The Jewish Trends That Mattered Most in 2024
From cultural shifts to political reckonings, this year proved that the Jewish experience continues to evolve in surprising and thought-provoking ways.
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As we approach the end of another whirlwind year, it’s time to take stock of the trends that shaped Jewish life in 2024.
From cultural shifts to political reckonings, this year proved that the Jewish experience continues to evolve in surprising and thought-provoking ways.
Here are four of the most impactful Jewish trends that defined 2024.
1) Israel turned the tides and changed the Middle East.
If October 7th was one of the Jewish state’s all-time low points, 2024 has been an extraordinary success — with Israel putting on one display after another in remarkable military and intelligence prowess.
More specifically, Israel eliminated Hamas’ top two leaders, Ismail Haniyeh during his visit to Iran and Yahya Sinwar in Gaza. Overall, Hamas is a shell of what it used to be in Gaza. As Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported, Hamas’ military wing has been defeated and the group is now functioning merely as a guerrilla organization — so much so that Palestinian children are now being used as so-called “trained fighters” by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the Israelis have put on a true masterclass, starting with the ingenious pager and walkie-talkie attack back in September, which significantly injured at least 3,000 of Hezbollah’s operatives — a reminder that Israel fights wars not just with weapons but with wits.
And then Israel followed up this masterpiece by assassinating Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader for four decades, in Beirut — a move that automatically signaled a “change in the rules of engagement” in Israel’s fight against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s axis of evil.
By diminishing Hezbollah’s threat to Israel, the Jewish state has built more leverage for if and when it wants to take military action against Iran. Two of the Iranian regime’s top proxies — Hezbollah and Hamas — are now battered beyond belief.
Last Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is weighing options to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, including preventative airstrikes. The report came as Israel reportedly draws up plans for a potential attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, amid growing concern that the Islamic Republic, poised to build a bomb, could rush to finally do so.
Following the collapse two weekends ago of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, a close ally of Iran, Israeli military officials said last Thursday that they believe there is now an opportunity to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, and are continuing preparations for a potential attack.1
Also late last week, the Israeli Air Force said that after over a decade of evading air defenses over the skies of Syria during a campaign against Iran’s supply of weapons to Hezbollah, it had achieved total air superiority in the area. An Israeli bombing campaign last week across Syria, aimed at taking out advanced weaponry that could fall into the hands of hostile elements following the collapse of the Assad regime, also destroyed the vast majority of the air defenses in the country.
According to the military, the Israeli Air Force destroyed 86 percent of the former Assad regime’s air defense systems across Syria, totaling 107 separate air defense components and another 47 radars. A total of 1,800 munitions were used by the Israeli Air Force in these strikes, taking out nearly every site of “strategic military capabilities” that Israel was aware of.
Only a handful of air defense systems now remain in Syria, and they are not considered a major threat to the Israeli Air Force, which said it can operate freely across the country’s skies. If in the past, the Israeli Air Force would not fly directly over Damascus when carrying out strikes on Iran-linked targets in the capital, it now can.
2) Antisemitism: An Old Threat with New Faces
Antisemitism, sadly, remained a defining theme of 2024, but the landscape shifted in ways that commanded fresh attention.
Israeli football fans in Amsterdam were deliberately targeted and beaten up in November by mobs of antisemitic rioters, in what was described as a 21st-century pogrom.
In a predawn attack, mask-wearing arsonists set a synagogue ablaze in the Australian city of Melbourne two weeks ago.
Today, in Canada, it is like Nazi Germany in the 1930s — as one of our guest writers, Canadian professor Paul Finlayson, wrote.
Online platforms became even more potent breeding grounds for hate, fueled by algorithmic amplification and the rise of AI-generated propaganda. Meanwhile, a troubling increase in physical attacks across Europe, North America, and Australia forced Jewish communities to double down on security measures.
Antisemitism, humanity’s oldest hatred, has mutated over centuries, consistently adapting to the anxieties and prejudices of each era. But one of its most ironic transformations is how antisemitism, a prejudice initially rooted in religious difference and later in racial hatred, now often stands in direct opposition to the very progress it once accused Jewish people of corrupting.
For societies that champion progress — such as self-determination, human rights, equal opportunity, and innovation — antisemitism has become not just a moral failing but an intellectual anachronism. The stubborn persistence of this prejudice in the face of modernity is not only socially harmful but fundamentally anti-progress.
Today’s antisemitism, however, cloaks itself in a newer guise: “anti-Zionism.” While some Diaspora Jews are still hanging on to the post-Holocaust halo effect that shields them from direct antisemitism, Jew-haters have taken up the delegitimization of Israel’s very existence, applying so-called “moral standards” to the Jewish state that are not reasonably applied to any other nation.
Here, antisemitism has taken on a guise that positions itself as “progressive” while operating on fundamentally illiberal and regressive principles. The intellectual dissonance is glaring: How can one claim to support the right to self-determination for all peoples but deny it uniquely to Jews?
Yet, amidst the darkness, resilience shone through. Global initiatives mobilized millions in solidarity, while high-profile endorsements from allies outside the Jewish world brought much-needed visibility to the fight against antisemitism. In many ways, this trend reminded us that the battle against hate is far from over — but neither is the collective Jewish spirit.
3) The Israel-Diaspora relationship gets stronger.
In the aftermath of October 7th, as sirens wailed in Israel and protests raged across Western capitals, a curious thing began to happen: the frayed bonds between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora began to mend.
For years prior, these relationships have been strained by political and cultural differences. Diaspora Jews, often steeped in liberal values, found themselves at odds with some of Israel’s policies and leaders, while Israelis, accustomed to the existential pressures of living in the region, grew frustrated with what they perceived as armchair criticism from afar.
