Hate kills again: A fatal anti-Semitic shooting in Jersey City, coupled with rising attacks in New York City, demands a united and forceful response

Now the poison of anti-Semitism, which last year drove a man to take the lives of 11 worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue, which of late has fueled a frightening uptick of street attacks and vandalism here in New York, is behind the murderous attack on three civilians and the killing of a police officer just over the river in Jersey City.

As the picture emerges that a kosher supermarket there was targeted by a so-called Black Israelite, a fringe group of crackpots who routinely rant against Jews and all whites, let’s be clear as unbroken glass: This age-old hatred is not left-wing or right-wing. It infects people across the ideological spectrum.

One of the dead assailants had published anti-Semitic and anti-police posts online, part of what may have been an inchoate concoction of anger and other types of instability. But without the animus aimed at Jews, it is unlikely the deadly fusillade would’ve unfolded this way.

Mayor de Blasio’s announcement of a new unit within the NYPD’s intelligence division to focus on Nazi and other far-right extremist hate groups is very welcome. Don’t limit it to just one end of the political spectrum; as Jersey City shows, zealots of other ideological stripes can also pose a threat against Jews.

Americans of all creeds must push back forcefully against anti-Semitism’s resurgence, which is why billionaire Ronald Lauder’s $25 million campaign to root it out of American politics merits high praise.

President Trump’s signing an executive order to bar anti-Semitic discrimination on college campuses is also welcome, so long as no new regulations are used as cover to shut down robust debate on Israel, including advocacy for the wrongheaded Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. It may be tinged with anti-Semitism, but it must be legal in a free society.

History has proven again and again that hatred of Jews doesn’t end with Jews, and that it also leads to murder. The evil will only be banished with vigilance.