In Chicago on Saturday morning, Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi shot a visibly Jewish man who was on his way to synagogue. The shooting took place in a neighborhood with a large Jewish population, and Abdallahi yelled “Allahu Akbar,” details that local authorities at first tried to suppress. Josh Kraushaar comments:

The degree to which these political leaders, law enforcement, and even the local media are downplaying the apparent anti-Semitic nature of the crime is shocking—but it’s part of a growing pattern where crimes against Jews don’t seem to merit the same degree of attention or scrutiny as [those against] other minority groups.

And it’s not the only recent example of the anti-Semitic motives of a high-profile crime getting overlooked. One of the big political stories this week was the arson of two ballot drop boxes in Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon, which destroyed hundreds of ballots in a closely contested congressional race. Two days later, we’re now learning that devices were found at both scenes emblazoned with the words “Free Gaza.”

The New York Times . . . euphemistically acknowledges the “political sensitivity” of declaring the case motivated by anti-Israel animus and anti-Semitism. It shouldn’t be politically sensitive to declare anti-Semitism when it rears its ugly head, but that’s increasingly the case—especially in deep-blue jurisdictions where far-left activism is increasingly a part of some local governments.

Also in Chicago, anti-Semitic statements by the newly appointed school-board president recently came to light—and the governor and mayor rushed to his defense in a way that is hard to imagine if the comments were aimed at another group. Additional pressure, however, led to his resignation.

In October, a young Mauritanian national murdered an Orthodox Jewish man on his way to synagogue in Chicago. This alone should be sufficient sign of the rising dangers of anti-Semitism. Nathan Diament explains how the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (AAA) can, if passed, make American Jews safer:

We were off to a promising start when the AAA sailed through the House of Representatives in the spring by a generous vote of 320 to 91, and 30 senators from both sides of the aisle jumped to sponsor the Senate version. Then the bill ground to a halt.

Fearful of antagonizing their left-wing activist base and putting vulnerable senators on the record, especially right before the November election, Democrats delayed bringing the AAA to the Senate floor for a vote. Now, the election is over, but the political games continue.

You can’t combat anti-Semitism if you can’t—or won’t—define it. Modern anti-Semites hide their hate behind virulent anti-Zionism. . . . The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act targets this loophole by codifying that the Department of Education must use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism in its application of Title VI.