More than four in ten Jews in the United States feel their status in America is less secure than it was a year earlier, according to a new survey by the American Jewish Committee.
The survey, conducted in the fall of 2022, was released Monday by the AJC, a prominent Jewish advocacy organisation.
The survey was taken in a year of high-profile incidents of anti-Semitism, including a hostage-taking at a Texas synagogue and anti-Jewish statements shared by celebrities on social media. Former President Donald Trump dined with two openly anti-Semitic guests, drawing criticism from his own Jewish supporters.
According to the AJC survey, 41 per cent of the respondents said the status of Jews in the US is less secure than it was the year before, while 55 per cent said it was the same. Only four per cent thought it was more secure.
The results show anxieties increasing since a comparable survey in 2021, when 31 per cent of respondents thought their status was less secure than a year earlier.
Four in five Jews said in the 2022 survey that anti-Semitism has grown in the past five years; nearly half said it’s taken less seriously than other forms of bigotry or hate.
A quarter of the respondents said they were directly targeted by anti-Semitic expressions, either in person or on social media, with three per cent reporting a physical attack. Nearly four in 10 changed their behavior to lower risks to their safety.
Read the article in Sight Magazine.