Jewish Americans divided on whether Israel protests are anti-Semitic

A new AP-NORC poll found that about 6 in 10 Jewish adults in the U.S. say they feel less safe since the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. The poll, released Tuesday, also found that 3 in 10 Jewish adults said they or someone in their household experienced verbal abuse, physical assault or property damage because they are Jewish.

Jewish American respondents also were divided on whether protests related to Israel should be considered anti-Semitic.

Gila Franklin-Segal of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington said anti-Semitic incidents have risen sharply since the Hamas attack.

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“We see that violence, but we also see increasingly graphic, harsh rhetoric, both online and in public discourse. And we are seeing it coming from not only one segment of the political world, but from across the political spectrum,” she said, adding that attacks are coming from both liberals and conservatives.

Franklin-Segal said tensions in the Middle East often lead to increased anti-Semitism in the United States, though anti-Semitism predates the modern Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“We need to really be careful about not overstating that fact, because in truth, anti-Semitism is perhaps the oldest hatred, and it well precedes the creation of the state of Israel,” she said.

Franklin-Segal said anti-Semitism has become pervasive in daily life, including harassment outside synagogues and schools, as well as online.

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“I can tell you as a professional who is responsible for monitoring anti-Semitism in my own community and as a mother of Jewish young people, it is pervasive,” she said. “My own family has had to grapple with anti-Semitic incidents that are directly targeting us as Jewish people only because we are Jewish.”