On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other armed groups launched a large attack on southern Israel from Gaza
killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages. Israel declared a state of war and began a large-scale air and ground campaign in Gaza, coupled with severe restrictions on supplies entering the territory. The war caused extensive destruction and tens of thousands of reported deaths in Gaza, drawing intense international concern over the humanitarian situation and the conduct of all parties. Over time, fighting also spread to other fronts, including regular exchanges of fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, while regional and global actors pushed for ceasefires and hostage releases. By late 2025, a mediated ceasefire and phased agreements have reduced large-scale combat and enabled major hostage-prisoner exchanges, but key issues such as Gaza’s governance, disarmament of armed groups, and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict remain unresolved.
Many took to social media to process the attack. Most were met with an an unexpected lack of support.
Not long after the October 7 attack on Israel a sharp rise in antisemitism on social media feeds was surprising in both how aggressive and accepted it was. Meanwhile I watched many of my Jewish friends who identify as progressive or otherwise left-leaning post engaging & thoughtful content on their socials about what it is to be Jewish right now, especially for those working through complicated opinions on Israel, Palestine and Hamas and the ongoing October 7 hostage situation, and Israel’s response.
Many Jews began to experience forms of antisemitism in their in-person lives as well as online. Individuals who wanted to post about antisemitic activities and events were afraid of how that could blow back on them. There were Jewish people in my social circles who even became unwilling to identify as Jewish online for fear of backlash. A certain gaslighting began to take place that told victims of such antisemitism, that what they were experiencing was not antisemitism at all but in fact made up.
A couple months ago I heard someone share that they feel invisible right now, caught between a sense of anger with what was happening in Gaza and her belief that Israel has a right to exist, or Zionism, which was a word that had been weaponized in progressive circles. That really stuck me. These Jewish people in my life feel that they can’t live authentically.
I began to reach out to friends and acquaintances to find Jewish people who were willing to talk to me about antisemitism they faced, hear their thoughts about what was happening in Israel.and Gaza, and be photographed during these conversations. I met with six individuals. Each bring their own experience and outlook, but they all shared several common experiences.
This is the Photo 102B final project for Greg Zhovreboff and this project is intended to share their stories.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded over 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the U.S. from October 7, 2023, to September 2024—the highest annual total since tracking began in 1979, a more than 200% increase from the prior year. This included 150+ physical assaults (up significantly), 1,840 vandalism cases, and 8,015 harassment incidents, with over 2,000 targeting Jewish institutions like synagogues.
A 2025 Frontiers in Communication peer-reviewed study analyzed YouTube reactions to October 7th, revealing escalated antisemitic discourse that normalized explicit hate beyond previous conflicts. CyberWell reported an 86% surge in posts attacking Jews in the first three weeks post-October 7 across platforms like X, TikTok, and Facebook.
Gaby
“Critical thinking and common sense says that all sorts of things can be true at the same time. And when you get stuck in this mentality of black and white, there is no room for dialogue.”
“The reality of what was going on really hit more on October 9 when I sort of was more engaged to what had happened with the various protests that were on October 8. And people walking around San Francisco tagging, you know, death to Israel, death to the Jews.”
Gaby came to the US from the Soviet Union in 1988
The only reason that I’m in this country is because I’m Jewish.”
Post-October 7th antisemitic graffiti in San Francisco like “death to Israel, death to the Jews” felt “really normal as part of my DNA having come to The United States as a refugee from the Soviet Union.” “This hate towards us as a people felt normal.”
Our walk took place in the Jewish cemetery in Colma, CA. We were surrounded by countless Jewish immigrants as well as native born Jewish Americans. Gaby spoke repeatedly about the breakdown in discourse that had occurred, representative of a larger cultural problem.
Everything has become so black and white, where people can’t say, I believe in this, and I also believe in this. And these two things might be diametrically opposed, but that doesn’t mean they cant be true.”
“If thats the story [Israelis landed there like Plymouth Rock], it all makes sense… But thats not the facts”
Josh
“That was me for a very long time. And basically it was like calculating my safety in a space… I’m like doing this crazy calculation to understand the whole time, like to understand, like am I safe in this space or not?”
“Every time I come to a post, I check the posters to see what, like if theres been anything like negative posted… Its like a conversation in posters.”
A personal math guided Josh through social situations
My world immediately shrunk. The places I felt safe went from basically the entire city of San Francisco to such a small physical space: my synagogue… and a few trusted friends’ homes… I had to rediscover the city all over again, testing which queer bars and events were actually safe for me as a Jew.”
It’s hard to be a queer Jew right now. It feels like the general queer zeitgeist is that to be a good queer person you have to be pro‑Palestinian and anti‑Israel… I do wonder: if I was fully open about being a Jew who believes in a Jewish state, would that change how people welcome me into queer spaces?”
Every week Josh makes the long walk back and forth Valencia St to his Synagogue.
Walking home…in my kippah, I was on guard at first, waiting to see if anyone would say or do something. Eventually I relaxed, but those first walks were really scary.”
