Dear John,

The latest news from Israel is staggering — at least 700 Israelis murdered, thousands injured and hundreds missing, including children, women and men, likely being held hostage by Hamas and other terrorists in Gaza.

More importantly, behind those numbers are human beings caught in the crosshairs of a premeditated attack by Hamas — an Iranian backed and funded terrorist organization whose very charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and genocide to those who live there. The victims are our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, our colleagues and our friends. Make no mistake, this is very, very personal.

In briefings today with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, as well as members of ADL’s office in Jerusalem and the media, I listened to agonizing stories from colleagues and others who had to go into hiding and those going from hospital to hospital searching for missing loved ones. Perhaps the most heart-wrenching was the distraught Israeli mother who described the agony she felt as she helplessly listened on the phone as her young sons were taken hostage by terrorists who raided their kibbutz.

So first and foremost, we need to focus on those we’ve lost and those who are currently experiencing this terror on the ground.

Secondly, as an organization that knows hate and has been fighting antisemitism and hate for more than 110 years, it’s crucial we call out Hamas for what it is: a hate group, an Iranian-backed terrorist organization like Al Qaeda or ISIS. This is a sadistic, evil entity that shoots elderly people at point blank range at bus stops, that murders parents in front of their children and that records all their brutality to share on social media while their followers celebrate.

Just days before the attack, Hamas’s backer — Supreme Leader Khamenei of Iran — referred to Israel as a “cancer” which would be “eradicated... at the hands of the Palestinian people and the resistance forces throughout the region.” Unfortunately, we in the Jewish community know that ugly rhetoric leads to ugly actions.

That’s why, against a backdrop of rising antisemitism at home and abroad, when as DHS Secretary Mayorkas put it “we live in a world today where actions in one part of the world have very significant effects elsewhere,” ADL and our partners in law enforcement and security will be ferociously committed to protecting Jewish communities here at home.

ADL is on full alert, leveraging our capabilities and leaning into our expertise about how antisemitism emerges from crises like this. We are monitoring threats and tracking reactions. We are sharing what we learn with elected officials and policymakers and actively engaging and supporting local partners, communal allies and our friends overseas. We also call on responsible members of the international community to take concrete actions both in support of Israel and against those who support the Hamas terrorists.