Last weekend shook the Jewish community to its core, again. All the way from Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, we felt a tsunami-like wave of Jew hatred. It struck our own hearts and heads with an awful impact. Jews gathered on Bondi Beach to celebrate light, freedom, and peace, but the wave of hatred was brewing with potential energy for years. The origins of tsunamis come from deep within the sea, like waves of hate that come from deep within Australian society, embedded there by indifference and permissive political responses to Jew hatred.

Credible news sources have reported that the father and son who perpetrated the shooting tragedy were linked to, if not trained by, ISIS. The depth of this tragedy goes deeper still, because the linkage takes us all the way around the world wherever shootings, attacks, and demonstrations against Jews happen. They’re not isolated. They’re fed by outlets that foment this garbage against Jews and Judaism. They’re organized, timed, and implemented with precision.

It would seem that their target is always the Jewish community where it stands out and where its vulnerabilities are exposed. But we must learn from history that such organized and timed attacks only begin with Jews. The extended horror is ultimately against democracy and western culture. It means that ISIS, Iran, and their proxies haven’t given up their aim to create a Caliphate across the Levant in the Middle East, across Europe where it can take root, and, if they could achieve it, across the U.S., as well.

They’ve lost ground in recent years from assaults by U.S. and Israeli military actions, but nothing excites monsters like provocation. They’re built to fight, not retreat. Hamas’s mission is to defeat Israel. Unless and until they’re completely defeated or they rewrite their mission statement, we should expect nothing new from them. But we shouldn’t have to endure decades of Jew hatred or global intifada, and we shouldn’t have to replace the Holocaust with another era of examples from which to learn about basic human dignity and humanity.

What will it take? I’m not a geopolitical expert, but there are at least two pieces to the future we would do well to procure as soon as possible. First, we need to value and identify statesmen and stateswomen who cherish western values and the well-being of their nations above their own fortunes and ambitions. Their greatest ambitions should be to bring well-being and peace to their nations and thereby secure their places in the pantheon of world leaders who identify humanity as the greatest goal above all else. These are the voices that should go viral on social media and whose worldviews should be emulated.

Second, remaining democratic nations should observe the deleterious effects of Islamism, without Islamophobia, that are raging across the world. Though Jews are the obvious scapegoat, their enemies are Christians, and other non-radicalized Muslims, too. We need incisive actions with prolonged effects to weaken and destroy Islamists and their power.

I am also not an alarmist. But like any pattern that emerges over time, we can’t ignore the obvious frequency of attacks and their familiar fingerprint. Our future depends on getting it right. Our prayers for peace should inspire us, but they’re only prayers. If they really work, then we should stand together to advocate for humanity with dignity.

The Chanukah lights reflect our prayers and the story of old. Let’s light our lights this year and build a future that records the story of our generation. May it be said that we, like the Hasmoneans, overcame the forces that would have oppressed us and restored glory and respect for God and the Jewish people. May we continue to be a light unto the nations, and may all God’s children know peace.

L’Shalom,