If antisemitism is surging across the world, why aren’t more Jews moving to Israel?

It's happening in Athens. In Australia. In Poland. In the United States.

Masked rioters storm a kosher restaurant. Swastikas and anti-Israel slurs are scrawled across a Jewish cemetery. A synagogue is set on fire.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), antisemitic incidents have surged by 344% in the past five years – and by a staggering 893% over the past decade.

Is this the new normal? Has the antisemitism genie escaped the bottle for good? And if so, why aren't we seeing a corresponding wave of Aliyah (Immigration to Israel)?

According to Marc Neugröschel, a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), the actual risk to Jews needs to be kept in proportion. He acknowledged that while there has been a measurable rise in antisemitism – particularly hatred directed at Israel following the Oct. 7 massacre and the ongoing war with Hamas – most Jews' daily lives have not been significantly impacted.

"I don't think it's a situation where you can't walk around or have always worried," Neugröschel, who lives in Cambridge, told ALL ISRAEL NEWS. "It is unsafe to a point, but not where you cannot live everyday life."

Take the situation in Australia – a country that experienced one of the most significant spikes in antisemitism last year, according to a report released by Tel Aviv University's Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Irwin Cotler Institute for Democracy, Human Rights and Justice. A recent string of disturbing incidents left the Jewish community feeling angry and abandoned by national leaders. Yet, according to local Jewish leaders, most community members are not planning to leave Australia.

"I think that people who see it from the outside are worried for us," Ilana Maizels, executive director of JNF Australia – Melbourne, told this reporter shortly after the July attacks, which included the burning of the door of a 150-year-old synagogue, arson at a Jewish business, and rioters threatening patrons and smashing through a kosher restaurant. 

Maizels said that while "it does not feel good if someone hates you," there are still many "moments of light." She believes that many non-Jewish Australians are trying to protect their Jewish friends and are just as shocked by the incidents as the Jewish community itself.

"These people [the perpetrators] do not represent all Australians," she said. "The situation has to be put into proportion. It is awful, but we are not walking around in fear all the time. We are not there, and I hope we don't get there."

At the same time, for many in the Diaspora, life in Israel may not feel any safer. The recent 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel left 30 people dead and thousands more injured.

"If you have to run to bomb shelters because of attacks from Iran – I wouldn't say a Jew in Europe is more unsafe than a Jew in Israel in terms of physical safety," said Marc Neugröschel.

Organizations like Nefesh B’Nefesh, which supports North American Jews in their aliyah journeys, have seen a noticeable spike in applications since the Oct. 7 massacre. But the organization is careful not to link that increase directly to antisemitism. According to NBN staff, very few applicants cite rising hate as their main reason for moving to Israel.

And even among those applying, many aren’t following through.

Only 32,281 new immigrants arrived in Israel in 2024 – a 31% drop compared to 2023, when 47,013 immigrants made the move, according to the Jewish Agency. More broadly, the country saw its overall population growth slow this year to just 1.1%, down from 1.6% in 2023.

The sharp decline is largely due to negative migration, driven by the ongoing security crisis. In 2024, 82,700 Israelis left the country, while just 23,000 returned.

To put those numbers into perspective: between 2009 and 2021, an average of 36,000 Israelis emigrated each year. In 2022, that number jumped to 55,300 – a 46% increase from the year before. And in 2024, it surged again, with 82,700 departures – a 50% increase over 2023, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

CBS classifies an emigrant as someone who has spent at least nine months of the year abroad, including three consecutive months outside the country.

While it might seem logical that Jews would feel safer in the Jewish state, the numbers paint a more complicated picture. Statistically, the likelihood of becoming a victim of violence – such as in the recent stabbing and shooting attack at the Gush Etzion Junction – may be higher in Israel today than in many parts of the world.

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports that since September 2015, the country has been facing a prolonged wave of terror, primarily driven by incitement spread through Palestinian media and encouraged by political leadership. The perpetrators are often young and act independently.

In June alone, the ministry recorded 398 terror attacks. These included 11 shootings, one stabbing, and three incidents involving explosive devices. There were also 43 pipe bombings, 264 stone-throwing incidents, 54 Molotov cocktail attacks, and 21 cases of arson or tire burning. Authorities arrested 274 suspected terrorists that month – 224 in the West Bank, 10 in Jerusalem, and 40 within the rest of Israel.

Neugröschel also pointed out that antisemitism isn't a new phenomenon – it's just being expressed more visibly right now.

"To talk of surges or decreases is a bit deceiving," he explained. "The broader picture is that antisemitism is an ideological attitude that has been very strong everywhere – in the Western and Muslim worlds – for millennia. Sometimes we feel it more. Sometimes there's a spike in manifestations. Sometimes it's less salient… Looking at antisemitism statistics is like looking at the stock market."

He believes Oct. 7 didn't cause this recent wave so much as it gave latent hatred an opening to erupt. The idea that people are responding to Israeli "occupation," he said, is simply the excuse.

"These narratives aren't new," Neugröschel added. "The whole idea of Israel as an illegal occupier, the projection of European colonial crimes onto Israel – this goes back to Soviet propaganda in the 1960s and 1970s. The ideas around October 7 and the response became a catalyst. The narrative is old and won't go away with a ceasefire or diplomatic settlement."

In other words, antisemitism isn't a byproduct of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – it's the lens through which the conflict is being interpreted. The anti-Israel narrative, Neugröschel said, is built on preexisting antisemitic frameworks. People don't just react to events in the Middle East; they process them through long-held ideological bias.

So, yes, antisemitism does seem to be on the uptick. But if the world is expecting a mass Jewish exodus – Jews fleeing Paris, Sydney, or New York en masse for Tel Aviv or Jerusalem – it's not happening. At least not yet.

Because for many Jews, Israel doesn't necessarily feel safer. It feels Jewish, yes. It may even feel like home. But safety? That's more complicated.

Until something tips that scale – until antisemitism feels more existential than ideological – it is probably not fear that will determine where Jews live, but familiarity, family, and a sense of place.