May is Jewish American Heritage Month. It could be the last.

I’m not saying this for attention. I’m saying it because it’s important to raise the alarm.

What began as a rise in antisemitism has now become a serious crisis, especially on Florida’s college campuses. Some people are even working against the progress Florida has made as a leader in fighting extremism.

Some people are calling this the Fishback-Sabatini “Race to the Bottom.”

The Florida Legislature still has a chance to protect what’s been built by funding the Florida Hillel Jewish Student Safety Initiative, which is sponsored by Sen. Alexis Calatayud and Rep. Allison Tant.

The proposal would expand a first-in-the-nation, research-backed pilot from three campuses to seven. It would include UF, FSU, and USF, where it started, and add FIU, FAU, UCF, and the University of Miami.

The request is for $2.3 million for the 2026-27 fiscal year. The plan includes proven security upgrades and also focuses on creating campus environments where Jewish students are not singled out.

Trickle-down hate — the blast radius of extremism touches us all

This isn’t just a Jewish issue. People who fixate on Jews as villains rarely stop there. The same worldview that treats harassment as “speech” eventually justifies something far worse. Those who buy into anti-Jewish conspiracies are more likely to hold anti-American, anti-social views that erode democratic norms.

Today’s target will not be the last. If we want safer spaces for everyone, we have to refuse to tolerate extremism anywhere.

To its credit, Florida has mostly done this.

After Oct. 7, 2023, universities across the country struggled with moral confusion. Administrators responded slowly, rules were not applied fairly, and Jewish students were told to stay home and avoid provoking anyone.

Florida took a different approach.

The 2025 pilot was more than just funding. It was a data-driven, two-part plan that included security upgrades and real work on relationships, training, incident response, and campus life. The results show that action matters. After only one year, Florida is outperforming the national average for Jewish students, though there are still challenges.

For example, 47% of Jewish college students surveyed on Florida campuses said they were targeted, excluded, or harassed in the past year, compared to 83% nationally. In a short time, Florida has also become a destination for Jewish students.

From cosplay in kaffiyehs to larping with “goyim” tropes

This is not just about the usual left-wing campus activists. Some use phrases like “from the river to the sea” to show their views, even though it is a call for Jewish genocide. Gov. Ron DeSantis may have the right policies, but these harmful ideas are also appearing on the other side.

Gubernatorial candidate James Fishback, congressional candidate Anthony Sabatini, and their supporters run a playbook that’s basically a copy of the same tactic, just with different slogans.

Same poison, different dog whistles. The left cosplays in kaffiyehs, while the right larps with “goyim” tropes.

If you haven’t been paying attention, here’s the short version: a slice of the political right has decided it’s more profitable to be provocative than responsible, more lucrative to be conspiratorial than conservative, and more rewarding to stoke resentment than to solve problems.

Fishback and Sabatini lean on two main tactics, both lifted straight out of far-left playbooks:

— Build a brand by flirting with the ugliest corners of online politics and call it “speech.”

— Convince people they’ve been victimized and promise to “scalp” the scapegoat.

The biggest danger isn’t whether these men win their next election. The real threat is the audience they’re building online and on campuses, where young people can easily spread propaganda. Friends in the state university system tell me young Republicans are no longer strongly behind MAGA or supporting gubernatorial front-runner Rep. Byron Donalds. They’re drifting toward Fishback’s camp.

Antisemitism in America now comes from both political extremes, and both sides are targeting Jews — not just “Zionists” or “Israel,” but everyday American kids who feel more pressure than ever to hide their identity or risk punishment.

If we want to stop the next wave of extremism, we need to give young people better information where they are most likely to see it. That is what this initiative is designed to do.

A record Florida should protect

Florida’s political leaders have spent years showing up for the Jewish community — not with lip service, but with hard policy. DeSantis has done it. So have Attorney General James Uthmeier, Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia.

So have gubernatorial candidates Donalds, David Jolly, Jay Collins, and Paul Renner. And so has nearly every sitting member of Florida’s congressional delegation.

The Florida Legislature took responsible action by launching the nation’s first initiative of its kind with the Florida Hillel Jewish Student Safety Initiative. Now the Legislature must decide whether to protect that record or let it get chipped away by people who profit from stirring up outrage.

If Florida wants to stay a leader in policy innovation, the answer is simple: expand what works. Fund the initiative and stop treating antisemitism as someone else’s problem.

To put it simply, Fishback, Sabatini, and their supporters have realized that antisemitism can be used the way other candidates use fundraising lists. The troubling truth is that this kind of talk spreads when people reward it.

Without a strong response from institutions, there will be political consequences, or even worse outcomes, before some people realize there is a problem.