Antisemitic incidents break record for 4th straight year, ADL finds

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) identified 9,354 antisemitic incidents in 2024, a 5% increase from 2023 and a staggering 926% increase since it began tracking in 1979.

According to the ADL's calculations in its annual antisemitism audit, there were more than 25 "targeted anti-Jewish incidents" per day in 2024, more than one every hour. In its audit, the ADL detailed the types of antisemitic incidents recorded: 196 assaults (up 21% since 2023), 2,606 incidents of vandalism (up 20% since 2023) and 6,552 incidents of harassment (up from 6,535 in 2023).

This is the fourth year in a row that the number of antisemitic incidents across the country broke previous records. The ADL characterized this as part of the "continued post-Oct. 7 spike" in antisemitism.

"Let’s be clear, antisemitism is an irrational hatred of individuals or institutions just because they are Jewish," ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told Fox News Digital. He later noted that "ADL has been conducting an annual audit of antisemitic incidents since the 1970s. And we've simply never seen numbers like this."

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In a release on the report, Greenblatt decried the "horrifying level of antisemitism" seen throughout the country, saying it had become "a grim reality for American Jewish communities."

Greenblatt told Fox News Digital that the audit has shown what American Jews grapple with "on a day-to-day basis." He acknowledged that American Jews go to school and work, as their non-Jewish neighbors do, but they carry a fear that "things could turn on them" quickly.

For the first time, the ADL found that a majority of antisemitic incidents (58%, or 5,452 occurrences) were related to Israel or Zionism. Most of these incidents, 2,596, took place at anti-Israel rallies, including antisemitic speeches, chants and slogans. However, the ADL clarified in its audit that "antisemitic expressions" at rallies were counted as a single incident, regardless of repetition. Of the more than 5,000 rallies tracked, about half included antisemitic expressions, and the ones that did not were excluded from the audit.

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The ADL noted that "Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) were the two most active organizers or co-sponsors of protests where antisemitic incidents occurred." 

College campuses in particular saw a spike in antisemitic activity. The ADL said it found an 84% increase in reported antisemitic incidents on American college campuses. According to its audit, the organization recorded 1,694 antisemitic incidents on college campuses in 2024.

"Campus incidents comprised 18% of all incidents, a larger proportion than in any previous audit," the ADL wrote in a press release on the audit.

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The organization said it was careful when crafting the audit not to conflate criticisms of Israel’s government with antisemitism.

"If you are looking for raucous, robust debates about what’s going on in Israel that aren’t antisemitic, let me point you to Israel," Greenblatt told Fox News Digital. "Look at the Israeli press, look at the Jewish press, look at Jewish organizations from synagogues to schools, JCCs, even at ADL there are a broad range of opinions."

However, several of the anti-Israel rallies that contained antisemitic expressions included the celebration of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre that left 1,200 Israelis slaughtered and saw the taking of 251 hostages.

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While the audit might seem like "doom and gloom," ADL Senior Vice President for Counter-Extremism and Intelligence Oren Segal encourages Americans to see it as a blueprint for the future. 

"It's not just a data point that we release one day and then do nothing for the remaining 364 days. It's actually a blueprint and a guide for where we have to focus our advocacy, our research, our work in general," Segal told Fox News Digital. He also said the report is about "making what is often invisible visible and then finding ways to tackle that."

The ADL tracks instances of hate, extremism, antisemitism and terrorism on an interactive H.E.A.T. Map, which provides a comprehensive dataset of incidents from 2016 to 2024.