Christian Smith
Anti-Semitism increased across the world in 2023, especially in the wake of the October 7 attack on Israel, according to a new report.
O new report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Tel Aviv University found that there was an increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Western countries in 2023 compared to the previous year, including a “sharp” jump in incidents following the October attack on Israel.
The report states that the ADL recorded 7,523 anti-Semitic incidents in the US in 2023, compared to 3,697 in 2022. It also noted significant increases in incidents in major US cities, including New York and Los Angeles.
The report said the New York Police Department recorded 325 anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2023 — up from 261 recorded in 2022. The Los Angeles Police Department recorded 165 incidents in 2023, compared to 86 incidents in 2022, according to with the report.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the ADL, said the attack on Israel “was followed by a tsunami of hatred against Jewish communities around the world.”
“This year’s report is incredibly alarming, with unprecedented levels of anti-Semitism documented, including in the US, where 2023 saw the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents in the US ever recorded by the ADL,” he said in a statement.
There has also been an increase in anti-Semitic incidents in other countries, including France, the United Kingdom and Germany. France had 1,676 incidents last year, a significant increase from the 436 recorded in 2022, according to the report.
The report also noted that most countries with large Jewish populations had seen increases in anti-Semitic incidents even before Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.
“Particularly alarming is that also in the nine months leading up to October 2023, in which no exceptional events occurred, most countries with significant Jewish populations saw an increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents compared to the same period in 2022, including the United States, France, United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Brazil and Mexico,” the report states.
“This means that the war in Gaza helped spread a fire that was already out of control,” the report adds.
The number of anti-Muslim complaints in the US also increased in 2023according to a annual report of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released last month. The report claims to have recorded 8,061 complaints of anti-Muslim incidents, surpassing the previous record from 2021 when 6,720 incidents were reported.
