U.S. Helsinki Commission briefing warns antisemitism functions as a terminal conspiracy theory and barometer of democratic decline

At a briefing convened by the United States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission), James Kirchick, a writer at large for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and former fellow at the Brookings Institution, told attendees that antisemitism should be read as a special kind of conspiracy thinking that often precedes democratic breakdown.

“Antisemitism is the most protean, adaptable, and insidious conspiracy theory the world has ever known,” Kirchick said, arguing that it “serves as a barometer of underlying decay in the societies in which it prospers.” He referenced the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Berlin declaration, saying the document warned that new forms of antisemitism pose a threat to democracy and security.

Kirchick placed recent spikes in antisemitic incidents in a global context. He said the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel coincided with an “explosion of antisemitism” in the United States and worldwide, citing the FBI’s account that, while Jews make up about 2% of the U.S. population, they comprise nearly 70% of religiously motivated hate-crime victims in the country. He also noted polling in the United Kingdom showing entrenched antisemitic attitudes among a sizeable minority.

The meat of Kirchick’s argument was comparative and historical. He traced the modern lineage of antisemitic conspiracy myths to the early 20th-century Russian forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and described how conspiratorial claims about secret Jewish control of finance, media and politics have been repurposed across the ideological spectrum. “Any system of thought or explanation of events that posits the nefarious role played by secretive global elites owes a significant debt to antisemitic conspiracy theories,” he said.

Kirchick warned that autocrats can exploit these narratives to “stoke fear, cement their rule, and distract from societal ills,” and argued that weakened democratic institutions and declining trust in mainstream information sources create fertile ground for such ideas to spread.

He emphasized realism about the limits of eradication: citing OSCE reports and historical patterns, Kirchick said loathing of Jews “will never go away” entirely, so the goal must be mitigation rather than utopian eradication. He closed by saying that societies where antisemitism is prevalent are “either failed or on their way to failure,” and urged bolstering democratic norms and pluralistic values.

Kirchick’s remarks were part of a panel that included experts who went on to address state propaganda and digital interventions; the session concluded with a question-and-answer period that reinforced concerns about campus harassment, public violence, and the tactics extremist actors use to rebrand antisemitic tropes.

Ending: The briefing framed antisemitism not only as a threat to Jewish communities but as an indicator of wider democratic risk, with panelists urging prevention, public education, and transnational cooperation as ways to limit the spread and political utility of conspiratorial antisemitic narratives.