According to a recent report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States increased dramatically in 2015, but it is “not clear what may have led to the spike.” Stefan Kanfer comments:

Not a single statement has issued from the Oval Office about attacks on Jews in the United States or on foreign turf. . . . Nor has Obama referred to the uptick in anti-Semitic episodes in academia. . . . Today, the anti-Semitism of the Third Reich continues in the groves of higher education, often cloaked in pro-Palestinian rhetoric. The vocabulary of the academic left brims with agitprop about “Zionist malevolence,” though many countries within rocket distance of the most liberal nation in the Middle East are notorious for the stoning of apostates, rape victims, and homosexuals.

Only the naïve, and the willfully ignorant, could fail to see another reason why anti-Semitism has increased both overseas and in America. The ADL recently did a survey of religious and ethnic bias in 101 countries. Anti-Jewish sentiment was most prevalent in North Africa and the Middle East, where 74 percent of respondents expressed anti-Semitic views. In those countries, millions are taught that Jews are subhuman, or a dangerous and controlling force in geopolitics—or both. Now, many of those millions are pouring into Europe and America—legally or illegally—welcomed by governments that pay scant attention to their background.

Early Friday morning, Israel attacked military installations near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and nearby Natanz, the latter being one of the hubs of the country’s nuclear program. Jerusalem is not taking credit for the attack, and none of the details are too certain, but it seems that the attack involved multiple drones, likely launched from within Iran, as well as one or more missiles fired from Syrian or Iraqi airspace. Strikes on Syrian radar systems shortly beforehand probably helped make the attack possible, and there were reportedly strikes on Iraq as well.

Iran itself is downplaying the attack, but the S-300 air-defense batteries in Isfahan appear to have been destroyed or damaged. This is a sophisticated Russian-made system positioned to protect the Natanz nuclear installation. In other words, Israel has demonstrated that Iran’s best technology can’t protect the country’s skies from the IDF. As Yossi Kuperwasser puts it, the attack, combined with the response to the assault on April 13,

clarified to the Iranians that whereas we [Israelis] are not as vulnerable as they thought, they are more vulnerable than they thought. They have difficulty hitting us, but we have no difficulty hitting them.

Nobody knows exactly how the operation was carried out. . . . It is good that a question mark hovers over . . . what exactly Israel did. Let’s keep them wondering. It is good for deniability and good for keeping the enemy uncertain.

The fact that we chose targets that were in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility but were linked to the Iranian missile and air forces was a good message. It communicated that we can reach other targets as well but, as we don’t want escalation, we chose targets nearby that were involved in the attack against Israel. I think it sends the message that if we want to, we can send a stronger message. Israel is not seeking escalation at the moment.