A national Jewish organization is making efforts to stamp out antisemitism to Orlando.
JewBelong, an organization that fights antisemitism and works to make Judaism accessible, plans to put up two billboards near Inter & Co. Stadium and Camping World Stadium ahead of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
“We are raising awareness and making people have conversations about antisemitism,” said Archie Gottesman, the co-founder of JewBelong. “And a great way to do that is put billboards where popular culture is just happening.”
During an interview with News 6 Monday, Gottesman pointed out that Jewish people make up just two percent of the entire country.
Gottesman added, “98 percent of the people who see a JewBelong billboard are not Jewish,” she said. “But we get so much positive feedback from the billboards.”
Gottesman recalled a billboard that had garnered a lot of attention. It read, “You don’t have to be a Jew to protect Jews.”
“We have gotten amazing feedback from that,” she said. “And it is because it states the simple truth.”
In a news release published Monday morning, the organization said the billboards would be “eye-catching pink and white” and feature a “provocative, thought-provoking slogan to raise awareness about the dangers of antisemitism.”
The billboards are scheduled to appear June 2 and June 9, respectively.
- The billboard slated to go up June 2 will read: “Whether you call it football or soccer, antisemitism is a foul.”
- The billboard scheduled to go up June 9 will state: “Kick the (blank) out of antisemitism.”
The announcement comes in the wake of another attack believed to be targeting Jews.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating an attack in Boudler, Colorado, as an act of terrorism. Eight people were hurt in the Sunday attack.
The FBI has also characterized a fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy workers in Washington, D.C. as an act of terrorism.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) revealed in April that it had tracked 9,354 antisemitic incidents across the United States in 2024. That figure represented a 5% increase from the previous year.
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