Rise of Antisemitism

By Lara s. '22

The year is 2020: a pandemic is ripping apart our world, the U.S. has both a powerful racial and gender equality movement but also an immense political divide, climate damage is drastically increasing, and so much more. All of these are topics that we hear about every day now, yet a year ago today we could have never imagined our current global situation. Another product of 2020 is the colossal increase of Antisemitism, and unfortunately, this rise in the oppression of Jews has been incredibly overlooked recently. 

The FBI recently released its statistics for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, and these frightening figures showed that 60% of all religious hate crimes in the US were targeted at Jewish people. This 60% refers to all religious hate crimes against the whole population of the US. Jews make up a mere 1.7% of the US population, making these statistics especially daunting. 

A recent 50 state survery on Holocaust knowledge of American Millennials revealed shocking levels of ignorance among the American people. Almost 25% said they believe the Holocaust was a myth or had been incredibly exaggerated. Nearly 20% of Millenials and Gen Z in New York believe that Jews caused the Holocaust. One in ten respondents under 40 in the United States have never heard of the Holocaust. And, lastly, two-thirds were unaware six million Jews were brutally murdered in the Holocaust.  This shocking evidence shows how uneducated many are about the oppression of Jews, which might be to blame for the 120% increase in Antisemitism in the USA since 2017. As the rise of Anti-Semitic attacks and incidents increases, these occurrences are not receiving much publicity, which may be the reason why it has become normalized. 

In Brooklyn earlier this year, a Rabbi was stabbed to death in the streets, and again, it barely received publicity. When Coronavirus first began to spread, Jews were blamed for bringing it to America, after the first outbreak in New York was in the Jewish community of New Rochelle, reported by NY daily news. Hate speech against Jewish people increased, and even government officials and news outlets blamed the Jewish people for bringing Coronavirus to the northeast. Another rise of Antisemitism that is especially alarming as high school students is the rise of antisemitism on college campuses. Going into the 2020 school year, Jewish college students all over the country were filled with fear and anxiety about returning to campus, but these fears were not from the terrifying pandemic; they were because of the increase in attacks on Chabads and Hillels at colleges, where most students consider a safe environment to celebrate Jewish identity, reported by college news sources. Two Chabads have been set on fire in Delaware this year, Israeli flags have been thrown out on many college campuses, students at the University of Southern California have been harassed due to their Zionist beliefs, and posters praising Hitler have been discovered two years in a row on Arizona State University’s campus. Antisemitism has hit a four decade high in the United States, says the Anti-Defamation League. 

This pressing issue is not only apparent in the United States, though. A newly released Statista report showed that in 2019 there were 122 violent antisemitic attacks in the United Kingdom. In 2020, hundreds of antisemitic incidents have taken place in many western countries, like the Synagogue terror shooting in Vienna. Unfortunately, this shooting aimed at the Jewish community in Austria killed 5 people, and received almost no press in America, since it was the day before the presidential election. Even so, almost every day in 2020 has had some type of Anti-Semitic attack against the Jewish community in some part of the world. Moment Magazine has an Anti-Semitism monitor and tracks incidents by country, and The Anti- Defamation League has an Antisemitic Incidents tracker. Observers on these sites will see that aside from a few countries, almost every country has seen a significant increase in Anti-semitism, with France being named the most Anti-Semitic country in the west this year. The UN has said that “Anti-Semitism is rising even in countries with no Jews at all.” Europe and the Middle East have had extreme amounts of Anti-Semitic incidents in the past year, which is especially terrifying for the next generation of Jews. 

The existence of Jews has been polarized in the past years, and the future is uncertain. The worst part of these incidents is that they are barely heard of and are rarely covered in top recognized news outlets, which, in a way, makes it more acceptable since they are not being spoken out against. These incidents discussed, unfortunately, are only a fraction of the world’s Antisemitism, just the tip of the iceberg.  Jewish communities all over the world have called on media outlets and people everywhere to include Jews in their activism, and work together for an equal and peaceful future for all.