Antisemitic incidents reach record, called ‘emergency’
The Anti-Defamation League recorded more incidents of nationwide antisemitism in 2023 than ever before — and only California reported more incidents than New York.
The ADL, which has been documenting hate crimes against Jews since 1979, said it tracked 8,873 cases of antisemitism last year. That marks a 140% spike from 2022, and equates to one antisemitic incident every hour.
“Antisemitism is nothing short of a national emergency, a fivealarm fire that is still raging across the country and in our local communities and campuses,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a press release. “Jewish Americans are being targeted for who they are at school, at work, on the street, in Jewish institutions and even at home.”
More than 5,200 of the ADL’s documented antisemitic acts occurred after Hamas terrorists attacked Israeli citizens and foreigners on Oct. 7 to start the ongoing war in Gaza.
“That’s more in just one quarter than any other year on record,” the ADL said on social media.
Israeli officials said nearly 1,200 people were killed in that assault, which included a music festival massacre in which nearly 400 people were murdered or kidnapped.
The ADL’s Center on Extremism said it recorded 1,009 antisemitic bomb threats in 45 states and Washington, D.C., in 2023. More than 900 of those scares targeted synagogues and Jewish schools.
“College campuses saw a 321% rise, while K-12 institutions experienced a notable 135% increase in antisemitic incidents,” the ADL wrote on X.
Five states — California, New York, New Jersey, Florida and Massachusetts — accounted for 48% of total incidents. California led the country with 1,266 reported occurrences. New York followed closely behind with 1,218 reports. New Jersey’s 830 reports accounted for the nation’s third-largest incident count.
ADL East Division Director of Communication Strategy Shellie Burgman told the Daily News it’s difficult to determine the direct impact the war in Gaza has had on antisemitism, but said, “Based on our numbers, out of the 802 incidents recorded in New York State after Oct. 7, 363 of those were related to Israel or anti-Zionism.”
“I can’t speculate into the future, but our numbers have been increasing year by year for the past five years,” she said.
According to the ADL, harassment, acts of vandalism and violence contributed to the spike. Physical assaults were up 45%.
Antisemitic activity organized by white supremacist groups were responsible for 1,160 antisemitic propaganda distributions last year, the ADL said. That’s up from from 852 propaganda-related incidents in 2022.
ADL organizers urged Americans to “take action” by working with state governors to curb antisemitism.