Diaspora Jews rate rising antisemitism as greatest fear

Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s global Jewish initiative, the Voice of the People, this week released a report based on the views of 10 000 Jews internationally which reveals that the Jewish world’s main fear is the rise in antisemitism since 7 October 2023.

Seventy-six percent of survey responders ranked antisemitism as their biggest concern. At least 77 of the responders who said so specified that they were from South Africa, but it could be far more given that their location wasn’t a required answer and little over half the total number of responders specified their location.

“Whether young or old, secular or religious, Israeli or diaspora-based, respondents ranked antisemitism as their foremost concern – far ahead of other challenges such as Israel-diaspora relations or internal Jewish polarisation,” said Shirel Dagan-Levy, the chief executive of Voice of the People. “From hate speech and social exclusion to growing fear in public spaces, Jews worldwide reported an alarming sense of vulnerability, isolation, and institutional betrayal in the wake of the 7 October attacks and their global aftermath.”

“This isn’t just a data set, it’s a global Jewish reality check,” she said. “The findings reflect a community that is hurting but also more united than ever in its desire to stand tall, protect its heritage, and shape a stronger, safer future.”

Voice of the People is an innovative global initiative created by Herzog in May 2023, and was launched in August 2024 following the events of 7 October. The initiative is designed to foster discourse, connection, and action among global Jewry and identify and address the core challenges facing Jewish people today, according to the 2025 Landscape Report.

Neta Danciger, the chief marketing and product officer of Voice of the People, said that the survey’s purpose was to engage with people and to hear their real problems.

“There was a year of research conducted by Deloitte, a strategic advising company, in which 15 communities around the world were interviewed with a list of challenges before we released our full scale survey,” Danciger said.

“After 7 October, we regrouped,” she said. “We felt like everything had changed, like it was an earthquake event for every Jewish person around the globe, not only Israelis. We felt like we needed to do something to understand what was going on now.”

Prior to October 2023, in research conducted by Voice of the People with 1 300 Jewish respondents from around the world, the rise of antisemitism ranked sixth in relevance from a list of challenges.

One of the most valuable aspects of the data came from a last-minute decision to ask respondents to share in their own words how the events of the past year – post 7 October – had affected their sense of Jewish community and identity. This prompt generated a wave of deeply personal reflections that proved to be among the most compelling material Voice of the People received, according to the 2025 Landscape report.

In the survey, conducted in 2024, the main question was to select five out of 10 challenges listed that respondents believed to be the most critical. Antisemitism ranked number one. Israel-diaspora relations came in second, with 56% of survey responders noting it as another cause for concern. The other three categories ranked in order were Jewish-on-non-Jewish relations; polarisation within the Jewish world; and preserving Jewish culture and heritage.

“We decided to hit 10 000 responses and target larger communities around the world,” said Danciger. “We worked to receive responses from France, South Africa, Latin America, Canada, and other large communities around the world.” Seventy-five countries were accounted for in the 5 304 responses to the optional question asking for the respondents’ location.

The survey reached global Jewry through press releases, Jewish partner organisations in the Jewish ecosystem, and social media.

The South African Jewish community also made it clear, although the sample size was small, that it was increasingly concerned about internal division within the community. This was in response to an open-ended question asking about the impact of recent events on its sense of Jewish identity and community. The report quoted a South African respondent as saying, “Our Jewish community has become fearful and polarised.”

With this question, the survey identified variations in generational response. Generation Z and Millennials were more likely to mark pervasive antisemitism as the most pressing challenge facing their Jewish community.

“Younger respondents expressed acute distress over hostility in social and digital spaces, with many reporting a sense of betrayal from progressive allies and a struggle to safely and confidently express their Jewish identity. Campus-based antisemitism and social media harassment were cited frequently,” the report said.

Baby boomers and the silent generation focused less on personal safety and more on the long-term implications of global hostility. “Their concerns centred on the future of Israel, Jewish continuity, and a sense that historical cycles of persecution may be repeating,” according to the report. “Some drew direct parallels to the pre-Holocaust period in Europe, expressing alarm at the rapid normalisation of hate.”

The common thread of antisemitism as Jewry’s top concern in the aftermath of 7 October irrespective of denomination, age, or geography has become the focal point of Voice of the People’s action-orientated approach.

The project functions with a council of 150 members working in 10 “hubs”, each concerned with engaging with one of the five top challenges. Danciger referred to a council member’s initiative to explore the world of large language models (LLMs) and artificial intelligence (AI) with regards to antisemitism.

“An AI professor from California is using Voice of the People as a vessel to pursue her research in AI and change how Jewish people are portrayed in LLM models. This is an important project for her as she understands that AI is the next source of truth for decades to come,” said Danciger.

The project is a joint effort led by the President’s Office in collaboration with the World Zionist Organisation, the Jewish Agency, and leading philanthropic partners, the Azrieli Foundation, the Patrick and Lina Drahi Foundation, and Wilf Family Foundation.