Hate is destroying Americas promise and half of us are blind to the danger
More and more Americans feel our national unity is growing fragile.Conspiracy theories and misinformation are eroding trust, stoking hate and tearing at the very fabric of our society, often with tragic consequences.At the American Jewish Committee, we’re seeing those consequences up close — and our new report on “The State of Antisemitism in America,” out Tuesday, reveals how these divisions are affecting the Jewish community, and us all.Every day, Jews across this country must consider wrenching questions of personal safety.Should I wear my kippah today, or will that make me a target?Can I hang a mezuzah on my door, or am I affixing a bullseye?Is today the day someone throws a brick through the kosher supermarket’s window?Will taking my kids to synagogue put them in a shooter’s crosshairs?Yet when American Jews express such fears, and even when antisemitic violence occurs, the response from the broader public is often muted — based, it seems, in a sense of acceptance that anti-Jewish hatred is the norm.Well-meaning leaders respond with increased security measures: armed guards at synagogues, police cruisers outside Hebrew schools, and SWAT teams on standby during the High Holy Days.Yes, this protection is necessary — but fortifying against hate crimes cannot be confused with fortifying against hate. For this year’s report, AJC commissioned two parallel polls from the independent research firm SSRS: one of a representative sample of 1,222 American Jews, the other of 1,033 US adults.An overwhelming 91% of American Jews surveyed said three violent antisemitic incidents in 2025 — the Passover arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov.Josh Shapiro’s home, the Washington, DC murders of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, and the firebombing of a pro-Israel march in Boulder, Colo., that killed 82-year-old Karen Diamond — had made them feel less safe.The poll was taken before 15 people were murdered at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney; before the only syn...