Antisemitism and engagement Looking at the state of antisemitism today, Daroff sees “early indications” of a gradual cooling of the explosion in anti-Jewish hostility over the last two years. While it is too early to guess how things will progress over the coming months, there are signs of progress, especially on the fierce ideological battlefields of college campuses. “Things like anti-Israel encampments and Jewish students being harassed are not happening anymore,” Daroff said. “Campuses are much calmer now than they were previously.” That marks a sharp contrast with the spring of 2024, when weeks-long encampments, building occupations and class disruptions were common at major universities. Tents and signs fill Harvard Yard by the John Harvard statue in the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 5, 2024. (Joseph Prezioso / AFP) Much of that, he said, is because the Trump administration took strong steps to enforce Title VI protections against discrimination, including threatening to withdraw federal funding, to force university administrators to clamp down on hate activities on campus. Advertisement “Those interventions raised the stakes for institutions and literally changed the atmosphere for Jewish students and faculty overnight,” he said. Meanwhile, the phenomenon of surging Jewish engagement among non-affiliated Jews since October 7 shows no signs of abating, Daroff said. Organizations continue to report rising synagogue and JCC attendance, increased involvement in Jewish and pro-Israel advocacy, and public displays of Jewish identity such as wearing yarmulkes and Magen David necklaces. Former hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel light Hanukkah candles with William Daroff and participants at the Israel Foreign Ministry’s J50 Conference in December 2025 (Shlomi Amsalem/GPO) “We haven’t seen indications that the surge is reversing,” Daroff said. “As a community, we have been circling our wagons because we have seen that, at the end of the day, the people we can count on the most are our Jewish friends and neighbors. I think that’s been an important part of the surge, and we need to find ways to ensure that Jewish engagement continues.” “My hope at this point,” Daroff said, “is that with the conflict here receding, the Jewish community can press reset and focus on what is important.”