Press Release: 3/10/2026

Stakes Could Not Be Higher in Fight Against Antisemitism in Massachusetts

 



AJC- American Jewish Committee



March 9, 2026



The following column appeared on MassLive.com.



In the aftermath of World War II, American Jews experienced a degree of social acceptance and security that has few parallels in Jewish history. However, the American Jewish Committee’s State of Antisemitism in America 2025 Report shows things have changed.



More than 90% of American Jews report feeling less safe than a year ago because of major attacks in the past 12 months, including the burning of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home, the firebombing of Jews in Boulder, Colorado, and the murders of two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.



Some 30% of American Jews report being the target of at least one antisemitic incident during the last year, while 73% experienced antisemitism online.



Jews constitute 2.5% of the U.S. population, but according to the FBI were the target of 16% of all reported hate crimes and 70% of religiously based hate crimes nationwide in 2024. In Massachusetts, the story is also unsettling. Jews make up less than 5% of the Commonwealth’s population but were the target of 25% of all reported hate crimes in 2024. And for the first time, there were more hate crimes directed against Jews than any other group.



It is no wonder then, that in the past year, according to AJC’s data, 55% of American Jews say they changed their behavior (what they wear, where they go, or what they say) out of fear of antisemitism.



For 2,000 years, antisemitism has been informed by conspiracy theories, which convey that Jews are a powerful and malign social force. This belief has its origins in the struggles of early leaders of the Christian Church, who labored to distinguish their new faith from its Jewish origins. This led to widespread demonization of Jews.



St. John Chrysostom, an influential fourth-century church leader, for example, described Jews as “a disease” infecting “the body of the church.” Centuries later, Martin Luther urged Christians to “be on your guard against the Jews, knowing that wherever they have their synagogues, nothing is found but a den of devils .…”



This image of the Jew as a hidden hand capable of devastating harm persisted through the centuries. In the Middle Ages, Jews were blamed for supposedly poisoning wells and spreading the Black Death. In 1903, the Russian secret police created the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a record of a fictional Jewish plot to achieve global domination.



Similar anti-Jewish conspiracy theories persist. In 2017, at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, far-right marchers chanted “Jews will not replace us.” A year later, a gunman entered Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue and murdered 11 Jewish worshippers. He also believed Jews were conspiring to drive the “White Christian race” to extinction.



Left-leaning advocates are also generating dehumanizing narratives about Jews, Judaism and Zionism. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas invaded Israel and murdered more than 1,200 men, women and children. However, many progressive activists used the occasion to further a highly curated narrative attributing to Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, some of humanity’s most notorious social evils.



Thirty-three Harvard University student groups composed a letter that assigned Israel culpability for the wanton murder of its own citizens. Feminist groups denied or ignored the rape and murder of Israeli women.



The results have been predictable. Antisemitic harassment, hate crimes and anti-Jewish violence are rising in Massachusetts and around the world. Many Jews now wonder who among us will be next. The AJC report found 53% of American Jews worry that they or a loved one will be the victim of antisemitism in the next year.



For many Jews, these circumstances are painfully familiar. If there is to be a sincere effort to fight antisemitism, the deep concerns of Jewish people need to be taken seriously.



Recently, the Massachusetts Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism issued a comprehensive report detailing measures to address surging antisemitism. Gov. Maura Healey pledged to implement these recommendations and appointed Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll to oversee the process.



It is up to us all to seize this opportunity. For Jews in Massachusetts and beyond, the stakes could not be higher.



Rob Leikind is Director of AJC New England.