Love them or hate them, it’s almost impossible to talk about modern politics without mentioning Jewish people. Should Israel exist, do they run our government, am I for or against them? Most people don’t know what they think about Jews, but one organization is looking to change that. The Blue Square Alliance (BSA) has a simple mission as stated by the founder Robert Kraft: “educate and inspire unengaged Americans to stand up to Jewish hate by recognizing that hate of any kind increases hate of all kinds.”
If you’ve watched any NFL games in the past couple years, you’ve more than likely seen the product of Blue Squares outreach. They’ve launched five major ad campaigns since their founding in 2019, and they claim that 35% of “unengaged” Americans are more likely to stand up to Jewish hate after seeing one of their ads.
The company, being funded by their billionaire founder, has an enormous budget of nearly 200 million dollars. They are present not only in the NFL, but also virtually every major sporting event in the country and on all social media platforms.
Their main call to action is asking you to post a picture of a blue square under a hashtag such as “#TimeOutAgainstHate” or “#StandUpToJewishHate”. They also offer to ship contributors a blue square pin for free if requested, and unless you’re an organization, you can order up to 200 pins at no cost.
It’s important to note that Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots, only started the organization after receiving the Genesis Prize from Israel. It’s the Israeli equivalent of a Nobel Peace Prize, and it comes with a hefty million dollar award. After receiving the honor, Kraft pledged 20 million dollars to the founding of the FCAS (Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism), which later rebranded to the Blue Square Alliance in 2025.
The BSA’s connection to the Israeli government is no secret. There are numerous photos of Robert Kraft and Benjamin Netanyahu (current Israeli prime minister) together, and Kraft strongly claims his Jewish identity. The current President of the BSA, Adam Katz, who took over in 2025, is also very public about his Jewish heritage. He often recounts in interviews that his grandparents escaped Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
At face value, the BSA contains no harmful rhetorics. Their message is simple and kind: protect Jews from antisemitism. Given the current state of affairs in Israel, however, it’s hard not to question if the organization has ulterior motives.
It has long been a strategy of Israel’s government to conflate anti-zionism with anti-semitism. Spreading the message that, somehow, if you don’t support Israel-state then you must be against Jewish people.
There are a lot of people who claim Jewish identity, including myself, but the fact of the matter is being Jewish doesn’t mean you’re being oppressed. In a country whose government arbitrarily picks and chooses which groups get the most support, white Jews aren’t at the top of the list. Anti-semitism does exist in the U.S. but it’s indirect and targeted towards a group of people that aren’t actually real. When Israel invaded Palestine, this idea that the U.S. government is being controlled by an evil organization of Jews started getting passed around me, and these strange pity seeking ads only made people angrier.
The BSA’s most recent ad titled, “Sticky Note” features a Jewish kid getting pushed around the hallways of a school while people gossip behind his back. I’m a dead ringer for this kid: we have the same nose, the same curly brown hair, the same eyebrows, and even our adams apple is the same. I’m literally living this kid’s life, and for that reason I can tell you that these advertisements are nothing more than attempts to garner your sympathy.
It’s the nationalist attitude of the country’s leaders that causes the greatest levels of distrust for Jews. According to the BSA’s website, “30% of 18-29 year olds believe Jews are a threat to society”. This belief, though unrealistic, is not completely unfounded. In the last 18 years alone, Israel has participated in more than six major conflicts in its area. Most recently, Israel has been commiting total genocide on the Palestinian people and targeting civilians in air strike attacks on Iran.
All of this is compounded by the fact that the United States is supporting these actions. In American history, it’s common to see linear growth in racial bias with rising world conflicts. When you pass off the idea that all Jewish people support the actions of a violent country, you’re also passing off the idea that Jews themselves are violent people. Choosing not to support Israel’s actions, if anything, makes you less racist because it proves that you can separate groups of people, not by race or religion, but purely by ideology.
Blue Square isn’t an evil organization, and if you’re looking for a conspiracy you won’t find one. That said, they are a terrible, corporate level sham of a movement. They claim to care about all people, but refuse to show sympathy for the tens of thousands of people Israel has massacred. Instead, they pass off this idea that if you aren’t with them, you must be against them. The BSA’s biggest enemy is themselves, but instead of admitting that, they’d rather parade around pretending that they’re the good guys.
If someone you know is experiencing antisemitism, posting a picture of a blue square on your Instagram account isn’t going to help them. If you want to support a real movement, go find out what you can do to support your local community. It’s easy to support organizations that do all the work for you, but it’s hard to have a meaningful effect on a real person. Stop playing activist and go do something nice for someone.
