opinion The foreign campaign to indoctrinate American youth

When antisemitism becomes so widespread that millions of people feel forced to disguise their identity or hide their faith, it is no longer just a social issue—it is a cultural crisis.

A recent survey released by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) found that 57 percent of Jewish Americans experienced antisemitism in the past year, equivalent to approximately 3.3 million Jewish adults, alongside an estimated 250,000 Jewish children. The threat is so real that Jewish Americans are changing their behavior: 38 percent said they now hide things that identify them as Jewish, and 23 percent had skipped Jewish events or observances out of fear.

The rate at which antisemitism is rising in America would have seemed unthinkable just a generation ago. To push back, we must look past the symptoms and ask the fundamental question: Where is this hatred coming from—and who is fanning the flames?

One primary cause is foreign interference, which has indoctrinated a generation of Americans against America, Israel, Jews, and Christians. Most concerning, this generation is now entering the political arena, and candidates are openly proclaiming some of this dangerous ideology in their campaigns.

To understand this dynamic, we must look at the “Red-Green Alliance” between Marxists (communists and socialists) and Islamists. Both sides are authoritarian, and both want to take over the world. Both see America and Israel as standing in the way, so they have united in their quest to bring down Judeo-Christian America and the Jewish State of Israel. They are well-organized and financed by foreign—if not state—funding.

One of the main funders is Qatar. In the article “We Know Who’s Buying U.S. College Campuses,” authors Anila Ali and Dalia Ziada warn we should not take this lightly, given Qatar’s longtime backing of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and the Islamic Revolutionary regime in Iran. Ali and Ziada state. “The money and ideology travel together.”

The other primary funder is China. Some $6 billion of Chinese funding of US higher education has been reported—and that’s likely just the beginning. Ali and Ziada state that a Senate investigation found that nearly 70 percent of universities receiving funds from Chinese government-linked Confucius Institutes failed to report it as required.

Many US universities do not publicly disclose the full amount of funds they receive from Qatar or China. Yet, this interference targets higher education, one of our most important institutions. This influence is being felt in K–12 classrooms as well. Qatari funded programs are producing curricula that vilifies Israel and one even removed Israel from the map of the region.

Another primary source of foreign interference operates online through foreign bot networks. A 2018 Anti-Defamation League (ADL) study found almost 30 percent of accounts repeatedly tweeting against Jews on Twitter appeared to be bots. In an article in The Times of Israel, Warren Kinsella, author of The Hidden Hand: The Information War and the Rise of Antisemitic Propaganda, writes that the digital forensics firm Cyabra analyzed social media after October 7 and found that 20 percent of pro-Hamas content came from fake or inauthentic accounts.

Our young people get most of their information about current affairs and history through the lens of TikTok and X, and it’s a distorted reflection of reality. They see thousands of comments against Israel and don’t realize the commenters are not real people, but rather a digital army led by foreign governments and terrorist networks. They either become so confused that they back away from Israel altogether, or they become activists themselves, repeating what bots planted in their minds.

Why would American youth embrace such patently self-destructive policies and ideologies to the point they would call for the fall of America, the elimination of Israel, and death to the Jews?

Part of the answer lies in their mental wellbeing. Research confirms a strong link between heavy social media use and the mental deterioration of young people. Driven by addictive app designs, teens and young adults live in a false reality of algorithms and bots on social media, with limited personal interactions, and therefore face heightened risks of depression, anxiety, frustration, and anger—making them uniquely vulnerable to radical narratives.

To counter this trajectory, we must remember that a happy, hopeful young person is less likely to be drawn to hate movements. We must set safeguards and enact curricula reform to protect them from lies and anger. As Christians, we must put much greater effort into reaching our youth with the message of hope found in Jesus, leading them to faith, the power of the Holy Spirit, and a positive outlook on life.