Antisemitic attacks in US soar 200%, fueled by campus hate: Not ‘a single moment of respite’

The number of antisemitic attacks in the US soared 200% to more than 10,000 incidents this past year — the most ever recorded by the Anti-Defamation League and fueled by a massive jump on college campuses.

At least 1,200 of this past year’s hateful incidents occurred at universities — a deeply troubling 500% increase between Oct. 7, 2023, and Sept. 24, 2024, when compared to the 200 such occurrences in the same period last year, the ADL said.

“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 the head of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, in a statement Sunday.

Anti-Israel protesters wreaked havoc at universities across the US, including here at Harvard, disrupting studies and sometimes injuring people and damaging property. AFP via Getty Images
Harvard was just one of a slew of Ivy League campuses roiled by protests over Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza this past year. REUTERS

‘“From that day on, Jewish Americans haven’t had a single moment of respite,’’ he said of the slaughter that launched the latest Mideast war.

“Instead, we’ve faced a shocking number of antisemitic threats and experienced calls for more violence against Israelis and Jews everywhere.”

The disturbing new figures surfaced as the city remains on high alert for potential antisemitic and terror attacks over the one-year anniversary of the Israel massacre.

The ADL said that in comparison to this past year’s horrifying amount of anti-Jewish hate, there were 3,325 such incidents in the same previous period.

The most recent dismal tally of over 10,000 incidents is more than any similar period since the ADL started keeping track of such numbers, the organization said — adding that the figure will ultimately likely only grow once all the reporting is finalized.

More than 2,000 of this past year’s ugly incidents occurred at Jewish sites such as synagogues, with over half threatening bombings.

Demonstrators in support of Israel gather to denounce antisemitism and call for the release of Israeli hostages, on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on November 14, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
The hallowed grounds of Harvard turned hate-filled with the protests. REUTERS

That’s compared to 81 bomb threats in the previous period, the data shows.

Another more than 8,015 incidents involved verbal or written harassment, while there were 1,840 crimes of vandalism and over 150 physical attacks, the ADL said.

A third of the antisemitism occurred at 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 (PFLP), one of the most concerning antisemitic trends ADL captured since Oct. 7,’’ the group said in a release.

In addition to potential hate crimes, the city is bracing for unrest from planned widespread anti-Israel protests this week.

An anti-Israel “Week of Rage” also is being planned for college campuses across the US.