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Antisemitism Data Illustrates the ‘New Normal’
Pro-Hamas protesters at Columbia University on April 19, 2024. Photo: Melissa Bender via Reuters Connect
JNS.org – As we mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany and the liberation of the concentration camps, that terrible chapter of history no longer seems so distant. While there are only 15.7 million Jews among a global population of more than 8 billion—still less than the nearly 17 million who were alive in 1938, the year before World War II broke out—the uninitiated could be forgiven for thinking that the number is at least twice that, given the volume of media and political attention that the Jewish state and Jewish communities outside attract.
The great majority of Jews live in either the United States or Israel. For most of the postwar period, both countries were a potent symbol of Jewish life freed from the strictures of the past. Israel was a radical departure from the previous 2,000 years of Jewish history, a land where Jews as a collective could live as a sovereign entity defended by their own military, no longer dependent on non-Jews for their well-being and security. America—the “Goldene Medina” as some Yiddish-speaking immigrants called it—marked a similar rupture with the past, as a republic with no established religion and no history of antisemitic legislation (apart from one intemperate order issued by Gen. Ulysses Grant at the end of the Civil War, which was swiftly dispensed with by President Lincoln. “I do not like to hear a class or nationality condemned on account of a few sinners,” Lincoln wrote.)
In 2025, such a rosy narrative is no longer possible. Israel is in a frankly odd position. It remains traumatized by the Hamas pogrom on Oct. 7, 2023. It is bitterly divided, perhaps more so than at any other time during its brief existence. It has delivered powerful and sustained blows to its mortal enemies in Gaza and Lebanon, but Iran’s ambitions to weaponize its nuclear program, which will be bolstered by any deal agreed to by the Trump administration that does not involve the complete dismantling of its various facilities and development sites, remain a nagging, overarching threat.
Above all, Israel’s very existence, and not its policies, continues to be the primary complaint of its adversaries.
Meanwhile, in America, Jews are facing the most hostile atmosphere in living memory. According to data gathered and published last week by the Anti-Defamation League, there were a whopping 9,354 antisemitic incidents during 2024, the highest ever recorded in its annual audit. That marked a 5% rise on 2023 and an 893% rise over the past decade. In 2015, one year after another bitter war in Gaza triggered by relentless Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli communities in the south, the ADL recorded 942 incidents. At the time, it seemed like an unprecedented challenge. Now, it feels like a drop in the ocean.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the ADL report was its finding that nearly 60% of the incidents in 2024 were related to the Jewish state. “Increasingly, extreme actors in the anti-Israel space have incorporated antisemitic rhetoric into their activism; it has become commonplace for perpetrators across the political spectrum to voice hatred of Israel or conspiracy theories about the state in a range of antisemitic attacks,” the ADL noted.
Among the offenders creating this poisonous atmosphere were Students for Justice in Palestine, sundry groups on the far left and our very own fifth column—the spectacularly misnamed “Jewish Voice for Peace.” Additionally, slogans urging Israel’s destruction and chants of “We don’t want no Zionists here” are not restricted to public spaces but instead are increasingly present outside Jewish-owned businesses, Jewish schools from K-12, synagogues and community centers. College campuses are, of course, the riskiest locations with nearly 1,500 incidents involving offenders who would no doubt call themselves “anti-Zionists” and leave it at that.
In the same week that the ADL released its report, Tel Aviv University published its annual report on antisemitism worldwide, which made for similarly depressing reading. That report noted a decline in incidents during 2024 from their peak in the closing months of 2023, when Israel was still reeling from the venom of the Hamas assault. “The sad truth is that antisemitism reared its head at the moment when the Jewish state appeared weaker than ever and under existential threat,” noted the report’s editor, professor Uriya Shavit. Even so, the 2024 decrease was not uniform: Australia, Canada, Spain and Italy were among countries recording a rise in outrages targeting Jews compared with the previous year. Clearly, some people like to kick the Jews at the very moment when they are down, while others take a more long-term view.
The fact that so many incidents were logged in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 slaughter tells us that, just as in the Muslim world, the fundamental issue is not what Israel does, but the mere fact that Israel is. This reality manifests at every single pro-Palestinian—more precisely, pro-Hamas—demonstration. Some protesters will carry signs urging Israel to “stop bombing hospitals,” which is a gross misrepresentation of the IDF’s tactics, with its implication that Israel seeks to deliberately kill Palestinian civilians, but not necessarily antisemitic.
The point is that the majority of demonstrators seem more motivated by the prospect of destroying Israel than they are by the plight of the Palestinians. That is why chants urging the “liberation” of Palestine “from the river to the sea” and banners condemning “Zionism” are far more common. It also helps to explain why the pro-Hamas movement has studiously ignored the spread of anti-Hamas protests in Gaza, which, in recent days, have included calls to release the hostages still in Hamas captivity not because of any humanitarian reasons, but because growing numbers of Gazans have final twigged that their lives would be infinitely easier if Hamas would just back down.
