Did anti-racism and anti-zionist sentiments and actions increase in the united states in 2025?
Executive summary
By multiple measures tracked in 2025, anti‑Zionist rhetoric and actions in the United States intensified and became more visible—and in some cases violently consequential—while antiracist movements simultaneously grew more vocal but also more ideologically contested, with anti‑Zionist framings sometimes folded into antiracist and anticolonial language and generating sharp backlash from Jewish and security organizations [1] [2] [3].
1. Anti‑Zionist rhetoric and campus activism became more prominent and confrontational
Reporting and organizational tallies show a marked escalation in anti‑Israel and anti‑Zionist activity on U.S. campuses and in public discourse in 2025, from protest slogans demonizing Zionism to the formation of new, more radical student groups and campaigns explicitly targeting Zionist organizations, with activists defending these moves as anticolonial or antiracist actions [4] [3]. The ADL documented chants and slogans like “Zionism is Nazism” and reported that some student groups radicalized or splintered, while academic networks aligned with Jewish Voice for Peace traced a lineage from anticolonial politics to anti‑Zionist positions that reject accusations of antisemitism [4] [3].
2. Antisemitic incidents, violent attacks, and security warnings rose and were linked to anti‑Israel sentiment
Federal and NGO sources flagged an uptick in violence and plots targeting Jews and Jewish institutions in 2025, tying some attacks and manifestos to anti‑Israel rhetoric and online calls for armed protest; a DHS/FBI/DOJ/NCTC bulletin and congressional material noted a sharp cluster of incidents and warned of praise for designated terror groups on platforms, while the ADL and other groups recorded dozens to hundreds of antisemitic incidents nationally and reported troubling public‑opinion findings such as nearly one quarter of Americans saying attacks on Jews were “understandable” in the wake of violence [2] [1] [5]. Research centers and academic programs convened events to address a “surge” in violent antisemitic extremism after October 2023, and major episodes in 2025—murders and arson attacks cited by the Program on Extremism and media reports—underscored the lethal potential of the trend [6] [1].
3. Antiracist organizing increased, but its relationship to anti‑Zionism is contested
Elements of the U.S. antiracist and anticolonial left repurposed anti‑Zionist analysis as part of their critique of empire and racism, explicitly linking Zionism to settler‑colonial frameworks and resisting charges that such critiques are antisemitic; scholars associated with Jewish Voice for Peace and related networks described this as a deliberate political realignment of antiracist politics [3]. At the same time, Jewish organizations and some government actors treated many anti‑Zionist actions as harassment or harassment‑adjacent antisemitism, pressing universities and lawmakers to adopt IHRA‑style definitions and launch investigations—evidence that antiracist activism and anti‑Zionist expression were both growing and colliding with claims of discrimination [7] [4] [8].
4. Data show increases but have limits; narratives and politics shape interpretation
Multiple datasets and organizational reports point to increases in incidents, hostile rhetoric, and public concern—ADL and community surveys, think‑tank analyses, and monthly monitoring logged higher incident counts and elevated fear among Jewish respondents—yet methodological caveats remain: comparisons across years are complicated by differing question frames and monitoring windows, internet activity measures capture interest not sentiment, and partisan or institutional agendas shape what is highlighted as “antisemitic” versus legitimate political speech [7] [9] [1]. Competing narratives are explicit in the sources: some advocate treating anti‑Zionism as a form of racism and a legitimate antiracist stance [3], while others, including security and Jewish advocacy groups, depict the same currents as normalizing antisemitism and even terrorism [2] [10].
Bottom line
Evidence from 2025 across NGOs, academic analyses, federal advisories, and community surveys documents a clear rise in anti‑Zionist expression and related incidents in the United States, accompanied by a volatile increase in antisemitic violence and threats; antiracist activism also intensified but often adopted anti‑Zionist framings that provoked institutional and political pushback, leaving the landscape characterized by both growth and deep dispute over definitions and acceptable protest [1] [2] [3] [4].