I have some very exciting news to share with you. Today, the Nexus Project is launching the Nexus Center for Antisemitism Research (NCAR). This exciting new effort will work to advance a clear, evidence-based understanding of antisemitism in contemporary America.
Antisemitism in the United States is at historic levels. The legacy of anti-Jewish hostility is resurgent in an age of grievance, conspiracy theories, and political partisanship that has touched every segment of American life. Simultaneously, the term antisemitism has been increasingly weaponized in ways that exploit Jewish suffering and fear to advance anti-democratic agendas. In order to address this danger, we must have a national conversation rooted in reliable and rigorous data alongside trusted analysis. NCAR will provide those tools.
NCAR will conduct original research, elevate substantial scholarship, and connect research with the communities that need it. The Center will examine existing studies, design new research where it’s needed, and produce reports on pressing questions, including the impact of anti-Israel protest tactics, the reach of antisemitic influencers, policy effectiveness, and how Jews perceive antisemitism and criticism of Israel.
This initiative arrives at a critical moment, equipping us with the data and analysis essential to securing a flourishing future for American Jews.
The Center will be led by inaugural director Aryeh Tuchman, former director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. Aryeh brings two decades of experience as one of the top practitioners in the field, with expertise on antisemitic conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial, and varied forms of bigotry and extremism across the ideological spectrum. The Center’s scholarly research will be led by Director of Scholarship Eric Alterman, CUNY Distinguished Professor of English and Journalism at Brooklyn College, a historian and best-selling author.
If you have any questions or wish to have a briefing by staff of the Center, please contact our Vice President of Government Relations, Kevin Rachlin, or our Executive Associate, Ella Messler.
Thank you for your continued support,
Kevin Rachlin
Antisemitism keeps surfacing inside movements that believe they are incapable of it. This week it wore the language of liberation, and the test that matters stayed the same: not the politics of the speaker, but the tropes coming out of their mouth.
The conspiracy theories that recruit people into antisemitism rarely announce themselves as hate. They show up as history you were never taught, a war you have every right to question, a death that feels too clean.
