For decades, American Jews were told that education was the antidote. Teach the Holocaust, teach tolerance, teach empathy — and history would not repeat itself. Billions were spent on museums, memorials, and curricula. Politicians pledged “Never Again.” Rabbis preached coexistence. Donors wrote checks. And yet, the very tactics Holocaust education warned against — propaganda, scapegoating, dehumanization — are now thriving in the American mainstream. The virus of hate survived; it simply changed its hashtags.
Today, the cultural center has collapsed. The left, once liberal and pluralistic, has been consumed by ideological zeal and moral absolutism. The right, once conservative and patriotic, is splintering into a populist movement obsessed with conspiracies and grievance.
The Democrats are fracturing under ideological litmus tests; the Republicans are fracturing under demagogues. The result is what some, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have called the “Woke Reich.”
More precisely, it is a Digital Reich — a new totalitarian convergence born in the algorithmic age. Its ideology is borderless. Its propaganda moves at the speed of outrage. Its language is moral, but its methods are fascist. Eighty years after the gas chambers, we have rediscovered the technology of dehumanization — only this time, it’s optimized for engagement.
The proof is everywhere.
Candace Owens rails against “globalist elites” and “dual loyalties,” echoing the dog whistles that once filled Europe’s airwaves. Tucker Carlson preaches “Western purity” while warning of “Zionist control.” On college campuses, students chant “from the river to the sea,” not realizing they’ve adopted the slogans of genocidaires. And in New York, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani — who calls Zionism a racist ideology and glorifies Hamas — was just re-elected by voters who think hatred is justice.
Holocaust education was supposed to make this impossible. Instead, it produced empathy without immunity. The propaganda we were taught to fear is back — and trending. It failed not because the history was wrong, but because the framework was naive. It assumed that knowledge would produce morality. But morality without power is sentimentality. Awareness without courage is surrender.
Students learned pity for the Jews of the past but not responsibility for the Jews of the present. They were taught that hate is irrational — not that it is useful. The demagogues learned that lesson better than the teachers. And once again, the Jews are caught in the middle. To the far left, they are colonial oppressors. To the far right, they are globalist manipulators. Both sides accuse them of controlling what they do not even own — power itself.
Meanwhile, America’s Jewish establishment keeps fighting yesterday’s war — issuing press releases, hosting roundtables, and launching new “awareness” initiatives. They treat antisemitism as a misunderstanding to be corrected, not an ideology to be confronted. But antisemitism cannot be educated out of existence. It must be deterred. Respect is not granted to those who beg for it; it is earned by those who defend it. The lesson of Jewish history is not “Never Forget.” It’s “Never Again — because now we can fight back.” That fight does not mean violence. It means readiness — physical, moral, and cultural.
It means synagogue security teams, Jewish youth trained in Krav Maga, veterans mentoring community patrols, and partnerships with law enforcement. It means Jewish schools that teach Hebrew fluently and Jewish identity unapologetically. It means remembering that Israel’s strength is not only military — it is psychological.
Israel offers not a political template, but a mindset: sovereignty of the soul. The American Jewish community must adopt that mindset — self-respect grounded in responsibility. Stop waiting for universities, media, or politicians to save us. If they will not defend Jewish life, we must. Responsibly. Lawfully. Together. This is not militancy. It’s maturity. Every faith community secures its own. Jews should be no different.
And yet readiness is not only about protection — it’s about clarity. To recognize propaganda when it appears. To reject moral hysteria disguised as justice. To see through both the influencer and the ideologue. Because if history has taught us anything, it’s that when civilizations lose their center, the Jews become the fault line.
We are the measure of a society’s sanity. When the Jews are blamed, civilization is breaking. This isn’t just a Jewish crisis. It’s a democratic one. The authoritarian virus mutates with every generation — trading armbands for algorithms, replacing radio with reels. The ideology is different, but the instinct is the same: find an enemy, destroy dissent, and call it virtue.
The Holocaust was meant to inoculate us against that instinct. It didn’t. It merely changed the vocabulary. “Never Again” cannot mean speeches. It must mean strength. “Jewish pride” cannot mean slogans. It must mean skill. “Community” cannot mean comfort. It must mean courage. If the Jews survive free, civilization survives free. The time for talk is over. The time for readiness has come.
Adam Scott Bellos is the founder and CEO of The Israel Innovation Fund (TIIF) and creator of Wine on the Vine, Herzl AI, and Project Maccabee. He is the author of Never Again Is Not Enough: Why Hebraization Is the Only Way to Save the Diaspora, a forthcoming book presenting a bold ideological blueprint for Jewish revival through Hebrew language, self-defense, and cultural sovereignty. Bellos writes frequently on Zionism, Jewish identity, and the future of Israel–Diaspora relations.