As protests against Israel’s war in Gaza and debates about antisemitism continue, a question arises: What is the difference between “feeling unsafe” and “being unsafe”?

Conflating the two, as is often happening, creates a dramatically false equivalence that has infected the discourse about Israel and Palestine.

A look at the actual casualty toll in America resulting in bloodshed since Oct. 7 is instructive: one six-year-old Muslim boy stabbed to death in Detroit; three Palestinian American college students shot in Vermont; one Palestinian American protestor stabbed in Austin; scores of pro-Palestinian demonstrators beaten at UCLA by a mob; dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Mississippi pelted with food and water bottles; and, on May 8, a 55-year-old pro-Palestinian demonstrator in New York City was struck by a car driven an Israel supporter, who was charged by police with second-degree assault.

On the other side, beyond some pushing and shoving around demonstrations, a Jewish protester at a pro-Israel rally died in Southern California after being hit by a megaphone in a scuffle. There may be more, but without fatal or bloody result.

Muslim Americans and Arab Americans have many other complaints short of violence making them feel unsafe, with at least as much legitimacy as Jewish college students, given these attacks. However, they are not as widely publicized, much less have White House press conference statements and presidential........

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