An Anti-Defamation League (ADL) survey found that three fourths of American Jews are worried about antisemitism in the US and across the globe, and 40% are concerned for their own safety, following the 11-day conflict between Hamas and Israel last month.
“Around the recent conflict in Israel and Gaza, there was a significant surge of antisemitic incidents in the US and abroad. American Jews are understandably now more concerned about the potential for violence overseas spilling over into antisemitic threats close to home,” Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL's CEO said.
“The antisemitic attacks we’ve witnessed in the streets and on social media in the past few weeks are weighing heavily on the American Jewish community," Greenblatt noted.
On social media, antisemitic posts have circulated, many with hashtags of "Hitler was Right" and other references to Jews deserving the Holocaust or behaving like Nazis, oppressing Palestinian people.
Some 70% of those who participated in the poll agreed that the comparison of Israel and Nazi Germany is an expression of antisemitism; 75% agreed saying Israel should not exist constitutes antisemitism, while 67% said the same of protesting Israel in front of US synagogues, 61% of calling Zionists racists, 56% of the encouragement of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement against Israel, and 55% of calling Israel an apartheid.
ADL’s Center on Extremism recorded a 115% increase in antisemitic events compared to the previous May, with 251 incidents between May 11th and the end of the month.
“At times of unrest or violence between Israel and armed terrorist groups, we have historically seen a spike in antisemitic incidents, but this year the surge was particularly dramatic and violent,” said Greenblatt.
Beyond physical antisemitism and hate slurs, some 18% of those surveyed experienced a deterioration in their personal relationships due to conversations about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.