For many people, this past Sunday, as family and friends gathered to celebrate America’s unofficial holiday… Super Bowl Sunday, many people were rooting not for a team but rather for the commercials. The spectacle of the Super Bowl, with over 130 million sets of eyes watching, continues to be THE showcase of advertising, even with a price tag upwards of $15 million for a 30-60 second spot. And one of those commercials centered around antisemitism.

For the past several years, I have looked forward to seeing this specific commercial because I know how profound its impact can be on society. Don’t get me wrong, the fact that there needs to be a commercial to combat hate shown on TV, let alone during the Super Bowl, is beyond frustrating and appalling. It illustrates the ongoing need to continue to shine a light on the pervasive hate epidemic that continues to be a blight on society. And in light of this, I am so proud that Robert Kraft’s organization, Blue Square Alliance (formerly known as the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism), has continued to use the Super Bowl as a platform to combat hate, specifically antisemitism.

As you may have seen, there has been some controversy surrounding this year‘s commercial. Some people don’t like that the Jewish high school student is portrayed as someone who is weak or that it does not address where most teens are experiencing antisemitism (i.e., online). And this is following the comments shared earlier this month by NY Times columnist Bret Stephens about how much of the tens of millions of dollars spent combating antisemitism have yielded diminishing returns.

Unfortunately, I believe in both instances, people are missing the point, which is detracting from the fight. It is important to recognize and conceptualize that there is no “silver bullet” that will eradicate antisemitism. It has to be done in a multi-faceted, multi-pronged approach. And regarding the commercial, it is one piece of a very large puzzle.

The target of the commercial was actually not the Jewish teen, but rather the ally. If you listen closely to the background dialogue, you'll hear the verbal thoughts that often go through someone’s head when they witness any form of hate.

As someone who responds to antisemitism in our community and proactively reaches out to our local school districts, I know firsthand that this incident depicted in the commercial has continued to happen in the halls of high school across the country. In fact, during the public hearing for AB 715, a bill whose goal was to strengthen anti-discrimination protections in K-12 public schools, specifically targeting antisemitism and bias, a student shared a very similar experience and the impact it had on him.

Earlier today, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) released its State of Antisemitism in America 2025, and the numbers are staggering:

• 31% of American Jews report being the target of antisemitism at least once over the last year.
• 91% say they feel less safe as a Jewish person in the United States as a result of major attacks on American Jews in the past 12 months
• 55% report changing their behavior in the past year out of fear of antisemitism

In order for us to be able to push back against this rise of hate targeting the Jewish community, we need more allies to stand with us. We need them to say this is not okay. This was the same message I shared in my November 2022 Op-ed, and the message still rings true today.

We need more ads like the one we saw in this year’s Super Bowl. Remember, we are a very small minority and need people to stand with us to fight against the hatred being thrown in our direction.