Annual report shows antisemitic incidents continue to increase since the Oct. 7 2023 attacks on Israel.
Gazans march in largest anti-Hamas protests since war with Israel began
Thousands in the Gaza Strip marched in anti-Hamas demonstrations, the largest since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks triggered the ongoing war with Israel.
CBC English
Incidents of antisemitism across America continued to spike since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack for a second year in a row, according to an annual report released by the Anti-Defamation League.
Researchers at the ADL counted 9,354 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment and vandalism across the country in 2024 — a 5% increase from 2023, which was also a record-breaking year.
The number of incidents was the highest since the ADL started tracking antisemitism data in 1979.
The 12-month total tally for 2024 averaged more than 25 incidents a day, more than one for every hour of the year.
“This horrifying level of antisemitism should never be accepted and yet, as our data shows, it has become a persistent and grim reality for American Jewish communities,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, the League’s CEO. “Jewish Americans continue to be harassed, assaulted and targeted for who they are on a daily basis and everywhere they go. But let’s be clear: we will remain proud of our Jewish culture, religion and identities, and we will not be intimidated by bigots.”
Israel main target of hate
For the first time since researchers started collecting data, a majority of antisemitic incidents across America were directed at Israel last year, according to the ADL.
The ADL report, released April 22, says 57% of antisemitic incidents in 2024 were related to Israel. Those incidents occurred in a year of escalating protests against the Israel-Hamas war and a mounting death toll in the Gaza Strip.
According to the ADL, about half of more than 5,000 anti-Israel rallies included “antisemitic speeches, chants, signs, and slogans.”
From the report:
“Activity and rhetoric documented at these rallies included: justification or glorification of antisemitic violence, promotion of classic antisemitic tropes including blood libel, conspiracy theories and signage equating Judaism or Zionism with Nazism, celebration of the anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack in Israel, and unapologetic support for terrorism, designated terrorist organizations and their leaders.”
The ADL updated their methodology in 2023 following the Oct. 7 attacks to include “rallies that feature ‘anti-Zionist chants and slogans.’” So, the post-2023 totals cannot be compared to the previous totals.
Racist propaganda, targeting of Jewish institutions decrease
In addition to the anti-Israel protests, the ADL also counted almost 1,000 incidents of white supremacist propaganda, most of it related to three extremist groups. Propaganda efforts actually decreased however from 2023 to 2024 by 17 percent.
The overall number of incidents affecting Jewish institutions also dropped by 14 percent from 2023 to 2024, but remained historically high, according to the researchers. Assaults at Jewish institutions doubled from nine in 2023 to 20 in 2024, and vandalism at Jewish institutions also increased 39 percent.