Journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Bret Stephens visited Santa Barbara on Friday to discuss the challenges facing Jewish Americans and what roles the United States should play in foreign policy issues.

Westmont College hosted Stephens at its annual President’s Breakfast at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. 

Westmont President Gayle Beebe called Stephens “one of our foremost foreign affairs experts” and celebrated his ability to help people understand and address complex global issues. The school also presented Stephens with the Westmont Leadership Medal for his achievements as a journalist.

Known for his political columns, Stephens has worked for the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal as a deputy editorial page editor and foreign affairs columnist, which earned him a 2013 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. 

At age 28 he was editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, where he managed the paper’s international operations, editorial, and news. 

During his speech, Stephens shared his family history. His great-grandmother fled Berlin for northern Italy when Adolf Hitler came into power.

“It was thanks to a family of righteous Gentiles that my great-grandmother and her three daughters were able to acquire fake names by which they were able to survive,” Stephens said. 

In 1943, when the Nazis took over northern Italy, Stephens said his family was forced into hiding. His mother spent the first five years of her life without leaving a suite of apartments until the war ended.

Then, in the 1950s, his mother and grandmother immigrated to the U.S. with just $7 between them. 

Stephens said he wanted to share his family journey because it was a chance to tell a primarily non-Jewish audience about the experience of being Jewish in 2026. 

“The story of Jewish life is that Jewish life has a habit of rising and flourishing, often against very improbable odds,” Stephens said. “And then, just as it’s approaching its zenith, its highest point, it discovers that it has reached its precipice.”

He went on to speak about how Jewish people have historically flourished in the U.S., citing a shared belief and appreciation for individual and group success. 

“(In) the United States, individual success and group success was not met as it was elsewhere in the world, and particularly in Europe, was not met with envy,” Stephens said. “It was met with the flip side of envy, which is admiration. To do well in the United States, to achieve the American dream, was a reason for people of all faiths to admire you.”

However, he said things have changed over the last 25 years, with a rise in antisemitic incidents. 

For the last two years, Stephens said he hasn’t been able to go to speaking events without a heavy security presence.

He also spoke about Jewish students facing antisemitism on college campuses and antisemitic incidents in New York. 

“Something has gone deeply wrong in the fabric of much of American life that is suddenly making the United States less hospitable to its Jewish neighbors and fellow citizens as it had been in the first 350-odd years of our history,” Stephens said. “And that is worrying to Jews, but my message this morning is it should be worrying to every single person in this room.”

He said the idea of privilege has replaced the idea of success, vilifying economically successful minorities. He also said there has been a rise in conspiracy theories. 

“​​Antisemitism isn’t just a bigotry prejudice — it’s also a conspiracy theory,” Stephens said. “A set of ideas that don’t originate in the concept of antisemitism are nonetheless moving in that direction, and it needs to worry every single person in this room, irrespective of where you come from, what faith you practice.”

During a Q&A period with Beebe, Stephens discussed foreign policy. He argued that the Iranian Regime poses a threat to the U.S. and that war is imminent.

“If we could get rid of the regime, we’re talking about not from boots on the ground, but by doing just enough to incite the popular uprising that was so bluntly suppressed in January, my argument is that that is, I think, a risk worth taking,” Stephens said, referring to the citizen uprising earlier this year.

When asked about U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine, Stephens argued that Ukraine is fighting for the “freedom of the entire western world.” 

“Russia will not stop with Ukraine,” Stephens said. “If they are victorious there, their appetite will then move to Moldova and move to Latvia or Estonia, or the more vulnerable  NATO states, and in doing so, it’s going to bolden the Chinese as well.”

Stephens said that despite constant crises, America has historically found ways to recover and change for the better, and he believes that will happen again.

“This country has found that what’s right within us is stronger than what’s wrong within us,” Stephens said. “And we’ve been able to summon the leadership, the spirit, the cultural convictions and the resolve to face our problems squarely and to make this a better place for every single American.”