The Israel-Hamas War sparked global unrest in 2023, with increased violence in the Gaza Strip causing criticism toward U.S. foreign policy intervention.
Before the global conflict took the world’s center stage, Michelle Terris said she noticed a shift in public opinion toward Jewish Americans.
As an advocate of the Jews for Trump Coalition in 2016, she founded her own organization in 2018 focused on steering the Jewish vote away from the Democratic Party and toward Republican leaders.
She named the non-profit JEXIT, a play off of BREXIT — the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union in 2016 — and BLEXIT — the political campaign to encourage Black voters away from the Democratic Party.
“When we started we were telling Jews ‘You got to leave the Democratic Party, they don’t stand for our values,’” Terris said. “But, really, the Democratic Party left us.”
After the first Hamas attacks in 2023, the Anti-Defamation League found that antisemitism has surged roughly 360% in the U.S., with over 3,000 antisemitic incidents reported between October 2023 and January 2024.
Roughly a quarter of these incidents occurred on college campuses.
"I think most people that I meet and that I see are not antisemites,” Linda Stoch, a member of the Board of Trustees at Florida Atlantic University, said. “I think there’s a fringe group, and I think a lot of them are being paid on those college campuses to cause trouble. The students have been brainwashed since they’ve been liberal.”
During night three of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Shabbos Kestenbaumisa, the Jewish American student who sued Harvard for its “failure to combat antisemitism,” endorsed former President Donald Trump with a speech condemning the Ivy League university.
“The far left has not only abandoned the Jewish people, but the American people,” Kestenbaumisa said to the crowd on Wednesday.
Terris said Kestenbaumisa represented the key message JEXIT tries to send — that Jewish values are American values, and the Democratic Party has ostracized Jewish Americans for too long.
However, Jews have historically leaned toward Democratic ideals, with only roughly 26% identifying with conservative values.
But the rise in antisemitism since the start of the war has the potential to cause a shift in the Jewish political spectrum, the Pew Research Center found.
“The Democrats' Jewish community is breaking up big time,” Stoch said. “When they came to this country they registered as Democrats, but I think they disappointed.”
Meg Weinberger, a Republican candidate for the Florida House of Representatives, said the Democrats have demonized Israelis and supported terrorists in reference to the conflict overseas.
“The [Democrats] are not your friends,” she said. “They don’t have your back. You think because you vote with them that you’re immune, but you’re funding your own demise.”
Terris said the JEXIT Instagram account was suspended in early July, and she believes that wouldn’t have happened if they preached pro-Hamas content and “demonized Israel.”
“We’ve got to call it what it is,” she said. “We can’t be afraid of being canceled or being called a racist when we speak the truth.”
Stoch said she believes the conflict overseas will immediately be resolved once Donald Trump is in the White House.
“The first President to ever keep promises was Donald Trump,” Stoch said. “I just think the Democratic Party has really lost the Jewish vote.”
Draped in an American flag with the Star of David displayed across the stripes, Terris said she’s never felt so much support than from the people inside this convention. Outside of these barricades, she said she feels there’s no safety for Jews.
She said the Israel-Hamas War has shown Jewish Americans the hard truth, and the Biden administration exerts antisemitic rhetoric that is converting the minority group.
On multiple occasions, however, President Joe Biden has stated antisemitism has no place in this country and continues to send military aid to Israel.
While Democrats express concern about the humanitarian crisis for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Republicans are upset this support is not entirely geared toward Israel.
Hamas receives a lot of its funding from Iran, and Weinberger said the money the U.S. is giving Iran needs to stop — and it will under former President Trump.
That’s why Jewish Americans will switch sides, she said.
Toward the end of June, the U.S. imposed sanctions in an effort to punish Iran for its backing of terrorist groups. Terris said, however, that she feels Donald Trump is the only one who can bring an end to this war because of his pro-Israel stance.
“[Jewish Americans] are leaving the Democratic Party, but they don’t realize they’ve always had a home with the Republican Party,” she said.