When Murder Becomes “Understandable”: What the New ADL Survey Tells Us About America
This isn’t just a Jewish problem. It’s a societal one.
A new survey from the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research has revealed a disturbing contradiction at the heart of American public opinion. While most Americans say they reject antisemitism and support meaningful action to stop it, millions also express views that rationalize or even justify violence against Jews.
This isn’t just about rising antisemitism—it’s about the normalization of political murder in American life. About the way violent ideologies get sanitized under the language of protest. About how, for a growing number of Americans, Jewish lives are no longer seen as sacred or separate from geopolitical blame. After the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, antisemitism surged. In November 2023, 71% of Americans said anti-Jewish prejudice was a serious problem. Now, that number has dropped to 60%.
Worse, a sizable number of Americans say violence against Jews is either understandable, justified, necessary or fabricated.
Survey respondents were asked about three real incidents:
An arson attack on the home of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro during Passover dinner.
A deadly shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. where two people were murdered
A molotov attack at a rally for Israeli hostages, burning a Holocaust survivor alive.
The nationally representative survey, conducted June 10, 2025, among 1,000 American adults, found that:
24% said the attacks were “understandable.”
13% said the attacks were “justified.”
15% said the violence was “necessary.”
24% believed the attacks were staged to gain sympathy for Israel.
22% said the incidents were not antisemitic.
14% did not consider them hate crimes.
This means tens of millions of people, believe Jewish bloodshed is either necessary, defensible, or fabricated.
The Beliefs Behind the Violence
The survey reveals widespread acceptance of antisemitic tropes:
34% believe American Jews are more loyal to Israel than the U.S.
30% say Jews have too much influence in politics and media.
27% say Jews in America should answer for Israel’s actions.
38% believe attacks on Jews would stop if Israel declared a ceasefire.
These are not fringe views. They appear across party lines, age groups, and ideologies.
Most strikingly, younger generations are far more likely to hold Jews collectively responsible:
~1 in 3 Millennials and Gen Z believe Jews should answer for Israel’s actions.
Only ~1 in 5 Boomers and Silent Generation say the same.
The generational gap is stark: younger Americans are more favorable toward protest movements that blur the line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, and they are more susceptible to narratives that frame Jewish lives as expendable for the sake of justice.
The Language of Protest: Rhetoric and Risk
Americans were also asked about protest language commonly used since October 7, 2023. The results show a clear awareness of how certain slogans can endanger Jews:
68% say phrases like “Globalize the Intifada” and “From the River to the Sea” increase the risk of violence against Jews.
Even among those favorable to pro-Palestinian protests, 54% agreed those slogans are dangerous.
58% believe that when protesters say “Zionists,” they mean Jewish people in general.
58% think protesters should avoid slogans that attackers have used, like “Free Palestine.”
When nearly a third of Americans view these protests positively, and when large portions admit the rhetoric raises the risk of violence, the line between activism and incitement becomes harder to draw. It also shows the little regard for the consequences they have.
A Window Is Closing
We are watching a society in moral retreat—where antisemitism remains broadly condemned, but political violence is quietly finding new defenders. The people justifying violence today won’t stop at Jews. They are normalizing a framework where murder can be rebranded as “resistance,” and where moral clarity gives way to moral compromise.
We saw this dynamic clearly when Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was murdered on December 4, 2024, on a New York City street. He wasn’t Jewish—he was simply cast as an “oppressor” of patients. Yet instead of unanimous condemnation, many online responded with grim approval. Some even celebrated the killing, framing it as a justified act of resistance against a broken system . This same logic—of legitimizing murder because someone is deemed oppressive—is eerily mirrored in the rationalization of violence against Jews.
It’s tempting to view antisemitism as a fringe issue, confined to the margins of far-right extremists or radical campus protestors. But the data shows something more chilling: these beliefs are not confined to the fringe. They are finding footholds in the mainstream. Millions of Americans—across parties, generations, and ideologies—are absorbing narratives that portray Jews not as fellow citizens, but as enemies, targets, collateral damage. That’s not a Jewish crisis. That’s a societal one.
This isn’t a Jewish problem.
It’s America’s.
Antisemitism is a moral disease.
So I shared your article on Bluesky with some thoughts and almost immediately a rando dismissed it because you don't "talk about the G3nocid3!11!!!" Nothing productive came of the exchange (duh!), but I was thinking more about it today and posted the following up on the BlueSky...
"Some of this was spurred by a random Hamasnik who isn't in the US. He said since the article I commented about didn't actually use the actual word "genocide" it was... invalid? As in, it wasn't describing the events it alludes to in the title? It's an article about the increasing majority cultural acceptance of violence by Americans against American Jews... for reasons.
Now, a couple of these high-profile Jew-Killers did yell out the jack-in-the-box cry of "Free Palestine" when they murdered Americans, who they assumed were Jewish because the victims were standing next to "Jewish things", ie, a museum about the history of Jewish cultural life in Washington D.C., and a silent vigil for Israeli hostages.
I'd have to say that this dude didn't even bother to exercise "context" or "extrapolation" or "knowledge of current events" to see that there are multiple spots in the article that "reasonable" people would infer to refer specifically to the current Israel/Palestine conflict and the various political and moral dimensions of it.
So why didn't this guy do any of that thinky stuff I just mentioned?
Because it's never about Gaza.
It's never about Palestinians.
It's never about war crimes.
It's never about historically antisemitic actions by the UN and its spawn.
It's never about food insecurity.
It's never about journalists-by-day and jihadists-by-night.
And it's NEVER ABOUT THE WORD GENOCIDE.
It's about the acculturation of removing anything Jewish from the public sphere.
It's transmitting the "goodthink" of "Judenfrei".
It's about the 21st Century "Expulsion of the Jews".
Well, my friend of little words... I've got some American news for you:
We Are Not Jews With Trembling Knees.
We see you, we hear you, and we will call you out and continue to take up space in "your" world. Go kick a rock.
So then I called him a "dry cunt" (because he's useless) but it's OK... he's Australian* and that word is part of their cultural inheritance... just like rising antisemitism and Jew-Hatred. And then he unFollowed me. My loss, I guess.
And here's the article in question: "When Murder Becomes “Understandable”: What the New ADL Survey Tells Us About America" https://globaldisconnect.substack.com/p/when-murder-becomes-understandable
*Obligatory note that I know some pretty decent non-antisemitic Australians. And some Australians who are Jewish and are very scared of people like him."