Antisemitic incidents in the US soar to record high

Antisemitic incidents in the U.S. have soared to an all-time high in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to new data released by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

The group tracked more than 10,000 incidents from Oct. 7, 2023 to Sept. 24, roughly tripling where they were compared to the same time period last year.

The figures, released by the organization a day before the Oct. 7 anniversary, track harassment, vandalism and physical attacks.

“Today, we mourn the victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel, marking one year since the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. From that day on, Jewish Americans haven’t had a single moment of respite,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.

“Instead, we’ve faced a shocking number of antisemitic threats and experienced calls for more violence against Israelis and Jews everywhere.”  

The bulk of the incidents, more than 8,000, were verbal or written harassment, while the group tracked more than 1,800 incidents of vandalism and more than 150 physical attacks.

According to the ADL, about 1,200 of the last year’s antisemitic incidents took place on college campuses, while 2,000 occurred at Jewish institutions. 

Another 3,000 took place during anti-Israel rallies, something the group said included “regular explicit expressions of support for terrorist groups including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), one of the most concerning antisemitic trends ADL captured since Oct. 7, 2023.”

Tracking by the group has seen antisemitic incidents reach new heights year over year recently, but the increase has accelerated in the wake of the attack and further unrest in the Middle East.

Department of Homeland Security officials also warned Wednesday that tensions in the region, including Iran’s recent attack on Israel, could serve as a motivation for terror attacks in an already heightened threat environment in the U.S.

“We are, of course, aware that that anniversary may add even more fuel to an already challenging and heightened threat environment,” a DHS official said on a call with reporters, noting the risk for both Jewish and Muslim communities.

Even ahead of the Oct. 7 anniversary, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said multiple bomb threats were reported at synagogues across the state. They were all later deemed to not be credible.

New statistics released by the FBI last week found that while overall violent crime fell 3 percent, hate crimes ticked up nearly 2 percent. 

Contributing to the uptick were 1,832 anti-Jewish reported hate crimes — a 63 percent jump from 2022 — as well as a reported 236 anti-Islamic hate crimes.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said earlier this year that their tracking of anti-Muslim incidents also jumped during the first six months of 2024, documenting 4,951 complaints -- a 69 percent jump over the same period in 2023.

Shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks, FBI Director Christopher Wray described “historic” levels of antisemitism in the U.S.

“The reality is that the Jewish community is uniquely targeted by pretty much every terrorist organization across the spectrum. And when you look at a group that makes up 2.4 percent, roughly, of the American population, it should be jarring to everyone that that same population accounts for something like 60 percent of all religious-based hate crimes, and so they need our help,” Wray said.