Q&A – The Continued Rise of Anti-Semitism
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Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio Are more Americans becoming antisemitic or are the antisemites just more likely to act out now?
Bottom Line: As we’re continuing to watch unprecedented antisemitic protests play out on college campuses across the country you’ve asked a couple of really good questions that I’ll do my best to address. It was just two weeks ago, ironically right around the start of the current phase of college campus takeovers by antisemites, that the Anti-Defamation League produced their annual report showing a record number of antisemitic incidents nationwide in 2023. That seems to provide the answer to at least one of your questions. We are seeing those inclined towards antisemitic behavior seemingly feeling more emboldened to engage in it. I’ll start by breaking down what the ADL documented most recently.
- A 140% increase in antisemitic incidents year-over-year
- A total of 8,873 incidents (an average of 24 per day)
- Documented harassment of Jews increased by 184%
- Vandalism increased by 69%
- Assaults rose 45%
Every category of antisemitic behavior rose to record documented high levels last year. Another meaningful takeaway from the ADL’s report was the impact that Hamas’ October 7th terrorist attack on Israel had on behavior within the United States. According to the ADL’s records, there were significant increases in antisemitic incidents following October 7th through year end. 59% of all recorded incidents took place in the less than three-month window from October 7th through year end. It’s evident that would-be bad actors felt emboldened by the horrific actions of Hamas. However, as was also noted by the ADL, preceding the October 7th attack, record levels of antisemitic behavior occurred in February, March, April, May and September. It appears as though there would have been record recorded antisemitic incidents in the US last year even without the catalyst of October 7th.
The net effect of the rise in antisemitic behavior is that a quarter of all American Jews now say they’ve been the direct targets of antisemitism. With Florida having the country’s third largest Jewish population, with over 672,000 Jews, this sadly means Floridians are among the most negatively impacted by the rise of antisemitism despite the recent protests largely playing out on college campuses far from our state. Now that we’ve addressed the question about antisemites becoming more emboldened to act out, let’s try to address whether more Americans are becoming antisemitic. The answer to this one is more complicated.
A recent accredited poll sponsored by the ADL attempted to answer that question. In the survey, the ADL found a record 24% of Americans surveyed held antisemitic beliefs, a number that was up 4% from the previous survey in 2022. What they also found was that the youngest generations of adults are also those most likely to hold antisemitic views. According to the survey, Generation Z and Millennials were the most likely generations to express antisemitic views. What the surveying suggests is that it doesn’t appear to be the case that once tolerant adults are suddenly becoming radicalized towards antisemitism, but that as younger generations of Americans become adults, we’re discovering much higher levels of antisemitic tendencies. As stated by the ADL’s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt: After decades of antisemitism mostly keeping to the fringes of society, it is shocking to see the number of Americans who openly hold antisemitic beliefs increase so significantly in recent years. The sharp reversal, from older generations to younger generations being more likely to hold antisemitic beliefs, is a terrifying concern for our future. The need for better solutions is more urgent than ever – before this dangerous momentum keeps growing. That raises another question. Why are younger generations becoming more inclined towards hatred?
There are various theories for why this is the case. They include the proliferation of antisemitic material on social media along with negative/false stereotypes of Jews portrayed on social media. That’s probably true to varying degrees. There’s also likely another catalyst that has to do with non-Jewish religions and the lack thereof as well.
Of any demographic group Muslims are the most likely to hold antisemitic views, with 49%, or right at half, harboring those views. While most religions have seen a decline within the United States in recent decades that hasn’t been the case with Muslims. The percentage of the US population that identify as Muslim has increased every year since record keeping of religion demographics began in 1950. While still a small percentage of the population, at just 2.3%, the Muslim population has grown from only 0.1% in the 1950’s to that point today. The Muslim population growth rate as a percentage of the American population has grown by 31% over the past twenty years. That growth, without a doubt, figures to be a contributing factor. But the largest contributing factor would appear to be the lack of faith.
Gallup recently completed their most recently study on US religions. What they found is that a record low number of Americans identify with any religion. As recently as 2000, 91% of all Americans identified with a religion (with 86% identifying as Christians). Today that number is down to 75% (with 68% identifying as Christians). As a result, those saying they have no religion has risen from about 8% to 22%. The continued decline in religious observance has continued to correspond to the rise in hate and violence of all kinds in society including antisemitism. As older, more faithful generations of Americans pass on, they’re being replaced in society with younger generations of adults who’re far less likely to believe in a higher power and that would appear to be the crux of what’s in play with the antisemitic protests on college campuses, record antisemitic incidents in our society and numerous other issues of violence in schools and society generally.