After 10/7: Normalization of Antisemitism in the West

David R. Mandel

Authors

David R. Mandel University of Waterloo

Abstract

The October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks against Israel (10/7) represented the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Rather than triggering sympathy for the victims, most of whom were Jewish, 10/7 sparked a rise in antisemitism in Western diasporas. This rise cannot be satisfactorily explained in terms of radicalization. Radicalization is an increase in extremist attitudes and behavioral intentions relative to default societal norms. Thus, the radicalization hypothesis implies that the output of radicalization (in this case, antisemitism) is not normalized. This is unambiguously contradicted by data on incidence rates of antisemitism before and after 10/7 and other documentary evidence. Such findings indicate that antisemitism was normalizing before 10/7, and it is that normalization which set the preconditions for its explosive rise witnessed after 10/7. Misattributing the current wave of antisemitism principally to radicalization endangers Jews because such explanations can inadvertently minimize the breadth and severity of the problem.

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After 10/7: Normalization of Antisemitism in the West

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