shutting down of encampments in California.

A self-identified anarchist group flyer circulated at University of Michigan said, “Ultimately, our main task as revolutionaries in the United States remains to be the unmaking of the American empire. Freedom for Palestine means death to America.” Activists have indicated that a “free Palestine” is only the beginning, and that the revolution would not end if all objectives were achieved in the Levant.

To be clear, no one wants to see innocent civilians harmed in the crosshairs of war. Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. And still, today's protestors say nothing of Hamas terrorists starting this war and using human shields maximizing its own civilians harmed AND backlash against Israel and its allies; they say nothing of neighboring Arab nations not giving refuge to Palestinians whom Israel warns to evacuate prior to military operations; they say nothing of Hamas preventing post-Oct. 7 aid from reaching civilians who need it, let alone the tens of billions of dollars in humanitarian aid since Israel's complete withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 and before, intended to help Gaza residents build a peaceful and prosperous life for themselves without Israeli intervention, but having been used instead to build a terror machine including approximately 400 miles of tunnels for the express purpose of killing Israelis; and they say nothing of civilian deaths in the course of other international or civil wars, such as today's in Sudan, where myriad news agencies report 2 million people could starve to death and the 'world is not watching.'

That is because today's protests are not chiefly about Palestinian lives or statehood. They are orchestrated and funded by religious fundamentalist nation-states to manipulate largely disinformed youth to delegitimize a Jewish and democratic state — anywhere — in fact, all western values.  

There may be those in the Jewish and broader communities who dislike Israel's politics. Heck, they may dislike America's politics! But this July 4th, we hope all will prize the notion of a sovereign nation's independence — including the right to self-government, self-determination, and self-defense.

For more on the protests, read here: 

• The campus protests are no longer about Israel. They’re about America
• Freedom for Palestine means death to America

THIS MESSAGE REPRINTED FROM JEWISH FEDERATION WEEKLY E-NEWS, FRIDAY LIGHT. SUBSCRIBE.