March 22, 2022 — New York
American Jewish Committee, the leading global Jewish advocacy organization, today launched on social media three videos featuring American Jews sharing how rising antisemitism has impacted them. They also speak powerfully about the importance of asserting proudly their Jewish identity to combat Jew-hatred. The videos can be viewed at: https://ajc.org/reportvideos.
The video series is the latest initiative of AJC’s national campaign to raise awareness of the severity of rising antisemitism in the United States. “It just seems like something people feel comfortable doing,” says one woman about the proliferation of antisemitic incidents across the country.
The U.S. Jews appearing in the videos express their heartfelt views on key findings in AJC’s 2021 State of Antisemitism in America report:
-- 24% have been targets of antisemitism in the past 12 months.
-- 22% have avoided wearing or displaying items that identify their Jewish identity.
A young man, in one video, shares that his father advised him to wear a hat when in public to cover his yarmulke. Bowing to display his colorful yarmulke on his head, he exclaims: “Usually, I like to wear that on the street…I want other Jews to see me, to see there’s another Jew standing over there.”
“Hiding our Jewish identity is not going to solve the problem,” says another participant in the video series.
One woman declares: “We have to be strong and not be afraid of what may happen if we show our Jewishness.”
Indeed, several observe in the videos that America should be a place where everyone can show their identity without fear. “People should be allowed to display their faiths and identity, and American Jews should feel no different,” says one woman.
Addressing a challenge some U.S. Jews are facing today in identifying Jewishly in certain circles, one participant in the video series notes that “in the LGBTQ community there are so many people who want to demonize my existence as a Jew, for being in support of Israel, and it wears on you because this is the antithesis of what it means to be progressive.”
The third video deals with the repeated threats and attacks on American Jews regarding the State of Israel, where one-half of world Jewry lives. AJC’s antisemitism in America report found 81% of American Jews, and 85% of the general public, view the statement “Israel has no right to exist” as antisemitic. But that has not prevented individuals who are hostile to Israel and its supporters from threatening or attacking Jews in the U.S.
“When we say anti-Zionism is affecting Jews in the U.S. and around the world, the world should be listening to us,” says one woman. “There are people who are really getting hurt because of anti-Zionist rhetoric and beliefs.”
And another woman said that while antisemitism makes her “angry and scared,” it also “makes me want to get out there and be a loud, proud Jew.”
The antisemitism videos, produced for AJC by Short Order Production House (shortorder.co), can be viewed at https://ajc.org/reportvideos
