Nearly all Jewish college students and alumni who participated in a recent survey by Alums for Campus Fairness said antisemitism is a problem on college campuses, with three-fourths describing it as a "very serious" issue.

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Among the 312 enrolled students and 194 alumni from different Jewish affiliations who took part in the survey, released on Monday, 95% said antisemitism was a problem on their current or former campus.

In addition, 79% of respondents said they experienced or heard firsthand accounts of "offensive or threatening antisemitic" comments; 69% avoided certain places, events and situations out of fear because they were Jewish; and nearly half of current students believe antisemitism is getting worse on their campus. Further, 44% of respondents said they experienced or heard firsthand about being physically threatened because they are Jewish.

Some of the respondents in the ACF survey shared their firsthand experiences with campus antisemitism, which included Holocaust comparisons, Jewish stereotyping and the use of antisemitic tropes. Negligence on the part of the school administration was "consistently cited," ACF said.

"These findings illuminate the troubling reality on US campuses – antisemitism is increasingly a pernicious threat, with Jewish students under siege," ACF executive director Avi D. Gordon said.

He added, "Today's universities take great pains to embrace and protect students from all races, religions, and backgrounds. But Jewish students are often left to fend for themselves against discrimination. Administrators must take immediate steps to remedy this situation, and alumni should work with administrators, students, and allies alike to rid their alma maters of hate."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Four months into his term, President Joe Biden appears to have the support of most US Jews, a new national survey conducted by the American Jewish Committee reveals.

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According to data published on Wednesday, 58% of American Jews say they approve of Biden's actions vis-a-vis Israel, while only 27% disapproved. Some 70% said they are happy with his overall performance as president, while only 26% said they do not.

This is not surprising, as the 46th president received overwhelming support among Jewish voters in the election in November.

When looking at support according to denominations, the survey indicates that 99% of Reconstructionists are satisfied with the president, 80% of Reform, 65% of Conservative and 19% of Orthodox Jews, as well as 72% who don't affiliate with any denomination.

Some 64% of American Jews think Biden's response to the rise of antisemitism in the country is correct, while 23% disagree.

On his handling of Iran's nuclear program, 55% said they supported his actions, while 32% disapproved.

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Some 62% of Israelis believe a fourth lockdown is only a matter of time, a survey conducted for the Tel-Aviv-based 103FM radio station revealed on Monday. 

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Some 591 Jewish and Arab Israelis took part in a poll conducted by the Panels Politics research institute. The data revealed that not only did most respondents believe that a fourth lockdown was imminent, but they also expected it to be instated in the upcoming weeks. 

Despite the participants' gloomy prediction, the coronavirus does seem to be on the down-low. On Tuesday, the Health Ministry reported that of the 95,505 tests it administered the day before, 3,662 came back positive, a number significantly lower compared to previous months.  The ministry did note, however, that 50% of those that tested positive were under the age of 30. The current infection rate stands at 4%. The coronavirus reproduction rate (R) in Israel continues to decrease and currently stands at 0.99.

There are 38,650 active cases in the country. Some 1,089 Israelis are being hospitalized, of whom 668 are in serious condition and 212 are on ventilators. 

Israel reported 806,841 cases and 5,922 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic. To date, 762,269 Israelis have recovered from the virus. 

The Jewish state continues its world-class vaccination campaign, which achieved a landmark on Monday, having vaccinated five million Israelis with the first shot of the inoculation. 

Attending the vaccination of the five millionth recipient, a pregnant 34-year-old from Petach Tikva, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicted that the entire adult population would be immunized by the end of April. 

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said the success of the immunization campaign meant that the government could "open up almost everything, the economy, sport, leisure, tourism." 

Some 3,859,111 Israelis have been vaccinated with both doses. The Health Ministry announced Sunday that fewer than 1 in 100 Israelis who had received both jabs ended up contracting the virus. 

Meanwhile, Pfizer announced Monday that its vaccine was effective against the Brazilian variant, according to a laboratory study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. 

In previously published studies, Pfizer had found that its vaccine neutralized other more contagious variants first identified in Britain and South Africa, although the South African variant may reduce protective antibodies elicited by the vaccine.

Pfizer said it believed its current vaccine is highly likely to still protect against the South African variant. However, the drugmaker is planning to test a third booster dose of their vaccine as well as a version retooled specifically to combat the variant in order to better understand the immune response.

Meanwhile, the vaccination campaign in the US is yielding results as well. Fully inoculated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing, according to long-awaited guidance the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Monday.

The recommendations also say that vaccinated people can come together in the same way – in a single household – with people considered at low-risk for severe diseases, such as in the case of vaccinated grandparents visiting healthy children and grandchildren.

"With more and more people vaccinated each day, we are starting to turn a corner," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.

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During a press briefing Monday, she called the guidance a "first step" toward restoring normalcy in how people come together. She said more activities would be approved for vaccinated individuals once caseloads and deaths decline, more Americans are vaccinated, and as more science emerges on the ability of those who have been vaccinated to get and spread the virus.

The CDC is continuing to recommend that fully vaccinated people still wear well-fitted masks, avoid large gatherings, and physically distance themselves from others when out in public.

 i24NEWS contributed to this report. 

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Kantar Media's Target Group Index survey, which measured the exposure of various media outlets in Israel between July 2018 and June 2019, found that Israel Hayom had a statistically significant advantage over Yedioth Ahronoth during the analysis period.

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According to the survey, 29.4% of the general population read the Israel Hayom weekday edition during the analysis period, compared to 25.3% who read Yedioth Ahronoth.

Israel Hayom's weekend edition saw an exposure rate of 30.1% on average during the analysis period compared with 28.4% for Yedioth Ahronoth. This means the two papers' weekend editions were at a statistical dead heat in readership over the past year.

Both papers saw a statistically significant drop in their exposure compared to the corresponding period last year (July 2017 to June 2018), in both the weekday and weekend editions. This drop can be attributed to the ongoing decline in overall print media consumption among Israelis.

The survey also showed that between January 2019 and June 2019 Israel Hayom continued to be the leading paper on weekdays, with a statistically significant edge over Yedioth Ahronoth (30.6% compared to 26.5%).

Israel Hayom's weekend edition saw an exposure rate of 31.4% from January through June 2019, compared with Yedioth Ahronoth's 29.0%. The margin is a statistical tie although Israel Hayom's increase in readership compared to the equivalent period in 2018 – 2.6 percentage points – is statistically significant.

The survey was conducted among a representative sample of Jewish adults.

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