Shockingly, 61% of American Jews experienced an outburst of anti-Semitism after the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel. Disturbing new poll results And some of their stories are chilling.
Nearly 40% of those surveyed who have children in college or are students themselves reported instances of feeling unsafe on campus, with many refusing to buy items that identified them as Jewish out of fear. He added that he avoids wearing them.
More than 20% of respondents said their younger children had also suffered the brunt of anti-Semitism in the past year.
Alan Lipp, a former journalist, said he was beaten and called by an anti-Semitic thug while riding his Citi Bike in Manhattan's Central Park in July. “It is clear that what happened in Israel was not limited to Israel.” He was a “fucking dirty Jew pig.”
“I know I have to be careful. [Monday]” he said. “Based on what these groups are saying, there's a good chance that some kind of incident will occur, so I think we'll just be careful. I don't want to ride the subway tomorrow, and I don't want to be in a place where there are a lot of people. I don't want to go either.”
“The anti-Semitism movement's board member Misha Galperin, who commissioned the study from University of Miami professor Ira Sheskin and the University of Chicago's Center for National Public Opinion Research, said: The hate that has occurred in this country since October 7th has had a profound impact on individuals, families, and communities.
“The extent of the impact on American Jews documented in this study is simply astonishing.”
But Ripp said he thinks something positive can come out of the hate.
“My personal reaction was actually encouraged by the realization that the Jewish community was coming together and that some very vocal friends and supporters of that community were standing up,” he said.
Raif Rashad, a Manhattan restaurateur who witnessed the horrific Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel, said he will mark the grim anniversary with what he described as a bittersweet “victory.”
Rashad, 40, was working as a caterer at the Nova Festival in Israel when he was attacked and lost at least 20 friends as he fled for his life. He said he witnessed Hamas terrorists shooting innocent victims and lynching an Israeli man.
On Sunday, he opened Grand Bazaar, a Druze restaurant on West 77th Street, to commemorate a day he will never forget.
“It's a tough day for me,” Rashad said. “It's hard for me to keep my head where my body is. It's been a tough year all year long. Today, I thought for a minute about a friend who passed away, and I'm here today to open this. I think for a minute how lucky I am to be there.”
The newly released poll included several open-ended questions asking 1,075 respondents what they thought about conflicts with anti-Jewish hatred over the past 12 months.
“A customer at my retail workplace told me that she did not want her product scanned by a Jew who had seen my Star of David necklace,” the Jewish worker wrote.
“I didn't know what to do and was scared, so I called for my manager, but he (who has made many anti-Semitic comments in the past) just said, 'I completely understand,' and went to another register. I looked into her personally.”
“I was on the subway and someone was sitting in front of me and literally telling me to kill myself, God hates me, God hates Jews, and other things about how awful people we are. Or he said graphic words that he should kill himself, said the straphanger.
“My daughter's kindergarten, located on the grounds of a synagogue, was threatened with violence,” the parents wrote. “We had to withdraw her from school and find an alternative school.”
43% of respondents said rising anti-Semitism will influence how they vote in November's election, according to a new survey.
Some Jews who normally vote Democratic (7.3% of respondents) said they would vote Republican in the future, while 3.9% who previously voted Republican said they would vote Democrat.
The poll showed that a quarter of Jewish respondents said they had experienced hatred close to home, in their own community. This number is more than double the previous study's 12%.
In addition to the alarming trend of feeling unsafe on college campuses, nearly one-third of students surveyed said they had been discriminated against or made to feel uncomfortable by their professors because they were Jewish. The answer was yes.
The survey found that one-quarter felt excluded from campus activities because of their views or beliefs.
Of the 61% of all American Jews who have experienced anti-Semitism since the Oct. 7 attacks, Mark Knock, a Jewish Columbia University student, told the Sunday Post, “That number is actually small. I think so,” he scoffed.
He added that he refuses to bow down.
“I'm a born and raised New Yorker, and if I'm going to change my behavior because of bigots, I'm going to be damned,” he said.
Davian Geikman, 19, a sophomore at Cornell University, acknowledged that the past year has been difficult for Cornell's Jewish students, but said it has also brought the community together.
“It made me even more proud to be Jewish,” Geikman said. “The only way to defeat anti-Semitism is to fight anti-Semitism.”
One in five survey respondents (21%) said they had been called an offensive name because they were Jewish, up from 15% in the previous Pew Research Center survey in 2020. .
Research has shown that increased anxiety is linked to behavioral changes.
More than a quarter of respondents, or 27%, said they now avoid identifying as Jewish at work, up from 18% in the pre-October 7 survey. One in five respondents said they had missed a religious service or event out of fear.
“This study focuses on the number of Jews affected by anti-Semitism, not just the number of incidents,” said Professor of Geography and Director of the Jewish Demographics Project at the Center for Contemporary Jewish Studies at the University of Miami. said Ira Sheskin.
“These findings are deeply concerning and highlight the need for immediate action to address rising anti-Semitism in the United States,” he said.
The survey was conducted through online and live phone interviews from August 12th to September 3rd. They questioned Jews across the religious and cultural spectrum, including Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative.
The margin of error is plus or minus 4.12 percentage points.
Last week, city officials announced on the one-year anniversary of the attack that the NYPD and state police were on a “zero tolerance” alert, specifically targeting houses of worship and other Jewish communities.
Complaints of anti-Semitic incidents in the five boroughs have soared over the past year, with 275 complaints by the end of September last year, compared to 157 in the same period last year, according to police data.
So far in 2024, complaints about anti-Semitic incidents have accounted for nearly 56% of all bias complaints in the city, up from 41% during the same period in 2023.
“The weird thing about all of this is that it's made me feel more proud to be Jewish,” said Amy Cook, 44, who lives on the Upper West Side. American kidnapped by Hamas.
“Being targeted, in a strange way, made me more connected to my faith and my background,” she said. “We've been told for decades that anti-Semitism would be on the rise again, and we're still surprised and surprised by what happened to us.”
Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan, Amanda Woods, Doree Lewak, Georget Roberts
