Hate in America: Unpacking the Roots of Antisemitism

Just as the American story is comprised of an extraordinary set of positive images and practices, there are also seeds of historic racism and antisemitism, embedded in this nation’s development. In examining America’s 250 saga, it is important to acknowledge, catalogue and analyze this stain of hate.

This current wave of anti-Jewish hate has deep connections with past antisemitic actions but also demonstrates some distinctive contemporary features. The hatred being expressed now consists of a mix of old tropes, encompassing conspiracy, dual loyalty, and economic scapegoating, along with an assortment of new platforms, transnational politics, and the presence of interlocking extremist movements. The current messages of anti-Zionism and antisemitism appear to be more focused, directed and politically cross-cutting than many earlier episodes.

Hate in America: A Timeline

To understand the roots, patterns, and scope of hate in America, a brief timeline survey has been introduced below:

Early America: Discrimination appeared in social exclusion, restrictive local laws, and occasional riots, in particular the 1834 Philadelphia riots targeting Jewish businesses.

Early 19th-Century Immigration: The arrival of Jews prompted a nativist backlash, including the Know-Nothing movement, state-level restrictions on naturalization and office-holding in the early decades, as well as social discrimination in employment and housing.

Mass Eastern European Jewish immigration (1880s–1920s):  This wave of new Americans intensified nativist and religiously framed Antisemitism. Jews were stereotyped as radical, criminal, and clannish.

Higher Education and Social Clubs: Beginning in the 1920’s, various institutions imposed quotas, among them university and country clubs. Quotas and exclusion also shaped professional and social life as well as discrimination in employment, neighborhoods, and banking.

Political anti-Jewish Personalities and Movements: Henry Ford’s Dearborn Independent ran antisemitic propaganda in the 1920s, including promotion of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The Ku Klux Klan also included Antisemitic components alongside racism and anti-Catholicism.

The Rise of Nazism, WWII, and the American Response (1930’s-1940’s)

Nazi Propaganda: Prominent isolationists and some public figures in the United States echoed nativist or Anti-Semitic lines.

US Immigration Policy: With public sentiment supporting limited numbers of Jewish refugees, restrictive quotas were imposed.

Anti-Jewish Rallies: While less systematic than in Europe, rallies sponsored by fascist groups, including Father Coughlin and the Silver Legion were held.

Late 20th Century (1970s–1990s):

Antisemitic Incidents: Vandalism, synagogue arsons/bombings along with extremist rhetoric from fringe organizations and leaders shaped post-war behavior.

New Conspiratorial Strains: Revival of Protocols-based tropes, including control of finance/media, began migrating into different political subcultures. The emergence of such groups as the American Nazi Party, the John Birch Society, and the Columbians would frame right wing ideologies concerning the status of Jews.

Early 21^st Century (2000-2025)

The themes of “whiteness” (who is white?), “loyalty” (patriotism, who are legitimate citizens?) and “globalist elites” (who are the folks that are more supportive of internationalism, open borders, and immigrants?) represent the new themes employed by the extreme political right in connection with Jews.  Today, within progressive left circles, to be identified as a “Zionist” immediately separates a person from being considered as an acceptable or legitimate Jew. Some of the specific misrepresentations on Israel, Zionism and the US-Israel connection were framed by Arab propaganda in the 1970’s and embellished by BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions) movement in later decades.

Far-right constituencies are comprised of groups aligned with white nationalism, racial antisemitism, conspiracy theories, and biological/racialist hatred ideologies. In turn, the far-left voices frame Jews and Jewish organizations as part of oppressive power structures in this country or conflate Jewish identity with Israeli policy. When combined with anti-capitalist and anti-imperial rhetoric, this current iteration of hate messaging has adopted antisemitic tropes involving collective blame and denial of Jewish self-determination and by expansion a deepening criticism of the US-Israel relationship. With this new wave, both political extremes have developed arguments challenging the value of the Washington-Jerusalem connection.

 The Rise in Violence: 

With the rise more recently of the Alt Right and its “Unite the Right” gathering in Charlottesville (August 2017) and the attack on the Tree of Life Congregation by a lone gunman in Pittsburgh ( October 27, 2018), along with a series of other incidents directed against Jewish institutions and individual Jews over the past decade, a new level of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel actions have created what sociologists and analysts describe as “the New Anti-Semitism”.

