Support for Israeli Hostage Posters Defacers is Related to Antisemitism and Radical Intentions

• In Event: Public Responses to Terrorism and Mass Shootings

Abstract

Antisemitic crime has recently increased in the U.S., especially after the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military action in Gaza. We aimed to research psychological antecedents of antisemitic crime by investigating correlates of antisemitic beliefs and intentions for radical (illegal and violent) action. Specifically, the study focused on the question of whether support for individuals taking down or defacing posters depicting Hamas’ Israeli hostages relate to beliefs in antisemitic conspiracy theories; to antisemitic beliefs; to radical and activist intentions; and to feelings of social alienation.

To address these hypotheses, survey data from 1,252 US-based participants were collected on Prolific. The results indicated significant positive correlations between support for hostage posters defacers and (1) antisemitism; (2) beliefs in antisemitic conspiracy theories; (3) intentions for radical--illegal and violent--actions, and (4) social alienation. Activist (legal and non-violent) intentions did not correlate with support for poster defacers or with antisemitic beliefs. These results suggest that the events of October 7 and its aftermath have had a broad radicalizing effect, which was likely amplified by the antisemitic conspiracy theories, some of which were advanced by the mass media.

Authors

• Sophia Moskalenko, Georgia State University

• Mia Bloom, Georgia State University