ADL: Antisemitic incidents in US reach record high with Israel as major driver

Antisemitic incidents have again reached a new all-time high, with the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) annual report noting that protesting surrounding Israel was for the first time a major driver. 

Protests against the Israeli government’s offensive in Gaza have sparked an outcry since the fallout of the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. 

In evaluating those protests, the ADL said it tabulated only antisemitic tropes and rhetoric targeting Jews, while signs and chants “that did not contain antisemitic elements” were not included. 

“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, CEO of the group, in a statement. 

“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.”

It’s the first time in the more than 40 years the group has been tracking antisemitic hate that Israel was the basis for the majority of the incidents tracked.

The group said justification or glorification of antisemitic violence, promotion of classic antisemitic tropes, and celebration of the attacks or terrorism were all tracked as antisemitism.

“ADL is careful to not conflate general criticism of Israel or anti-Israel activism with antisemitism. Legitimate political protest, support for Palestinian rights or expressions of opposition to Israeli policies is not included in the Audit,” the organization stated.

But the group also said that “signage equating Judaism or Zionism with Nazism” was also tracked as antisemitic.

There’s debate, however, over whether criticism of Zionism, the promotion of a Jewish state, constitutes antisemitism. 

But Greenblatt has argued it’s “absurd” to think criticism of anti-Zionism isn’t connected to Judaism, noting half the world’s Jews live in Israel.

“Anti-Zionism doesn’t mean having a problem with a set of actions by the Israeli government. Anti-Zionism doesn’t mean protesting the policies of Prime Minister Netanyahu. Anti-Zionism doesn’t mean you support Palestinian human rights. Anti-Zionism doesn’t mean that you’re not upset about the conflict in Gaza,” he said in a speech last year.

“Anti-Zionism, plain and simple, means that Jews — alone among the peoples of the world — do not deserve freedom and self-determination in their homeland.”

The group also found a sharp rise in antisemitism on college campuses, saying the 84 percent jump meant incidents on campuses “rose more steeply than any other location type.”

Assaults also rose sharply — by 21 percent — while vandalism jumped 20 percent.

The results come as the Trump administration has taken a number of actions in the name of fighting antisemitism that have been criticized by various Jewish advocacy groups that argue the White House has eroded civil liberties in the process.

At least 1,024 students at 160 colleges and universities have had their student visas revoked or their legal status terminated by the Trump administration, a review by The Associated Press found.

The Trump administration has also stripped more than $2 billion in grant funding from Harvard University after accusing the school of failing to address antisemitism.

And the Department of Homeland Security said it would begin to screen the social media of applicants seeking to gain a green card or a student visa to see if they’ve shared any antisemitic content.

A coalition of Jewish groups criticized the actions, saying they create a “false choice between confronting antisemitism and upholding democracy.” 

“In recent weeks, escalating federal actions have used the guise of fighting antisemitism to justify stripping students of due process rights when they face arrest and/or deportation, as well as to threaten billions in academic research and education funding. Students have been arrested at home and on the street with no transparency as to why they are being held or deported, and in certain cases with the implication that they are being punished for their constitutionally-protected speech,” the groups wrote in a join statement spearheaded by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a nonpartisan civil rights group.

“Universities have an obligation to protect Jewish students, and the federal government has an important role to play in that effort; however, sweeping draconian funding cuts will weaken the free academic inquiry that strengthens democracy and society, rather than productively counter antisemitism on campus. These actions do not make Jews — or any community — safer. Rather, they only make us less safe.”