Opinion: Online or in our neighborhoods. Hatred has no place in Silicon Valley.

“Death will come to you soon.”

“(You) can get raped by a big N-word.”

“Go back to Israel, you dumb traitor, terrorist F-word.”

These words of hatred were not shared in private emails or posted on semi-anonymous sites such as 8chan. Rather, they appeared openly on the campaign Instagram and Facebook accounts of Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen. They are just a sampling of hundreds of incendiary posts targeting Rosen for no reason other than that he is Jewish.

We waited until well after the primary election to share these painful posts and write this difficult message. We did not want our words to be dismissed as politics or as a knee-jerk reaction. They are neither.

Our message is about something larger: the growing presence of hatred and bigotry in our public discourse.

We are writing as a Jewish rabbi and a Muslim leader who share a lifelong commitment to peaceful interfaith dialogue and to centering human dignity. We are joined by faith and community leaders from across Silicon Valley’s diverse communities, including prominent Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Vietnamese, Chinese and Latinos.

While at times, we may differ on complexities of Middle East politics, we both have experienced unwarranted hate against our communities whether it is anti-Muslim or anti-Semitic.

We also both know Rosen as a fair-minded public servant committed to justice, public safety and the dignity of every person and community.

In 2020, as the nation was pushed toward a false choice between criminal justice reform and public safety, Rosen offered a better path. Through his “Bend the Arc” initiative, he advanced reforms — including independent reviews of officer-involved shootings, community investments funded by criminal asset forfeitures and an end to the pursuit of the death penalty — while preserving accountability and public safety. Not every decision pleased every constituency, but his steady leadership showed that justice can evolve without compromising safety.

Rosen demonstrated that same leadership following the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel and throughout the devastating military campaign in Gaza that followed. As the son of a Holocaust survivor, he understood how deeply the violence, the hostage crisis, the enormous loss of Palestinian and Israeli lives and the resulting hostilities would reverberate throughout Silicon Valley — particularly among Jewish, Muslim, Arab, Israeli and Palestinian communities.

His response was not to divide our community but to strengthen it.

In what can be described as a pilgrimage, Rosen visited houses of worship and urged neighbors to stand together in mutual respect. He characterized Silicon Valley as a microcosm of peace — a place where people of different faiths, backgrounds and political views can live together under the rule of law.

That is why we were so disturbed by the social media attacks — filled with slurs, threats and accusations — claiming that Rosen’s Jewish faith disqualified him from impartially enforcing the law and that he was more loyal to his religion than to his country. This ancient dual-loyalty trope has been weaponized to persecute Jewish communities and to justify violence and mass murder. This hatred is familiar to all Muslims and Sikhs who experienced it in the months and years following 9-11.

Still, amid that barrage, and following the hate-motivated deadly attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego, Rosen responded with characteristic moral clarity:

“Every house of worship — whether a mosque, church, synagogue or temple — should be a sanctuary of peace. Hatred begets only more hatred and violence.”

Those words reflected years of standing beside communities targeted by hate, regardless of their faith, ethnicity or background.

Today, we stand with that truth and with District Attorney Jeff Rosen.

Hatred directed at Jews or Muslims is an attack on all of us, just as hatred directed at Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Asians, Latinos, African Americans or any other community diminishes us all.

Silicon Valley became one of the world’s most dynamic communities, not just because of economics, but also because people from every background chose to build a future together.

That future depends on mutual respect, equal justice and the rule of law.

We will not stand idly by while hatred erodes those foundations.

Online or in our neighborhoods. Hatred has no place in Silicon Valley.

Maha Elgenaidi is founder and executive director of Intercultural Networks Group in San Jose. Dana Magat is senior rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in San Jose.