July 10, 2025

Kate Casa’s recent commentary was not a critique of policy ("Vermont group aims for silent through intimidation," July 8). It was a direct attack on a Jewish individual, a Jewish organization, and on Jewish visibility in Vermont’s public life. This was not the first time. In the span of a few months, she has twice publicly targeted the same Jewish woman, a member of our staff. She has misrepresented their work, fabricated statements they never made, and portrayed them as part of something sinister. This is not principled disagreement. This is a targeted campaign of hate and harassment against a Vermont Jewish woman.

Let us be clear about who Casa is attacking: A Jewish community organizer doing public work in Vermont to build understanding between schools, educators, students, and civic leaders. A Jewish woman who speaks openly about her values and identity, including a connection to Israel that is deeply personal for her and consistent with how most Jews understand themselves. The criticism is a reaction to her visibility. It is one thing to criticize a government. It is another to treat someone’s public expression of their identity as evidence of wrongdoing.

It is not just about words on a page. This kind of rhetoric does real harm. It lowers the threshold between hate and violence. Across the country (and world) Jewish communities are facing real and escalating violence. In Washington D.C., two Israeli embassy staffers were recently murdered outside a Jewish museum in an antisemitic attack. In Brookline, Massachusetts, a kosher grocery had its window smashed by a brick painted with “Free Palestine.” On Long Island, three Jewish businesses were attacked in one night. One was firebombed and another was vandalized with a banner invoking the deaths in Gaza as justification for targeting Jews. In Boulder, Colorado, 82-year-old Karen Diamond, who was Jewish, died from injuries after Molotov cocktails were thrown at a peaceful group gathering in support of the hostages. In Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro, one of the country’s most visible Jewish elected officials, and his family were targeted in an arson attack on Passover.

These are not isolated acts. They are part of a rising climate in which Jewish safety is treated as expendable. When someone like Kate Casa repeatedly targets a Jewish Vermonter for being visible and engaged, it adds fuel to that climate. It tells people this kind of hostility is acceptable. And we know from history exactly where that can lead.

In this country, we do not accuse Russian Americans of being complicit in war because they support their homeland or defend its people in public conversations. We do not accuse Chinese Americans of enabling repression because they express pride in China or push back against what they see as unfair portrayals. We may disagree. We may challenge each other. But we do not question their right to speak or their place in civic life. Yet when a Jew expresses pride in or defends their culture, which for most includes a connection to Israel, it is often treated not as a viewpoint but as a threat and taken as permission to harass, smear, and incite public suspicion.

The issue here is not foreign policy. The issue is the public targeting of a Jewish woman and a Jewish organization simply for being visible and engaged. That pattern is clear. It isolates Jewish people and spreads mistrust. It tells Jews that the cost of participating in Vermont’s public life is to become a target.

Shalom Alliance is a Jewish-led organization that helps Vermont schools and communities recognize and respond to antisemitism through education, training, and local partnership. That work includes standing up for Jewish dignity and safety. That includes our staff and our volunteers. That includes but is never limited to Jews who express connection to Israel as part of their identity or lived experience. That connection is not the focus of our work. But it cannot be the reason someone is attacked.

We hold our values clearly. No one on our team celebrates the loss of life in Gaza or anywhere else. Our staff believe in human dignity and in the right of all people to live in safety. We stand by our team fully. And we hope others can recognize the position many Jews in Vermont find themselves in today. To have a longstanding, personal cultural connection to Israel, to speak from a place of lived identity, and to still try to participate in public life is not easy in Vermont. It should not warrant harassment. It should not promise fear.

We do not silence critics. And we will not stay silent when a line is crossed. When a Jewish woman is smeared and slandered in print not once but twice, putting her at serious risk, we will speak up. When Jewish identity is treated as something sinister, we will push back.

This commentary was written by the following members of the Shalom Alliance: Ilana Siegelman, board president; Yoram Samets, co-founder; Mike Kanarick, co-founder; Mark Treinkman, board member.