The ongoing symbiosis of hatred of Israel with classical antisemitism can be twisted to make the point—as some anti-Zionists do, particularly those who identify as Jews—that Israel’s existence is the principal source of antisemitism today. Within the Jewish community, that needs to be countered with the message that we cannot succumb to victim-blaming. Outside of the Jewish community, we need to stress over and again that the security of the Jews will never again be left to non-Jews.
In both spaces, Jews need to walk with their heads held high, knowing in their hearts that we do not have to apologize for Israel. That may seem obvious, but I write these words in the anticipation that future audits undertaken by the ADL or anyone else are likely to remain consistent over the next few years, and may even worsen as conspiracy theories about Jewish influence and Israeli power that are not directly connected to the Palestinians take hold.
The post Antisemitism Data Illustrates the ‘New Normal’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Gazan Boy, Said to Be Killed by IDF, Shown Alive in New Video, Debunking Viral Lie
Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamdene, the Gazan boy previously reported as killed by Israeli forces, appears alongside his mother in a new video. Photo: Screenshot
A Gazan boy who was previously reported as killed by Israeli forces in May has been found alive, casting doubt on the credibility of the American contractor who spread the story.
Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamdene, known as Abboud, appeared in recently recorded footage of an interview obtained by both Fox News and The Daily Wire showing the young boy healthy and safe with his mother.
Remember ex-GHF contractor Tony Aguilar’s claim that he saw a little Gazan boy named “Amir” run into “a wall of bullets” and suffer “a shot to the torso, a shot to the leg, dead?”
Well it’s not true. “Amir” is alive and well.
My latest for @realdailywire: pic.twitter.com/OMxdNvHIOk
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) September 4, 2025
Abboud’s supposed “death” became a flashpoint after Anthony Aguilar, a former contractor for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) who previously served as a US Army Green Beret, claimed he witnessed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shoot the child as the GHF was distributing humanitarian aid on May 28.
Aguilar presented himself as a whistleblower, and his story gained traction internationally, going viral on social media. He subsequently embarked on an extensive media tour, in which he accused Israel of indiscriminately killing Palestinian civilians as part of an attempt to “annihilate” and “disappear” the civilian population in Gaza.
However, Aguilar, who erroneously labeled the boy in question as “Amir,” gave inconsistent accounts of the alleged incident in separate interviews to different media outlets, calling into question the veracity of his narrative. The military veteran initially said, for example, that the alleged killing happened outside of the GHF’s Secure Distribution Site 1 (SDS 1), before later changing his story and claiming the shooting occurred outside of SDS 2.
The GHF is an Israeli and US-backed program that delivers aid directly to Palestinians, blocking Hamas from diverting supplies for terror activities and selling them at inflated prices. The organization released a chain of text messages showing that Aguilar was terminated for his conduct. It also held a press conference to present evidence showing that Aguilar “falsified documents” and “presented misleading videos to push his false narrative.”
Nonetheless, his claims were cited widely by critics of Israel such as Tucker Carlson, Ryan Grim, and Glenn Greenwald as supposed proof of war crimes.
The GHF launched its own investigation at the end of July, ultimately locating Abboud alive with his mother at SDS 3 on Aug. 23. The organization confirmed his identity using facial recognition software and biometric testing.
Abboud was escorted in disguise to an undisclosed safe location by the GHF team for his safety, according to The Daily Wire, which noted that the spreading of Aguilar’s false tale put the boy’s life in danger, as his alleged death was a powerful piece of propaganda for Hamas.
Fox News Digital reported that Abboud and his mother were safely extracted from the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
In the footage obtained by both news outlets, the boy can be seen playfully interacting with a GHF representative and appearing excited ahead of their planned extraction.
“While this story ends happily, it could have ended in tragedy,” GHF executive chair Johnnie Moore told Fox News Digital. “Too many people, including in the press and civil society, were quick to spread unverified claims without asking the most basic questions.”
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What Jerrold Nadler’s Retirement Reveals About Future Support for Israel
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY). Photo: Screenshot.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler’s (D-NY) announcement that he will retire in 2026 marks the end of one of the longest-serving Jewish voices in Congress. But his final message is not a reaffirmation of support for Israel, but instead, a call to push for an arms embargo on the Jewish State.