But when tragedy struck, the debates took a backseat to solidarity. Suddenly, disagreements about judicial reforms or settlement policies felt secondary to the simple, gut-wrenching fact of shared vulnerability. Whether they lived in Tel Aviv or Toronto, Jews felt the same chill of recognition: These were our people being slaughtered, our children being taken hostage, and our history being invoked to justify hatred once again.
The response was immediate and profound. Diaspora Jews mobilized with a speed and determination that would make even the most efficient Israeli bureaucrat envious. Communities organized rallies, raised funds, and filled cargo planes with supplies.
Rabbis who had once tiptoed around Israel in their sermons now spoke with unapologetic passion about the importance of the Jewish homeland. Young Jews, often criticized for being disconnected from Israel, took to social media to advocate, explain, and defend. A common refrain emerged: “We may argue with Israel, but no one else gets to threaten her existence.”
Diaspora communities rallied in unprecedented ways, from organizing emergency aid campaigns to hosting solidarity events that drew record attendance.
And in Israel, the sentiment was reciprocated. Israelis, long skeptical of whether Diaspora Jews truly understood their struggles, were moved by the outpouring of support. At the same time, Israeli leaders made concerted efforts to engage with Diaspora concerns, acknowledging the importance of mutual respect and collaboration. This rekindling of the bond between Israel and its global family highlighted the shared destiny that unites Jews worldwide.
The sight of Jews from New York to Melbourne waving Israeli flags and chanting “Am Yisrael Chai” was a potent reminder of the global ties that bind the Jewish people. Even amid the grief and chaos, Israelis found a renewed appreciation for the Diaspora’s unwavering commitment to their survival.
This strengthening of the Israel-Diaspora bond is not without its challenges. Old debates haven’t disappeared, and they will resurface in time. But for now, there is a collective recognition that the Jewish story is bigger than any one government or policy. It is about the survival of a people who, for all their internal disagreements, are profoundly united in the face of external threats.
If anything, this renewed connection is a testament to the resilience of the Jewish People. Diaspora Jews may live far from Israel, but their hearts are tethered to it by the shared weight of history and destiny. And while Israelis may occasionally roll their eyes at Diaspora Jews’ idealism, they know in their bones that the Jewish people thrive only when they stand together. It is an imperfect relationship, to be sure, but then again, what family isn’t?
4) Jews are increasingly concerned about their future in the West.
The Jewish People, masters of resilience and survivors of millennia of persecution, are once again taking stock of their position in the world. The horrific attacks of October 7th in Israel, coupled with the global surge in antisemitism disguised as “anti-Zionism,” have shaken Jewish communities to their core.
The question reverberating through synagogues, dinner tables, and Facebook groups is both simple and profound: Do we still have a place in the West?
This question is not new. For centuries, Jewish existence in the Diaspora has been marked by a paradoxical blend of integration and alienation. Yet, in the post-Holocaust world, a fragile optimism emerged. Liberal democracies promised rights, protections, and the ideal of pluralism. The Jews, ever pragmatic, leaned into these promises, contributing disproportionately to science, arts, and commerce while reshaping their own identities to fit the contours of modernity.
But the events following October 7th have exposed fissures in this optimistic narrative. The unapologetic brutality of the Hamas-led massacre was followed not by universal condemnation — but by waves of equivocation and, in some cases, outright support cloaked in the language of “decolonization” and “oppression” and “resistance.”
University campuses, long touted as bastions of critical thought, have become ideological battlefields where Jewish students now feel profoundly unsafe. Social media, ostensibly a platform for connection, has morphed into an arena of vitriol where hashtags advocating genocide trend uncomfortably close to those calling for justice.
What troubles many Jews is not just the resurgence of antisemitism but its modern guise: a rebranding as “anti-Zionism” where criticisms of Israeli policies often bleed into outright denial of Jewish self-determination. It is one thing to debate the nuances of Israeli politics — indeed, Jews themselves excel at that. It is quite another to deny the legitimacy of a Jewish homeland altogether while remaining deafeningly silent about the rights of other nations.
Amidst this storm, one might expect Jews to retreat inward, to reconsider their optimism about the West, and to focus exclusively on self-preservation. And to some extent, they are. Synagogues have bolstered security, and Jewish organizations are ramping up advocacy efforts. But to reduce the Jewish response to one of fear and defensiveness would be to misunderstand the soul of a people defined as much by hope as by history.
Hope, after all, is the subtext of Jewish survival. Despite the challenges, Jews are doubling down on their core values: education, justice, and community. The West is not yet lost, and Jews know better than anyone that change is possible, often against staggering odds.
Young Jews are finding their voices, reclaiming pride in their identity, and learning to navigate the complexities of being both critics and defenders of Israel. Allies, too, are stepping forward, recognizing that antisemitism is not just a Jewish problem but a societal one.
So, are Jews concerned about their future in the West? Absolutely.
But concern is not despair. It is a call to action. And if history has taught us anything, it is that Jews thrive under pressure. Out of adversity, we build. Out of ashes, we rise.
And out of this moment, perhaps, we will forge a safer future for ourselves.
“IDF sees chance for strikes on Iran nuke sites after knocking out Syria air defenses.” The Times of Israel.
One might also add that more Jews are looking into what it means to be a Jew I terms of learning about traditional Jewish values
Wonderful piece with a positive ending-- which is the theme of our history. Persecution that ends with rebuilding, more connection, closer to Hashem, etc. 🥰 🙏🏻
I love our non Jewish friends who have been vocal, some even devoting a Substack to the importance of zionism and the West. Pat Johnson and Kelli at Rocking the Suburbs.