Hotspots of Antisemitism and Anti-Israel Sentiment on US Campuses | Seite 20

14

Jewish students and Anti-Zionism
One controversial element in the discussion about hostility toward Israel on college campuses is
the extent to which criticism of Israel and anti-Zionism are inherently antisemitic (Johnson,
2016). The current survey asked respondents to what extent they would consider criticism of
Israel or denial of Israel’s right to exist to be antisemitic. The majority of students we surveyed
were fairly tolerant of criticism of Israel. Overall, only 4% of respondents said criticism of Israel
was “definitely” antisemitic and 20% said that is was “probably” antisemitic, 52% thought it was
“probably not,” and 23% thought it was “definitely not” antisemitic. In contrast, only a minority
felt the same about Israel’s delegitimization. Overall, 40% of respondents said that opposition to
Israel’s existence as a Jewish state was “definitely” antisemitic and 37% said it was “probably”
antisemitic. Nineteen percent of respondents thought delegitimization of Israel was “probably
not” antisemitic and only 4% thought it was “definitely not.” These data mirror earlier findings
(Saxe et al., 2015).
Support for BDS, specifically in the academic context, is very rare among Jewish students.
Only 2% agreed, even “somewhat,” that universities should boycott Israeli academic
institutions and scholars. There was no significant variation in support for BDS among Jewish
students across schools.