Over 200 participants at the National Taskforce to Combat Antisemitism Summit — Museum of the Bible, Washington D.C., May 2026

WASHINGTON — Senior American officials, lawmakers, and pro-Israel advocates gathered in Washington this week at the National Taskforce to Combat Antisemitism summit, where speakers issued stark warnings about a growing rise in antisemitism across the United States following the October 7 Hamas attacks — and demanded far more aggressive action from local governments, prosecutors, and the American public.

The summit, organized by the National Taskforce to Combat Antisemitism — a coalition of more than 45 Christian, conservative and Jewish organizations — brought together over 200 participants at Washington’s Museum of the Bible. Among those in attendance were representatives of the American Muslim Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council (AMMWEC), reflecting the broad, interfaith coalition united in opposition to anti-Jewish hatred.

Leo Terrell: “No Compromise. Period. End of Story.”

Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell — chair of the Department of Justice Taskforce on Antisemitism and Senior Counsel at the Justice Department — opened with a declaration that set the tone for the entire summit: there is no middle ground when it comes to fighting anti-Jewish hatred.

Terrell, who left Fox News at the personal request of President Trump to serve in the administration, told attendees he took the role for three reasons: “God, country, and to work for the president.” He described his commitment as absolute and around-the-clock.

Terrell highlighted what he called historic actions by the current administration — specifically referencing the White House’s hosting of a Shabbat 250 the previous Friday, which he said had never been done by any president in American history — alongside a national prayer event on the National Lawn just 24 hours prior. “That is his recognition and understanding of religious freedom,” Terrell said. “And that is being denied to Jewish Americans and Jews all over the world.”

The “Jewish Tax” and the Failure of Local Officials

Terrell delivered some of his most pointed remarks on what he called the “Jewish tax” — a term he used to describe the financial burden placed on Jewish communities forced to pay for additional security just to hold religious services and communal events.

Terrell disclosed that he had written three separate letters to a sitting mayor — whose city he did not name publicly — after receiving urgent calls from the local Jewish community about the enormous financial burden they were shouldering. He said none of his letters received a meaningful response. “I didn’t know there was one,” he said, referring to a follow-up that offered only a referral to an assistant rather than a direct meeting.

He was equally blunt about the failure to prosecute hate crimes in major American cities, singling out New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. “I’ll wait here all day. Tell me the number of hate crimes that have been prosecuted by local officials in those cities,” he challenged the audience. “I can tell you right now: zero.”

Terrell closed with an unapologetic call to action, drawing a firm line between those genuinely committed to fighting antisemitism and those he said only wanted to talk. “If you are committed to fighting and eliminating anti-Semitism, call me,” he said. “If you are interested in prohibiting, stopping, eliminating anti-Semitic curriculum in K-12, call me. Short of that, I’m not taking your call.” He concluded: “God bless America. God bless President Trump. And God bless you.”

Terrell also addressed the media battle directly, calling out CNN, MSNBC, and the New York Times by name for what he described as endorsing Jew-hatred under the guise of journalism. “We are getting our butts kicked in the area of media relations,” he said frankly, urging the summit’s participants to dramatically escalate their presence and response on social media and in the broader public sphere.

Senator Rick Scott: “The Most Pro-Israel President We’ve Ever Had”

United States Senator Rick Scott took the podium with equal conviction, declaring he had never understood antisemitism in his life. He praised President Trump’s record on Israel and referenced his six visits to the country since being elected governor of Florida in 2010, recounting that he was present at the Fowler’s house the night Trump announced the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem.

Scott invoked the founding of the republic, quoting President George Washington’s landmark 1790 letter to the Hebrew congregation of Newport, Rhode Island — in which Washington wrote that America “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” He noted that since the nation’s founding, more than one million Jewish Americans are estimated to have served in the US Armed Forces across every major American conflict, and that at least 18 Jewish American soldiers, airmen and Marines have received the Medal of Honor — including Sergeant William Sollison, who was killed by enemy fire while giving water to a wounded comrade on the Western Front in World War I, and Captain Ben Solomon, who served as a surgeon on Saipan.

On the rise of campus antisemitism, Scott described in stark terms what Jewish students had been forced to endure at institutions like Columbia University since October 7, 2023.

Scott cited the case of Eden, a Columbia University student who reported being traumatized after an angry mob chased him and his friends while shouting profanities, and Noah Fay, whose professor had allegedly accused Israel of genocide while denying the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli women. Scott said he had personally visited Kfar Aza — the kibbutz half a mile from Gaza — since October 7, and walked through it to hear the stories of survivors firsthand. “This rise in antisemitism we’ve seen across our country is fundamentally anti-American,” Scott said. “They’re going to start with anti-Semitism, but it’s all anti-us. Let’s all remember that.”

Ambassador Leiter: J Street Is “A Cancer Within the Jewish Community”

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter delivered some of the summit’s most controversial and widely quoted remarks, launching a pointed attack on the liberal pro-Israel advocacy group J Street — which bills itself as the political home for “pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy Americans.”

Leiter also rejected what he described as the Jewish identity of Senator Bernie Sanders, who has backed legislation to block weapons sales to Israel. Alluding to remarks attributed to an unnamed US senator, the ambassador said: “The sponsor is not a Jew. The sponsor is a Communist, who may have Jewish pedigree. That doesn’t make him a Jew.”

Congresswoman Kat Cammack was specifically named for calling out a House group that describes itself as ultra-conservative and has voted against sending weapons to Israel — the same Israel, the ambassador noted, that is fighting Iran alongside America.

Ambassador Leiter on Propaganda, Pope Francis, and the “Greater Israel” Myth

Ambassador Leiter also addressed the broader propaganda battle being waged against Israel on social media, drawing a direct comparison to the propaganda machinery deployed by Nazi Germany. He illustrated the problem through a striking personal anecdote: he had received a call from the Pope asking why Israel was not permitting food aid trucks into Lebanon. Troubled by the report, Leiter said he immediately phoned a commanding general — a personal friend — only to learn that the media report was entirely inaccurate: officials were already in contact with local villagers and the trucks were scheduled to be dispatched the following morning.

The ambassador also directly rejected what he called the “Greater Israel” myth. He stated clearly that Israel was simply “Israel” before 1967, and that after 1967 it became referred to as “Greater Israel” — a label, he said, that does not reflect any territorial ambition or intent to expand beyond its current borders.

Summit Gallery  ·  Museum of the Bible, Washington D.C.

A Nation Called to Account

The summit closed with a unified message: the struggle against antisemitism is not abstract, political, or distant — it is happening now, in American cities, on American campuses, and in American classrooms. With over 200 participants from more than 45 organizations in attendance, the National Taskforce to Combat Antisemitism left Washington demanding concrete action: prosecute hate crimes, hold local officials accountable, protect Jewish students, end anti-Semitic curricula, and refuse to allow the normalization of Jew-hatred in any form.

Faith & Freedom News will continue to report on the National Taskforce to Combat Antisemitism, the DOJ’s work combating anti-Jewish hatred, and the fight to protect religious freedom across the United States.