The Israel-Hamas war and the accompanying rise in global antisemitism will not top the list of priorities for American voters this November. New polling from Harvard CAPS/Harris shows that issues like inflation, immigration, and the economy remain top of mind.
But the surge of hate targeting Jewish communities across the country is not a peripheral issue—it’s a wake-up call for all Americans.
This past year has shaken the foundation of our collective security. The shockingly barbaric Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, wasn’t just an assault on Israelis; it laid bare the terrifying depth of antisemitism metastasizing in American society. The ADL tracked more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the United States in the past year, the highest it has ever recorded.
Pro-Palestinian and pro-israeli protesters face off in front of the entrance of Columbia University which is occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters in New York on April 22. There have been a number of antisemitic incidents on campus.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images
The truth is undeniable: Jew-hatred is a growth industry in America.
Police cars now line the streets outside synagogues. Jewish-owned businesses are prone to vandalism and targeted by protesters. On college campuses, Jewish students are singled out and accused of complicity in genocide and apartheid. The word “Zionist” has become a barely concealed substitute for “Jew,” providing a cover for antisemitism to masquerade as political critique.
What was once limited to fringe discourse has entered the mainstream, fueled by radical groups whose ideologies now find platforms on social media, in academia, and even in the halls of Congress.
History offers no shortage of examples of the dire outcomes when societies fail to confront hate. When antisemitism flourished in Europe in the 1930s, it wasn’t just Jewish lives that were shattered—it led to the collapse of democratic institutions, the erosion of truth, and the rise of totalitarianism. The lesson is clear: tolerating antisemitism invites the broader decay of a society’s moral and political fabric.
Hate, once it is unleashed and legitimized, will spread and mutate, targeting other minorities and vulnerable groups and, eventually, anyone who dares to question the mob mentality. Antisemitism in America isn’t just a Jewish struggle; it’s a fight for America’s future.
But it’s a fight that we are failing to recognize, address, and commit to winning.
How do we change course? One piece of encouraging news is that Americans are actually paying attention to the Middle East. Recent polls show that 62 percent are closely following the Israel-Hamas war, and 81 percent express greater sympathy for Israel than Hamas.
The reason is clear: most Americans understand that Israel is fighting for its very survival against terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, whose explicit mission is to annihilate Israel. But what many may not fully grasp is that these groups’ ideologies aren’t limited to the Middle East. Their virulent strain of hate, deeply rooted in antisemitism, has spread beyond the region and found fertile ground in Western democracies, including the United States.
So even as Americans recognize the high stakes in Israel, there remains a troubling disconnect to what they recognize at home. Only six percent of voters consider the Israel-Hamas war a top priority for the country, and a mere two percent list antisemitism as a pressing issue. These figures highlight a dangerous gap between perception and reality.
For Americans, supporting Jewish communities should be reason enough to confront antisemitism. But if more is needed, we must also recognize that the foundational principles that underpin American democracy cannot survive in a society where hate and intolerance are given space to flourish. When bigotry takes root, what follows is a breakdown in the social contract that binds us as a nation.
American Jews are under attack. If antisemitism continues to fester unchecked, it won’t be long before other groups face the same threats.
How we respond today will define the nation we are tomorrow.
Aviva Klompas is the former director of speechwriting at the Israeli Mission to the United Nations and co-founder of Boundless Israel, a nonprofit organization that partners with community leaders in the U.S. to support Israel education and combat hatred of Jews.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
