The number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. has surged almost 900% in 10 years, and last year reached its highest level recorded in nearly half a century, an annual Anti-Defamation League (ADL) survey released Tuesday found. Why it matters: Antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel in 2023, which became a flashpoint on college campuses and a pretext for the Trump administration to later threaten college funding and revoke visas for students.
The big picture: Some Jewish leaders have warned that President Trump's invocation of antisemitism to justify slashing college funds and deporting student protesters risks making Jewish people scapegoats for his policies.
- Those policies come as conservatives have urged colleges to adopt rules to combat antisemitism on the left but have largely remained silent about antisemitism on the right.
By the numbers: The annual ADL audit recorded 9,354 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment and vandalism across the country in 2024.
- The total represents a 5% increase from 2023 (the last record-setting year) and an 893% jump over the past 10 years.
- It's the highest level recorded since ADL started tracking this data in 1979.
- The 12-month total for 2024 averaged more than 25 targeted anti-Jewish incidents in the U.S. per day, more than one an hour.
Zoom in: A majority of all incidents (58%) were related to Israel, the survey found.
- More than 6,500 incidents involved harassment language that includes antisemitic slurs, stereotypes or tropes.
- More than 2,600 incidents involved vandalism, defined as cases where property was damaged, such as graffiti of Swastikas or arson.
- The ADL also recorded 1,694 antisemitic incidents on college campuses, which is 84 percent higher than in 2023.
Caveat: The ADL said it did not count criticism of Israel as an antisemitic incident, but did count incidents as antisemitic if someone called for the destruction of Israel or used antisemitic tropes in discussing Israel.
- The ADL said it considers slogans like "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" as antisemitic.
What they're saying: "This sustained elevation indicates the (post-Oct. 7) experience was no temporary spike," Oren Segal, ADL senior vice president for counter-extremism and intelligence, told reporters.
- "There has been a fundamental shift in the landscape. Antisemitism has become a persistent reality of the American Jewish community."
Context: The data collected by the ADL's Center on Extremism not only includes hate crimes — defined as violence stemming from a victim's race, color, sexuality, religion or national origin — but also cases involving verbal harassment and speeches on college campuses.
- The ADL previously faced criticism for including campus protests against Israel's actions in Gaza as part of its tally, but the group says it only counts protests if it sees clear evidence of antisemitism, like stereotypes.
Zoom out: The ADL report comes weeks after a Crime and Justice Research Alliance analysis shared with Axios showed a 12% increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2024, and an 18% increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes in more than 40 major U.S. cities.
- Police reports of hate crimes declined 1.8% in 2024, hovering around modern records, but anti-Jewish hate crimes still rose to record levels, analyst Brian Levin told Axios.