“On my feeds, sympathy for the attack lasted maybe a day or two. As soon as Israel moved into Gaza, the tide shifted and the posts turned fast and furious against Israel… It became a virtue‑signaling thing. You had to be posting about what Israel was doing in Gaza to prove you were a good progressive.”
Flora
“That whole day changed me forever. Like, forever. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same person… October 7 really did that for a lot of Jewish people. Like, a lot of Jewish people started to, like, reconnect with their faith.”
Flora has family ties to Israel and was profoundly impacted by the October 7 attacks by Hamas
She felt betrayed by institutions that she thought were in place to represent her, and was in disillusionment with the clearly antisemitic social media posts being uplifted by friends.
My teachers’ union has tried to pass pro‑Palestine resolutions using union time and money. You’re a union, you represent everyone. You’re supposed to be neutral. That, to me, is antisemitic.”
Kabbalah and her family were welcome refuges from the disconnect she was experiencing online and at work.
[Kabbalah] gives me a sense of community and safety. When we’re with our own, we can relax and breathe and not feel judged.”
We also talked about how once she started actively searching for information about the attacks and using tags like “Israel,” her algorithm changed and her social media “was just flooded” with content focused on what was happening in Israel, much more than on Gaza.
“Friends are already telling their kids: don’t tell anyone you’re Jewish, don’t wear your Star of David at school… I’m going to teach my kids Jewish pride all the way. We can’t let hate take away the Jewish people.”
Oleg
“Unlike other forms of bigotry, antisemitism has been around for over 2000 years, and has thus made deep inroads into different cultures all over the world… when antisemitism flares up in different forms, as it has now primarily in the form of ‘anti‑Zionism’, it fits right into those grooves that have been hollowed out in peoples’ cultural memories”
“Antisemitism goes hand in hand with autocracy.”
Trying to establish himself in academia as a champion of Jewish studies led to Oleg being estranged from his peers
He brought a unique and robust perspective to our conversation: anti-semitism through a Soviet lens, and how that has carried over to the US during the Cold War. He shared how antisemitism follows a historical format and template, and we are currently in a time where it is heightened.
My great‑grandpa on my mom’s side…died in a Soviet prison on charges of ‘economic treason,’ which …was 90% of the time leveled against Jews.
After [WWII] the Soviets understood they couldn’t just scapegoat ‘the Jews’ anymore, so they did this very simple but very effective trick: it’s not the Jews who are responsible, it’s the Zionists
We met for a walk in San Francisco’s Richmond District, a historically Russian & Jewish neighborhood. Visiting delis, the Russian Synagogue, and the Russian-Speaking Jewish Community Center which was notably absent of signage and had a gate blocking the entrance.
“Even in Bloomington, Indiana, the campus was dealing with the same tent city as everywhere else. It really drove home that this wasn’t just New York or San Francisco; it was every college town, all running the same script.”
Juliano
“I still have compassion in my heart & understanding. They believe people are doing the right thing. They still believe they’re doing the right thing. I don’t see it as right or wrong. I just see it as it is.”
“I don’t separate my life into compartments—work, the Sisters, my Jewishness—it’s all one life, so when I talk about what’s happened, all of it comes with me into the story.”
Juliano is a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and lost his ex-fiancé in the 10/7/2023 attacks
I found out my ex‑fiancé was murdered on October 7 and did what we do now—I went on social media, said his name, and put my grief and love for the hostages into the world.
He maintained a steadfast, vocal presence on his social media accounts. Juliano — or Sister Shalita — navigates multiple manifestations in his life, and each uniquely exposed him to a variety of views. His online presence was often met with opposition, debate, and disagreement.
“[A Sister] bombarded my social media and then my cell phone with essay-long rants about how Im a genocidist, a baby murderer…”
Through all of this he tries to lead with compassion and understanding, sharing that doing so is a part of his ministry.
“When conflicts are this horrific, there is no completely right side; I still love the people who turned on me”
Madeline
“I feel like I’m constantly dodging being politically manipulated… I’ll be called a ‘ziotard’ on one side and then on the other I’m a ‘self‑hating Jew’ because I’m not supporting Trump and Netanyahu.”
“Excluding Jews who aren’t perfect victims harms both Palestinian and Jewish people… Jewish voices are diverse and shouldn’t be tokenized.”
Madeline holds many experiences to be true at once, often separating her from more rigid belief systems
I also grew up going to Sunday school… learned that my family were killed in the Holocaust… feeling ownership over that topic.”
We met by her childhood home and discussed the importance the Jewish culture and history with which she was raised. She shared examples of observing non-Jewish friends repost “good Jews” supporting Palestine.
I don’t like Jewish voices for peace because I think they’re just being the good Jews. You know the trope of ‘We join you. We give up our [Jewishness], we’re the good ones.’”
In 2021 Madeline got a tattoo of the Hebrew word “Nefesh” translating to intellectual soul.
I started to realize… if I lived in my grandmother’s time, I would have been taken by the Nazis… even if I didn’t own my Jewish culture, I’d still be taken… Being Jewish felt like a given over a choice… I just realized that a lot of these very core parts of me and my values were from Judaism.
“The only viable path forward is coexistence, not elimination of either group”