New FBI statistics released Monday showed the number of reported anti-Semitic hate crimes in 2023 reached an all-time high, with the increase largely coinciding with the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Anti-Semitic hate crimes increased by more than 50% in 2023, from 1,257 in 2022 to a total of 1,951. According to According to FBI hate crime analysis data, reports of anti-Semitism spiked in October 2023, after Hamas launched a devastating attack against Israel that left 1,200 people dead and sparked countless pro-Gaza protests across the United States.
According to the report, the highest number of reported anti-Semitic crimes in 2022 occurred in May, totaling 162. In November 2023, the number reached 389, the most for a single month since the FBI first began reporting anti-Semitic incidents in 1991.
Anti-Semitic writing on a wall at a pro-Palestinian protest camp on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus in Los Angeles, California, May 2, 2024. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
According to the data, the total number of hate crimes increased slightly in 2023, totaling 12,355, up from 12,186 in 2022. Anti-Semitic incidents made up the second-largest single-bias portion of all hate crimes in 2023, behind anti-Black hate crimes.
College campuses in particular have become hotspots for anti-Semitic incidents, with violent protests and camps resulting in hundreds of arrests and numerous lawsuits over how universities have responded. Harvard, New York University, and the University of California, Los Angeles are all facing lawsuits for failing to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitism on campus, and many Jewish students are choosing to avoid universities such as Columbia University, which hosted some of the most violent anti-Israel protests last spring. (Related article: University police stockpile weapons after anti-Israel protests storm school)
FBI hate crime data Collected It relies on agencies to voluntarily self-report data through the Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
“As the Jewish community suffers from a sharp rise in anti-Semitism following the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas in Israel, the record high number of anti-Semitic hate crimes is unfortunately entirely consistent with the Jewish community's experience and ADL's tracking,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. said “Hate crimes are particularly harmful and traumatic for both individuals and their communities,” the statement said.
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