US Jews cannot blame Israel, Israeli government for increasing antisemitism, JFNA CEO says

His direct message to Jews around the world was: “Hold your heads high. Be proud. Be confident. Do not be intimidated. Stand your ground.”

Yet many American Jews are engaging in self-blame. They are afraid, forced to live their Jewish lives within confined spaces, and in conversations with Israelis, some accuse Israel of causing the surge in antisemitism and putting them in danger. There are also Israelis who agree with them.

Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, rejected that trend. In an interview with Walla, he dismissed any attempt to present Israeli policy as an explanation for violence against Jews, while acknowledging that the divide with parts of the younger generation and the Jewish left is continuing to deepen.

“There is no disagreement that anyone may have with the policies of the Israeli government that can serve as an excuse for violence or threatening behavior of any kind, verbal, physical, or otherwise,” he said. “That is unacceptable.”

Fingerhut, 67, a lawyer by profession, is an ardent Zionist and one of the most senior and influential figures in the American Jewish establishment. Before taking over the Jewish Federations of North America, the umbrella organization representing Jewish communities and federations across the United States and Canada, he served as a member of Congress from Ohio, a state senator, a Democratic candidate for the US Senate, head of Ohio’s higher education system, and president of Hillel International, where he led an initiative that doubled the number of Jewish students reached by the organization to more than 130,000 a year.

Fingerhut drew a firm line. It is legitimate to oppose the government in Jerusalem and debate its policies, he argued, but criticism of policy must not be confused with denying Israel’s legitimacy, and certainly not with calls to harm Jews. Yet the index showed that for a growing share of American Jews, the reality is more complex. They do not justify antisemitism, but they believe Israeli policy has a direct effect on the conditions in which they are required to live, work, and protect their institutions.

Jews in the United States today speak about fear, hiding Jewish symbols, exercising greater caution at work and avoiding public expressions of support for Israel. What Israelis sometimes see as a distant political debate is experienced by some American Jews as an immediate personal issue, hostility on campus, professional boycotts, online attacks, tension at work, or threats against communal institutions.

Like a growing number of Jews in the United States, Fingerhut wears a hat that does not reveal his identity. During the interview, he removed it, revealing the kippah underneath, illustrating the growing awareness of visible Jewish identity in public spaces. Jewish life in the United States, he said, has fundamentally changed, not necessarily because Jews feel constant fear every time they walk down the street, but because a new calculation has entered everyday life: How visibly Jewish are you, where are you, and who is watching you?

Fingerhut confirmed that people have become more cautious. “They are very careful about what they say in the workplace, and very careful about what they post online,” he explained. “There are people who simply avoid expressing their views the way they did in the past, so they do not get drawn into arguments and confrontations. If they choose to speak openly and stand their ground, they know they have to be prepared to pay a price.”

He acknowledged that American Jewish support for Israel is not uniform. In federation surveys, he said, support for Israel as the national home of the Jewish people and as a Jewish and democratic state remains very strong, at 80% to 90%. Support for the Israeli government, however, is much lower. “These are two completely separate questions,” he said, reflecting the position of a growing number of American Jews who strongly oppose the Netanyahu government’s policies.

Support for Israel is particularly low among younger Jews, but it is also lower among Jews of any age who define themselves as progressive or identify with the political left. “Age and political outlook overlap to a large extent, but it is not only a question of age,” he explained. “An older person who defines themselves as progressive may also express lower levels of support.”

This led to perhaps his most important point about the new reality: American Jewry can no longer assume that Zionism passes automatically from one generation to the next. “The word ‘Zionist’ has taken on different meanings for different people,” he said. “My generation understood Zionism as a belief in the national home of the Jewish people, in the Jewish state, Israel. Period. Not the government, and not its policies.”

For many young people, he said, “Zionist” has become a term associated with support for a particular government, a specific prime minister or every Israeli policy. As a result, when a young person says they are not a Zionist, what they may really mean is that they do not support the government or a specific policy, rather than that they oppose Israel’s existence.

“We have to explain what Zionism is. You cannot assume that someone who is 16 or 18 understands the term the way we understand it, without being taught and having it explained to them,” he emphasized. “Every generation has to be educated again.”

