Jewish Americans Feel Less Secure Since Oct. 7, AJC Report Finds

Last month, the columnist returned to Israel for the first time since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. The column describes a kibbutz that was once beautiful and is now burned, with homes damaged by rocket-propelled grenades and ashes still being examined by cadaver dogs. The columnist also reports hearing accounts of the 360 people killed at the Nova Music Festival, including families burned alive and people subjected to sexual violence and torture before they were murdered.

The column states that it is hard to find hope in Israel right now, but that searching for it is not optional for those who are missing a loved one. It recounts a conversation with the aunt of Yagev Buchstab, who turned 35 while in captivity. Yagev and his wife, Rimon, were taken hostage after their home was invaded. According to the aunt, the couple held each other so tightly that the attackers lifted them together into a truck bound for Gaza. They were held together for 53 days in a tunnel before Rimon was released in a hostage-for-prisoner swap. She is now waiting for Yagev’s return so they can embrace again.

The column links the October 7 attacks to the lives of American Jews. It cites the American Jewish Committee’s *State of Antisemitism in America 2023 Report*, which found that 63% of American Jews say they feel less secure living in the United States than a year ago, more than double the share when the same question was asked two years earlier. The report also found that 46% of American Jews have avoided publicly wearing or displaying items that might identify them as Jewish, avoided certain places, events, or situations, or avoided posting online content that would identify them as Jewish or reveal their views on Jewish issues.

The column also addresses campus life. It says that recent anti-Zionist and antisemitic incidents on the Rutgers New Brunswick campus, among others, are reflected in the survey. The report found that 20% of current or recent Jewish students said they had been excluded, or felt excluded, from a group or event because they are Jewish or because of their perceived or actual connection to Israel. That figure was up from 12% a year earlier. The columnist writes that Rimon’s waiting, like the fear felt by American Jewish families, reflects a grief that remains present (Psalm 34:18).

The columnist also points to findings the column treats as encouraging. More than nine in ten Americans surveyed agree that antisemitism is a problem in the United States and that it “affects society as a whole; everyone is responsible for combating it.”

The column returns to Yagev Buchstab, who builds guitars. As he and Rimon were taken toward Gaza, they saw a terrorist run off with one of his guitars. When Rimon pointed this out, Yagev told her that if the music from that guitar brought joy to even one child in Gaza, it would be all right. Even as he was being taken toward an uncertain fate in Gaza, Yagev was telling his beloved wife that there was one thing the terrorists could not take from him.

Source: Read the original report