Public outrage would erupt if a Jew hater painted a swastika on a Scranton, Pennsylvania, synagogue door. Public backlash would come fast and harsh if word spread that a Jew hater threw a rock through a window at the Scranton Jewish Community Center.

Media would rush to cover the story. Local, state and national elected officials would hold press conferences and issue statements the way they did after the October 7 Hamas attacks when public servants swore they stood with Israel.

Yet silence ensues after a thwarted June 26 physical attack on an Orthodox Jewish rabbi disrupted a peaceful human rights rally on Courthouse Square in Scranton.

Is the reason for this shameful silence because the rabbi and his five Jewish colleagues had come to Scranton at the invitation of rally organizers to publicly protest American-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza? Is this shameful silence because these bold Jews stand firm with countless innocent Palestinian children, women and men of all ages Israel continues to slaughter in almost two years’ worth of bombs, bullets and starvation?

Is our community’s shameful silence because these Jews are not the right kind of Jews?

Devoted to unswerving opposition to a Jewish state but not a Jewish homeland, these Jews take to heart the sacred Torah scroll that teaches love of justice. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder the six men dressed in traditional Orthodox Hassidic clothes held signs declaring their support for Palestinian freedom. Dedicated to opposing American-funded Israeli carnage of innocents in Gaza and the secular nationalism called Zionism, the men represented Neturei Karta International, a Jewish religious community based in Monsey, New York, that considers Israel a rogue cancer state that needs to be peacefully dismantled.

I watched closely as the rally came to a close and a visibly agitated man stood face-to-face with Rabbi Dovid Feldman, well known nationwide as a staunch anti-Zionist Jew whose followers compare the Israeli mass murder of Palestinian civilians to the Nazi extermination of Jews. Feldman had calmly stood his ground as the agitated lone wolf earlier interrupted speakers and insulted other protestors as he created tension during the rally, focusing and obsessing over insulting the Jewish men in black. When the man finally physically closed in on Feldman and his nonviolent colleagues this wild agitator ramped up his ire. Event marshals smoothly took up positions between him and the pro-Palestinian Jewish protestors.

Closer and closer the antagonist moved until he quickly pressed forward and a marshal stepped in to intercept him. That motion set off a pushing and pulling match as others closed quarters on the assailant, trying to bodily keep him under control as he squirmed, pulled hair and bit two people, drawing blood and lashing out in wild desperation.

A Lackawanna County deputy sheriff I alerted to the unfolding violence responded and cuffed the attacker with help from protest marshals and others. City police and an ambulance eventually arrived to take statements and treat victims.

A victim told me after the melee that the man had mentioned a gun. Others said he spoke of “lighting up” people. Protesters expressed fear for Jews if police released the man without filing criminal charges. One victim wondered if the defendant owned firearms or had a history of violence which a past newspaper story reported he does.

Protest organizers issued a press release about the violent incident. Several concerned activists also appeared at the Scranton City Council meeting to alert city officials of the violence that resulted in county deputy Craig Blasi filing criminal charges against the out of control instigator. Lackawanna County Sheriff Mark McAndrew responded quickly to an email providing me with a copy of the criminal complaint and affidavit of probable cause.

Scranton Police Chief Tom Carroll did not respond to two emails I sent him asking for details about his officers’ role in this shocking antisemitic attack. Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti also did not respond to my emailed questions about this incident. Neither did well-known Scranton Temple Hesed Rabbi David Swartz answer my two emails about the antisemitic cruelty displayed in the city he serves.

Do Scranton community leaders only take antisemitism seriously when Jewish victims support the brutal Israeli apartheid and occupation of Palestine and the West Bank? Do public officials here only call out antisemitism when Jewish victims agree with Israel’s eradication of Palestinians? Do otherwise good citizens ignore antisemitism unless the victims are their kind of Jew?

Fearless activists who speak truth to power will continue to fight Israel’s final solution for Palestinians. People of conscience like the Jewish men in black will continue to help create peace by opposing Israeli military savagery. In the name of decency truly brave leaders will protect some of the world’s weakest and most vulnerable civilians, defenseless people struggling for a homeland against Third-Reich-style persecution.

Israel’s indefensible war crimes must not go unpunished.

Shalom in Hebrew means peace and well-being. If the definition of the word is ever to be taken seriously, civic leaders who vow opposition to antisemitism must choose consistency over hypocrisy. Either you’re against antisemitism or you’re not.

Shalom must never be mistaken for Sieg Heil.