In recent months, demonstrators have sung the praises of Hamas and the Houthi terrorist organization, whose slogan is “God Is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, a Curse upon the Jews, Victory to Islam.” They have desecrated national monuments with pro-Hamas graffiti, placed keffiyehs on statues of America’s founders, and replaced American flags with Palestinian banners. Many of the protesters hope to supplant America’s culture with a non-Western one; their anti-Semitism connects to a hatred of the U.S.

Activists are pushing this foreign worldview on to the young. University professors make calls to “dismantle” the U.S. at pro-Hamas events, while kindergarten teachers explicitly reject the right of so-called settler-colonial states to exist. For them, the U.S. and Israel together epitomize the evils of the West.

To reverse the disturbing trends we’re seeing, concerned Americans need to push back jointly against anti-Westernism and anti-Semitism. This requires a two-pronged approach: defensive measures to counter anti-Western influences; and offensive efforts to reconnect younger Americans with the richness of Western civilization.