Anti-Semitism Reported at Record Highs in US

An annual report by the Anti-Defamation League shows a sharp upsurge in incidents making reference to Israel or Zionism.

Pro-Palestine protesters in the streets of New York City on Oct. 30, 2023. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The Anti-Defamation League released a report showing that the spike in anti-Semitic incidents following Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, continued into 2024, with totals again reaching record levels.

Anti-Semitism in the United States is at its highest levels in 46 years, the group reported in its Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, with 9,354 incidents of anti-Semitic assault, harassment, and vandalism across the country in 2024.

“This is the fourth year in a row that anti-Semitic incidents increased and broke the previous all-time high,” the group said in the report, released on April 22.

“It is also the first time that incidents containing elements related to Israel or Zionism made up a majority of all incidents, 58 percent of the total.”

The ADL assembles the data from incidents reported to it by individuals, law enforcement, the media, and partner organizations.

Allegations of anti-Semitism have become somewhat controversial, with critics alleging the charge is used to suppress free speech on college campuses and elsewhere.

The group said it was careful not to do that.

“The ADL is careful to not conflate general criticism of Israel or anti-Israel activism with anti-Semitism,” the group said in its statement.

“Legitimate political protest, support for Palestinian rights, or expressions of opposition to Israeli policies is not included in the audit.”

It said the ADL’s approach to Israel-related expressions comports with the definition of anti-Semitism promulgated in 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

That definition has been adopted by 45 national governments and more than 1,200 other entities worldwide, including 37 U.S. states and 98 city and county governments, according to the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement.

The states registering the most incidents in 2024 were New York (1,437), California (1,344), and New Jersey (719). In terms of per capital rates in states, New Jersey was highest (7.57 per 100,000) followed by New York (7.23 per 100,000); California ranked thirteenth (3.41 per 100,000).

The District of Columbia, however, at 23.20 incidents per 100,000 residents, had three times the incidence of the highest-ranking states.

Of 5,452 incidents related to Israel, 2,596 took place at anti-Israel rallies in the form of anti-Semitic speeches, chants, signs, and slogans, the ADL said.

The group said about half of the 5,000 anti-Israel rallies it tracked in 2024 contained anti-Semitic expressions.

Those that did not were not included in the audit, and any event containing more than one was counted as one incident.

“Activity and rhetoric documented at these rallies included: justification or glorification of anti-Semitic violence, promotion of classic anti-Semitic 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 said in a statement about the report.

The group also reported that Students for Justice in Palestine, and Party for Socialism and Liberation were the two most active organizers or co-sponsors of events where anti-Semitic incidents occurred.

The report found 196 incidents of physical assault (none fatal), targeting 250 victims, 30 percent of whom were Orthodox Jews.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt speaks on stage during the National Urban League Conference Plenary II: State of Black America, in Houston, Texas, on July 28, 2023. Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for National Urban League

It found 2,606 incidents of vandalism, defined as property damage with evidence of anti-Semitic intent. Swastikas were present in 37 percent of those cases.

There were 6,552 incidents of harassment, defined as Jews, or people perceived to be Jewish, “harassed with language that includes anti-Semitic slurs, stereotypes, or tropes.”

There were 627 bomb threats, the report said, 89 percent of which targeted synagogues.

There were 1,694 anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses, up sharply with 84 percent more than in 2023.

“This pervasive anti-Semitism has transformed American higher education from a space of learning and growth into one where many Jewish students face hostility, exclusion, and sometimes physical danger because of their identity or beliefs,” the report said.

Incidents were up 19 percent in public areas and 11 percent in business establishments from 2023, but down by 26 percent in non-Jewish K-12 schools, with 860 incidents. The ADL said, though, that the numbers were likely significantly higher given the nature of bullying, plus children not feeling empowered to report it.

White supremacist propaganda was associated with 962 incidents, down by 17 percent from 2023.

The ADL said three groups, Patriot Front, Goyim Defense League, and the White Lives Matter network, were responsible for 94 percent of this category.

The ADL was formed in 1913 to fight the defamation of Jews when a Jewish factory director, Leo Frank, was convicted, most modern historians think wrongly, in Atlanta of raping and murdering a female employee in a trial marked by anti-Semitism.

His death sentence was commuted to life by the Georgia governor in 1915, but Frank was kidnapped from prison by a mob and lynched in Marietta.