New York – The Anti-Defamation League says that the number of antiseemitic incidents in the United States reached a record record last year and points out that 58% of the 9,354 incidents related to Israel, especially songs, speeches and signs in manifestations that protest Israeli policies.
In A report published on TuesdayThe ADL, which has produced annual counts for 46 years, said that it is the first time that the incidents related to Israel, 5,422 of them in 2024, included more than half of the total. A key reason is the general opposition to Israel’s Military response in Gaza After Hamas to Israel’s attack on October 7, 2023.
The adl’s findings add grinding to an intense and divisive debate among American Jews, and others, to the extent that vehement criticisms of Israeli policies and Zionism should be considered anti -Semitic.
The debate has expanded as the administration of President Donald Trump performs punitive movements against universities He considers too lax to combat anti-Semitism and seeks to deport some activists of the Pro-Palestinian Campus.
The result, for numerous Jewish leaders, is an act of balance: denouncing the flagrant acts of anti -Semitism, as well as what they consider the exploitation of the administration of the problem to attack the people and institutions they do not like.
“The fears of anti -Semitism are legitimate and real, and we do not want to see those real fears exploited to undermine democracy,” said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council of Public Affairs. “I feel that most American Jews can believe that two things are true at the same time.”
The ADL said in its new report that “it is careful not to combine the general criticisms of Israel or antiisraeli activism with anti -Semitism.” But there are gray areas. For example, the ADL argues that Vilification of Zionism – The movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel – is a form of anti -Semitism, however, some Jews are among the critics of Zionism and of The ADL itself.
Incidents in antiisraeli manifestations that counted as anti -Semitism in the new ADL account include “justification or glorification of anti -Semitic violence, the promotion of classic anti -Semitic tropes … and the signage that equates Judaism or Zionism with Nazism.” There were also celebrations of Hamas attack against Israel and “support without complexes for terrorism.”
“In 2024, hatred of Israel was a driving force behind anti -Semitism in the United States,” said Oren Segal, who leads ADL’s efforts to combat extremism and terrorism.
The report represented university campuses as common places for anti -Semitic incidents, saying that many Jewish students “face hostility, exclusion and sometimes physical danger due to their identity or beliefs.”
The experience of these students was evoked by Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for the reform of Judaism, an umbrella group for more than 800 reform congregations in North America, while discussing the complexities that arise from current developments related to anti -Semitism.
“We have an obligation with our students on campus,” Jacobs said. “Can you go to Seder? Can you feel safe with a Yarmulke?”
“At the same time, this current administration has armed the fight against anti -Semitism by weakening central democratic institutions,” Jacobs added.
He referred to the arrest and threatened the deportation of Mahmoud KhalilA 30-year-old graduate student who served as a negotiator and spokesman for pro-palestinian activists at Columbia University. Khalil has been arrested since March 8 despite not facing criminal charges.
“There must be a legal case, you don’t just like what it says,” Jacobs said. “What has kept the safe Jewish people is the rule of law, due process. If you are undermined for the Palestinians, it will be undermined for all of us.”
The ADL dismayed some progressive Jewish leaders when welcoming Columbia’s acquiescence In March to the demands of the Trump administration and initially praise the campaign aimed at pro-palestinian activists such as Khalil.
Recent critics of the ADL include Michael Roth, the first Jewish president of the Wesleyan University; political commentator Peter bone; and Columbia professor James Schamusthat he has been urging his Jewish companions to the faculty to oppose the fulfillment of the university with the demands of the administration.
The Washington Post columnist, Matt Bai, wrote a Scathing column About the ADL on April 1.
“You cannot call a civil rights organization in the United States at this time, much less a civil rights organization for a minority that has been brutally evicted worldwide, and does not oppose the cruel and illegal elimination of foreigners whose views are out of fashion are opposed,” Bai wrote.
Two days later, the CEO of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, wrote An opinion article For Ejewishphilatropy, seeks to distance the ADL of the aspects of Trump administration repression against pro-palestinian activists.
“As an organization that has fought for a minority community for more than 100 years, ADL is incredibly sensitive to the importance of allowing all opinions to express themselves, even those with which we or most Americans do not agree,” Greenblatt wrote. “We should hold people responsible for real crimes, not Orwellian thought crimes.”
“We can protect the civil liberties of Jewish students, even when we preserve the civil freedoms of those who protest, harass or attack because they are innocent until they are proven guilty,” he added. “If we sacrifice our constitutional freedoms in the search for security, we undermine the foundations of diverse and pluralistic society that we seek to defend.”
Beyond the incidents related to Israel, these were among the other findings in the new ADL report:
– The total number of anti -Semitic incidents in 2024 increased by 344% of five years ago.
– 196 incidents, aimed at more than 250 people, were classified as assault; None of these assaults was fatal.
– 2,606 incidents were classified as vandalism. The swastika were present in 37% of these cases.
– There were 647 bomb threats, most of them pointing to the synagogues.
– Anti -Semitic incidents were produced in the 50 states and the Columbia district. More than 10% of the incidents occurred in New York City.
– There were 962 “anti -Semitic propaganda incidents linked to white supremacist groups. Three groups, Patriot Front, Goyim Defense League and White Lives Matter Network were responsible for 94% of this activity.
The ADL says that its annual report has an account of acts of criminal and non -criminal harassment, vandalism and assault against individuals and groups as reported to the ADL by the victims, the application of the law, the media and the associated organizations, and then evaluated by ADL experts.
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