How October 7th, 2023, changed fear and exposure to hate amongst Jewish and Israeli members of universities

Abstract

On October 7th (2023) nearly 1,200 persons were killed in Israel by members of Hamas. Since then, there are accounts of an increase in antisemitism and hate against Jewish individuals around the world, irrespective of their involvement with the ensuing conflict.We conducted a survey experiment using data from 202 members of universities in the United States, Canada and Europe who identified as Jewish or Israeli. Respondents were asked about their personal exposure to antisemitism, hate or antagonistic speech, and about their comfort level conducting everyday activities. In addition, we randomly assigned whether each respondent was asked those questions about the weeks before October 7th, the weeks after that day, or about recent weeks.We found extraordinarily high levels of exposure to hate and antagonism toward Jewish and Israeli individuals in the period prior to October 7, which was exacerbated significantly afterwards. In addition, a significant proportion of respondents no longer enjoy the same level of comfort expressing their culture or conducting simple daily activities (e.g., leaving their homes) as they did prior to October 7. According to respondents, institutions of higher education have been ineffective in addressing their safety concerns on campus. We conclude with a discussion of implications.