By Jesse Dolojan, Education and Enrichment Coordinator

The Cincinnati Police Department (CPD) has removed a sign with the phrase, “Save Ireland from the Jews” from a pedestrian bridge over I-75 near Columbia Parkway. The sign appeared on March 16, the same day as the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Cincinnati, in an area separate from the parade. 

CPD heard about the sign through calls via 911, local police department and the Jewish Community Relations Council. 

News about the sign also spread online, as many drivers took time to slow down and take pictures of the sign to post on social media, which sparked immense reactions online.

CPD released a statement stating they removed the sign from the overhead bridge due to signage being illegal for hanging on the bridge and the fact that it provided a visual hazard for motorists.

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Rabbi Ari Jun, the Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, was one of the first people contacted for a response regarding the antisemitic sign.

“The first report that I heard of it was around 9:20 in the morning. I want to say I got a phone call from a community member,” Rabbi Jun said. “To ensure that the signs were taken down swiftly, I got in my car, went to confirm that they had been removed by say 10:15-10:30, so within about an hour, I had received messages saying that the signs were gone and, in fact, was able to verify that the signs were gone.”

Rabbi Jun noted that the increase of anti-semetic actions in Cincinnati have mainly been from younger adults.

“I don’t have the exact statistics, but it’s probably something like 80 or 90% of our increased incidents coming out of high schools and colleges in the Cincinnati area,” Rabbi  Jun said.

Antisemetic actions have seen a steady increase since Oct. 7, 2023, the day the Israel-Hamas conflict began. According to the Anti-Defamation League, there were 3,283 antisemitic incidents recorded between Oct. 7 and Jan. 7, and at least two-thirds of the reported incidents could be related to the conflict.

The increase in antisemetic actions have increased nearly 360% compared to the previous year. Some of these actions involved physical assault, harassment and vandalism. 

“I want to be entirely clear: demonstrations against Israel and in support of Palestinians are not intrinsically antisemitic. But there are often co-incidents of antisemitic acts,” Rabbi Jun said. 

“And that’s not something that has always been the case. That’s not necessarily something that always will be the case. But it is something that has been the case for the past five or six months.”

Rabbi Jun stressed how the sign may be a catalyst for more harmful actions in the future and how it is important to take such actions seriously. 

“We like to imagine that this is just one absurd sign in the Cincinnati area. And it is only a short path when you have the right set of societal factors for dangerous hateful rhetoric to lead toward dangerous, hateful, harmful behavior,” Rabbi Jun said.

“So for those who don’t feel that this is serious or urgent, I would urge them to consider how quickly our society can become harmful in the right context.”

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