ICYMI: Rep. Suozzi Op Ed in Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia Stood Up to Antisemitism. We Must All Remain Vigilant.

November 12, 2026

Press Release

Washington, D.C.-In a new opinion piece in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Congressman Tom Suozzi (NY-03) warns that we must remain vigilant in the face of antisemitism and hatred. He argues that despite the quick response from Philadelphia's lawmakers and community in speaking out against the antisemitic boycott of Jewish-owned and Israeli-affiliated businesses last weekend, we cannot mistake the failure of one hateful demonstration for the defeat of the hatred that fueled it.

As the late Congressman and Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos said, "The veneer of civilization is paper thin. We are its guardians, and we cannot rest!" Rep. Suozzi argues that we must follow his lead and ensure that never again means something.

Read the full opinion piece here and below:

Opinion | Philadelphia Stood Up to Antisemitism. We Must All Remain Vigilant.

By Thomas R. Suozzi, The Philadelphia Inquirer

The ugly attempt to intimidate Jewish-owned businesses in Philadelphia backfired spectacularly on Sunday. Organizers hoping to drive Jewish and Israeli-associated restaurants out of the city were met by hundreds of Philadelphians who turned out to support the very businesses being targeted. Customers lined up outside restaurants, elected officials condemned the boycott, and ordinary citizens sent an unmistakable message: Antisemitism has no place in the City of Brotherly Love.

That is something worth celebrating. But we must not mistake the failure of one hateful demonstration for the defeat of the hatred that inspired it. We must remain vigilant.

Restaurants targeted

"No business for Zionists! These Zionist establishments must go! Not in our city!" Those were the words used to promote Sunday's demonstration targeting six Jewish-owned and Israeli-associated restaurants in Philadelphia, the birthplace of American liberty.

The timing was particularly chilling. The demonstration occurred on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the infamous Night of Broken Glass, when Nazi mobs attacked Jewish people, businesses, homes, and synagogues across Germany and Austria on Nov. 9 and 10, 1938.

Years earlier, in 1933, the Nazis organized a nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses, seeking to isolate Jews economically and socially and mark them as outsiders in their own communities.

We should not equate Sunday's protest with the Nazi atrocities that followed. But the disturbing resemblance between calls to boycott Jewish businesses then and demands to drive Jewish-owned establishments out of Philadelphia today cannot be ignored.

History teaches us that hatred does not begin with concentration camps. It begins when ordinary people are singled out, dehumanized, and told they do not below.

I understand something about the destructive power of prejudice because of my family's experience.

My father, Joseph Suozzi, came to America from Italy as a young boy. He became a decorated World War II hero, serving as a B-24 bomber navigator and earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war, he attended Harvard Law School on the GI Bill, graduating in 1948.

Despite his extraordinary qualifications, New York City law firms refused to hire him. Anti-Italian prejudice closed doors that his service, sacrifice, and education should have opened.

He persevered, eventually becoming a respected judge on New York's highest trial court and later its appellate division. He taught me that America's promise of opportunity means little if discrimination determines who belongs.

That lesson has guided my public life.

Throughout my years in Congress, I have fought antisemitism and stood firmly with Israel and the Jewish American community. In 2019, I cosponsored legislation opposing the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, known as BDS, and spoke against it on the House floor.

Right to worship

More recently, I helped lead bipartisan legislation, the Right to Worship Act, to protect Americans from intimidation when attending religious services. No American should fear going to a synagogue, church, mosque, or any other house of worship.

Americans have every right to criticize the Israeli government, advocate for Palestinians, and engage in peaceful political protest. Those freedoms are fundamental to our democracy.

But there is an enormous difference between criticizing a government and targeting American business owners because they are Jewish or presumed to hold particular beliefs.

Philadelphia's response deserves recognition. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, Gov. Josh Shapiro, religious leaders, and countless ordinary citizens spoke out. Hundreds showed their solidarity not merely with words, but by patronizing the businesses under attack.

They demonstrated the best of America. But Sunday's events also reminded us how easily ancient prejudices can resurface in modern political movements.

Philadelphia is where our founders proclaimed that all people are created equal. Its citizens showed that they will not stand by while their Jewish neighbors are threatened or intimidated.

That same spirit must prevail throughout America.

We cannot condemn the antisemitism of the past while tolerating its warning signs in the present.

The late U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor to have served in Congress, reminded us: "The veneer of civilization is paper thin. We are its guardians, and we cannot rest!"

We cannot rest. We must recognize "never again" must mean something. And it must mean something now.

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