CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

What Is Really Behind the Rise of Antisemitism?

Back in the middle of January 2026, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz sent out a message to its subscribers asking them, “How has the rise in antisemitism affected the community where you live?…What has changed in your daily life, your sense of belonging, or your relationship to the spaces you move through – at work, on campus, in public, or within Jewish communal life?” Once Haaretz has what the editors consider a sufficient number of answers they will use this data to create “a readers-focused piece for Haaretz Insider.”

There is something typically incomplete about this request. To be sure, an Israeli newspaper would be interested in documenting the lives of Jews abroad at a time of rising antisemitism. However, in doing so they do not pose the question, “why should antisemitism be on the rise over the last several years?” And, what sort of answers to this question might their readers have?

There are always multiple reasons for the rise of racism within a community: xenophobia, scapegoating, etc. Thus, if you are focusing on the rise of one form of racism, such as antisemitism, it is important to try to define specific triggers.

Not wanting to wait till the editors of the newspaper try to answer this question (that time may never come), I have decided to do it for them. So let’s see if we can figure out why antisemitism seems to have been on the rise.

An Answer to What is Left Out

There has been much hoopla over the great ability of web-based AIs to answer informational questions in great detail. So I took the inquiry to Google’s “AI mode.” Here is the question I asked: “Is there a correlation between the growth of antisemitism in the US and the episodes of Israeli military violence, particularly against Palestinians?” Here, at length and italicized, is the AI’s answer:

Rigorous analysis shows that for over three decades, no factor has explained increases in U.S. antisemitism more significantly than Israel engaging in violent conflict with its neighbors. Between 2001 and 2014, total antisemitic incidents rose by an average of 24% during weeks of Israeli military operations.

Recent Surges (2023–2025)

Following the October 7, 2023 attack and subsequent war in Gaza, U.S. antisemitic incidents “skyrocketed”........

© CounterPunch