Antisemitic Incidents in US Up by More Than 350% Since Start of Israel-Hamas War

At least 505 of the incidents took place on college campuses.

A Jewish student watches a protest in support of Palestine and for free speech on the Columbia University campus on Nov. 14, 2023, in New York City.
A Jewish student watches a protest in support of Palestine and for free speech on the Columbia University campus on Nov. 14, 2023, in New York City. (photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

The number of antisemitic incidents in the United States has surged by more than 350% in the 100 days since the Israel-Hamas war began, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said this month. 

ADL has been tracking a sharp rise in the number of antisemitic attacks and incidents since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7 of last year. The group in November said those incidents were up by 316% year over year; by December, that number was up to 337%. 

In a press release this month, ADL reported that between Oct. 7 and Jan. 7, those attacks were up by 360% year over year, for a total of 3,283 incidents, compared with 712 incidents during the same period the prior year. 

“The preliminary three-month tally is higher than the total number of antisemitic incidents tracked in any year in the last decade, except for calendar year 2022 when the total number of incidents reached a historic high of 3,697,” ADL said in the release. 

The group said that since Oct. 7, when Hamas invaded Israel, “there was an average of nearly 34 antisemitic incidents per day,” which put 2023 on track to be “the highest year for antisemitic acts against Jews since ADL started tracking this data in the late 1970s.”

The majority of those incidents, according to the group’s data, involved either “verbal or written harassment” or “rallies” involving antisemitic rhetoric and “expressions of support for terrorism against the state of Israel and/or anti-Zionism.” Dozens of instances of assault and hundreds of reports of vandalism were also recorded.

“The American Jewish community is facing a threat level that’s now unprecedented in modern history,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in the release. 

“It’s shocking that we’ve recorded more antisemitic acts in three months than we usually would in an entire year,” Greenblatt said, stating that “in this difficult moment, antisemitism is spreading and mutating in alarming ways.”

The group said at least 505 of the incidents took place on college campuses, while roughly 250 were reported in lower schools. 

“At least 628 incidents were reported against Jewish institutions such as synagogues and community centers,” the group said, while “about two-thirds of the total incidents could be directly related to the Israel-Hamas war.”

An interactive map on ADL’s website tracking antisemitic incidents that have taken place in the U.S. since Oct. 7 shows most of the reports occurring around Washington, D.C.; New York City; and other Northeastern centers, with smaller clusters in California and Florida as well.

ADL this month also announced that it would soon release what it called “a new tool to evaluate the climate of antisemitism on individual campuses.”

The group said its “report card” would “offer students, parents, guidance counselors, admissions consultants, concerned alumni, and others with a comprehensive tool and comparative ranking to evaluate how colleges and universities are taking action to combat anti-Jewish hate on their campuses.”

“What has been allowed to happen on our campuses is unacceptable,” Greenblatt said in announcing the report card. “Colleges and universities must commit to No Tolerance for Antisemitism, and they must take clear, decisive action steps to achieve that.”

As part of Jewish-Christian dialogue, a joint concert was given on Sept. 4, 2021, in the Dohány Street Synagogue by the Solti Chamber Orchestra in Budapest. Hungary.

US Bishops Express Outrage at Increase in Antisemitic Attacks

The statement was issued on the 60th anniversary of ‘Nostra Aetate,’ the document of the Second Vatican Council which made clear the Church’s condemnation of hatred and violence against Judaism, beginning a new era of understanding and cooperation between the two faiths.

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

People Explain ‘Why I Go to Mass’

‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis