Matt Ortega, Democratic candidate for the open seat in California’s 14th Congressional District, issued the following statement on recent acts of antisemitic hate:

In recent days and weeks, a pattern of hatred so old it predates the Republic has once again made itself known across the American landscape—not in the shadows, but in broad daylight, on our streets, in our synagogues, on our campuses, in the digital ether. We must call it by its name, condemn it without qualification, and stand with our neighbors currently living in fear.

In Michigan, a man drove his vehicle into Temple Israel, a Reform synagogue, a place of worship and learning. 140 children, in attendance at pre-school, were thankfully unharmed as security personnel responded quickly.

We don’t have to search half a continent away. Hate has reared its ugly head closer to home.

The area surrounding Lake Merritt has been defiled in recent weeks and months with obscenities, swastikas, and threats of violence against the Jewish community.

In San Jose, two men were assaulted—one requiring stitches—while speaking Hebrew on Santana Row. The victims and a witness described the use of hateful language by the perpetrators.

Jewish students at Stanford were targeted with hateful emails with “acute credible threats against the personal safety of Jewish Stanford undergraduate and graduate students.”

These are abhorrent antisemitic acts—hate crimes—directed at our Jewish brothers and sisters.

Our Jewish neighbors do not ask for special favor but equal protection. The promise of this country—to worship freely, to study in peace, and to walk our streets without fear—must be honored not as aspiration but as a guarantee.

That is not too much to ask of our leaders. It is what they owe us.