He also did not ignore the element of fear. Students, young adults and professionals at the beginning of their careers may be reluctant to publicly identify as Zionists, particularly in academia and certain workplaces. “There are people who will be afraid to say publicly, ‘I am a Zionist,’ and so they will avoid doing so, simply because they fear the reactions,” he said.

The conversation with Fingerhut illustrated just how profoundly Jewish life in the United States has changed. Instead of focusing primarily on Judaism, education, culture, and community-building, security has become the dominant issue, not only in the interview but also in the daily routines of synagogues, schools, summer camps, and community centers.

“I never thought that in my lifetime I would walk into a synagogue and check where the security guards are and where the exits are,” he said. “It is a tragedy.” Federations, he said, must now factor security into every decision: Can an event be held? Where should it be held? Who will secure it? Is the entrance protected? Is there coordination with police?

“Every dollar the community spends on security guards and cameras is a dollar that is not invested in Jewish education, caring for the elderly, and helping people in need,” Fingerhut stressed. “But we will protect ourselves. We will raise the money, and we will do it, because we will not allow these people to stop us.”

Fingerhut expected the bill to continue rising this year and for the foreseeable future. He said spending is increasing at about 20% per year, and if that trend continues, the North American Jewish community may need to spend roughly another quarter of a billion dollars on security this year. He stressed that this is his personal estimate, not an official federation forecast.

He described how, since the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, a watershed moment in the sense of insecurity among American Jews, a broad community security infrastructure has been built almost from scratch. In the past, he said, only about a dozen communities had formal security programs. Today, by contrast, nearly every community has a professional security director, usually a former law enforcement officer or someone with a security background, who maps institutions, coordinates with police, trains staff, and helps secure funding for protective measures.

But what was considered an advanced standard only a few years ago, a community security director, training, cameras, and barriers, is no longer enough. “We now understand that we are going to have to invest even more,” he said. “Around-the-clock monitoring of buildings, command centers where someone watches cameras in real time, perimeter security, and technological measures, all of these require financial resources.”

Fingerhut warned of what he calls “a domestic terrorism crisis in America targeting the Jewish community.” US law enforcement agencies, he said, recognize that there are actors online planning attacks against synagogues and Jewish institutions. “Thank God most of them are arrested, but not all of them will ever be stopped,” he said. “That is our reality today.”

Against that high cost, he made a clear demand of the US government. The Jewish community will continue investing in its own protection, but the state cannot leave it to fight alone. “The government has an obligation to protect its citizens, houses of worship, and places where communities gather,” he said. The federations are working with Congress, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security to increase funding for the federal nonprofit security grant program, as well as funding for local police and federal investigations.

Fingerhut was also concerned by the increasing politicization of support for Israel. As a former Democratic elected official, he noted that many Democrats are worried about the direction their party is taking. He pointed to Jewish Democrats who, in some races, are choosing to support Republican candidates in order to send a message, but warned against allowing Israel to become a one-party issue.

“We cannot afford for support for Israel to rest on only one party in America,” he stressed. “Bipartisanship is critical. The United States is a two-party country, unlike Israel, and support has to come from both sides.”

There is also a brighter side. The JPPI index pointed to a depth of connection that is not necessarily reflected in political debate. About half of the American Jews who participated in the survey knew at least several hundred words in Hebrew, while 13% described themselves as fluent Hebrew speakers. The deeper the connection to Israel, particularly among those who once lived there, the stronger the level of Hebrew proficiency. This is precisely the tension Fingerhut describes: Growing criticism of government policy does not necessarily mean growing distance from Jewish identity or a rejection of Israel. Instead, it reflects a relationship that remains personal, deep, and at times painful.

Still, Fingerhut wanted to end on a note that is not solely about anxiety, pointing to a Jewish awakening since October 7. More families are sending their children to Jewish summer camps and schools, and more people are taking part in community events, online learning, and Jewish identity programs. “People want to be in the company of Jews and be more involved in Jewish life,” he noted.

“This should be a year of healing and renewal,” Fingerhut concluded, wishing Israel, the Jewish people, and everyone else a good and sweet new year. “We will do our part to protect the community, but we cannot allow the threats to take away the beauty and warmth of Jewish life.”