The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians unleashed a “tsunami of anti-Jewish hate,” spurring more than 10,000 incidents of antisemitism in the U.S. in the 12 months that followed, the most ever recorded in a single year by the Anti-Defamation League.
The ADL Center on Extremism said the number of antisemitic incidents tracked from Oct. 7-Sept. 24 represents an increase of more than 200% over the previous one-year period, which saw 3,325 incidents.
“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,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “From that day on, Jewish Americans haven’t had a single moment of respite. Instead, we’ve faced a shocking number of antisemitic threats and experienced calls for more violence against Israelis and Jews everywhere.”
The preliminary count released Sunday includes more than 8,015 episodes of verbal or written harassment; 1,840 incidents of vandalism, and 150 physical assaults, the most since the ADL began tracking antisemitic occurrences in 1979.
Pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests, rallies and walkouts surged after the Oct. 7 attack, which prompted Israel to declare war and launch a ground invasion of Gaza, the Hamas-controlled territory that is home to 2.1 million Palestinians.
10,000+ antisemitic incidents were recorded by ADL since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel. This is the highest number of incidents ever recorded in any single year period since ADL started tracking in 1979 – a 200%+ increase compared to incidents reported to us… pic.twitter.com/p0Z12Gyo16
— ADL (@ADL) October 6, 2024
More than 3,000 of the incidents took place at the anti-Israel rallies, which featured “regular explicit expressions of support for terrorist groups including, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,” the ADL said.
Another 2,000 incidents occurred at Jewish institutions such as synagogues and Jewish centers, about half of which were bomb threats. The previous year saw “only 81 bomb threats against Jewish institutions.”
Antisemitism at universities also soared. At least 1,200 antisemitic incidents happened on college campuses, an increase of 500% from the previous year.
During the 2023 calendar year, the ADL recorded 8,873 antisemitic incidents, a 140% increase from 2022, driven by the 5,204 episodes occurring after Oct. 7.
The organization publishes its data annually in the Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. The final data from 2024 is scheduled to be released in the spring of 2025.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.