Actress Patricia Heaton is calling on the Christian community to come together and take a stand against the surge of antisemitism that has taken place across the United States. “You could see that body cam footage from Hamas where they were gleefully murdering people, and I was astonished and horrified, and then I looked around, assuming that the churches would also be horrified and outraged, and I wasn’t hearing anything. It was like crickets,” Heaton told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on Saturday.
“So, I posted on my Instagram, ‘If you had been a German during World War II, don’t you hope that you would have been a German who stood by your Jewish neighbors and hid your Jewish neighbors?’ Well, today is your opportunity, and I still believe that.”
Heaton, who’s starred in “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “The Middle” is among the founders of the October 7 Coalition, a network of Christians speaking out against the rise of antisemitism in the U.S. following Hamas’ terror attack on Israel last October that has led to an ongoing war in the region.
The coalition has also partnered with the nonprofit JewBelong, creating pink and white billboards with warning messages about hate to place across the country.
One reads, “Jewish students deserve to be safe on campus.” Another says, “You don’t have to be a Jew to protect Jews.”
“Those of us who are [speaking out] have been feeling very, very alone,” Archie Gottesman, founder of JewBelong, told Kilmeade concerning the silence of many Jews since the war between Israel and Hamas began.
“The Jews are only 2% of the entire country, so even if all of them spoke out, it’s not enough. We need allies.”
In recent months, there have been reported incidents of antisemitism across the country, including at colleges, universities, and Jewish-owned communities.
For instance, a New York deli was vandalized with a swastika. In another case, a retired pastor was caught drawing the symbol on the groceries of his Jewish neighbor.
In Las Vegas, a Jewish mother called for legal action after her special needs son returned home with a swastika etched into his back.
“Maybe back in 1939, people didn’t know what was going on. We know what’s going on, and it is up to us as Christians to do something about it,” Heaton said during Saturday’s broadcast.
“The Jewish people are feeling very, very alone, and they need to know we will stand by them,” she added.”
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