 What are the Continuous Elements that Define How Jews are Seen?

Today, as noted earlier, Jews are being portrayed by the same recycled messages that one can identify from previous periods of history, including controlling money, owning the media, influencing governments, or operating as disloyal and/or dual nationality citizens. Historical revisionism is playing a significant role in reshaping contemporary thinking about Jews. The growing presence of discriminatory practices, disinformation campaigns, and organized demonstrations all have historical precedents.

The organizing ideas promoted by such older movements as American-based racial organizations, among them the Klan, Christian anti-Judaism, neo-Nazi networks, the white supremacy movement, and anti-government groups are being resurrected in the 21^st Century.

What’s New or Different Now?

Media Ecology: Social media algorithms, encrypted messaging, and mass online platforms allow rapid spread, amplification, and normalization of antisemitic content globally.

Convergence and Cross-Pollination: Contemporary antisemitism draws on and is amplified by diverse actors — the extreme right, fringe left, Islamist extremists, and conspiracy communities (QAnon), along with the support of some authoritarian governments — creating overlapping networks of hate that didn’t exist on this scale in prior times.

Political Mainstreaming: Elements of antisemitic rhetoric are at times being tolerated and amplified through mainstream political discourse and commentary.

Israel Dynamics: The centrality of Israel in global politics has created new channels of legitimate criticism of Israeli policy that slip into or are being employed as a cover for antisemitic tropes focusing on collective guilt, delegitimization and dual-loyalty claims. Beyond these mantras of hate, Israel and Zionism are being negatively redefined, marginalized, and negated, as opponents seek to impose a host of labels discounting the Jewish State and Zionism. This current pattern involves “transference” where previous negative views about Jews and Judaism are now being applied to the State of Israel. The charge of Israeli racist policies and practices are in part taken from the “blood libel” charge imposed on Jews during the Medieval period.

Transnational Financing and Recruitment: Global extremist ecosystems, online fundraising, and influencer networks accelerate organizing campaigns that seek to influence educational, religious, and political access points in critiquing Jews, Zionism, and Israel.

The New Hate Language: Today, there are code words associated with Jews, Israel, and Zionism. The far right refers to the entire discourse about Jews and Judaism by employing code lettering “JQ” for the Jewish Question. Terms such as “settler-colonial state” or “genocidal and racist” are employed as the identifying tabs in connection with Israel by the extreme left. In connection with the use of these various terms and the disparaging of Jews, Zionism and Israel, there has developed a controversy involving various measures or standards over determining when someone is putting forward an antisemitic or anti-Israel statement or offering a responsible criticism or analysis.

Context: Unpacking American Politics and the New Hate

Historians have noted that the Obama Presidency coincided with the emergence of an era of heightened identity-based politics and conspiracy culture. Some on the right amplified baseless conspiracy themes (e.g., about the former President’s loyalties and his ties with “globalist” elites that at times overlapped with older antisemitic language.

Intense partisan polarization made identity-based attacks more acceptable in some circles and pushed extremist content into broader media ecosystems.

Anti-establishment opposition movements are drawing connections between perceived elites at times fusing traditional antisemitic conspiracies about “globalists” and financial control. Jews in this society operate in high profile positions of influence in the five major areas of social engagement: the economy, politics, religion, culture, and technology. This visibility factor is seen as a direct corollary to an increased levels of public criticism, conspiracy-making, and misrepresentations.

More recently, Donald Trump has engaged with some figures from the white-supremacist and extremist political personalities. In turn, extremist groups that promoted conspiracies and racist content found validation or increased visibility during this populist period of politics.

At this time certain rhetoric, retweets, pardons, or tolerance of extremist gestures normalized fringe language or reduced social penalties for embracing conspiratorial or racist views.

To be sure, the political marketspace is complex, as many Trump supporters are not antisemites. Still, the current political atmosphere allows for a quicker spread of hate, emboldening of pre-existing extremist currents and beliefs.

Confronting and Defeating Hate:

Working with its partners in government and elsewhere, the Jewish communal system faces a major task in monitoring the spread of antisemitism. Employing a combination of earlier best practices and identifying a new generation of strategies and programs may prove to effective in containing such expressions and actions of hate. This current wave of antisemitism serves as a central challenge to the Jewish people in the 21^st Century, just as it represents a critical element in framing the American historical experience.