For years, the response to antisemitism has been predictable: more education, awareness campaigns and structured teaching designed to help people recognise antisemitism when it appears; Holocaust remembrance. These tools are no longer enough because they are not fully engaging with the world people are actually reacting to now.
Antisemitism is rising again, but what’s far less agreed and far more uncomfortable to talk about is why?
The current rise in antisemitism is happening alongside the devastation in Gaza. That’s not the only factor, but it’s a significant one affecting the emotional and political environment in which antisemitism is now being expressed. It is also why, as the Jewish Voice for Peace has said, “Many Jews are speaking out because we believe the actions in Gaza violate our deepest values”.
Many of the resources guiding how we understand antisemitism are still largely focused on past patterns, rather than how those patterns are being triggered now. If we’re serious about addressing antisemitism, we must have honesty about what’s shaping it now, not only what shaped it in the past.
Education works over time. It influences thinking and values slowly, across generations. However, spikes in antisemitic incidents have often followed periods of intense conflict involving Israel and Palestine. This pattern is widely discussed, even if its causes are not fully understood.
What’s different now is the intensity, speed and international visibility of the rise in antisemitism. Images from Gaza are driving grief, anger and outrage around the world and, for many people, the enormity of destruction and loss is seen as profoundly unjust, even as genocidal. That emotional reaction doesn’t automatically lead to antisemitism but, in some cases, it does.
When anger shifts into blame directed at Jewish people more broadly, a line has been crossed and that line is being crossed in visible ways. The pattern is familiar:
- a government takes action
- people react with anger
- that anger expands outward
- a country becomes associated with a people.
It’s in that final step that antisemitism can take hold and cannot be properly addressed if we ignore the conditions that are helping to trigger it. This is where the conversation often breaks down.
Criticism of the Israeli government is growing, including from Jewish individuals and organisations around the world. For many of them, this isn’t a rejection of Jewish identity but an expression of political and moral conviction. It has to be possible to criticise a government and speak openly about the humanitarian consequences of war, of genocide – including Gaza – without assigning blame to Jewish people as a whole.
When that distinction disintegrates, two things happen at once:
- legitimate criticism is sometimes dismissed as antisemitism
- actual antisemitism can hide inside political language.
Both these outcomes make the problem harder to confront.
This gap is already visible in the education that’s meant to guide us. In Australia, the educational handbook Understanding Antisemitism in Australia outlines how modern antisemitism can appear, including in language about Israel and Zionism. UNESCO’s work also focuses on education, history and recognising patterns of hate: Addressing antisemitism through education. Both resources are important and both respond to real concerns. However, neither fully engages with how current events, particularly in Gaza, are shaping the emotional and political environment in which antisemitism is now being expressed. That is important, because people aren’t forming views only in classrooms or from policy documents. They’re forming them from what they see in the media and on social platforms that carry immediate emotional impact, with links to lived experience forging their understanding.
Right now, we need to hold two things at once:
• antisemitism is real, rising and dangerous
• the ‘conflict’ in Gaza is one of several factors that’s shaping the environment in which antisemitism is spreading.
Acknowledging one doesn’t weaken the other but avoiding either makes the problem harder to understand and address.
Antisemitism doesn’t emerge by chance; it responds to conditions that include longstanding prejudices, political movements, historical stories – and highly visible, deeply polarising current events.
Gaza is part of that environment. It’s not the only cause, but it’s a powerful trigger in the current moment and one that has helped spill existing tensions over the edge around the world. If our understanding of antisemitism doesn’t engage with that reality, then it risks falling short, not because its intentions are wrong but because its analysis is incomplete, and we do a disservice to the millions of people around the world who know the truth.
If we’re serious about addressing antisemitism and we have to be, we can’t only teach the past; we also have to be honest about the present.
Meg Schwarz
Meg Schwarz holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy and brings over 35 years of experience championing social justice, advocacy and consumer engagement. Based in South Australia, Meg has dedicated her career to working alongside diverse communities, including refugees, people with disabilities and individuals with complex trauma backgrounds.With a strong passion for equality and human rights, Meg specialises in fostering meaningful communication, empowering voices through advocacy and creating inclusive spaces for dialogue. Her skills in stakeholder engagement, strategic communication and community development have earned her recognition as a trusted and compassionate leader in her field.