since the october 7th terror attack in israel there has been a spike in antisemitic attacks around the world, including in the united states. the fbi recently warned anti-semitism is reaching historic levels. its data shows jewish americans make up 2.4 of the public, but they re the targets of more than 60% of religious hate crimes recorded in this country. since october, jewish day schools have closed or had to hire extra security, synagogues have gone into lockdown, and college campuses in particular have seen a surge in antisemitic incidents, including some assaults. over the next hour, cnn s dana bash explores the roots of anti-semitism in america and how they ve spread. you ll also hear from some who have personally experienced threats and attatacks in the pa months and have started hiding their jewish identity in public out of fear for their safety. sunday, october 29th in southern russia. barely three weeks after the october 7th attack on israel by hamas, the deadlie
reporter: so his silence was taken how? as permission. reporter: briton heller is a human rights advocate and a professor who compiles data about online hate. you actually saw data that backed that up. yes. we would see the number of attacking tweets on jewish journalists spike. it was the largest spike we saw in our data set. people took that as a green light. i ve seen press that always tries to say donald trump s silence or his kind of words used is an instruction to do something bad. i don t buy it. reporter: jason greenblatt has been one of donald trump s lawyers for decades. i have had many, many friends over the years. orthodox. maybe i could get jason greenblatt down here i worked for him for 23 years and i saw time and time again how he wasn t anti-semitic. reporter: he points to trump s actions on israel, moving the embassy to jerusalem
is? i don t have a message to the fans. there is nothing more dishonest than the media. soi reporter: so his silence was taken how? as permission. reporter: this is a professor who compiles data about online hate. you actually saw data that backed that up. yes. yes. we would see the number of attacking tweets on jewish journalists spike. it was the largest spike we saw in our data set. people took that as a green light. i ve seen press that always tries to say donald trump s silence or his kind of words used is an instruction to do something bad. i don t buy it. reporter: jason greenblatt has been one of donald trump s lawyers for decades. i have had many, many friends over the years. i thought maybe i could get jason greenblatt down here i worked for him for 23 years and i saw time and time again
attacks, death threats. soon after the attacks, wolf blitzer interviewed the presumptive republican nominee. i don t know anything about that. you mean fans of mine? supposed fans of yours posting these and when pressed again, this. your message to these fans is. i don t have a message to the fans, there s nothing more dishonest than the media. so his silence was taken how? as permission. britain helder is a human rights advocate and a professor who compiles data about online hate. you actually saw data that backed that up. yes, we would see the number of attacking tweets on jewish journalists spike. it was the largest spike that we saw in our dataset. people took that as a green light. i ve seen press that always tries to say donald trump s silence or his kind of words used is an instruction to do
about jews is that they bring disease or they run the world or they want money. all of those fed into the covid fed into all of those. so disturbing. you wrote a moving, powerful, personal piece about your son coming to you and saying he wanted to wear a jewish star of david. he did. he did this past hanukkah, and he said i want one, and he didn t do it in a very aggressive way, the way, you know, a child when they want something. he was more so asking do you think this is okay, halfway through the holiday when i hadn t gotten it because i never bought it, do you think this is going to happen. i said you really want one. he said, yes. why do you want to wear a star of david, and there s kids in the school that are christian, and they re comfortable with it.