Why most Jews no longer feel safe in America

Mainstream antisemitism is surging in America, culminating in an increasingly dangerous environment post-October 7.  While much of it is camouflaged as anti-Zionism and in response to Israeli actions, it is not a new phenomenon—it is the culmination of an ancient disease. To fully comprehend this crisis, we must look at the recurring historical patterns that fuel it—specifically, the weaponization of conspiracy theories during crises, the systematic denial of Jewish trauma, and the moral equivalencies used to justify violence. 

Conspiracy Theories and Pandemics

 Pandemics are dangerous times for Jewish communities due to the conspiracy theories they spawn. One of the greatest catastrophes to afflict humanity was the fourteenth-century bubonic plague—known as the “Black Death”—that swept through Europe. Historians estimate that up to 50 percent of Europe’s population died in the pandemic, with rates of death as high as 75 percent in Italy, Spain, and France.

Church and state had already demonized the Jewish minority, so they were an easy scapegoat. They also fared better than the general population, possibly due to their dietary and religious practices or the fact that many were confined in walled ghettos. Their lower death rates, however, fueled suspicions that they were behind the pandemic, and many Jews who survived the plague were then massacred in pogroms.

During the COVID crisis of 2020, antisemites spread lies that Jews developed the virus to kill many people and gain power. They were also accused of using it to make money selling the antidote. The fact that the Orthodox Jewish community in New York had higher rates of infection than the general population was used as proof. The lies were propagated on all social media platforms.

We should not dismiss conspiracy theories as mere craziness. Conspiracy theories produce anger, and anger moves quickly from words into actions; verbal insults often result in physical attacks. 

Holocaust Denial

Holocaust denial is any attempt to diminish or deny the established facts of the Nazi genocide of European Jews. This is a form of antisemitism because it perpetuates the antisemitic trope that Jews are dishonest and manipulative and accuses them of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust as a plot to advance “Jewish interests.”

Some common Holocaust denials include reducing the number of Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust; denying the existence of Nazi facilities that used gas chambers to systematically murder Jews; and denying the widespread killing of Jews in all the camps—not just in ones equipped with a means of mass extermination. 

Many Americans have fathers or grandfathers who fought in World War II and may have personally witnessed the carnage the Nazis left behind in the camps. Holocaust denial is not only an affront to the Jewish people but to all those who fought to bring down the evil Nazi regime. 

October 7 Denial

Within days after the atrocities that occurred on October 7, 2023, when Hamas massacred more than 1,200 innocent people, committed unspeakable acts of brutality and sexual assault, and took more than 250 people into Gaza, information began circulating that the attack or parts of it were exaggerated or untrue. Some people even said the Israeli Defense Forces staged the entire thing to justify their invasion of Gaza. Many denied the brutal sexual violence perpetrated on innocents happened despite eyewitness testimony from those who attended the Nova festival and experienced, saw, and heard women being raped. Disturbingly, human rights and women’s rights organizations were silent. The spread of these lies and outright denials occurred despite the extensive documentation by Hamas militants of their actions and their full acceptance of responsibility for the attacks.

No Moral Comparison

After months of negotiations, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire that began the process of releasing a handful of hostages at a time—some brutally murdered, including two babies and their mother—in return for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, most with blood on their hands. The unequal exchange of a few Israelis for a disproportional number of enemy soldiers and murderers was nothing new—in 2011, under immense pressure, Israel exchanged one Israeli hostage for 1,029 terrorists. Among them was Yahya Sinwar, the architect of October 7. Palestinians claim how they treated men, women, and children in their captivity is equal to Israel’s treatment of their prisoners. Yet in no way can non-targeted babies and their mother, brutally murdered in their captives’ hands, be equated to a non-targeted baby who dies in an airstrike. Both are innocent, and both deaths tragic. But there is zero moral equivalence between the two. 

Conclusion

The 2025 State of Antisemitism in America report by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) revealed that 66 percent of American Jews feel less secure living in America than the year prior, and 81 percent feel antisemitism has increased in the United States—up from 61 percent in 2024.[1]

While there is a combination of reasons for the increase, there is one thing that can stop it. One of the largest demographics in America—Evangelical Christians—must be educated to recognize antisemitism in all its forms and stand against its spread into society. If the Holocaust taught us anything, it is that a silent majority is an enabling majority. Christians in the United States must learn to speak out while they can. 

[1] "The State of Antisemitism in America 2025," American Jewish Committee, February 2026, https://www.ajc.org/AntisemitismReport2025.