McCaul calls on public officials to 'condemn attacks against the Jewish community'

Israel and Hamas are at war again, and Jews in the U.S. are feeling the repercussions as officials confirm an uptick in hate crimes throughout the country as a direct result. 

The 11-day war has claimed the lives of more than 250 Palestinians and a dozen Israelis. That number includes 66 children, 39 women and 17 people over 60 years old. Eighty militants have been killed over an 11-day timeframe. 

Both sides are amid a ceasefire since May 10.

The conflict has stoked a wave of anti-Semitic attacks in the U.S after 193 reports were made of antisemitic violence, an increase from 131 a week prior. 

The Anti-Defamation League counted nearly 200 reports of possible anti-Semitic violence during the first seven days of the fighting and discovered approximately 17,000 tweets saying that "Hitler was right" between May 7 and 14.

"I am deeply concerned about the recent spate of violent anti-Semitic attacks across the U.S. and around the world," U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Houston) said on Twitter. "Public officials must condemn attacks against the Jewish community, just as they condemn other forms of prejudice and racism. These vile attacks must end." 

Though a ceasefire is in place, several notable Jewish organizations in the U.S. warn that the fallout could last a very long time.

"We are witnessing a dangerous and drastic surge in anti-Jewish hate," Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement last week just ahead of the cease-fire announced between Israel and Hamas. "To those who choose to indulge in age-old anti-Semitic tropes, exaggerated claims and inflammatory rhetoric, it has consequences: Attacks in real life on real people targeted for no other reason than they are Jewish. This is anti-Semitism, plain and simple. And it's indisputably inexcusable in any context."

President Joe Biden denounced the uptick in hate crimes in a recent Twitter post. 

"The recent attacks on the Jewish community are despicable, and they must stop," Biden said. "I condemn this hateful behavior at home and abroad — it’s up to all of us to give hate no safe harbor."