Anti-Semitism reaches record high since October 7 – The Forward

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt talks about an increase in anti-Semitic incidents involving Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” show. Courtesy of CNN

By Benjamin Cohen
October 6, 2024

Since October 7, there have been more than 10,000 anti-Semitic incidents in the US, the highest number ever recorded by the Anti-Defamation League in a one-year period. More than 3,000 of these incidents occurred during anti-Israel rallies. The new data from the ADLreleased Sunday represents a 200% increase compared to the same period a year earlier, when 3,325 such incidents occurred.

“These numbers are truly astonishing,” Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO, said on CNN’s Sunday State of the Union. “The ADL has been around for more than 110 years and we have never seen data like this.”

The ADL began seeing an increase in anti-Semitic incidents shortly after the October 7 attack, reporting that there were 3,000 such incidents from October 2023 through December 2023, which the group said was 360% more than the same period in 2022. The ADL acknowledged that it significantly expanded its definition of anti-Semitic incidents after the Hamas attack to include rallies with “anti-Zionist chants and slogans.”

“General,” the Come on Arno Rosenfeld reports this“A large portion of the incidents appear to be expressions of hostility toward Israel, rather than the traditional forms of anti-Semitism that the organization has focused on in recent years.”

Greenblatt said Sunday that the Hamas attacks “triggered a tsunami of anti-Jewish hatred” in the US, including more than 8,000 incidents of harassment, more than 1,800 incidents of vandalism and more than 150 physical attacks targeting Jews.

(Related: ‘Like a Bolt of Lightning’: Greenblatt Shares How He Spent October 7)

At least 1,200 of those incidents occurred on college campuses, which Greenblatt said is a 500% increase from the previous academic year, when there were 200 incidents, and not nearly as many, if any, anti-Israel rallies. “In response to this act of terror,” Greenblatt said, “our students are being terrorized.”

Anti-Israel groups are planning a “week of rage” on campuses to coincide with the anniversary “as we try to remember those we lost in this horrific, unprovoked attack,” Greenblatt said. “I can’t think of anything more grotesque.”

The FBI and other federal agencies have done so warned of possible threats against Jews on October 7.

A companion report of the ADL, released on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, found over the past twelve months a “systematic” minimization of Jewish suffering, the targeting of US officials who expressed support for Israel, an increase in calls for boycott and divestment from Israel, right-wing extremists exploiting anti-Zionist sentiments to promote anti-Semitism, and a ‘new wave’ of fake photos created by artificial intelligence that promotes anti-Semitism.

Did Jews Cause Hurricane Helene?

Greenblatt linked the data to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, where he “an avalanche of anti-Semitic conspiracies” directed at Asheville’s Jewish mayor, Esther Manheimer, as well as other officials, “as if the Mossad is somehow involved in distributing disaster relief,” Greenlatt said. “I think conspiracyism is at an all-time high and anti-Semitism is raging like we’ve never seen before.”

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican of Georgia, posted on social media on Saturday: “Yes, they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous when someone lies and says it’s not possible.” It was not entirely clear who she was referring to, although she once suggested that a Jewish controlled space laser could be responsible for a wildfire in California. On Friday, she claimed that some FEMA officials “hates Christians.”

Monday marks the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attackkilling 1,200 people, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. About 250 people were taken hostage; About 100 are still held captive in Gaza. CNN closed Sunday’s show with Greenblatt with photos of four American hostages believed to be alive.

“Anti-Semitism is raging like we have never seen before.”@JGreenblattADL joins @DanaBashCNN to discuss a new ADL report showing that a “tsunami of anti-Jewish hatred” has occurred in the US since the October 7 attack last year. pic.twitter.com/0pkJZT80IP

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) October 6, 2024