Stop Asking How Jews Will Vote. Ask Why Young Jews Are Afraid to Be Jewish

A STUDENT'S VIEW - Before a young Jewish student puts on a Star of David, they should not have to wonder whether it will make them a target. Before telling classmates, they are Jewish, they should not have to calculate whether they will suddenly be expected to defend the actions of a government thousands of miles away.

Yet while young Jews increasingly confront questions like these, politicians and commentators remain fascinated by something else: the “Jewish vote.” But there is no single Jewish vote.

Young American Jews are Democrats, Republicans, independents, progressives, and conservatives. They disagree about Israel, Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu, and American foreign policy. They also care about housing, education, jobs, public safety and whether they will be able to afford the lives their parents hoped they would have.

Jewish Americans are not a political monolith. But antisemitism does not care how Jews vote.

A swastika does not ask whether a Jew supports Netanyahu. Someone threatening a synagogue does not check voter registration. And a person who hates Jews does not first determine whether the Jew standing before them is progressive, conservative, Zionist, or anti-Zionist. No Jewish student should be expected to answer for the policies of the Israeli government simply because that student is Jewish.

Yet that distinction is becoming dangerously blurred. Jewish identity and the Israeli government are too often treated as interchangeable. A young Jew can find themselves expected to explain Israel before anyone has bothered to ask what they actually believe.

We would rightly object if a Muslim American student were expected to answer for the actions of a Middle Eastern government. We would reject holding an Asian American student personally responsible for policies made in Beijing. We would never expect a Russian American teenager to defend Vladimir Putin simply because of their heritage. Jewish students deserve the same dignity.

They are students. They are classmates. They are neighbors. They are Americans. They are not ambassadors for a foreign government.

For young Jews, antisemitism is not an academic abstraction. It is hesitating before wearing a Star of David. It is wondering whether mentioning your Jewish identity will change how classmates see you. It is entering a discussion about Israel and realizing that people may already have decided what you believe before you have spoken. It is learning far too young that being visibly Jewish can require a calculation.

No young American should have to make that calculation.

We must also be clear: criticism of Israel is not inherently antisemitic. Israel is a country with a government whose leaders and policies can be criticized, protested, and fiercely debated. Defending Jewish students does not require silencing Palestinians, Muslims, or critics of Israel.

A free society must be capable of protecting vigorous political disagreement while recognizing when disagreement becomes collective blame. That line is crossed when Jewish Americans are held responsible for actions they did not take. It is crossed when anger toward Israel is redirected toward a Jewish student, synagogue or business. It is crossed when someone assumes that simply being Jewish reveals what a person believes.

And neither political side gets a pass. The left must confront antisemitism when criticism of Israel becomes collective guilt, intimidation, or hostility toward Jews. The right must confront antisemitism when it appears through white nationalism, Holocaust distortion, or conspiracy theories about Jewish control.

Antisemitism from the left is antisemitism. Antisemitism from the right is antisemitism.

Politicians of every ideology should remember this: If you condemn antisemitism only when your political opponents engage in it, you are not fighting antisemitism. You are using it.

Jewish safety cannot become another partisan weapon. Young Jews should not have to pass an ideological test before someone stands against hatred directed at them. Their civil rights are not conditional. Their safety is not partisan. Their belonging in America should never depend upon their position on a foreign conflict.

So yes, stop talking about the “Jewish vote” as though millions of Jewish Americans think and vote alike. Instead, listen to young Jews.

Listen to the student who hesitates before wearing a Star of David. Listen to the student who wonders whether saying, “I’m Jewish,” will change the atmosphere in the room. Listen to the student who wants to debate Israel honestly but refuses to accept responsibility for every decision made by an Israeli prime minister.

Then ask a question far more important than which candidate will win their vote:

Why should any young Jewish American in 2026 have to wonder whether being less visibly Jewish might make them safer?

Politicians want to know whether they can win the Jewish vote. Young Jews need to know something far more fundamental:

When there are no votes to win, no cameras watching and no political advantage to be gained, will America still stand beside them?

Their parents and grandparents taught them not to hide their Jewish identity, but to carry it proudly. Our young people should not become the generation that learns to hide it again.

No young Jew should ever have to become less visibly Jewish to feel more safely American.

(Shoshannah Kalaydjian is a young Jewish student who writes about education, identity, and the challenges facing the next generation. Growing up in today’s climate, she has witnessed firsthand how rising antisemitism affects young people in classrooms and on college campuses.  She is committed to sharing the perspectives of Jewish youth, amplifying student voices, and encouraging leaders to create safer, more inclusive environments for all students.)