Antisemitism is the number one challenge facing Jews worldwide, according to a new survey released Wednesday by Voice of the People, an initiative of President Isaac Herzog.
The “2025 Jewish Landscape Report,” conducted after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, found that 76% of Jews globally, regardless of age or religious affiliation, believe rising antisemitism is a major challenge. That figure is 20% higher than the next most pressing concern: the relationship between Israel and global Jewry, cited by 56% of respondents
In the survey, respondents described antisemitism in many forms, including hate speech, social exclusion and growing fear of expressing Jewish identity in public. Many said they felt vulnerable, isolated, and, in some cases, betrayed by institutions they had previously trusted before the October 7 attacks.
“In the past year and a half, antisemitism has become the number one issue for Jewish people globally,” said Shirel Dagan-Levy, CEO of Voice of the People. “The findings reflect a community that is hurting.”
Voice of the People is a joint project of the President’s Office, the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency. It brings together 150 Jewish adults from around the world—50 from Israel, 50 from North America and 50 from other regions in the Diaspora—to engage in dialogue and propose solutions to key challenges facing the Jewish people.
According to the survey, older generations expressed the greatest concern about rising antisemitism, including 81% of baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and 82% of the Silent Generation (born between 1928 and 1945). A summary of the report noted that many in these age groups fear history may be repeating itself, with some drawing parallels to the pre-Holocaust period in Europe.
Members of Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) were the most likely to suppress their Jewish identity in public, often to avoid backlash in professional or social settings.
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Pro-Israel demonstration in Washington, D.C.
(Photo: Drew Angerer / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
Among the youngest respondents, Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) expressed deep concern about antisemitism in digital and social spaces, frequently citing harassment on college campuses.
When analyzed by country, the Netherlands emerged as the place where the largest share of respondents (92%) said rising antisemitism was a critical concern.
A separate survey conducted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights in 2019—before the October 7 attack—had already shown that nearly half (47%) of Dutch Jews experienced some form of antisemitic harassment in the previous five years.
Australia ranked second, with 89% of respondents citing antisemitism as a major concern.
A recent report from the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University documented the sharpest spike in antisemitic incidents in Australia over the past year. According to the Jewish Communal Appeal, roughly 120,000 Jews live in Australia.
James Newbury, an opposition member of Australia’s Victorian Legislative Assembly and shadow treasurer and minister for equality, visited Israel last month. He told The Media Line: “There has been a massive spike [in antisemitism] and a weakness in our government, which has not stood strongly enough against the breakdown of social cohesion in general and, more specifically, antisemitism.”
Other countries where antisemitism was cited as a top concern include Germany (87%), France (84%), Switzerland and Canada (81%), South Africa (78%), Chile (77%) and the United States and Brazil (75%).
The findings were gathered through a monthslong survey process and are intended to inform the dialogues and initiatives of Voice of the People’s global Jewish council. In the report, Herzog emphasized that the data should “fill in the lines of intuition and personal insight with the type of hard data and broad research that must be the basis for a reliable blueprint for our intentioned work, if it is to be effective.”
He added, “Only through asking the right questions can we hope to understand the nature of the challenges we face and arrive at viable solutions.”
Herzog stressed that the report reflects not only a sense of urgency but also “desire, motivation, and eagerness of the Jewish people from around the globe and from so many walks of life to address the challenges facing our nation.”
One of the key takeaways from the report is that, despite heightened vulnerability, there is also a renewed commitment to Jewish identity, unity and action since October 7, 2023.
“By combining the reach of digital and social media with a rigorous, community-driven survey model, we were able to capture authentic, real-time insights that reflect not only the challenges Jews face today, but also the resilience and unity that define our future,” said Neta Danciger, chief marketing and product officer of Voice of the People.
Other major challenges identified by survey respondents include Israel–Diaspora relations (56%), described as an ideological and emotional gap between Israelis and Jews living abroad; Jewish–non-Jewish relations (49%), with many respondents reporting a deterioration in ties with non-Jewish community members and institutions; internal polarization (49%) within the Jewish world; and preserving Jewish culture and heritage (46%), a concern especially prevalent among older respondents and linked to fears about continuity and cultural transmission.
Each of these five topics was assigned to two separate working groups tasked with developing actionable solutions. The report already includes proposals such as launching public awareness campaigns, forming alliances with non-Jewish groups and more effectively using media.
Other suggestions include fostering respectful discourse among Jews with differing ideological views and using digital platforms to build educational and community spaces.
Dagan-Levy said that the council’s working groups are already using the data, which is also being published to raise awareness across the broader Jewish world. She added that although the council initially planned to focus on 10 topics, the report’s findings made it clear that five should be prioritized.
“The goal of Voice of the People is to be a data-driven organization and to come up with real, actionable solutions; we can't work without data,” Dagan-Levy explained. “For us, that's the way to go. And that's why it's really important for us to share this report with the Jewish people, because it can help other organizations in the Jewish world. … This is a very, very significant report,” she concluded.
