{"id":157,"date":"2026-06-07T09:07:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T09:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=157"},"modified":"2026-06-07T09:07:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T09:07:24","slug":"gen-z-has-an-antisemitism-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=157","title":{"rendered":"Gen Z Has an Antisemitism Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Among the vilest figures in American politics today is the far-right influencer Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist and Holocaust denier who makes no secret of his hateful views. \u201cWe are done with the slavish surrender to Israel, the wars, the foreign aid, the policing of antisemitism, the Holocaust religion and propaganda,\u201d he said in a 2025 video typical of his bigotry.<\/p>\n

Read more Democrats Need to Decide Whether Character Matters<\/a><\/p>\n

Once banned from social media, Fuentes now enjoys 1.3 million followers on X and 688,000 followers on the alt-right streaming site Rumble. His extremism has increasingly gone mainstream, especially among young Americans.<\/p>\n

In a recent survey by the Yale Youth Poll, the nation\u2019s largest survey of young adults, 55 percent of respondents ages 18 to 22 agreed that \u201cAmerica should end the slavish surrender to Israel, its wars, and its demands for foreign aid\u201d\u2014a paraphrase of Fuentes\u2019 video. The organization has also found that young adults are much more likely than older generations to agree with anti-semitic tropes.<\/p>\n

In its fall survey, the Yale Youth Poll found that 30 percent of young adults \u201cstrongly\u201d or \u201csomewhat\u201d agreed that \u201cJews in the United States are more loyal to Israel than to America,\u201d compared to 16 percent of Americans 65 and over. Just 24 percent of young Americans think \u201cIsrael should exist as a Jewish state\u201d\u2014versus 64 percent for Americans over 65.<\/p>\n

Other polls have found a similar rise in antisemitic sentiment among younger Americans. A 2024 survey of more than 4,000 Americans by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found that Millennials and Gen Z were the most likely to agree with anti-Jewish canards such as \u201cJews have too much power in the business world\u201d and \u201cJews have a lot of irritating faults.\u201d A by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (the Claims Conference) found that 15 percent of Millennials and Gen Z \u201cbelieve it is acceptable for an individual to hold neo-Nazi views,\u201d while another 15 percent were \u201cunsure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rise in antisemitic thinking accompanies a spike in antisemitic violence. The ADL reported an average of 17 antisemitic incidents per day in 2025 involving harassment, vandalism, or physical assault.<\/p>\n

One potential reason for growing antisemitism among young adults is lack of knowledge. The Claims Conference survey also found that 63 percent of Millennials and Gen Z Americans \u201cdo not know that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust,\u201d and only 44 percent were familiar with death camps like Auschwitz and Dachau. Ten percent believe the Holocaust didn\u2019t happen or were \u201cnot sure,\u201d while another 23 percent said they believed the death toll was exaggerated.<\/p>\n

Read more Mary Todd Lincoln Reconsidered<\/a><\/p>\n

Jack Dozier, a Yale junior who is director of the Yale Youth Poll, has an additional explanation: He says the prevalence of antisemitic sentiment on social media has normalized these views. Indeed, the Yale Youth Poll found that people who get their news from social media are more likely to hold anti-semitic views.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just Gen Z<\/strong>.<\/strong> As David Masciotra pointed out this week in the Monthly<\/em>, anti-semitism is becoming a bipartisan political problem. \u201cPopular leftist commentators speak with the most frequency and excitement about Israel, AIPAC, and the omnipresence of Zionist influence,\u201d David writes. Especially worrying, he argues, is the left\u2019s tolerance\u2014and even elevation\u2014of anti-semitic figures like Hasan Piker. \u201cIf you are praising a man who refers to Hamas as a \u201cresistance group\u201d comparable to American slave revolts, you are inches away from excusing Hamas yourself,\u201d David writes. Read here.<\/p>\n

Also new at the Monthly\u2026<\/em><\/h3>\n

FacePlat in Maine<\/strong>.<\/strong> Revelations of Graham Platner\u2019s extramarital sexting have raised new concerns about the populist oysterman\u2019s electability this fall for the U.S. Senate. In his first column this week, Politics Editor Bill Scher believes these worries to be real, and he argues Democrats can still save themselves next week in the primary. \u201cNo Maine voter should enter a voting booth thinking the race is over, and Platner has already won just because that\u2019s what Platner\u2019s loyalists and many Republicans want you to think,\u201d Bill writes. (Gov. Janet Mills reminded voters this week that she is \u201cstill on the ballot,\u201d despite having suspended her campaign.) Bill\u2019s Friday column questions whether Platner\u2019s defenders are falling into the same trap as apologists for Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. \u201cJust like how Clintonian moderates and Trumpian reactionaries myopically embraced the myth of indispensability, so are Platnerian progressive populists,\u201d he writes. Read here and here. You can also watch Bill and Matt Lewis debate Platner\u2019s viability here.<\/p>\n

Still time for <\/strong>60 Minutes<\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>60 Minutes <\/em>has been around for almost 60 years, but can it survive Bari Weiss? The new CBS News editor in chief has orchestrated a massacre of the show\u2019s top leadership over the last year, including its executive producer, deputy executive producer, and top correspondents like Scott Pelley (fired this week). \u201cThat\u2019s not how you treat a precious institution, especially one that\u2019s making $200 million a year for your network and is up 9.1 percent in the ratings over last year,\u201d writes contributing editor Jonathan Alter. Jonathan urges 60 Minutes<\/em> survivors to hold on. \u201cI hope that talented journalists go to 60 Minutes<\/em> now to help them come back,\u201d he continues. \u201cAnd I hope that the many talented producers who are still working at 60 Minutes <\/em>can dry their tears and go to work on creating a terrific 59th season for one of the greatest shows in the history of television.\u201d Read here.<\/p>\n

Have Ukrainians turned the tide?<\/strong>As Ukraine-based journalist Tamar Jacoby has chronicled for the Monthly <\/em>for months now, Ukraine has been slowly revolutionizing how war will be waged in the future. Its innovations now seem to be be paying off. \u201cKyiv has all but halted Russian gains along the 1,000-mile front line, and the Ukrainian defense industry continues to roll out new weaponry\u2014still longer-range missiles, more sophisticated drones, better electronic warfare jammers, and interceptors to shoot down incoming missiles,\u201d Tamar writes. These Ukrainian victories could point toward a broader European strategy to defend against Russia\u2014and one that doesn\u2019t involve dependence on the U.S. Read here.<\/p>\n

Plus\u2026<\/p>\n