Attacks on Jews in U.S. soar 360% since Oct. 7 Hamas raid in Israel: ADL report

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U.S. attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions increased 360% in the three months that ended on Jan. 7, the Anti-Defamation League reported Wednesday.

A total of 3,283 antisemitic incidents have been reported, a massive rise from 712 incidents in the same period a year earlier, according to preliminary ADL data.

“It’s shocking that we’ve recorded more antisemitic acts in three months than we usually would in an entire year,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement, adding that the “threat level” against the American Jewish community is “now unprecedented in modern history.”

About 34 antisemitic incidents have been reported per day in the U.S. since Oct. 7, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a terror raid in southern Israel that killed more than 1,200 people and captured hundreds of hostages, the ADL said.

At least 628 antisemitic incidents against synagogues and Jewish community centers were reported, and 246 were reported at K-12 schools and 505 on college campuses.

An outbreak of swatting attacks — calls to police falsely reporting bomb threats or potentially violent incidents — was noted on Dec. 19, when nearly 200 Jewish institutions were targeted in a single weekend. The FBI said the swatting swarm appeared to have been coordinated from outside the U.S., according to the ADL, which started tracking antisemitic incidents in the late 1970s.

During the three-month period, 60 incidents of physical assault, 553 incidents of vandalism, 1,353 incidents of verbal or written harassment and 1,317 rallies in which “antisemitic rhetoric, expressions of support for terrorism against the state of Israel and/or anti-Zionism” were recorded.

“In this difficult moment, antisemitism is spreading and mutating in alarming ways,” Mr. Greenblatt said.

The rise in antisemitic incidents contributed to a 47% jump in Jewish school security costs since the Oct. 7 attacks, according to the Teach Coalition. The group, an outreach of the Orthodox Union, surveyed 75 Jewish schools in Florida, New Jersey and New York after the attacks.

The average Jewish school now spends $315,943 per year on security, Teach Coalition said Wednesday, up from $215,560 before the Hamas incursion. Security expenses now account 2.35% of the average Jewish school’s budget, or $845 per pupil. Many schools impose a security fee on families, averaging $367 per student.