Antisemitic Incidents Surge in U.S. After Hamas Attack
According to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), antisemitic incidents in the United States increased by over 200% following the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre in Israel compared to the same period the previous year.
The ADL Center on Extremism documented over 10,000 antisemitic incidents following the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, marking the highest number recorded in a single year since the group began tracking them in 1979. The center recorded 3,325 incidents in the year leading up to Oct. 7.
“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,” Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO, stated in a press release accompanying the report’s publication.
“Since that day, Jewish Americans have not had a moment of peace,” Greenblatt said. “Instead, we’ve faced a surge in antisemitism and witnessed calls for more violence against Israelis and Jews globally.”
Of the approximately 10,000 recorded incidents, the ADL categorized them into three types: Over 8,000 instances of verbal or written harassment, over 1,840 incidents of vandalism, and over 150 physical assaults.
Around 12% of these incidents occurred on college campuses, compared to approximately 200 incidents in the same period the previous year.
Approximately 20% of the incidents took place at “Jewish institutions,” which include synagogues and Jewish centers, but around 30% occurred during anti-Israel rallies. The ADL did not clarify the extent of overlap between these groupings.
However, the group clarified that it recorded 8,873 antisemitic incidents in 2023 alone, representing a 140% increase from the previous year, and that it anticipates the figure to continue rising as it finalizes its data in 2025 by surveying partners, law enforcement, and victims.
Experts and watchdog groups have raised concerns about the rise in antisemitism, not just in the U.S. but also in Europe: The Community Security Trust in the United Kingdom reported in March 2024 that it documented at least 2,093 antisemitic incidents across the country between Oct. 7 and Dec. 13, 2023.
The group referred to this as the “highest-ever total reported” for a roughly two-month period since it started recording such incidents in 1984.
“I believe people are feeling tense and nervous, especially with marches taking place every Saturday,” Jake Wallis Simons, editor-in-chief of the London-based Jewish Chronicle, told Digital from England at the time.
On Saturday, thousands marched against Israel in London, with observers expressing concern about the significant amount of antisemitic imagery and slogans displayed at the protests.
Canada has also witnessed a substantial surge in incidents, primarily targeting Jewish institutions, including schools, community centers, and synagogues, as well as several of the country’s universities.
In a Israel’s Consul General to Montréal Paul Hirschorn warned, “Montréal is now ranked one of the most dangerous places in the world to be visibly Jewish. 9 times Jewish community buildings have been shot at or petrol bombed – synagogues, schools, community centers. Just this week people were identified with petrol-bombs near synagogues (and fortunately prevented from perpetrating what they had planned). The authorities released them to go home. I guess they said they would behave themselves.”
“Statistically, in Canada have increased north of 132%, with the vast majority of those crimes targeting the Jewish community,” Casey Babb, who teaches courses on terrorism and international security at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in Ottawa, told Digital earlier this year.
“Indeed, this may be the most antisemitic time in our country’s history,” Babb said. “I’d go as far as suggesting Canada, for a variety of reasons, has become one of the most hostile nations in the West for Jews.”
Digital’s Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.