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Jewish Americans and Antisemitism: How their Views Compare with the Rest of America
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Dr. Irwin J. (Yitzchak) Mansdorf - Following the taking of hostages at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, on Jan. 15, 2022, we surveyed a random group of 1,077 "general" Americans on Feb. 1 and 851 who self-identified as Jewish on Feb. 6 regarding issues of antisemitism in the U.S., security of synagogues, and the general feelings of safety of the Jewish community. While Jewish Americans still see right-wing ideology as primarily responsible for the hate-related activity of white supremacy groups, there appears to be increased concern over Islamic extremist activity as well as a trend of increased attribution of anti-Jewish activity to progressive or "woke" sources. We found that antisemitic acts are seen mainly in the form of offensive language and very little in the form of actual physical violence. The subjective intensity of antisemitism in the daily lives of Jewish Americans may be less than it appears to be based on media reports and not very different from hate-based activity against other groups. The writer is a fellow at the Jerusalem Center specializing in political psychology.