Thread by @SethAMandel

I tweeted the AJC survey on antisemitism in France earlier, but I want to focus on the very last graph in the full report. It asks Jews and non-Jews in France about the perceived causes of the antisemitism they both agree is happening. This is instructive:

First, they asked about whether they think a major cause is an old hatred that never really goes away. Second pic shows blue=non-Jews and grey=Jews

What do you notice? By a large margin, French society seeks to blame something from the past, which doesn’t absolve them but comes closest to doing so since it’s portrayed as a permanent condition of society. Jews don’t think that in nearly such numbers.

Next: More Jews—remember, the ppl actually experiencing the antisemitism—than non-Jews blame Islamist ideas and influence. More non-Jews blame ‘the ideas of the far right’ than Jews do.

This all starting to sound familiar? Moving on.

Finally, more non-Jews blame anti-Zionism than Jews do. But just look at that final one. A quarter of Jews consider ‘the ideas of the far left’ to be a primary cause of the hate. Just 9% of non-Jews do. A real and fascinating gap.

What do we learn from this? One lesson is one we’ve been discussing lately: Listen to the Jews when they tell you something. Are members of the public just not talking to Jews about what’s happening? Yes. As in America, their opinions are untouched by Jewish testimony.

And second, that society at large continues to *vastly* underestimate the threat posed by the left and slightly overestimate that of the right. Again, till I’m blue in the face: antisemitism is not an ideological phenomenon. It comes from all directions.

Jews under assault don’t look at it through the lens of ideology. The public does. This is a disconnect that must be fixed.

You’re still not listening to us. Stop instinctively protecting your partisan tribe and start taking this seriously.

Sigh. Thanks.