With reports of antisemitic incidents on the rise and lawmakers subpoenaing Harvard University for an antisemitism investigation, it appears that many Jewish Americans are concerned.
This week, the American Jewish Committee released a report that found 63% of American Jews believe the status of Jewish people in U.S. is less secure than it was one year ago. That’s a 20% increase compared to the previous year.
According to the report, the top reason for this sentiment is the Israel-Hamas War. After the Hamas terrorist organization conducted a large-scale terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, the Israeli government declared the war, which has been raging ever since.
While the U.S. has supported Israel’s right to defend itself, there have also been concerns about the fate of Palestinian civilians left in the war zone in Gaza. In the U.S., tension over the war has flared at college campuses and other locations, and even groups like Jewish Voice for Peace have shared concerns over what the conflict in the Middle East means for Palestinians.
In November, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray Tuesday warned that antisemitic threats are reaching record levels here in the U.S. Last month, Audacy reported on a study that found that belief in antisemitic tropes had reached rates “unseen for decades.”
“The attacks in Israel have left me feeling isolated and unsafe,” said 35-year-old man said quoted by the American Jewish Committee.
“Cheering our deaths and murders and justifying it as resistance is very, very upsetting.”
Other findings from the report revealed that 46% of Jewish Americans surveyed said they changed their behavior out of fear of antisemitism in at least one of the following ways: “avoiding certain places or events, publicly wearing or displaying things, or posting social media content that might identify them as Jewish.”
“It is sadly not surprising that the vast majority of American Jews are feeling less safe today than they did before October 7, 2023,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch. “In the days, weeks, and months since the terror attack, the world has seen a staggering increase in antisemitic speech, anti-Jewish violence, and demonstrations glorifying Hamas terrorists. How are Jews supposed to feel secure when so many side with the murderers in the wake of the deadliest attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust?”
A vast majority of Jewish Americans who participated in the study (93%) said they believed that antisemitism is a very or somewhat serious problem in the U.S. and 86% said that antisemitism in the country has increased in the past five years.
Per the report, this increase has changed their everyday life in the workplace, online and “especially on college campuses.”
This Friday, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) issued a statement regarding serving subpoenas to Harvard Corporation officlas and others related to an antisemitism investigation. CNN called the subpoena’s “unprecedented.”
“Last week, I made it very clear to Harvard that the documents it had produced up to that point were severely insufficient.
I warned that a subpoena would be warranted if the university continued to miss the mark, giving it ample opportunity to correct course before compulsory measures were taken. Unfortunately, Harvard did not heed the Committee’s warning and once again failed to satisfy the Committee’s requests. In its most recent response, Harvard failed to make substantial productions on two of four priority requests and its productions on the remaining two priority requests contain notable deficiencies, including apparent omissions and questionable redactions,” she said.
In January, former Harvard President Claudine Gay stepped down from her role and returned to the school’s faculty. Per the Harvard Crimson, “Gay faced national backlash over the University’s initial response to the Israel-Hamas war, which did not directly condemn Hamas or address a controversial pro-Palestine statement signed by more than 30 student groups,” and then more after testifying before Congress on the matter.
Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton pushed back on Foxx’s statement Friday, according to Axios. He said the school had “provided fulsome and good faith responses.”
Per the American Jewish Committee report, data shows that there is a positive path forward.
“More Americans not only recognize that there is a problem, but they also want to know more and do more,” it said. “An overwhelming majority of Americans believe more resources should be invested in teaching the Holocaust in public schools (91% for American Jews and 85% for U.S. adults).”
Additionally, more than 90% of U.S. adults believe it is important that law enforcement be required to report hate crimes to a federal government database. Read more about the report findings here.