One of the most striking revelations since October 7 has been the surge of hostility toward Israel as a Jewish state. It is essential to stress that this hostility stems not only from opposition to Israeli policy, but from Israel’s very identity as the homeland of the Jewish people. Other countries face condemnation—Russia under Vladimir Putin, for instance—but we have not seen mass protests against Moscow on the scale of those staged against Israel.
Even if one assumes that the demonstrators’ intentions were innocent—that they simply wished to call for an end to the war and show empathy for the suffering of Gazans—the timing of their protests is telling. Why rally on October 7, the very date when any decent person knows the victims were Israelis, most of them civilians who endured unimaginable horrors?
The anti-Israel demonstrations on October 7 were, first and foremost, evidence that antisemitism—or at least the reflexive treatment of Jews as outsiders—has not disappeared. It has merely evolved. As Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld poignantly remarked two months after the massacre, “My generation thought antisemitism was something you read about in history books. Now we’ve discovered it’s still here.”
One may also wonder why those accusing Israel of genocide are not doing everything in their power to stop it—by urging Hamas to immediately accept President Donald Trump’s peace plan, if only to spare Palestinians further suffering. Anyone truly concerned with saving Palestinian lives should act to end the bloodshed, not take the easy route of blaming Israel alone.
What is most troubling about these anti-Israel protests—something I witnessed firsthand while teaching at Columbia University—is that virtually no one calls for reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, or distinguishes between Hamas’ atrocities and sympathy for Palestinian civilians. There is something deeply distorted about Western demonstrators aligning themselves with the values of a radical Islamist movement at the expense of Israel, a country that still represents liberal Western ideals.
That said, understanding the global hostility toward Israel requires nuance. It is not enough to dismiss it all as “everyone is antisemitic.” Reality is more complex. Israel’s government, for instance, should have anticipated that the prolonged war and the horrific images emerging from Gaza would intensify hatred.
Ministers who speak dismissively about Palestinian casualties should have realized their words would echo worldwide. And the current government’s apparent disinterest in reconciliation with moderate Palestinians—whether through a two-state framework or another form of coexistence—has also fueled global resentment.
U.S. President Donald Trump is right that much of the world has already forgotten October 7. But it must also be acknowledged that Israeli policy has, in part, contributed to that amnesia.
Still, despite these caveats—and though a distinction should be made between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, the two often overlap. Like early modern antisemitism, today’s anti-Zionism cloaks itself in intellectual justifications. The fact that Jews with no connection to Israel are also being targeted underscores that this is more than political opposition—it’s bigotry.
And one more thing, those who chant against Israel tend to forget: throughout history, Jews have been convenient scapegoats, blamed for society’s ills. But it never ends with the Jews alone, as the devastation of World War II already proved.