To say Jew-hatred has skyrocketed over the last decade would be an understatement. 

On April 22, the Anti-Defamation League released its Audit of Antisemitic Incidents for 2024, and as was easily predictable, it was another record year. In fact, over just the last ten years, the ADL has tracked an increase of a staggering 893% year-over-year. In Colorado alone, the number of antisemitic incidents reported spiked 41% over the number reported in 2023. (Interestingly, far-right, white supremacist-related propaganda in the U.S. actually decreased 17% from 2023. It may be that they’re simply content to sit back a little bit and let the far-left do the dirty work for them.)

For years, the surge found its footing with the far-right white supremacists and neo-Nazi types. Then, beginning in 2021, the far left joined the fracas in shockingly high numbers, which have only grown exponentially since Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel, slaughtering 1,200 people and kidnapping 250 more on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Ever since, it seems a binary perspective has emerged around the politics of antisemitism in the West, nowhere more obviously than in the United States. Two “sides” are defining this narrative: those who see Islamism (largely as portrayed by jihadists), as the rally cry against fascism, and those who embrace fascism as though it’s the only defense against jihadism. 

This is a fallacy. 

We cannot embrace fascism to combat jihadism.
We cannot embrace jihadism to combat fascism. 

What’s worse is that both sides have decided to weaponize one small group of people in their rhetoric: Jews. 

How many Americans are we talking about?

Answering that question is hard, but we can get reasonable estimations based on polling data. While most people don’t self-identify as fascists, the Washington Post, working with IPSOS polling firm, published an article on this topic. The Public Autonomy Project published a reaction to that poll, offering an insightful means to get close to a number based on how people responded to two questions:

  1. Do you support pardoning violent Jan. 6 insurrectionists?
  2. Would you support the Trump administration ignoring court rulings that call its policies illegal?

“Now, if my standard for counting fascists (as all and only those giving the fascism-linked answer to both questions) is a valid basis for arriving at an estimate,” says author Stephen D’Arcy, “this would put the upper limit on fascists in the USA at 11% of the population. As it turns out, 11% of adults in the United States comes to about 28.8 million. Ideally, we would be able to cross-tabulate the answers, to see how many people gave the fascism-aligned answer to both questions, but I do not have access to that data. An estimate is required, and it is probably prudent to offer a relatively cautious one … If we assume, as seems reasonable to me, that at least ⅔ of the adults who gave the fascism-associated answer to the second question (about ignoring the courts) also gave the fascism-associated answer to the first question (about the legitimacy of political violence), then the number of fascist adults in the USA right now would be somewhere between 19 million at the low end and 28.8 million at the high end.”

Simultaneously, most on the left side of the political spectrum certainly don’t see themselves as antisemites (though I can tell you firsthand, many of them are happy to dictate to Jews what is and isn’t an example of antisemitism). Meanwhile, the “pro-Palestinian” protests have largely been focused on “anti-Israel,” frequently violent rhetoric, often demanding the complete dismantling of the single Jewish state in the world (alternatively, there are 23 countries that declare Islam as the official state religion and 13 that label Christianity as the official state religion. This isn’t exactly the same as Judaism, which is an ethnic group, and Israel guarantees the right to free religion in its document of Basic Laws, but I digress). 

That particular stance has been adopted as an example by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance as an antisemitic platform: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination.” It’s important to note that the IHRA definition does not preclude good-faith criticisms of the actions of the Israeli government: “Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.” (Emphasis is mine.)

The numbers here, too, are hard to nail down. Chants and signs at protests such as “Death to Israel,” “Death to the Zionist State,” “10,000 October 7ths” “Hey hey, ho ho! Zionism has got to go! Hey hey, ho ho! Israel has got to go!” “We don’t want no two States, we want ‘48,” “1-2-3-4, occupation no more! 5-6-7-8, smash the settler Zionist state!” “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution!” — the latter four coming directly from the toolkit provided by anti-Israel group Within Our Lifetimes—are all calls for violence and/or the destruction of Israel. WOL even targeted Jews mourning at a NOVA Music Festival (where Hamas slaughtered nearly 400 Jews on Oct. 7, 2023) exhibit in New York last year on the first anniversary—or yahrzeit—of the slaughter.

When it comes to the actual numbers, no public polling data exists where the question was asked, “Do you support the eradication of Israel?” The closest we can get to an estimation would be to extrapolate from the numbers of protestors who show up, understanding that it’s certainly possible some number of those in attendance don’t necessarily hold that belief. 

As of November of 2024, at least 1.5 million Americans have participated in these protests. Additionally, A Pew Research Center Poll from March 2024 revealed that about 4% of Americans think that the Hamas terror attack in Israel was either somewhat or completely acceptable—amounting to about 13.6 million Americans. In 2018, a poll by the University of Maryland indicated that 35% of Americans favor a one-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, effectively ending the existence of the Jewish state. That would amount to 119 million people. A more recent Pew poll revealed 29% favored a one-state solution as well, representing 98.6 million Americans.

To recap:

Those embracing the call from Islamists and jihadists: ~13.6 million~119 million~98.6 million.
Those embracing fascism: ~19~28.8 million.
The total number of Jews in the United States: 7.5 million. 

The Trump administration has been very vocal in wielding Jews as a cudgel when targeting universities and legal aliens in this country—largely going after people here legally on student visas—and working swiftly to have them deported. This narrative is doing American Jews no favors.

I personally have no problem with deporting non-citizens who engage in violent protests and further the narrative that Jews should be killed. Even then, it’s also still profoundly important to me that these cases are provided the full protections of due process afforded under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This is a common theme the vast majority of the Founders were in agreement on, and it’s legislatively what made the U.S. a unique example when it was born. This is a nation ruled by laws, not the whims of kings. 

And while we bear witness to this unchecked flaunting of the law, compounded by Trump’s refusal to even abide by the courts’ orders to follow it, it’s all exacerbated by the fact that Jews continue to be everyone’s favorite political football. Trump’s actions place us firmly in the crosshairs of antisemitic actors who point at it as an example of the ubiquitous “Jewish Zionists control the government!” conspiracies. And those conspiracies are yet another in a growing list of examples both far-right neo-Nazi types and Islamists use to increase their radicalization and membership numbers. 

It’s a vicious circle, and one we have to fight. Hard.