This isn’t just politics. It’s not simply a career Democrat bowing to pressure from the far-left or trying to placate anti-Israel activists. Nadler’s final move reflects something deeper — a worldview shared by more and more American Jews. For them, Israel’s survival is not tied to their own survival. They see themselves as individuals, detached from Jewish history, detached from the continuum of antisemitism, and detached from the idea that Israel is the guarantor of the Jewish people’s future.
Nadler’s position is reminiscent of what we’ve already seen from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who privately counseled Harvard to ignore criticism by those who felt that the school neglected antisemitism on its own campus. Many argued that Schumer and Nadler were acting out of self-preservation, bowing to progressive dogma to save their careers. But this parting shot from Nadler serves no purpose for his career, given that he’s retiring. Rather, it suggests that this is what he truly believes.
Nadler’s wish to disarm Israel, by disallowing it to have “offensive arms,” reveals a lack of understanding of what’s needed in the Middle East to defend oneself, as well as a lack of caring for the Israelis who will pay for it with their blood.
This line of thinking reflects a group of Jewish people who truly do not associate themselves with the wellbeing and safety of the only Jewish state.
For decades, Israel could count on Diaspora Jews to rally when it mattered. From Washington to London, and Paris to New York, Jewish leaders stood up for Israel on the streets and in the halls of power. That reliability is fading.
Today, Jews are being peeled away, one by one, by a culture that demonizes Israel and normalizes hostility toward the Jewish State. Even young people raised in Orthodox synagogues and schools are drifting.
One synagogue member recently described how her son — educated in Jewish day schools and camps — now feels uncomfortable walking into his parents’ home because they display a yellow ribbon for the hostages. If even this segment is being lost, the crisis is deeper than many care to admit.
The lesson for Israel is that Diaspora support is no longer a given. Yes, there remain millions of Jews and allies who stand firm — but the numbers are dwindling. Popular culture and elite institutions are reshaping Jewish identity in ways that distance it from Israel. Unless something dramatic occurs, one can expect this trend to continue.
That means Israel must prepare to stand alone. Like every other nation, Israel’s security depends first and foremost on its own strength. Alliances are based on alignment of interests — nothing more and nothing less. Ironically, this brings with it a strange kind of clarity of purpose and confidence that Israel will rise or fall based on its merits, not persuasive lobbying in foreign lands.
The Zionist dream of Israel as the center of Jewish life is coming true, just not in the way anyone thought it would come about. It’s not because of support in the rest of the world — but because Israel is increasingly left to chart its course alone.
This isn’t cause for despair, but rather a call for vigilance and realism. Israel is strong, resourceful, and resilient — but it must understand the shifting ground. From now on, Israel must act, plan, and fight understanding that its friends and allies will be determined by what Israel can offer and what value it can produce for other countries.
Israel and its people are abundant with tangible assets that other countries do value and will value. And that is a great sign of hope for the Jewish State.
Daniel Rosen is the Co-founder of a Non-profit Technology company called Emissary4all which is an app to organize people on social media by ideology not geography. He is the Co-host of the podcast “Recalibration.” You can reach him at drosen@emissary4all.org
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US House Appropriations Bill Seeks to Strip Funding From Universities That Don’t Crack Down on Antisemitism
Pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia University in New York City, US, April 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
The US House Appropriations Committee this week unveiled a major education funding bill with a new requirement aimed at incentivizing colleges and universities to adopt and enforce prohibitions on antisemitic conduct or risk losing federal funding.
The measure, spelled out in Section 536 of the fiscal year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, would prohibit institutions of higher education from receiving federal funds “unless and until such institution adopts a prohibition on antisemitic conduct that creates a hostile environment in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in all documents relating to student or employee conduct.” It would further bar funding to schools that fail to take action against students, staff, or organizations that engage in antisemitism on campus.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in any program or activity receiving federal funding.
The proposed funding bill would also cut $49 million for the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in 2026. The office has been the key body investigating allegations of antisemitic discrimination on college campuses.
The new language was released amid mounting bipartisan pressure on universities to take campus antisemitism far more seriously. Just last week, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman and Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, both from Pennsylvania, sent pointed letters to the leaders of Penn State, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, and Lehigh University.
In their Aug. 28 letters, the senators warned that antisemitism on campus has escalated to a point that Jewish students feel unsafe and unprotected. They urged administrators to adopt a more vigorous stance against antisemitism, writing that “no student should feel like they must risk their safety to exercise their First Amendment rights to peacefully assemble and freely practice their religion.” The letters requested that the universities “work with your campus’s Jewish institutions and ensure all students, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or shared ancestry, are safe and able to fully participate in campus life.”
Antisemitism on university campuses exploded in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza. However, the Trump administration’s crackdown on universities, including the suspension of federal funding, to more forcibly punish antisemitic conduct has led some schools to reach settlements with the federal government to pledge more resources to combating antisemitism.