Because of Israel’s circumstances and assumptions, Israeli Jews haven’t developed the same sensitivity and ear for anti-Semitism that Jews elsewhere have. For example, this week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 26-year-old son, Yair, posted a meme on Twitter that featured George Soros, a Jewish billionaire, dangling the earth on a fishing rod, a lizard-person and a hooknosed figure who resembles the worst kinds of anti-Semitic depictions. The younger Netanyahu hasn’t yet explained himself, but I have no doubt that he’s not an anti-Semite. His lapse was probably an extreme case of a tin-eared Israeli using the wrong tools to make a point about his father’s enemies.

This gap between Israel and the diaspora is also why Israel and its leaders have struggled to find an appropriate response to the fear that has engulfed much of the American Jewish community since the rise of Donald Trump, and even more so following the events in Charlottesville, Va., last month, when neo-Nazis marched down the street chanting anti-Semitic slogans. Many people — especially the prime minister’s usual opponents and detractors — criticized Mr. Netanyahu for being slow to condemn the neo-Nazis and for being insufficient in his denunciations.

In Israel’s defense, the response of American Jewish organizations, leaders and pundits to the neo-Nazi show of hatred in Charlottesville was confusing. Many Jews seemed to react to these events as if anti-Semitism — an existing but fringe sentiment within a country that generally has warm feelings toward its Jews — poses an immediate danger. But at the same time, by raising their voices to demand clearer condemnation, these Jewish leaders were acting assertive and self-confident. They hardly seem to be living in fear.

Since the only anti-Semitism Israelis understand is one of violence, blood and brutal intimidation, it is hard for many of them to appreciate the panic over a few hundred marchers and the ineloquent condemnation of the president. Since the only remedy for anti-Semitism they know is a Jewish state (and its Jewish army), it is hard for many of them to appreciate fears about anti-Semitism that are not followed by immigration to Israel.